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THE LATE DR. J. H. LECKIE

• •» •

BY PRINCIPAL D. S. CAIRNS

THE death of Dr. J. H. Leckie on
September 14 has deprived the
Church of Scotland of one of its
most attractive personalities and one
of its ablest theologians.

He was not widely known in the
public life of the Church, for ill-health
and temperament combined to keep
him withdrawn from anything of the
kind, but through a wide circle of
friendships and by a succession of
books of remarkable distinction his in
fluence upon the life of the Church was
in truth far deeper and wider than that
of many whose names are more widely
known, and of one at least of his books
it is safe to say it will form part of the
history of British theology.

He was the son of a distinguished
minister and preacher of the former
United Presbyterian Church, Dr. Leckie,
of Ibrox Church, Glasgow, and studied
at Glasgow University under Edward
Caird, whom he always regarded with
gratitude and veneration. From that
ministry he passed on to the United
Presbyterian Hall in Edinburgh.

He was soon called to be minister of
Boston Church, Cupar, and was
minister there for some years. The
same qualities of mind and spirit as he
had shown at college drew round him
in increasing numbers a devoted con
gregation, and his resignation was
received with the deepest regret -by
his congregation and brother ministers
,in the Presbytery. During his ministry
./ABp amos J9AO noA unj
HTM JOIOOQ aq/^H „ : ajojaq SutuaAa
IBm piss PBU; A'atLL 'sijooi past.td.ms
puy i-inu; Jtam jo a.iBMB A'ja'mcre
auiBoaq awio.iBQ -uo aAOJp au; qnq
'paiiuis PUB pa^niBS JO^OOQ 'idol jau;
jo apBijs am .lapun UMoaq PUB
'JJBO mny; pun 'pauan^dn aoBj
S(BPV aas prnoo autio.reo

SlllABM pOOIS MOU pUB 'JBO am JO pUtlOS

A"q

paujnq. PBU; uauioM OA\I

•uo aAOJp

..'A^issaoau am aas ^uop
PBU; aM ifuim i „ -J.IBQ
S3i.iBuia.i am paaaquiauiaa au;s
^001 i-iojtuoosip jo Sutpaj y

•pJBl{ SBM 80BJ

jo apis am ./do^s I.UOM aA\ „
Bpy jo

through all his life an ardent intere
in that adventurous sport. He had
both physical and moral courage in p.
high' degree, and a clarity and decision
of moral judgment that could burn as
well as illuminate. These qualities,
combined with a wide range of thought
and a steady intensity of faith, made
him a natural leader among his fellow
students in Edinburgh, who would, I
think, have generally agreed that he
was the ablest and most gifted student
of his time, as he was certainly the
most mature. That after life would
have fully justified this judgment T
have no doubt. As it is, his influence
though hidden has been deep and last
ing, and his life, to those who knew him,
had in it an element of the heroic.
While cant and inhumanity roused, as
has been indicated, something very
formidable in him, he had a wide and
luminous sympathy for men and
women, generally rising out of a deep
humanity and a compassion for human
sorrow and pain, which was kept from
pessimism and turned into a reasoned
optimism, as his greatest book shows,
only by his unshakable faith in God
as made manifest in Jesus Christ His
Son. Unlike so many theological books,
it is literature as well as doctrine,
rising sometimes to passages of grave
and solemn beauty of expression.

While the book runs counter in cer
tain respects to traditional beliefs on

piro

pauappaj samoojBq
sasnoij amu pam
'At/wois A'JBA jBBZBq am jo
urem ato uA\op Suttuoo aj9M PUB
m ijai pBtt Aam auni
•pasBa[d '

Sui^auqs

W ?snf
puB do^s

pus 'sauB{dojaB
asm 'SIIBI 3uo\ ai
isBd pay
jo iti3m a(ov{A\ B
^nq 'auaos iqSuq

O^ P82UI 8ABII

puoAaq ^UBSBaid SBA\ ^i 'Aap 03 sauces
am uo saauuBq asui ^no pBaads '
^•ep puB pai 'SUBS s.uauiOA aaaj&
•sauo miM PUB S'jnou.s mm 'saAjasuiam
3uiqsBA\ 8J8AV saipoq UMOjq Su;uo^s;iS
uaut 'pauiBUiaa ism stood am "I

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
In Post 8vo. Price 55. net

AUTHORITY IN RELIGION

BY J. H. LECKIE, D.D.

THIS book attempts to show that the theory which
traces Authority in Religion to the direct, universal
communion .of God with man involves recognition of
the great "objective" forms in which Authority
presents itself as a fact of history and of experience.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS : The Fact of Authority— The
Fact of Freedom — The Problem of Authority — Authority and
Infallibility — The Theoretic Source and Organ of Authority —
The Authority of the Prophets : The Aristocrats — The Authority
of the Church : The Christian Democracy — The Authority of
Jesus Christ : The Lord. Index, etc.

" An exceedingly well-written book. Mr. Leckie is thoroughly
furnished as to the material of his subject, and has the faculty of making
it entirely interesting. On a theme which has been dealt with by
such a host of authorities, it seems difficult to say anything new, but
readers will find here a freshness of statement combined with a courage
and candour which holds the attention throughout." — Christian World.

EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET

THE KERR LECTURESHIP.

THE " KERR LECTURESHIP " was founded by the TRUSTEES of the late
Miss JOAN KERR of Sanquhar, under her Deed of Settlement, and
formally adopted by the United Presbyterian Synod in May 1886. In the
following year, May 1887, the provisions and conditions of the Lecture
ship, as finally adjusted, Avere adopted by the Synod, and embodied in a
Memorandum, printed in the Appendix to the Synod Minutes, p. 489.

On the union of the United Presbyterian Church with the Free
Church of Scotland in October 1900, the necessary changes were made in
the designation of the object of the Lectureship and the persons eligible
for appointment to it, so as to suit the altered circumstances. And at
the General Assembly of 1901 it was agreed that the Lectureship should
in future be connected with the Glasgow College of the United Free
Church. From the Memorandum, as thus amended, the following
excerpts are here given : —

II. The amount to be invested shall be £3000.

III. The object of the Lectureship is the promotion of the Study of
Scientific Theology in the United Free Church of Scotland.

The Lectures shall be upon some such subjects as the following, viz. : —

A. Historic Theology —

(1) Biblical Theology, (2) History of Doctrine, (3) Patristics,
with special reference to the significance and authority
of the first three centuries.

B. Systematic Theology —

(1) Christian Doctrine— («) Philosophy of Religion, (b) Com

parative Theology, (c) Anthropology, (d) Christology,
(e) Soteriology, (/) Eschatology.

(2) Christian Ethics — (a) Doctrine of Sin, (b) Individual and

Social Ethics, (c) The Sacraments, (d) The Place of Art

in Religious Life and Worship.

Further, the Committee of Selection shall, from time to time, as they
think fit, appoint as the subject of the Lectures any important Phases of
Modern Religious Thought or Scientific Theories in their bearing upon
Evangelical ^Theology. The Committee may also appoint a subject
connected with the practical work of the Ministry as subject of Lecture,
but in no case shall this be admissible more than once in every five
appointments.

IV. The appointments to this Lectureship shall be made in the first
instance from among the Licentiates or Ministers of the United Free

ii THE KERR LECTURESHIP

Church of Scotland, of whom no one shall be eligible who, when the
appointment falls to be made, shall have been licensed for more than
twenty-five years, and who is not a graduate of a British University,
preferential regard being had to those who have for some time l>een
connected with a Continental University.

V. Appointments to this Lectureship not subject to the conditions
in Section IV. may also from time to time, at the discretion of the
Committee, be made from among eminent members of the Ministry of
any of the Nonconformist Churches of Great Britain and Ireland,
America, and the Colonies, or of the Protestant Evangelical Churches of
the Continent.

VI. The Lecturer shall hold the appointment for three years.

VII. The number of Lectures to be delivered shall be left to the
discretion of the Lecturer, except thus far, that in no case shall there be
more than twelve or less than eight.

VIII. The Lectures shall be published at the Lecturer's own expense
within one year after their delivery.

IX. The Lectures shall be delivered to the students of the Glasgow
College of the United Free Church of Scotland.

XII. The Public shall be admitted to the Lectures.

PREVIOUS KERR LECTURES

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. T. <fe T. CLARK

MORALITY AND RELIGION.

By JAMES KIDD, D.D. 10s. 6d. net.

THE CHRIST OF HISTORY AND OF EXPERIENCE.

By DAVID W. FORREST, D.D. Seventh Edition. 6s. net.

THE RELATION OF THE APOSTOLIC TEACHING TO THE
TEACHING OF CHRIST.

By ROBERT J. DRUMMOND, D.D. Second Edition. 10s. net.

THE SACRAMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

By J. C. LAMBERT, D.D. 10s. net.

THE TESTS OF LIFE: A STUDY OF THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST.
JOHN.

By Prof. ROBERT LAW, D.D. Third Edition. 9s. net.

THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL UNDER THE KINGDOM.

By Prof. A. C. WELCH, Theol.D. 9s. net.

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By Prof. W. MORGAN, ; D.D. 9s. net.

THE WORLD TO GOME

AND

FINAL DESTINY

PRIVTKD KV
MORRISON & (}IBB LIMITED,

FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.

LONDON : SIMPK1N, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED.
NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNEK'.S SONS.

THE WORLD TO GOME

AND

FINAL DESTINY

THE KERR LECTURES, DELIVERED IN THE

UNITED FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW

DURING SESSION 1917-18

J. H. LEGKIE, D.D,

AUTHOR OF "AUTHORITY IN RELIGION'

" HOWBEIT, when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will
guide you into all truth ; . . . and He will show you
things to come."

Edinburgh: T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street

1918

THE MEMORY

JOSEPH LECKIE

DOCTOR OF DIVINITY
AND OF

ELIZA HANNAY
HIS WIFE

WHOSE LIFE AND HOPE WERE
FULL OF IMMORTALITY

THIS BOOK
IS INSCRIBED BY THEIR SON

PREFACE.

I CANNOT claim that this book, like some others recently
published, owes its origin to the circumstances of the present
time. When I had the honour of being appointed to the Kerr
Lectureship the war had but recently begun, and I chose the
subject of the Last Things because I had already given to it a
good deal of study, and also because it had not been treated by
any of my predecessors. Nevertheless, I have been influenced
throughout this discussion by an acute sense of the perplexities
that beset the faith in immortality in these days of death and
sacrifice. We all understand better to-day than we did three
years ago the attitude of the Jewish prophets towards the
enemies of the good cause, and the tone of Jesus in speaking
of sins against love and humanity. Also, we realise perhaps
more fully than we used to do that the Christian view of the
Divine character cannot easily be maintained apart from an
adequate doctrine of final destiny.

The Kerr Lectures are delivered to theological students ;
but it is evident from the terms of the Trust that they are
designed also to reach a wider audience. I have tried, in
preparing this book, to keep this double end in view, and to
combine theological accuracy with such a form of expression
as may commend itself to. the non-professional reader. One
must admit, however, that this endeavour has been embarrassed
somewhat by the necessity of using certain technical terms

x PREFACE

which belong to the vocabulary of my subject. Some of these
terms are uncouth, some are obscure, and some are inaccurate.
" Eschatology " and " eschatological," for instance, are distaste
ful from the literary standpoint, and they are not commonly
understood. One finds that educated people are not always
aware that Eschatology means the Doctrine of the Last Things ;
and when the matter is explained, they justly object that there
can be no " last things " in the life of an immortal, and that
resurrection and judgment, for example, are not really final —
if they are ends they are also beginnings. And yet, whatever
exception we may take to these words, they cannot be omitted
without having resort to roundabout and ambiguous phrases.
Again, " Conditionalism " and " Conditionalist " are evident
barbarisms; but they have established themselves, and must
be employed. " Universalism " is also open to objection ; and
I have sometimes used in its place the expression " Christian
optimism." " Apocalyptic " and " apocalypses," too, are clatter
ing terms whose constant repetition becomes intolerable ; and
this must be my justification for speaking often of " the Jewish
' revelation ' books " and " the Jewish ' revelation ' literature."

Some of the definitions adopted in this work would not be
accepted by certain scholars ; and they are, of course, subject
to qualification. Thus, I have sharply distinguished apocalypse
from dogma and speculation ; and one must agree that while
this distinction is generally valid it is not without exceptions.
Again, it may be noted that in the first chapter I have
mentioned certain books which are not apocalyptic in form;
but my defence is that all these writings adhere to the general
standpoint of the Jewish mystics and exhibit in their prophetic
passages the spirit of Apocalypse. It is evident, further, that
when one speaks of " Jewish " thought, as opposed to " Hellen
istic " and " Greek," one i.s indicating a distinction that is not
absolute: no doubt, the later Judaism was all penetrated
more or less by foreign influences. Finally, the ordering of
the discussion which is indicated by its division into Parts I.

PREFACE xi

und II. involves a certain amount of repetition; but I can
think of no equally comprehensive scheme which would not
be even more open to this objection. After all, this study is
largely concerned with history; and history is indifferent to
the rules of logic and is rich in cross-divisions.

In seeking to indicate the sources of Christian forms of
belief I have not gone farther back than the literature of
Judaism — Apocalyptic, Alexandrian, and Eabbinic. The
Jewish mind, during especially the two centuries preceding the
birth of our Saviour, collected a great store of imaginative
symbols, of speculations and of beliefs, regarding the Age to
come. And it was from this store that Christianity derived the
modes of its eschatology. No doubt, Judaism in its turn was
indebted to the Old Testament, to Greek philosophy, to the
Persian and the Egyptian religions, and to the traditions of
many peoples. But I have not thought it necessary to dwell
at length on this matter. When we undertake to describe the
source of a river, it is enough to consider the lake out of which
it flows ; there is no need to trace the various streams by which
the lake itself is fed. Of course, when one speaks of certain
beliefs as " apocalyptic," one does not mean to say that these
were peculiar to the Jewish prophetic writers, but only that
they were emphasised by these writers, and received from them
the distinctive semblance and colour which they bear in many
parts of the New Testament and have continued to exhibit in
later Christian tradition.

Burke describes himself as one " who shuns contention,
though he will hazard an opinion." Well, a writer on eschat
ology cannot altogether avoid contention, and he must hazard
an opinion ; but the purpose of this book is not controversial,
nor is it mainly the advancement of a private speculation.
Endeavour is made throughout to preserve the historical
standpoint, and to give due weight to each of those forms of
faith and of thought that have found and maintained a place
in Christian Eschatology.

xii PREFACE

It will be recognised that a book prepared and published
under present conditions labours under certain disadvantages.
Thus, I have thought it necessary, owing to the need of
economising paper, to sacrifice a good deal of detailed work
which I had intended for the appendices. In view of this
exclusion of material it is permissible to say that I have
referred throughout to the sources, and have not sought to
expound or to criticise any writer whom I have not read. To
make this statement is not to claim any credit, since it
indicates the bare fulfilment of an obvious duty.

My thanks are due to Colonel the Rev. Robert Primrose,
C.F., who delivered the lectures for me in my unavoidable
absence. The Revs. Prof. Cairns, D.D., J. T. Dean, M.A., and
A. Scott Murray, B.D., read the MS. and favoured me with
valuable criticism. Sir John M. Clark, Bart, (my publisher),
took a kind interest in the work during its passage through
the press, and suggested some useful emendations. The Rev.
W. H. Macfarlane revised the proofs with me. The Rev. D. M.
Baillie, M.A., also assisted us in this matter and prepared the
Indices. To all these gentlemen I am deeply indebted.

I desire, further, to recognise the consideration shown me
by the Senatus of the United Free Church College, Glasgow,
in unusual circumstances, as well as the courteous reception
given to the lectures by the students of that Seminary.

J. H. L.

May 1918.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

APOCALYPTIC FORMS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. JEWISH APOCALYPSE ...... 3

II. KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT . . . .27

III. RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, THE INTERMEDIATE STATE . 68
IV. GEHENNA ....... 103

PART II.
PROBLEM OF FINAL DESTINY.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE ON JEWISH OPINION IN NEW

TESTAMENT TIMES . . . 133

I. FINAL DESTINY : NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE . . 146

II. EVERLASTING EVIL (DUALISTIC SOLUTION) . . .188

III. CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY (MEDIATING SOLUTION) . . 219

IV. UNIVERSAL RESTORATION (OPTIMIST SOLUTION) . . 262

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION . 293

xiv CONTENTS

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX I. General View of Eschatoloyical Doctrine in Twelve

Jewish Books ..... 326

„ II. Comparative Statement of Jewish and New Testa

ment Eschatology ..... 332

„ III. Meaning of New Testament Term "Eternal" . 346

„ IV. Future Punishment in the Creeds . . . 353

INDICES.

INDEX I. SUBJECTS ....... 355

II. AUTHORS . . 360

PART I.

APOCALYPTIC FORMS.

CHAPTER I.
JEWISH APOCALYPSE.

INTRODUCTORY.

1. THE man who undertakes the discussion of any subject
must ask to be granted certain postulates. He must be allowed
a foundation on which to build. Even the strictest of thinkers
requires of us many concessions. And so it is quite a modest
thing for one to begin the present study with the assumption
that we are agreed on two matters of opinion. The first of
these is the belief that human personality survives death, and
the second is that some kind of eschatology is involved in the
principles of our Faith. These two presuppositions may be
described as modest ; since to deny the first is to depart entirely
from historical Christianity, and since a refusal of the second
would imply that religious thought has no unity, the redemption
in Christ no definite end, and the purpose of God no final goal.

But, if these two things be granted, the importance of
Eschatology becomes at once apparent. It is seen to be
occupied with no matters of trivial moment or of . merely
academic interest, but with questions of the gravest speculative
import and of the most intimate human concern. The doctrine
of the Last Things has for its theme those beliefs which give
definite content to the thought of immortality— 7that thought
without which there is no meaning or power in any of the
great affirmations of our Faith. It has to do with those solemn
and radiant expectations which, reaching beyond the limits of
this transitory life, afford solace and cheer and warning to men
throughout their pilgrimage, inform their hopes with larger
promise and urge their thoughts to vaster issues.

Evidently, then, this is a realm of thought in the service of
which one might gladly labour for a lifetime, content witli the

4 THE WORLD TO COME

hope of contributing but a little towards the solution of its
problems. Clearly, also, it is a theme which requires of us
that we approach it with sympathy, and that we regard it in
the liberal light of history. It is not a matter on which an
irresponsible individualism can exercise itself to any useful
end. One must assume that no great eschatological doctrine
has begun, continued, and ended in error and evil — must, on
the contrary, hold it certain that every such belief has had its
main source in truth, and has owed its strength and persist
ence to the verity which it contains. " False " doctrines
survive because of their secret; truthfulness ; and no view of
ultimate destiny ever held by men has been without its root
in a conviction of the conscience, an experience of the soul, a
demand of life. It is when we forget this that our faith is
troubled, and that we fail in generous appreciation of the
testimony of the Church. It is as we remember this, and
patiently continue in the light of it, that we enter into that
peace of mind which comes of understanding — that, at any rate,
we are enabled to find the only path that leads towards recon
ciliation, and towards a truer statement of the universal faith.
2. But if Eschatology is thus an important part of religious
theory, it presents difficulties that are fully commensurate
with its dignity. Worthy to be mentioned among these is the
extent to which the study of this subject is perplexed by the
conflict of authorities. The domain of Eschatology extends on
every hand into the territories of the experts ; and these are
regions of perpetual strife. Whether the theme of immediate
discussion be the teaching of the Apocalypses or of the Eabbis,
of Philo, St. Paul, the Fathers or the Schoolmen ; whether it
be the doctrine of Kesurrection, Judgment, the Intermediate
State, or Final Destiny — it is enveloped in a cloud of warring
words. So much is this so that the plain man is liable to be
intimidated into a position of ineffectual neutrality. In any
case, he feels that whatever opinion he may express has been
decisively rejected by some important theological personage.
His only way of escape is to go to the original writings, to
accept no second-hand account of any author's teaching, to
verify every reference, and — to do the best he can.

INTRODUCTORY 5

3. Again, Eschatology is rendered peculiarly perplexing by
the symbolic nature of its latiguaye. It is rich in imaginative
signs and pictures. Necessarily so; since it deals with the
future and the unexperienced, and imagination is the only
faculty whereby we can present to our minds the things that
belong to that realm. No one has definite knowledge of things
to come, or of things that are within the veil ; but faith has
premonitions regarding them, and it expresses these in imagery
drawn from human life and experience. Hence that richly
hued and splendid world of concrete symbols in which the
hearts of men have been at home throughout the ages of
Christian faith. Hence, in particular, such forms as Judgment,
Eesurrection, the Second Advent, Hades, Heaven and Hell.
All these are fruits of history, not of speculation. And for
this reason they do not lend themselves to systematic treat
ment.

It is to be remembered, also, that even those elements in
Eschatology which are called doctrinal or dogmatic are, from
the historical point of view, simply forms of faith. Doctrines
of the Last Things do not start, like theories of the Person of
Christ or of the Atonement, from a basis in past events. They
can neither be proved nor discredited by an appeal to the
records of days gone by. Neither can they be judged as if
they were scientific accounts of the known and material world.
They belong to the region of conjecture and vision. They are
prophecies based on the contents of the Gospel and the moral
convictions of religious men. They find in conscience and
revelation certain elements, and out of these they seek to build
a spiritual City of the Unseen. They see certain tendencies
at work in the world, and they predict what the final result of
these tendencies will be. They project, as it were, the lines of
present experience into the Unknown and trace them to their
goal Being rational forms, they are subject to rational
criticism. But they cannot be condemned forthwith on the
sole ground that the understanding finds faults in their
structure. They require to be tested by standards that are
less simple and less easily applied. Thus, the theory of
Eternal Punishment or of Conditional Immortality or of

6 THE WORLD TO COME

Universal Restoration is rightly subjected to the examination
of the reason, because it professes to be reasonable. But the
most important question to be asked about it is — To what
degree does it correspond with spiritual and moral facts ? Has
it a true basis in the Gospel of Christ ? Is it an assertion of
something in faith which, without it, might be forgotten or
ignored ?

4. But the chief difficulty which besets this branch of
theological study is due to the immense variety and confusion
of its forms — a variety and confusion which have arisen out of
historical influences and the diversities of Christian thought.
No doubt, it would conduce very much to an orderly treatment
of the subject if we were to adopt private judgment as the test
of truth, and exclude from consideration every doctrine, every
hope and every fear, which is not ours. But such a proceeding
would, we fear, work great havoc among the forms of Eschat-
ology. It might prove to be the kind of method that makes
a desert and calls it peace. And its results might suggest the
saying that " where no oxen are the stalls are clean." Evi
dently, we must regard as Christian every form of belief that
lias established an assured place in the thought of the Church.
And there can be no question that the field of Eschatology,
when thus viewed from a catholic and historical standpoint,
presents an aspect of great confusion. It is li^e a straitened
sea, wherein many opposing tides cause a leaping of troubled
waters. A great stream of thought flowing through Judaism
from sources out of sight ; a powerful current of Greek specula
tion ; a force that represents historical experiences and ancient
battles ; an influence that has its origin in the evolutionary
view of things — all these converge in the region of Eschatology.
Jewish Mystics, Platonists, Schoolmen, Idealists, Trans
cendental visionaries, rigid logicians, humanitarian enthusiasts,
poets and men of science, have all contributed something to
its content. Fantastic dreams and crude imaginings have
place in it along with lofty thoughts and profound spiritual
i ntuitions. Philosophical and pictorial elements are curiously
entangled together. Beliefs which contradict each other in
the plainest way claim a common source in Revelation. Alto-

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 7

gether, it is doubtful whether any department of religious
thought is so rich in discords and confusions as the Christian
Doctrine of the Last Things.

5. We may reasonably doubt whether it will ever be
possible to bring order out of all this perplexity, or to reduce
to system the amazing variety of the eschatological forms.
Certainly no such ambitious endeavour is contemplated in this
discussion. I suggest, however, that we may obtain a clue to
some partial understanding, and find something resembling a
path through the labyrinth, if we keep carefully in mind the
distinction between the logical statement of a doctrine and its
meaning and value for faith ; and if we separate, throughout,
forms which are imaginative and pictorial from those which
are doctrinal and abstract. And it is in pursuance of this
view that I have divided this course of Lectures into two parts ;
separating the apocalyptic element in the Christian teaching
about things to come from those speculative theories of human
destiny which are answers to a problem created by the Gospel
and by the progress of religious thought. This division affords
a convenient ordering of the discussion, and helps us to avoid
those troubles which always arise when Apocalypse is confused
with dogma, and when the language of vision and prophecy is
mistaken for that of sober-minded science.

I cannot hide from you that in pursuing this study we
shall have to travel along well-beaten paths. But this is a
disadvantage that is not peculiar to Eschatology. The theo
logian must cultivate a hopeful frame of mind — must learn to
tread frequented ways in a mood of expectation, and to sail
familiar seas in the spirit of Columbus.

THE JEWISH KEVELATION BOOKS.

THEIR GENERAL LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS.

1. It is necessary to begin the study of the apocalyptic
forms, as they appear in Christian history, by reminding our-

8 THE WORLD TO COME

selves of certain features that characterise the " revelation "
literature of Judaism in which these find their classical expres
sion. Apocalypse must be regarded as a true development of
an element in Old Testament prophecy, since we find even in
the earlier prophets, as well as in later writers, predictions of
the coming of the Kingdom heralded by the Messianic woes,
the Consummation of glory and blessedness, the Judgment and
even the Kesurrection.1 But the roots of Apocalypse stretch
far back into history and must be sought in the religions of
Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and in the dreams of " silent, vanished
races." Apocalypse is prophecy expressed in concrete terms
of the imagination, and dealing with things that transcend
knowledge and experience, and are thus incapable of logical
proof or purely spiritual exposition. It is an " unveiling," a
" revealing," but it is so after a peculiar fashion of its own.
It does not declare doctrines; it tells visions. It does not
teach principles ; it paints pictures. The writer of a Jewish
" revelation " does not tell us that we shall be judged of God ;
he shows us a great white throne, and One who sits thereon en
compassed by angelic hosfis. Instead of saying, " The wages of
sin is death," he reveals to us a burning fiery furnace. He is
not content to declare that the good cause will be victorious ; he
pictures an army of the righteous that destroy the wicked,
and a Messianic Kingdom established in a new and glorified
earth.

2. The apocalyptic literature may be said to have reached
its fullest development during the period between 200 B.C.
and 120 A.D. It embodies a type of piety, in some respects
very inferior to that of the Old Testament — narrower, less
spiritual, less generous in its attitude to humanity, less be
lieving in its attitude to God. But at the same time it repre
sents an advance of religious thought, especially in the doctrine
of immortality. It was a necessary preparation for the Gospel ;
and it was in the light of the hopes and the fears it expressed
that the early Church interpreted Jesus Christ.

3. An apocalypse was generally issued in the name of

1 Of. A. C. Welch, Religion of Israel under the Kingdom (especially chaps,
iv.-vi.).

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 9

some saint or prophet of great renown, like Enoch or Moses,
Ezra or Daniel ; and its method was to represent this venerable
personage as describing his visions, relating the things that he
had seen and heard in mysterious journeyings through the
regions of the spiritual world. It was commonly written in
some time of distress, to comfort a suffering party or people.
Every crisis in later Jewish history — every time of calamity,
struggle, persecution — produced its book of "revelation."
When the burden of humiliation was heavy, when hope was
like to die, when the hearts of men burned with wrath and fear,
then this strange messenger appeared, to proclaim the coming
redemption and the day of the vengeance of the Most High.

It is easy to see why writings produced at such times and
for such purposes assumed their peculiar characteristics.
When you are professing to tell a dream you need not be
precise or accurate ; you may use images most fantastic and
highly coloured ; you need not avoid confusions or discords ;
you may write without constraint and let your fancy have
the rein. Thus you can appeal immediately to the hot
imaginations of men, and fill their minds with hopes which
are all the more stimulating in that they are vague and do
not awaken the sceptical powers of the understanding. Also,
it is a very wise thing to put your words into the mouth of
Moses or Daniel ; for in so doing you conceal your own
unimpressive personality, and secure the powerful imaginative
appeal of a great and shining name. Contemporaries who
might not receive your revelation if they knew it to be yours,
will accept it, perhaps, if they think it comes from Enoch.

Further, it is evident that when a man is describing a
dream he can refer to tyrants and oppressors, and to current
events, in a figurative way, so that his language may be
understood easily by those who have the key to its meaning,
while it will convey nothing to less fortunate persons. And
this is certainly a great advantage when those whose characters
and deeds are being attacked have a sword in their hand
and sit in the seats of the mighty.1

1 The dream form of expression originated in mystical experiences like those
of Isaiah, St. Paul, Philo, but it became a literary convention.

10 THE WORLD TO COME

4. Certainly, the apocalyptic writers take full advantage
of the licence given them by their peculiar form of literary
art. Their pictures are confused and indistinct. They observe
no order or sequence of events. They repeat an assertion
over and over again. They contradict themselves with a
freedom hardly excusable even in a dreamer. They care
nothing for congruity in their imagery: sheep carry swords,
stars fall from heaven and become beasts of the field,
altars speak, lambs inspire terror, impossible creatures
keep doing impossible things. There is a quivering and
uncertainty in their descriptions as in pictures cast upon a
screen ; and the colouring is brilliant yet blurred, as in a
feverish vision.

5. The spirit of the Apocalypses in their allusions to the
enemy is fierce and bitter. It could not indeed be other than
this. Books that were written for the express purpose of
prophesying vengeance could not be expected to contain a
message of grace. Declarations of war could not be couched
in terms of peace. Words of compassion would have been out
of place in a warning of judgment. A garland of flowers on
the handle of an executioner's axe were as fitting as soft words
of charity in an apocalypse. These were stern books, written
in stern days. Their mission was to witness against the
victorious enemy, the arrogant usurper, the tormentor of the
weak, the lying teacher of religion ; and to proclaim against
all these a message of hastening doom. This mission they
perform with exuberant power, with unwearying zest, with
redundancy of malignant force. For the opposing party, the
cruel persecutors, the "kings and the mighty," the apostate
Jews, the Gentiles, the fallen angels, all the workers of
iniquity, there is foretold slavery, torment, eternal fire, total
destruction. In this aspect of them the Apocalypses are the
Black Country of literature. Flames leap up against a sky of
darkness, and the gloomy valleys are filled with the voices of
despair. The Creator himself rejoices in the destruction of
his creatures, the Messiah exults in the work of his sword.
As one reads the message of death and damnation in the
Book of Enoch, the mind grows weary of the flaring colours ;

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS n

the imagination is jaded by the long succession of horrors.
The tired senses refuse to respond, at last, to the reek of blood
and the smoke of fire.

6. Over against these pictures of vengeance, we find in
the Apocalypses a presentation of the joys that await the
righteous. This side of their message contains many beautiful
and tender sayings, and is almost as vivid as the other, as
lavish in imagery, as fertile in fancy. The pictures of future
blessedness are as emphatic and unrelieved as the pictures of
perdition. As the wicked have no light in their darkness, so
the righteous have no shadows in their light. They are
perfectly victorious, happy and strong ; they dwell in a new
world with God and His Anointed ; are clothed with light as
with a garment, and walk in eternal goodness and truth.
They are satisfied with the likeness of the Lord, and reap in
perpetual harvest the fruits of all their sorrow.

"On the heights of that world shall they dwell,
And they shall be made like unto the angels,
And be made equal to the stars ;

And they shall be changed into every form they desire,
From beauty into loveliness,
And from light into' the splendour of glory."1

II.

DEEPER ELEMENTS IN THEIR TEACHING.

1. Their problem and its solution. — When, however, one
says that an apocalypse owed its birth, as a rule, to a par
ticular crisis in national affairs, one does not mean to infer
that the book was concerned only with that crisis, or that its
predictions applied merely to the issue of one special conflict.
The battle of which the author was himself a spectator was, to
his mind, an example of many similar conflicts, an episode in
the age-long war between the evil and the good. The problem
he faced was not merely the difficulty of explaining why
1 Apoc. of Baruch, 51 10.

12 THE WORLD TO COME

the unrighteous should triumph in his own generation, it was
the problem of the prosperity of the wicked in all genera
tions. Hence, his thought travelled far beyond the cir
cumstances which immediately suggested his writing and
embraced the whole moral problem of history, as he under
stood it. His task was, though after a somewhat narrow
fashion, " to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of
God to men."

The solution which the apocalyptic prophet gave of the
problem thus set before him was always in substance the same.
He pointed forward to a quickly coming end of this world, to
a Judgment that should redress the wrongs of the present evil
state. He had no belief in the effective working of divine
grace in the lives of men, no conception of a Kingdom of God
that was like the leaven gradually leavening the whole of
society. The present age was in his view desperately wicked,
incapable of reformation. It was "full of sound and fury,"
and a great many worse things, and it "signified nothing"
that was hopeful or gracious. Like the modern anarchist
who finds no good thing in the existing social order and
believes that the whole fabric must be destroyed and a new
one built up in its place, so the Jewish seer believed the
present world to be so evil that nothing remained for it but
speedy and utter destruction. All his hopes for the future
were staked on a violent intervention of divine power —
wrecking, slaying, burning with fire. This great catas
trophe, this terrible day of the Lord, was at hand. Not
long now till the Judge appeared, till the heavens were
rent asunder, till the angelic hosts came forth on the last
campaign. Not long till the books were opened and the
doom begun, till the fire devoured the Gentiles with the devil
and all his armies, till the descent of the New Jerusalem
from heaven and the establishment of the elect in everlasting
peace.

"For the youth of the world is past,
And the strength of the creation already exhausted,
And the advent of the times is very short,
Yea, they are passed by :

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 13

And the pitcher is near to the cistern,
And the ship to the port,
And the course of the journey to the city,
And life to its consummation."1

2. Their mew of the universe. — It is this prophecy of
Judgment, of an approaching Eevolution and Vindication by
the intervention of God, that is the proper task, the one
unchanging characteristic of Apocalypse. Optimism as to the
future, rooted in pessimism as to the present, is its mood ;
the coming consummation is its theme. Whatever is more
than this is only accessory and embellishment. All ethical
teaching, all historical statement, all doctrinal speculation, is
strictly subordinate to the prophecy of the End. Yet, these
incidental elements in the " revelation " books are of the
utmost value and interest. They contain many passages of
poetic beauty and religious elevation, and they enable us to see
the Universe as it appeared to the eyes of the contemporaries
and fellow countrymen of Jesus. It is evident that, to those
Jews, the invisible world was an ever-present, poignant
reality. Every hot spring was the place where a demon was
tortured. Every well of healing water was the agent of
angelic ministry. Throughout the whole unseen universe, as
in the life of man, good and evil forces strove unceasingly for
victory. Guardian spirits watched over the lives of mortals
with perpetual intercession; and devils thronged the air
seeking to destroy the bodies and souls of men. In the
heavens above, as on the earth beneath, was waged aeonian
war. Yet, somewhere above all the strife and confusion, God
sat on His throne amid the sevenfold Hallelujahs; and His
purpose was almighty. Every life had its appointed end and
its predestined place, and all things must finally be according
to the will of the "Holy One," the "Father of Israel," the
" Lord of Spirits."

Such was the scheme of things as it appeared to those

ancient Jews ; and it is worthy of note that medieval Christians

inhabited a very similar world of thought. The universe of

Enoch and Ezra was the universe also of Aquinas and of

1 Apoc. Bar. 8510.

14 THE WORLD TO COME

Dante. For these as for those, the seven heavens were
overhead, and the regions of despair were underneath their
feet ; the hierarchy of thrones and dominations, principalities
and powers, angels and archangels, stood around the throne
of God ; human life was compassed about by unseen forces of
good and evil; saints and holy spirits were ever "at their
priestly task " of intercession for the souls of men. Also, the
Kingdom which the Jewish seers prophesied, wherein God was
to be present with His people, the Messiah was to dwell
among them in glory, the saints were to feast upon mystical
food, and eternity was to dominate time — this Kingdom was, in
a measure, realised for the medieval Christian in the Church.
The very God tabernacled with men on every altar; Christ
dwelt visibly with His people in the person of His Vicar on
earth ; the faithful were nourished, in the Mass, with the body
and blood of the Eedeemer ; and life everlasting was present in
all the ministries of salvation, in all the sacraments of grace.

3. Undogmatic character of their thought. — It is, however,
of the utmost importance for the purposes of our later discus
sions to remember that the " revelation " writers were not
systematic theologians, that they did not speak the language of
dogma, and that their mentality resembled, in no respect, that
of a modern Herr Professor. The Jewish mystics were persons
to whom, as Dr. Burkitt says, " consistency and rationality
were quite secondary considerations." a Certainly, a study of
their writings lends no support to the notion that there existed
among the Jews any uniformity of belief regarding the Last
Things. If we question them about the precise meaning of
even the great apocalyptic Forms, we obtain little satisfaction.
The Fall of man — did it come about through the sin of Adam,
or through the apostasy of the angels ? The coming Kingdom
— is it to be an earthly empire, or a spiritual and heavenly
state ? The Messiah — are we to expect Him or not ; and, if
He is to come, what mission is He to fulfil ? The Resurrection
— is it a bodily rising from the grave; or a purely spiritual
event, the rising of the soul out of Hades ? Are all men to
rise, or Israel only, or the righteous of Israel ? The Last

1 Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 48.

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 15

Assize — is the Judge to be God Himself, or the Messiah?
The Intermediate State — is it a place of opportunity; and
does prayer avail for those therein ? Gehenna — does it repre
sent annihilation or aeonian torment ? All these are questions
to which we receive, from the Jewish oracles, only obscure and
discordant replies.

One may illustrate this by reference to the apocalyptic
prophecies of future punishment. In the oldest part of the
Book of Enoch l things are said which indicate a joyful convic
tion that everlasting torments await the unrighteous. But
then, the writer of this document had no clear conception of
personal immortality ; and it is plain to the simplest mind that
without unending personal life there can be no unending
punishment. Also, he tells us that an existence of five hundred
years is life everlasting ; 2 so that his notion of what constitutes
endless duration must have been a very modest one.

Again, the author of the Similitudes of Enoch 3 is one of
whom we suspect theological intentions, and his statements
about the fate of the lost are very vivid indeed. Thus, he
says :

" As straw in the fire so shall they bum before the face of the holy.
As lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the

righteous,
And no trace of them shall any more be found."4

Now, this prophecy seems clearly to indicate the doom of
annihilation. But some scholars who have studied Enoch for
a very long time think that it means no such thing. So that,
if this writer had speculation in his eye, it is evident that he
was not able to express himself in such a way as to escape
misunderstanding.

Once more, the writer of the Visions of Enoch 5 who describes
the apostate Jews under the similitude of a flock of sheep, tells
of these being cast into Gehenna, and he adds : " I saw the
sheep burning and their bones burning."* Surely this is a
grim and realistic picture of utter destruction. Also, there is
not one word of this writer that even suggests everlasting

1 Enoch 6-36. 2 1010. 3 37-71.

4 489. s 83-90. B 9027.

1 6 THE WORLD TO COME

torments. So that, if he was of a theological mind he probably
believed in the annihilation of the wicked. It must, however,
be confessed that his discourse as a whole does not indicate
that he was given to speculation.

Finally, in the last section of Enoch l both annihilation and
everlasting torment seem to be predicted for sinners. It is
said to these : " Your Creator will rejoice at your destruction."
... "In blazing flames burning worse than fire shall ye burn."
" Ye sinners shall be cursed forever" ..." You shall be slain
in Sheol" 2

Such, then, is the confused variety of prediction in this
great Book of Enoch ; and in this characteristic it is typical of
the whole " revelation " literature, with the possible exception
of Second Enoch and Second Baruch. It is difficult to read all
these books, and yet believe that the idea of annihilation was
foreign to the Jewish mind ; but it is impossible to study them
without being convinced that no coherent or deliberate opinion
regarding future destiny was in the thoughts of those ancient
prophets of wrath and judgment who spoke the language of
apocalypse.

It may be thought, perhaps, that this perplexity would
disappear if we were to arrange the Jewish books in chrono
logical order. But this is not so. No clear process of doctrinal
development is traceable in this literature from age to age.
The most advanced moral teaching of Judaism up to the time
of Hillel is found in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,
written at the end of the second century B.C. Also, the only
approach to the Synoptic idea that the Kingdom would come
gradually is contained in the Book of Jubilees, a work contem
porary with the Testaments. The very rich and strong
Messianic doctrine of the Testaments, the Similitudes of Enoch
and the Psalms of Solomon is without parallel in later books.
And the most definite description of Hades is in the oldest
part of Enoch. It is notable, also, that books which belong to
the same period show little agreement in doctrine. Thus,
Jubilees denies the bodily Eesurrection, while the Testaments
affirm it. And the same divergence of opinion regarding this

1 E». 91-104. 2 See App. I. and II.

THE JEWISH REVELATION7 BOOKS 17

belief appears when we compare the Psalms of Solomon with
Second Maccabees. Also, the former of these books expects the
Messiah, and the latter does not. The Assumption of Moses
and the Secrets of Enoch are quite opposed in tone and temper,
and are agreed only in not predicting the Messiah. Baruch
and Ezra show quite different estimates of the value of the
Law. And Baruch is as sure about things as Ezra is doubtful
and troubled. Also, Baruch contains a very elaborate doctrine
of Eesurrection, while Ezra presents only a vague poetic
statement.1

It is thus quite evident that these writers were not theo
logians. The professional theologians of Judea did not incline
to write apocalypse; indeed they despised it. Those who
affected this form of literary expression were patriots, prophets,
mystics, even poets, but they were not systematic thinkers.
They were all, of course, predestinarians ; they believed in the
divine calling of Israel ; and they held a more or less adequate
doctrine of immortality. But all their conceptions were vague.
They used in common certain accepted forms ; but, in their
interpretation of these, they exercised great freedom of private
judgment. Just as Christians of our own day may unite in
repeating the Apostles' Creed and yet may differ very widely
in their understanding of its various articles, so Jewish thinkers
might all say, " We believe in the Kingdom, in the Eesurrec
tion, in the Judgment, in the Reward of the Righteous, and in
the Destruction of the Wicked " ; and yet might not be at
one in their several interpretations of these great hopes and
beliefs.

4. Their imaginative freedom. — And, as the " revelation "
writers thus attached various meanings to the assertions of their
faith, so they used in a free and individual manner those imag
inative phrases and symbols which belonged to their tradition-
We cannot be sure, for instance, to what extent they regarded
their own pictures of the unseen world as veritable transcripts
of reality. Their art was deliberate, and rich in mechanical

1 For refs. see App. I. and II. For an account of the development of eschat-
ological thought, in certain subordinate aspects, see Charles, Eschatology, pp.
241-246, 287-297, 355-361.
2

18 THE WORLD TO COME

devices. And they, beyond doubt, exerted their imagination
in order to give verisimilitude to the fictitious messages of
Patriarchs and Prophets. They varied their imagery to suit
the requirements of their own teaching ; and no one of them
was careful to maintain even formal harmony with other
writers of his class. The unfortunate Patriarch Enoch, for
instance, is made to contradict himself outrageously by the
various authors who use his name. His statements about the
unseen world are deplorably inharmonious with each other.
His views about the position of Gehenna are dubious and
changeable ; and he is not quite certain whether Hades is
below the earth or in the Second Heaven.1 Also, he sometimes
believes in the Resurrection, and sometimes does not. When
he denies this article of faith, he forgets to bring his views of
future torment into harmony with this negation ; and goes on
picturing with unabated zest the physical agonies of the lost.2
During the first century B.C. he is sometimes minute and en
thusiastic in his portraiture of the Messiah ; but in the following
century he has not so much as heard that such an one exists.3
The author of Jubilees, also, is found denying the Resurrection
of the body, and picturing the future state of the blessed as
one of purely spiritual life. And yet, when he desires to show
that the law of circumcision is universal and everlasting, he
forgets his objection to the idea of immortals having bodies}
and declares that the angels are all circumcised.4

These are only illustrations of many things in these books
which make it impossible for us to suppose that the apocalyptic
authors mistook their imagery for fact, made no distinction
whatever between the sign and the thing signified, and had in
their minds an unchanging picture of the coming Kingdom and
the state beyond death. It is hardly credible that writers so
able as these remained unconscious of their own contradictions,
or that they would have permitted themselves such freedom
had they attached supreme importance to the precise forms of

1 Cf. Secrets of Enoch, 4012- 1S 71'3.

2 Cf. Boole of Enoch, sec. I., with Book of Enoch, sec. V.
a Cf. Similitudes of Enoch with Secrets of Enoch.

4 Jub. 2330- 31 lo27.

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 19

their imagery. Plato, in the Pkaedo, puts into the mouth of
Socrates a long account of the future state as represented in
Greek mythology — its dark lakes and rivers, its prison-house
of the damned, its purgatorial torments by lire. But he repre
sents Socrates as saying at the end of it all : " To affirm
positively that these things are as I have described them does
not become a man of sense. But that something of this kind
happens with regard to our souls and their habitations appears
to me most fitting to be believed." l Now, it is not likely that
the apocalyptic writers distinguished so clearly between the
substance and the form of their teaching as Plato did ; but we
suspect that, if they had been strictly questioned on the matter,
they would have confessed, like Socrates, that " to affirm
positively that these things are exactly as we have described
them would not become a man of sense."

III.

1. The importance of this apocalyptic literature is, from
many points of view, very great ; and its influence has been
out of all proportion to its volume or to the excellence of its
artistic qualities.2 A great deal might be written, for instance,
about the impression it has made on the literature of Europe.
The great Latin hymns of the Church, the Dies Irae and the
Te Deum, are informed throughout by apocalyptic inspirations.
When Bernard of Cluny sang the glories of the future state
his voice took the tones of the old Jewish poets, and the
colouring of his song was theirs. Even to this day the hymns
of Christian hope repeat the forms of Enoch and of Baruch.
When Dante wrote the Divina Commedia he showed himself
the greatest of the apocalyptic seers ; and he saw the realms
of the other world in a light that streamed from a Jewish

1 Phaedo, sec. 144.

2 Greek essays in Apocalypse are inferior to Jewish even artistically ; cf.
legend of Erus, in Republic.

20 THE WORLD TO COME

source. Milton would have composed the Paradise Lost after
another fashion had the " revelation " books of Judea never
been produced ; and his L//cidas, greatest of English elegies, is
rich in apocalyptic symbols. The same influence is discernible
in Tennyson ; as, for instance, in St. Agnes' Eve :

"The sabbaths of eternity,

One. sabbath deep and wide —
A light upon the shining road —
The Bridegroom with his Bride ! "

Of peculiar significance to us in these times is the apoca
lyptic note in the great Battle Hymn of the Republic :

"He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him ! be jubilant, my feet !
Our God is marching on."

Not to be forgotten, also, are the apocalyptic lines of
William Blake :

" Bring me my bow of burning gold ;
Bring me my arrows of desire ;
Bring me my spear ; O clouds, unfold ;
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mortal fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land."

In view of all this it seems strange that many writers
permit themselves to speak with contempt of the apocalyptic
books. Surely there must have been great creative force, and
many qualities of power and beauty, in a literature which has
been able to make its voice heard in the sacred songs of so
many centuries, and to originate poetic forms that were not
despised by Dante or by Milton.

2. But however this may be, the importance of these writ
ings for the student of the New Testament and of Christian theol
ogy is beyond all question. When one advances from a study of
the Jewish books to the reading of the Gospels, his first im
pression is one akin to consternation. It is startling to find
that there is so little that is fresh in the figurative language of

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 21

the Evangelists. And throughout all our sacred writings we
discover an important strain of thought and expression which
differs in no respect from the familiar features of Jewish
prophetic tradition. Wherever we find, in the Christian
Scriptures, spiritual realities described and future events
predicted in an imaginative fashion : wherever we read of a
visible coming of the Son of Man in His glory : wherever the
drama of the Last Things unfolds itself in resurrection and
judgment, in the reward of the blessed and the doom of the
unrighteous : wherever we are told of the angel hosts, of the
New Jerusalem, of the eternal fire, the outer darkness, and the
vengeance of the Lord: wherever, in short, the evangelic
message of retribution and redress is conveyed, not directly to
the reason and conscience, but indirectly through the imagina
tion, especially when there is prediction of sudden and violent
happenings, we are in the presence of Apocalypse, and the
messengers of the Gospel are speaking to the people through
the old familiar symbols which had been commended to their
hearts by immemorial tradition.

Now, the value of this element in the New Testament
cannot be questioned. It has proved its vitality throughout
the ages of Christian life. It supplies the imaginative colour
and form without which the Gospel would hardly have com
mended itself to men of the time of Jesus, or maintained its
hold on popular thought throughout succeeding generations.
The universality of the appeal of Apocalypse is made clear by
the remarkable fact that its literature was more popular among
those early Christians who belonged to Gentile nations than
among their brethren who were converts from the Jewish
Church. And this power of appealing to the common mind of
humanity is evidenced by the truth that our Faith still conveys,
not only its doctrine of judgment, but its most intimate
messages of assurance and hope in the terms of apocalyptic
vision — in the sayings of St. Paul about the rising from the
dead, in the prophecies of "St. John the Divine," in the
imperial word of Jesus, " I am the Kesurrection." l

Nevertheless, this strain in the New Testament message
1 John II25.

22 THE WORLD TO COME

has been the source of much perplexity, needless debate, and
baseless dogmatising. And it is necessary to remind ourselves
that the picturesque language of evangelic prophecy was
originally designed to express the hopes and fears of a religion
of a narrower and poorer content than ours, and was never
capable of uttering the whole secret of Christian thought. It
was a thing which Apostles and Evangelists had inherited, and
were constrained to use wliethcr it accurately expressed their
mind or no. It was traditional ; it was current coin. It wafi,
therefore, capable of many meanings, and was in fact inter
preted in many different ways. Thus, the early Christian
teachers, when they used it, gained in power of direct appeal,
but they lost of necessity in ability to convey a clear and un
ambiguous message. Hence, they have created great perplexity
for those in every age who have been ignorant of the conditions
which limited the freedom of Apostolic utterance, or who have
persisted in treating figures and symbols as if they were prosaic
statement ; who have ignored the truth that a spiritual idea
cannot be fully expressed under the form of a material image ;
who have not been willing to recognise that Apocalypse is not
dogma — is the servant and not the master of thought.

3. The teaching of Jesus Himself, as recorded by St.
Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, supplies the strongest claim
which Apocalypse possesses to be regarded as a thing of
perpetual value. It created the forms in which our Lord
expressed one aspect of His mind and purpose. It flourished
in the atmosphere which was His native air. The note on
which He began His ministry harmonised with it, as also did
His saying to the disciples at the end — " I will drink no more
of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new
with you in the Kingdom of God."

We cannot, therefore, regard Apocalypse in an external
way, with aloof, unfriendly eyes. That old world of picture
and sign does not seem alien to us when we remember that in
it Jesus was at home, nor its language foreign to us when we
recall that it was the native tongue of the Kedeemer. We
cannot wish that any of His authentic prophecies had not
been uttered : since the servant is not greater than his master,

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 23

nor the disciple above his Lord. And yet it is necessary in
the case of Jesus, even more than of lesser teachers, to be on
our guard against the vice of literal interpretation. No
tradition, however well beloved by Jesus, could contain or
limit Jesus. It could only supply the raiment of His thought
— and " the body is more than raiment." Its old bottles could
hold but a little of the new wine, its coloured glass could only
" stain the white radiance " of the eternal revelation. It
would have required a new language to express Jesus Christ —
a language which He could not have spoken, nor His people
have understood. Hence, it is certain that our Lord* must
have been misinterpreted often in His use of the traditional
forms. He must sometimes have given the impression of
being much less original, and much more a child of His time,
than He really was. And we may, perhaps, marvel that in
the providence of God it should have been necessary for Him
to think and to speak in terms so peculiarly liable to being
interpreted in a literal and exaggerated way. But Jesus
Himself was singularly indifferent to the danger of being
misunderstood. His parabolic teaching was, of its very nature,
almost as liable to this danger as His apocalpytic prophecies.
And some of His sayings about the Son of Man and eternal
life must have been a sore puzzle to simple men and women.
But for these things He seems to have cared not at all. He
gave to men the words that were given Him to speak ; and
they that had ears to hear might hear. In this He was taught
of His Father, whose purpose it was to make Himself known,
not in one swift in- breaking of eternal light, but in a gradual
process of revelation — a process whereby men should come to
understand, little by little as the ages passed away, what had
been the true meaning of a life that was lived in Galilee, a
death that was suffered on the Cross, and a voice that spoke
a message which was traditional and yet everlasting. The
" words of eternal life " are not words that are capable of being
rightly understood all at once, nor even words that are of literal,
immediate verity, but words that can be used by the Spirit to
guide men slowly into all the truth — that are " as the shining
light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

24 THE WORLD TO COME

4. There are thus certain difficulties created by the
presence in the New Testament of elements that owe their
origin to the Jewish " books of revelation " ; and of this we
shall find abundant illustration in the course of further
discussion. Much might be said, also, regarding the disturbing
influence which Apocalypse has never ceased to exert in every
department of Christian thought. The apocalyptic genius has
always displayed a marked and aggressive individuality, and
has not shown itself disposed to compromise with other factors
in religious belief. Hence, it has hindered and confused the
work of theologians in all domains of their activity. Even
the doctrine of the Divine Nature has been embarrassed by
the necessity of harmonising concrete, imaginative ideas about
God, derived from ancient prophecy, with those more abstract
conceptions which are cherished by philosophers. In like
manner, the view of the Person of Christ that is founded on
the old belief in the Messiah has been difficult to reconcile
with that which has its basis in Greek and Hellenistic
speculation. But, of course, it is the doctrine of the Last
Things that has been most influenced, and therefore most
disturbed, by the apocalyptic tradition. Rationalising modes
of thought regarding Immortality, Judgment, the Kingdom
of God, and future Retribution have always been very much
perplexed by the need of recognising and conciliating those
immemorial hopes and fears, so vivid, so picturesque, so vital,
that were declared by Enoch, that colour the pages of sacred
Writ, that have been so dear to the common mind in every
age of the Christian Church.

But, although these traditional elements in our faith may
be a trouble to us as theologians, they are of immense value
to us as Christian believers. Especially do they witness to a
truth for which we cannot be too grateful — the truth that our
religion is not a system created by the abstract thought of
theorists, but an historical faitli with its sources deep in the
experience of mankind; taking its colours from the long
travail of peoples, from the hopes and disappointments,
victories and defeats of generations, from the " old, unhappy,
far-off things " of Judah's age-long martyrdom. As the sign

THE JEWISH REVELATION BOOKS 25

of the Cross is witness that our hopes of salvation are rooted
in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus, so the apocalyptic
forms are the symbols of things that were learned in pain and
tested in many sorrows. They come to us by the hands of
men who through long days of battle and stress were able to
maintain a steadfast faith in God, and to hope to the end that
the good cause would finally triumph and the Kingdom of
the Lord appear. They are thus an heritage of great price
and of manifold consecration. They belong to the inestim
able boon of an historical religion.

CONCLUSION.

In concluding this outline of the Jewish " revelation "
literature, we need do no more than reiterate the assertion of
its importance for the student of Christianity. We cannot
question the greatness of the influence which it has exercised
on theology, partly for evil and partly for good. On the one
hand, it has created some of our deepest perplexities, some of
our most persistent misunderstandings. It has been the root
also of millenarian speculations, Messianic dreams, inhuman
superstitions, and fierce conceptions of future penalty. On
the other hand, it has supplied many of the most tender and
beautiful forms of Christian hope, and it has conserved for us
ideas of eternal truthfulness. The Apocalypses, for instance,
look for the triumph of good, and an earthly Kingdom of
righteousness ; and this expectation of theirs we still cherish,
looking, according to the measure of our faith, for the vindica
tion of justice, and a condition of human society in this world
that shall be in accordance with the gracious -will of God.
They affirm, also, that the divine method contains elements of
crisis and intervention and catastrophe, as well as of education
and gradual development; and this affirmation of theirs is
true to the experience of men as individuals and as nations.
They assert, further, that history has a moral principle in it
and leads on towards a moral climax ; they put their trust for
future and final good, not at all in the merits of man, but
wholly in the sovereign will of God ; they have a sure and

26 THE WORLD TO COME

certain hope of Immortality, and a fearful looking for of
Judgment. And this their testimony must continue true and
unshaken, in its substance and meaning, a vital element of the
Christian faith and hope, as long as that faith remains, as long
as that hope endures. Nay, it may well be that, not only the
substance of the apocalyptic message, but its very forms as
well may prove themselves possessed of a permanent fitness,
an indestructible vitality. It cannot have been without reason
that these forms were, according to the divine purposes,
received by Jesus and His apostles through inheritance from
the fathers; nor can we suppose that the Christian Church
would have adopted them with such lively willingness, or held
to them with so great tenacity, had they not been adapted in
a peculiar way to represent and to conserve the ideas they
contain. The Coming of Christ in His Kingdom, the Inter
mediate State, the Resurrection of the Body, the cleansing and
destroying Fires, the New Jerusalem, and the Beatific Vision
of God, may be found to retain their place in the thought of
Christian people, as pictures and signs than which we can find
none fitter to fulfil their appointed purpose. They, at least,
express with dignity and worthiness, and with the sanction of
immemorial use, realities of the spiritual order which in their
nature transcend our thought.

Apocalyptic forms belong to the same order as sacrament
and ritual, architecture, music and poetry, and share with
these the invaluable gift of expressing religious faith without
unduly defining it. And thus they have a meaning for the
wise and understanding, while they are not without a message
for the unlettered and the simple and the little child. For
this reason they are peculiarly fitted for the use of the great
community of the Christian Church, which embraces within its
borders all sorts and conditions of men, all nations and tribes,
all types of intelligence, all degrees of spiritual understanding.
While dogmatic statements and logical definitions may enchain
us and may divide us, the Apocalyptic Forms will always tend
to set us free and to unite us under the banner of an ancient
tradition — will help us, through their large catholicity, to
preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

CHAPTER II.
KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT.

JEWISH DOCTRINE.

THE Kingdom of God is the central thought of Apocalypse.
Other beliefs — Judgment, Kesurrection, Hades, Gehenna — are
subordinate to the vision of the City of God. It is true that
these lesser conceptions are sometimes so emphasised in the
Jewish books as to obscure the pre-eminence of the sovereign
Hope. Nevertheless, they are really satellites and attendants.
The Kingdom is the ruling planet in the sky.

And yet, even this supreme idea is not clearly defined in
Jewish thought ; nor are the various teachers at one in their
presentation of it. In the " revelation " books we find the belief
in the Kingdom expressed in very different forms, and diversely
coloured by the religious, philosophical, and political outlook of
each writer. It is an excellent rule to suspect all accounts of
Jewish doctrine in proportion as they suggest symmetry, order,
and logical coherence.

These confusions and perplexities are due- mainly to the
historical circumstance that the Kingdom conception arose at
a time when the outlook of men was confined to this present
world, and had afterwards to be modified so as to meet the re
quirements of belief in a real personal immortality. In the Old
Testament the hope of the Kingdom is expressed sometimes in
a very lofty and generous way. It is predicted that Israel
shall be set free, vindicated, and established, that the Gentiles

shall be converted, and that all the ends of the earth shall see

28 THE WORLD TO COME

the salvation of God. Then will come a blessed era of universal
well-being — a time of peace wherein men shall dwell in brother
hood, and their spears be changed into pruning hooks ; a time
of religious light wherein all men are to know the Lord. The
blessings of this golden age are to extend even to the lower
creatures. Wild beasts shall raven no more, and the lion shall
lie down with the lamb. The whole order of nature, also, will
be so modified and transfigured as to be a fit environment for
this glorious life — tearless, painless, and without sin.1

This was a great conception, altogether noble, worthy, and
simple ; and it never lost its place in the minds of men. But
the growth of the belief in personal immortality complicated
matters and introduced a disturbing element into the thought
of the Kingdom. The doctrine of immortality solves many a
hard riddle, but it undoubtedly creates problems of its own ;
and this the Jews discovered. Their increasing faith in a state
of rewards and punishments beyond the grave delivered them
from the old difficulty of reconciling their belief in God with
their experience of the inequality and injustice which op
pressed this present life, but it perplexed their doctrine of the
Messianic Age. It confronted them with the question — What
is to be the relation of the blessed dead to the Kingdom of
God when it comes on the earth ? Are they to remain in the
Unseen State, remote from their brethren, or are they to return
to this world and have a share in the great consummation ?
The answer usually given to this was that the saints would
arise from the dead and enter with the living into the City of
God. This was the natural solution. It was most fitting to
be believed that those who had looked for the Kingdom in the
days of their flesh would wish to return and rejoice in its coming.
And so there came to be a generally received opinion that the
Messianic State would include the dead as well as the living.
But it must be confessed that this belief expressed itself at
first in a form that was somewhat crude. The earliest view
retained the traditional idea of the Kingdom, and expected the
righteous dead to experience a second incarnation in order that
they might be fitted to enjoy its citizenship. This conception

1 See refs. in App. II.

is found, for instance, in the apocalyptic prophecy which runs
through chaps. 24, 25, 26 of Isaiah. In this very old writing,
the Messianic woes and tiery judgments are descrihed. Then
comes a vision of the Kingdom which God will establish in
His holy hill of Zion. Finally, the blessed are called to awake
out of sleep and arise from the dust in gladness of life.
" Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust ; for thy dew is as
the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

The same ancient view is expressed, with less religious
elevation but in a more developed form, in the oldest section of
the Book of Enoch. In this work the Messianic State is de
scribed as one in which men eat and drink, marry and give in
marriage, beget many children, and live a life of five hundred
years, surrounded by peace and abundance, in a world of beauty
and generous harvests. It is predicted, also, that the departed
of Israel will arise out of Hades and receive a new body such
as shall tit them to share again all the conditions of physical
life.

This conception, however, was outgrown by the more
thoughtful. These came to feel that, as the condition of
departed saints was already one of spiritual blessedness, so any
Kingdom to which they could return must be first of all a
spiritual state. Hence, in the Similitudes of Enoch, the King
dom is conceived as a condition of religious communion with
God and with the Messiah ; its citizens shall be clothed with
light, and shall dwell in a transfigured and glorified earth.
The author of the Book of Jubilees, going further, discarded the
idea of a bodily resurrection, and did not expect the departed
to share in the Messianic Keign. And the writer of the last
section of Enoch transferred the scene of the Kingdom to the
spiritual world. He taught that the earth would pass away,
and that the righteous dead would awake from sleep in Hades
and rise disembodied into the heavens. The righteous living,
also, being transmuted into a spiritual likeness, would become
as the angels of God and ascend to be for ever with the Lord.1

The Alexandrian Jews, again, either gave up the idea of
the Kingdom altogether or thought of it as an earthly paradise
1 For refs. see App. I. and II.

30 THE WORLD TO COME

in which departed saints would have no place. Thus, Philo
predicts that the scattered Jews will be set free and return to
Zion led by a supernatural Appearance, visible to the redeemed
but unseeen by others ; a soldier Messiah, " warring furiously,"
will subdue their enemies; the lower creatures will become
friends of humanity : and a state of universal joy and peace
will appear. Men will there live long lives, and pass peacefully
on towards death " or rather immortality." l Philo could not
possibly entertain the idea of the departed having any lot in
this Kingdom. They had passed at death to their native state
of rapt communion with God. For them to experience resur
rection and a new life on the earth would be humiliation and
punishment, not reward or blessedness. Bodily life was an
evil and a prison ; and those who had escaped from it returned
to it no more. Thus the Kingdom, as conceived by Philo, was
simply the consummation of earthly history, and had no
relation to that heavenly state wherein the souls of the blessed
behold the face of God.

The Jewish literature thus contains four different answers
to the question created by the faith in immortal life. The first
of these is to think of the Kingdom as an earthly paradise,
and to suppose that the departed will receive at the resurrec
tion such a body as shall enable them to share in mundane
joys. The second is to spiritualise the Kingdom in a somewhat
indefinite way; and to say that those who are alive at its
coming will have their physical frames changed into a spiritual
likeness, while the righteous dead will be endowed with a body
after the same fashion, so that all may be heirs together of the
City of God. The third is to transfer the scene of the King
dom to heaven, and to think of the quick and the dead as
translated thither at the last day — absent from the body but
present with the Lord. The fourth is to keep the idea of the
Kingdom separate from that of personal immortality ; and to
conceive the former as a terrestrial state in which the departed
can have no portion, inasmuch as they already possess a better
life than any earthly empire can bestow. These four solutions
of the problem are, however, confused and intermingled in
1 De Execrat. 9, De Proem, et 1'oen. 16.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 31

many of the books; individual thinkers seem sometimes to
hold one of them and sometimes another ; and the apocalyptic
writers, as a rule, express no clear view as to the relation of
the Kingdom to the unseen world.

The Rabbis describe the Kingdom of God under three
aspects : (1) as a thing already present wherever men are found
who are faithful to the law ; (2) as the vindication of Israel ;
(3) as a means of blessing to all mankind.1 I believe it to be
impossible to say how they related the doctrine of the Kingdom
to that of immortality. Probably they tended in the main
towards the view expressed by Philo ; but their thoughts on
the subject were characterised by the same perplexity and
changefulness as marked the whole Jewish doctrine of the last
things. And the apparent confusion of their teaching was
increased by the peculiarities of apocalyptic imagery, by the
influence of changing political circumstances, and by the
waxing and waning of the hope of a personal Messiah.

II.

GENERAL NEW TESTAMENT DOCTKINE.

Now, the influence of all this variety of thought is evident
in the New Testament which, indeed, contains suggestions of
all the different Jewish theories. The belief in the personal
Messiah, of course, attained in the minds of Apostles and
Evangelists a value it had never possessed before, receiving
new tenderness, intimacy, and wealth of content from its
association with the personality of Jesus. But, otherwise, the
Kingdom idea is not more positively defined in our sacred
writings than it is in Jewish books. There is no formal con-i
sistency in the pictures of it ; and its relation, as an earthly
state, to the heavenly Empire of God is not made clear. The
outline of the whole conception remains vague, clouded, and
variable, like that of distant hills against a changing sky. It
is plain that, in the case of the Kingdom as of other apocalyptic
1 Cf. Schechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology t pp. 65-115.

32 THE WORLD TO COME

ideas, the Spirit of revelation was not concerned to alter exist
ing forms of thinking, but was content to give them new
religious value and to illumine them all with the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the best illustration of the indefiniteness that
characterises the New Testament doctrine of the Kingdom is
found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Nowhere is the Kingdom
idea more prominent than in this book; and yet it remains
exceedingly elusive in its form. The author does not expect
any earthly reign of the Messiah ; he looks for " the heavenly
Jerusalem," " an heavenly country," a " city that hath founda
tions, whose builder and maker is God." x Also, he expresses
the expectation of the Parousia with deliberate vagueness —
" to those who look for Him " Christ " shall appear a second
time without sin unto salvation." 2 In short, all that we know
about this writer's belief regarding the Kingdom is that it
signifies the fulfilment of all the desires, and the fruition of all
the hopes, of faith.

Now, this characteristic of the Epistle to the Hebrews
cannot be ascribed to Alexandrian influence, since the apostolic
Eirst Epistle of St. Peter, while it is suffused with the light of
the near coming of Christ, maintains a similar reserve of tone,
and speaks of the Kingdom as " an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven "
for believers.3 It is unnecessary, further, to remind ourselves
that the Gospel and First Epistle of St. John are even more
reticent than First Peter on this subject. In these writings
the Kingdom is seldom represented as a thing that is to come ;
and the hope of the Second Advent is expressed in the promise
of Jesus to come again and to receive His disciples unto Him
self,4 and in the saying — " It doth not yet appear what we
shall be : but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is." 5

On the other hand, the Second Epistle of St. Peter predicts
that heaven and earth will be consumed by fire, and that there
will appear " new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth

1 Heb. 1222 II16- 10. 2 9s8. 8 1 Pet. I4- B.

4 John 143. ° 1 John 32.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 33

righteousness." l The Apostle Paul, again, presents the King
dom idea in several forms and in varying imagery. It is the
present possession of belie vers — " righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost." It is the Church, the Body of the
Kedeemer. It is a Kingdom in a renewed world. And it is
an universal dominion of God through Jesus Christ.*

In the Apocalypse of St. John the element of discord is so
increased as to defy any attempt at coherent interpretation.
In this book the Kingdom is, now the Church, now a glorified
earthly state, and now a spiritual inheritance. And the
difficulties of its teaching are increased by the fidelity with
which it follows the rules of apocalyptic art. The martyrs,
for instance, are portrayed both as a triumphant host and as
prisoners under the altar ; 3 and the New Jerusalem, though it
is described as a material city, is lighted by no material sun
shine, but by the spiritual splendour of God.4 Also, it is said
to exclude all that are without, and yet its gates are declared
to be open all the hours in perpetual welcome.5 Further,
there is in the City a Tree of Life whose leaves are for the
healing of the nations ; 6 and it is difficult to see what use this
tree can serve, since those that are within the City are in no
need of healing, and all the sinners who have escaped the great
Destruction are denied admission to the place of blessedness.7

But they that are troubled greatly by things like these
perplex themselves in vain, forgetting that symbolical truth is
one thing and literal truth another. It passes the wit of man
to present a many-sided reality in a succession of pictures that
are all of one colour ; and every picture of St. John is faithful
to an aspect of the Gospel. If he had believed it possible to
describe the Kingdom with logical consistency he would have
written an essay, and not an apocalypse.

Thus many and thus various, then, are the forms of the
Kingdom-hope in our sacred writings. It is a vision that

1 2 Pet. 313.

2 Cf. 1 Thess. 414-17, 2 Thess. I5'11, 1 Cor. 1520'28, Rom. S18'25, Eph. I3"14,
Phil. 28'11, Col. 1»-23.

3 Rev. 71J-n 6s-11. 4 22s. 5 2125'27 2214- 1B.
« 22:!. 7 218 217 etc.

34 THE WORLD TO COME

presents itself to the eyes of faith in many a different guise.
Hardly has one view of it appeared than it dissolves and
another takes its place. Yet in all its varied semblances it
bears certain characteristics that never change. It is always
securely established, incorruptible, dominating, beautiful. And
it is always an heritage that has been purchased for us with the
precious blood of Christ, who is ever its Ix)rd, its light and its
glory by the grace of God the Father. We may apply to the
New Testament vision of the Kingdom the words that Brown
ing uses in speaking of the face of Christ. It

"Far from vanish, rather grows,
Or decomposes but to recompose,
Becomes mv universe that feels and knows."

III.

TEACHING OF JESUS.

Now, the perplexities which attend the interpretation of
the Kingdom doctrine, both in the Jewish books and in the
New Testament generally, assert themselves in an acute form
when we come to consider the prophecies of Jesus as recorded
by the earlier Evangelists. Our Lord's predictions of the
approaching Keign of God, His account of Himself as the Son
of Man, and His pictorial descriptions of the Second Advent —
all these present the apocalyptic problem in its most disturbing
aspect. The questions which they raise are not of merely
academic concern, but touch the vital interests of faith. The
Gospel apocalypse is certainly marked by features of apparent
discord ; and it suggests that our Lord entertained expectations
which history has not fulfilled. Also, the imagination finds it
hard to reconcile the picture of Jesus of Nazareth, in its grace
and truth, with the vision of the terrible Messiah ; and it is
difficult to feel that the Synoptic prophecies have any natural
congruity with the sayings recorded by St. John, with teaching
like that contained in the Parable of the Prodigal Son and in
the Sermon on the Mount, and especially, perhaps, with the

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 35

story of the Cross and Passion. It is impossible for us to
regard the perplexities thus created with detachment or
indifference. The words of Jesus are to us of paramount
importance ; and nothing that might even tend to modify the
Christian view of His supreme spiritual authority can fail to
awake in the Church a keen and anxious concern.

Outline of Gospel Apocalypse.

(a) Now, there can be no doubt whatever as to the import
ance of the Kingdom doctrine and prophecy in the Synoptic
account of our Lord's teaching. Jesus began His mission
with the message — " The Kingdom of God is at hand." l He
continued to speak of that Kingdom and of its coming through
out the whole of His ministry. And He said to His disciples
at the Last Supper, " I will drink no more of the fruit of the
vine, until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of
God." 2 The thought of that coming time of awe and glory and
blessedness was the poetry and the inspiration of His life.
He lavished the treasures of His imagination, and appealed to
the simplest experiences of His hearers, to illustrate His great
conception. Nothing was too high, and nothing too homely,
to afford a parable of the Kingdom. He saw symbols of it in
the springing corn, and in the tiny seed which grows to be a
great spreading tree of hospitable shade. It was the Pearl
of great price. It was the Banqueting Hall of plenty and
welcome. It was the great Marriage Feast. It was the
appointed place of recompense for the poor and the weak, and
for all who lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. Many
would come from the east and from the west and enter into
its blessedness. It would be ruled by the spirit of service to
one's neighbour and of filial trust towards God. Its law would
be the law of love ; and self-forgetfulness, humility, and the
childlike heart would be the conditions of attaining to rule and
authority therein.

(6) Such was the importance of the Kingdom idea in the
teaching of Jesus ; and such the variety and wealth of form

'Markl™. 2 142B.

36 THE WORLD TO COME

in which it was expressed. Of course, a great deal of this
doctrine is not in any way apocalyptic, either in substance or
fashion. Much of it is simple and direct, expressed in imagery
taken from nature and common life — " one witli the blowing
clover and the falling rain," one also with the common
experience of humanity and the assured thoughts of religion.
Still, it is impossible to evade the force of those utterances
which are after the manner of the "revelation" books, and
declare visions that are coloured with the most vivid hues of
Apocalypse. Thus the sense of impending crisis which is so
characteristic of Jewish prophecy finds expression often in the
Gospels. Jesus speaks not seldom as if He feels Himself to
be standing among things that are old and ready to vanish
away. He sees the Galilean towns and the city of Jerusalem
lying under the shadow of approaching doom. He declares
with a stern sorrow that many are following the easy way that
ends in destruction, while few are finding the narrow path
that leads to the Kingdom of God. He is doubtful whether
the Son of Man when He comes will find faith on the earth.
He proclaims the approach of the Messianic woes — fiery signs
and portents, wars, famine, pestilence and earthquake. He
prophesies the appearing of the Son of Man in the clouds of
heaven with His angelic hosts. He tells of the throne of
Judgment being set, and all nations standing before it ; of the
condemned being cast into the outer darkness and into the
eternal fire, and of the justified being called into the Kingdom
prepared for them from the foundation of the world. He
speaks of the blessedness of that Kingdom — the joy of the
Lord, the comforting, the feasting, the recompense. And He
bids men watch for its coming, lest they be asleep or unpre
pared when the Son of Man appears — lest they may not be
ready to welcome Him, or to endure His question, when He
steals upon the world like a thief in the night, at an hidden
hour, at even or at midnight, or at cock-crow or in the
morning.

(c) Thus the prophetic teaching of Jesus, as presented by
the earlier Evangelists, contains all the familiar features of the
apocalyptic programme. No doubt, some elements in it may

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 37

have been exaggerated under the influence of contemporary
expectations and modes of thought ; but its authenticity is, in
the main, guaranteed by the best documentary evidence. Also,
its expression is sometimes so characteristic, so vivid, so brief
and pointed, so touched with imagination and imbued with
ethical meaning, as to leave little doubt that it is among the
things which the early Church truly received of the Lord.
The problem it involves is not that of determining the main
outline of our Lord's predictive message ; it is the question of
its interpretation. This latter presents a difficulty that has
continuously occupied the attention of scholars for very many
years ; and it would exceed the limits even of amateur audacity
to approach its discussion with a light heart, or even a hopeful
spirit. The very confidence with which it has been debated
has made assurance difficult ; the ingenuities of the learned
have obscured the prospect of any complete solution.

Modes of Interpretation.

(«) One thing, however, is evident ; we cannot solve the
problem of the Gospel prophecies by the method of so-called
"spiritualising." It is impossible to accept the view that
the apocalyptic element in the Synoptics represents nothing
that was really characteristic of Jesus. We cannot agree, for
instance, that when He spoke of His Second Coming He meant
to say that the impression of His life and sacrifice would
produce its full effect only after He was gone ; or that, when
He prophesied the Kingdom, He intended simply to assure us
that certain moral and religious principles would prevail. It
is, indeed, difficult to understand how this explanation of
things ever satisfied any one. It is worse than unhistorical ; it
is dull. It explains poetry by turning it into prose. It is like
saying that when Shakespeare described the stars as singing
like angels, he proposed only to remark that the stars revolved
in an orderly manner. This mode of interpretation does, of
course, achieve simplicity, but it is the simplicity of the
commonplace. It does not blend the colours ; it washes them
out. In place of the glowing imagery, the splendid paradoxes,

38 THE WORLD TO COME

of the prophet, it gives us plain and cool and placid meditation.
It reduces to an abstraction that concrete hope, of many hues
and forms, that shone in the vision of Jesus — that was the
romance of His life, and the joy that was set before Him in
His death.

(6) But, if we thus reject as insufficient the theory which
practically excludes the Gospel Apocalypse from serious con
sideration, there remains for our adoption the opposite view
which attaches high importance to this feature in the records
as representing a vital element in the mind of Jesus Christ.
But, if we assent to this latter position, and agree that our
Lord thought and spoke of things to come after the manner of
the Jewish mystics, then it is well that we should do this with
thoroughness and goodwill. We do not show thoroughness or
goodwill in this matter if we say that Jesus was an apocalyptic
prophet, and yet insist that He must have meant, when He
spoke of the Eeign of God, just what we suppose other teachers
to have meant ; since we know that the Kingdom idea had no
dogmatic or uniform content either in the " revelation " books
of Judaism or in the New Testament writings generally, but,
on the contrary, took several different forms, and depended for
its meaning on the individual genius of each writer. Again,
we are not thorough in the application of our principle if we
look for logical consistency in the imaginative teaching of our
Lord; inasmuch as a study of the literature shows that the
method of the Jewish prophets did not encourage or even
permit that quality. In short, a really scientific interpretation
of the Gospel predictions in the light of Apocalypse leads us to
expect no dogmatic precision in the evangelic conception of
the Kingdom, forbids us to limit the freedom and originality
of our Lord's belief by reference to any supposed standard of
contemporary thought, and does not permit us to be impressed
or disconcerted by the discovery of apparent discords in the
pictorial predictions of Jesus. The more we test the Gospel
apocalypse by the data given us in works like the Enoch
writings and the Eevelation of St. John, the more are we
delivered from perplexity, the less are we disposed to literal
and dogmatic exposition, and the better do we understand the

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 39

freedom and wealth and beauty of the hope that dwelt in
Jesus.

I propose then to illustrate this view by reference (1) to
the difficulties that beset the strict eschatological rendering of
the Gospel apocalypse; (2) to certain characteristics of Jeras
which forbid us to identify His thought with that ofjLny
Jewish school; (3) to those features of the records thernf jives
which show the free and indefinite character of ouv Lord's
belief as to the Kingdom of God.

(1)
Difficulties of the " Eschatological, " Theory.

The theory which interprets the Synoptic account of
Jesus in the light of a dogmatic Conception of Apocalypse is
not the creation of one thinLer, but has been developed
gradually through the labour of many minds. It attains,
however, to its full expression in the writings of Joh Weiss
and Albert Schweitzer.1 it may be well, then, to begin this
section by combining in otne brief statement the main features
of the construction presented by these two scholars.

Jesus was, in the;ir view, the supreme prophet of the
apocalyptic tradition, i He apprehended His Gospel in strictly
Messianic terms, and; under the influence of a dogmatic pre-
destinarianism. He shared the pessimistic standpoint of the
Jewish thinkers ; arid the crash of hastening doom was con
stantly in His eans. His prophetic mood was "gloomy and
rugged," oppressed ! by " the shadow of approaching judgment "
and "the thought', of the destruction of the world."2 His
mission was to prepare men for the approaching end, and to
clear the way fo/r the coming of the divine Kingdom whose
appointed ruler He Himself was. His general religious and
moral teaching i^as a thing subordinate to His eschatological
message, and evran out of harmony with it. His ethical doctrine

1 Joh. Weiss, Di'£ Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Qottes (2nd ed.) ; A. Schweitzer,
Quest of the Historical Jesus (English).

2 Weiss, p. 135.

THE WORLD TO COMK

of personal salvation was inconsistent with the predestiuariuu-
ism of His prophecies,1 and with His view of the Kingdom
which was purely religious, without moral content, the " bare
idea of a Eeign of God." The precepts of the Sermon on the
Mirmt were simply expositions of the manner in which men
shou d think and believe while they awaited the coming of
the &kn of Man.2 According to Weiss, Jesus had " an innate
joy in nature and in the world of men," and it was at times
when this natural characteristic of His mind prevailed over
His prophetic' convictions that He uttered " those parables and
maxims which possess an eternal validity for mankind of
every age."3 Thtjse precious elements in His teaching were
thus a mere by-prcAduct of His ministry, and failed entirely
to influence the prevailing tone of His message. At first He
expected the Kingdom to" come during His lifetime; indeed,
it is probable that when He \sent away His disciples on their
preaching mission He looked ifor its appearing before they
should have completed their works— at the close of the harvest
which was already ripening in tfye fields.4 But this early
hope was disappointed, and soon He Vcame to understand that
something hindered the Advent of the jKmgdom. Weiss thinks
that this hindrance was the unrepenWl sin of the people.5
Schweitzer supposes that Jesus believW the delay of the
Advent to be due to the fact that the MeWianic woes had nofc
appeared — those troubles and sorrows Which according to
tradition must precede the coming of thel^01"^ ^ufc> what
ever the obstacle may have been, He set \iimself to remove
it by the sacrifice of Himself. His voluntary submission to
death was to procure redemption for the eli'ct, eifcher because
it would be a propitiation for their sin or because through it
He would take upon Himself, and endure in '^His own experi
ence, the whole burden of the Messianic sorrows. He there
fore set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalei

mission of uttermost self-surrender for the at
supreme good. He saw in the Cross the way t

1 Schweitzer, p. 363.
3 Weiss, pp. 134-136.
6 Weiss, p. 201.

• Ibid. p. 3
4 Schweitze
6 Schweitze

on a sublime

ainment of the
the Kingdom.

p. 356.

pp. 385-388.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 41

By the path of death He would go to the Father, and would
return again in a little while to judge and to destroy the
world, and to establish that state of blessedness, that Reign of
God, which He should have purchased for His people with His
precious blood.

(a) Now, it is not to be denied that this construction is
supported by many features of the Synoptic record. One
must admit, also, that the theory, of which Schweitzer is the
most thorough exponent, does emphasise elements in the
character and work of our Lord that have often been forgotten
—the sheer force of His personality, His sense of authority,
the immutable strength of His purpose. Also, it does
conserve, in a kind of symbolism, much of the Evangelical
faith, inasmuch as it asserts that Jesus was conscious of
a supernatural origin and mission, that He set Himself
to establish the Kingdom of God, and that He gave Him
self in willing sacrifice that He might accomplish a great
redemption.

(b) But the difficulties that beset this interpretation, in its
details and on its negative side, are certainly very great.
Evidently it presents a self-contradictory portrait of Jesus —
depicting Him as a gloomy and rugged prophet, who never
theless taught a doctrine of mercy and service ; a man who
was great enough to change the history of the world, and yet
so misread the signs of the times as to believe the end of that
world at hand ; a high predestinariau, who thought to hasten
the purpose of God ; l one who came to minister and give His
life a ransom, but none the less expected to establish a
Kingdom of love by means of destruction. This is a quite
incredible account of Jesus Christ ; and it is incapable of being
reconciled with many elements in His doctrine, and especially
with the view of His person and teaching presented in the
Fourth Gospel.

(c) And, if this theory is open to criticism when regarded
in general outline, further defects are revealed if we consider
it as stated in detail by each of the writers I have named.
It is to be noted, for instance, that Weiss describes the

1 Schweitzer, pp. 368-369.

42 THE WORLD TO COME

prophetic, convictions of Jesus as opposed to His native genius,
and to His most intimate thoughts regarding God and the
world. He thus denies the harmony of the Saviour's religious
experience, and depicts the mind of Christ as a kingdom
divided against itself.

As to Schweitzer's exposition, its disabilities are manifold.
To begin with, this writer takes astonishing liberties with the
historical evidence. For instance, he says that John the
Baptist appeared at a time when apocalyptic prophecy had
fallen into " silence " ; l in face of the fact that one of the most
vivid predictions of the Parousia in the whole of Jewish
literature was written by a contemporary of John and of
Jesus.2 Also, he speaks as if there had been only one Jewish
doctrine of the Kingdom ; whereas there were several. And,
further, he denies that there was any political colour in the
Messianic expectation as expressed in Apocalypse, although
there is clear evidence to the contrary in the Psalms of Solomon.
But, apart from these little matters, he combines a continual
claim to extreme scientific rigour with habitual concession and
compromise. Thus, he affirms that Jesus always thought of
the Kingdom as a thing to come, and yet admits that the
Messianic consciousness of our Lord implied that the Kingdom
was, in some sense, already present with Him in the world.
And this is only an illustration of Schweitzer's failure to make
good his claim to be the one consistent apostle of logic, What
are we to make of a writer who maintains the attitude of
Christian faith towards the Saviour ; but nevertheless teaches
that Jesus discovered on the Cross that His visions had
deceived Him and that the hope that had inspired His ministry
had been mistaken after all ? But the final example of this
author's inconsistency is afforded by the statement with which
he closes his discussion. In this statement he contends that,
while the conclusions he has already indicated are valid on
critical grounds, they need not destroy the confidence of the
Christian believer. Whoever will repeat in his own life the
self-renunciation of Jesus will learn to know Him as He really
is, and will attain a faith that cannot be shaken. Thus the

1 Quest, etc. p. 368. z Ass. of Moses.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 43

truth of history is set in opposition to the truth of experience,
and each individual is thrown back on his own subjective
impressions as the ground of his assurance. We are to find
in self-denial a means of escape from the negative results of
science !

(d) Now this is, of course, a fragmentary and brief account
of this critical construction of the Gospel. But it may suffice
to indicate that the school which dogmatises Apocalypse fails
of complete success. Its purpose is to show that the diffi
culties of the evangelic records can be solved by the applica
tion of a rigorous historical analysis. With this intent it
assumes that Jewish thought had attained in gospel times to a
definite doctrine of the Last Things. It then affirms that
Jesus adopted this doctrine, and expressed it with decision and
harmony in His later teaching. As a result of this view, it
subordinates the more individual to the more traditional
elements in our Lord's message ; and asserts that there was a
rift in His thought, and that His prophetic convictions were
not in accord with His moral and religious beliefs. Thus, it
creates perplexities of a deeper and more radical kind than
those which it seeks to remove; it leaves confusion worse
confounded. And the root of its misfortunes is that it starts
from an unhistorical basis. The Jewish expectation of the
End was not dogmatic but prophetic and imaginative. Its
conception of the Kingdom was not defined and uniform, but
vague and many-sided and changing. Also, the imagery in
which it was expressed was not harmonious in form and
colour, but diverse and discordant. When we forget these
things we attribute to Apocalypse a logical cohesion that is
foreign to its genius — that is not ancient but . modern, not
Jewish but German. And the result is that we reap a harvest
of amazement; and achieve a portrait of Jesus that is not
recognisable either by history or by faith.1

1 Of course much of this criticism does not apply to Weiss so much as to
later writers. Weiss does not himself insist strongly on the "dogmatic"
character of Apocalypse. There is an elusiveness about his beautiful and
suggestive work that renders strict interpretation difficult. But his exposition,
on its negative side, is logically at one with Schweitzer's.

44 THE WORLD TO COME

(2)
Characteristics of Jesus tluat modify His Prophecies.

1. His unique religious consciousness. — But, in the second
place, there are elements in the character and experience of
Jesus which forbid us to identify His prophetic beliefs with
those of any other teacher or of any Jewish school. The first
of these, of course, is His unique religious knowledge, His
unbroken filial communion with the Father. This is the
supreme fact about Jesus. It constitutes His originality and
His permanent claim on the devotion of mankind. In the
light of it, therefore, we must interpret all His reported
sayings. Especially must we regard His use of traditional
forms as modified by it. But if we thus start from the
consciousness of Jesus, and ask ourselves how the whole
scheme of Jewish thought would present itself to Him, we find
ourselves without the means of reply. It is sometimes
assumed, indeed, that Jesus shared " the popular Messianic
expectation of His time." But then we do not know what
this popular expectation was ; and even if we did, it would be
impossible to take for granted that Jesus shared it. The
opinion of the vulgar is the worst possible guide to the beliefs
of the wise. Besides, the Gospels afford clear evidence that
our Lord was not " the unlettered peasant " of common
tradition. This is shown by the accounts of His arguments
with Scribes, by His reading and translating the Scriptures in
the Synagogue, and by the traces of Rabbinic modes of thought
that sometimes appear in His teaching.1 Also, it seems quite
certain that He was acquainted with the literature of
Apocalypse. Evidently, then, it is not possible for us to
assume that Jesus held the "popular" ideas about the
Kingdom, whatever these may have been.

Neither can we be confident that He was in accord with
the opinions of any separate Jewish writer. How can we say
that any one of those anonymous persons who composed the
Enoch books was able to anticipate the mind of Jesus ? They

1 Of. Job. Weiss, Paid and Jesus, p. 69.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 45

did not agree with each other; they were not men of first-
class genius, either intellectual or prophetic. How, then, can
we accept the best of them as the interpreter of Christ ? No
doubt, He shared with them the general outline of a radiant
hope; no doubt, also, He expressed Himself in the imagery
that was theirs. But, beyond these common characteristics,
we cannot feel any assurance that His thoughts were their
thoughts. We know that it is the spirit within a man that
gives meaning to the forms of his belief; and so it seems
certain that no article of faith can have meant for our Lord
just what it did even for the most religious of His countrymen.
How shall we present to ourselves the world of traditional
hope and promise as it lay in the serene light of the mind of
Christ, a light that transfigured all things by a secret of its
own ? We may surely say, at least, that ancient symbols and
signs had for Jesus a significance other than they had ever
possessed before. Even the Jewish prophets of apocalypse
had a fine spirit of individuality and independence, and each
of them imparted fresh meaning to his message according to
the measure of his power. And we are plainly without
excuse if we deny to Jesus a freedom that was exercised
by these ordinary men. The only sure way to misunder
stand Him is to limit Him ; and the only certainly mistaken
theory is that which seeks to impose the bondage of common
tradition on the most original personality in the history of
mankind.

Especially must we count it unreasonable to interpret the
Messianic consciousness of the Saviour by ancient Jewish
expectations, in such a way as to imply that these conditioned
His inner life. It is not possible to suppose that His filial
communion with God arose out of the belief that He was the
Messiah, or that He expressed the whole religious content of
His mind when He said to Himself, in the language of tradition,
" I am the Son of Man. " l The Messianic idea was not great
enough to contain Him. He embodied it, but He changed it ;
combining it with the conception of the suffering Servant of

1 On Jesus' use of title Son of Man, cf. Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 241 ff. ;
E. F. Scott, Kingdom and Messiah ; Charles, Book of Enoch (Appendix).

46 THE WORLD TO COME

the Lord, and enriching it with His own experience. His
vision of God was the achievement of His own spirit, not a
privilege that attached itself to His position in the hierarchy
of souls. His fellowship with the Father conditioned His
thoughts about the Kingdom and His supremacy therein —
created and informed His conviction that He was the Christ,
the Son of the living God. The Messiahship was but the
transparent lamp ; His individuality was the light that
illumined it. Indeed, Christian faith has always discerned
this truth. It has penetrated by a kind of intuition to the
secret of His personality, and has found Him to be greater
than the Christ, more human than the Son of Man, and more
divine than the Lord of the Kingdom. Hence it is that the
imagery of the Fourth Gospel has gradually come to have
more religious value for it than the eschatology of the earlier
records ; that the Good Shepherd, the Bread and Water of
life, the Light of the World, the true Vine, the Eesurrection
and the Life, seem to it more adequate symbols of Jesus than
the picture of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven ;
that Eternal Life is more to it than the Kingdom ; and that,
more than the vision of a Second Coining like the lightning in
the skies, it treasures the promise recorded by St. John —
" If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto Myself " l

2. His "optimism." — It seems, then, that the unique
religious knowledge and experience of Jesus must have given
a newness of meaning for Him to the expectation of the
Kingdom and Parousia — a newness of meaning which we
cannot measure or define, since it was incapable of being
expressed in the traditional language which He used. But it
is to be remembered, further, that one of the essentials of the
apocalyptic spirit was absent from the mind of Christ. The
Jewish books, as a rule, are permeated with a very gloomy
temper of thought — the only exceptions to this being the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarclis and the Books of Adam
and Eve. The prophets of Apocalypse looked with sad,
lowering, censorious eyes on the world which they inhabited.

1 John 143.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 47

They put no trust in the power of spiritual forces to redeem
humanity, and they showed little tolerance, tenderness, or
faith in their judgment of their fellow-men. They saw nothing
around them but decay and death. Baruch expressed their
attitude when he said :

"For all the healthinesses of this time are turning into diseases,
And all the might of this time is turning into weakness,
And all the force of this time is turning into impotence,
And every energy of youth into old age and consummation."

This pessimism of the Jewish prophets was, indeed, the secret
of their whole position. It was because they were utterly
hopeless of the present order that they looked for its complete
destruction in the day when the Lord should appear.

Now, it is not possible to agree with those who think that
the attitude and temperament of the Master were in harmony
with this mood of thought. Spite of some sayings in the
Gospels, we cannot agree to speak of " the pessimism of Jesus."
No doubt, He saw that the Jewish State was hastening on
towards disaster. No doubt, also, He believed that the world
was largely under the tyranny of evil powers. He had a sad
and stern sense of the moral peril that besets the life of men.
He is rightly called the Man of Sorrows ; and there is profound
truth in the saying of Pascal — " Jesus will be in agony till the
end of the world. No sleep for Him during that time."1
Nevertheless, the impression produced upon the mind by the
personality and bearing of our Lord is one of great hopeful
ness. It could not, indeed, be otherwise. He knew Himself
man ; and He knew Himself one with God ; how then could He
despair of mankind ? Edward Caird speaks in his Crifford
Lectures of the " immeasurable optimism of Jesus " ; 2 and we
can understand his use of the phrase. As we read the account
of the Galilean ministry we feel ourselves in the presence of
a spirit that is rich in hope as in mercy. All things seem
possible in the light of His face; and it seems the merest
unbelief to doubt the conquering power of goodness. Con-

1 Vinet's Studies in Pascal, p. 80.

2 Cf. Evolution of Religion, vol. ii. pp. 107-111.

48 THE WORLD TO COME

fidence in the ability of the forces of life to overcome disease
and sin shines through His words and works; and He sees
Satan fall as lightning from Heaven. Nothing is able to
resist the touch of the life eternal that is in Him — not demons,
nor pain, nor weakness, nor death. He discerns the promise
of the Kingdom in the eyes of little children, whose angels do
always behold the face of the Father. In His attitude
towards the world of humanity, also, there is little that
suggests the gloomy prophet of judgment. He sees a pathos
in the wandering lives of men ; they are to Him as sheep not
having a shepherd. He finds spiritual possibilities in the most
despised ; believes that the publicans and sinners may be
made fit for the Kingdom of God, and that the lost may be
restored. He reserves His censure for sins of arrogance,
oppression, pretence, and cruelty, and has little to say in
condemnation even of the offences that seem to us most
shameful and hopeless. The Son of Man is come, He says, not
to be ministered unto but to minister : and those to whom His
service is given are the weak, the poor, the sinful, and the
despised.

Now, nothing could be more alien than all this to the
spirit of Jewish apocalypse. When He said to the woman
who was a sinner, " Neither do I condemn thee : go, and sin no
more," l and to another penitent, " Thy sins are forgiven," 2 He
showed that a great gulf separated Him from all those who
thought after the manner of Enoch. And this is a character
istic of Jesus which has a most important bearing on our
interpretation of those Gospel prophecies that indicate a
promise to return to the world on a mission of destruction.
Predictions of this kind, as expressed by the Jewish teachers,
belong to a consistent view of things — they pertain to the
prevailing sense of impending catastrophe, which again arose
out of a pessimistic temper of thought. Hence, our estimate
of the likelihood that a purpose of destruction possessed the
mind of Jesus depends very much on the degree in which we
suppose Him to have shared the pessimism of His age. The
more you are able to show that He looked upon the world
1 John 8". - Luke 7*».

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 49

with the eyes of the Jewish teachers, and that His ears
continually heard the crash of the coming doom, the more
likely you make it to appear that He expected the Parousia
soon, and according to the Jewish manner. On the other
hand, the more you emphasise the hopeful, gentle, universal
element in His teaching and life, the less probable does it
seem that He pictured His own Second Coming in the colours
of flaming vision and as a swiftly hastening doom. Thus
Weiss admits that there is something in the life of our Lord
which does not suggest that He shared the gloomy thoughts
of His countrymen — those very thoughts out of which arose
the expectation of a speedy end of things. But he attributes
this element in the story of Jesus to times when He experi
enced relief from the burden of His message, when the
eschatological gloom of His thought lightened and the sun of
God shone through the clouds. The optimism of Jesus was a
passing mood ; His pessimism was the daily atmosphere of
His thought. And it was in harmony with this latter
dominant element in His belief that He predicted His speedy
return to condemn the world and establish the Kingdom of
God.1 And it is evident that if we can accept this interpreta
tion it will appear to us altogether natural that Jesus should
have painted the vision of the Second Advent in the darkest
possible colours. If, however, Weiss's view seems to us utterly
incredible, we are left face to face with the old difficulty of
accounting for the Synoptic sayings which speak of His
immediate return in apocalypse of wrath and terror. We are
compelled to ask ourselves again whether it is likely that He,
being no pessimist, adopted an expectation which belonged to
pessimistic thought, and that He who loved so well the world
of men promised to appear in a little while for its destruction
and for the establishment on its ruins of a Kingdom of the
Elect.

Now, this difficulty of reconciling the negative side of the
Gospel apocalypse with the wide human sympathy and great
hopefulness of Jesus, lends some weight to the suggestion that
the early Church under the influence of eschatological habits

1 Predigt, p. 134f.
4

50 THE WORLD TO COME

of thought may have exaggerated somewhat the force and
definiteness of the Parousia predictions, and even in some cases
have misunderstood their intention. It is true that this pos
sibility is often discounted on the ground that the prophecies
of the Messianic woes and the end of the world occur in the
earliest documents, which date from u period before the crisis
of Jewish affairs had begun to fill the minds of men with the
sense of approaching fate. It is to be noted, however, that in
the Assumption of Moses, which is older than any of the
Synoptic records, the Consummation is declared to be at hand,
and the sorrows and portents that are to attend the Parousia
are stated in terms that resemble closely those of the Gospels.
Also, one can see no reason for denying that Jesus may have
foreseen the fall of Jerusalem forty years before it came to
pass, and that some of His most vivid prophecies may
have foreshadowed that tremendous event. Of course, we
must agree that He foretold His coming again, and that He
described this Second Advent as being appointed for judgment
as well as for deliverance. But it is difficult to believe that
He can have declared His intention to destroy all the world
except a small company of the chosen. Such a prospect
would have been congenial enough to the Jewish mind, in
some of its moods, but it is almost impossible to harmonise
it with the outlook of Jesus. And so it is altogether reason
able to admit that the note of universal doom in the message
of the Saviour was echoed with greatly magnified force by
the mind of the early Church, during that period of tense
and feverish emotion which preceded the close of Jewish
history.

But even if we were sure that Jesus said all the things
recorded in the Gospels, and even if we were to affirm that all
His prophecies applied to the end of the world, and were to
interpret them in the light of current opinion, we would not
be constrained to find in them any very rigorous import.1
Certainly we could not agree that our Lord declared anything

1 The Jewish idea of what would really happen to the world in the Consum
mation was, of course, as vague and variable as the conception of the Kingdom
itself.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT Si

regarding His Second Advent that was inconsistent with His
attitude towards the masses of men throughout His earthly
ministry. "We know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,"
His hopefulness and His benignity ; and this knowledge is
founded on the impression made by His entire life and character.
It is, therefore, more secure than any opinion we may hold as
to the meaning of certain apocalyptic sayings in the Gospels.
What precisely was in His mind when He predicted the great
catastrophe and tragedy of the End, we cannot tell. His
thought is obscured by the imaginative terms in which it is
expressed — terms that are capable of different interpretations.
But we may be confident that His message of destruction and
judgment, like His doctrine of the Messiah and the Kingdom,
was in complete inner harmony with the divine sympathy and
compassion which He always showed toward the multitude of
men, and with His belief in the Fatherly care and love of God
for every creature He had made.

(3)
Testimony of the Records.

I have thus sought to indicate two characteristics of Jesus
which must have modified His prophetic outlook — namely, His
unique religious knowledge, and the hopefulness and catholicity
of His mind. If we make due allowance for these we shall
be led to adopt a somewhat agnostic view as to the precise
meaning of His predictions ; at least we may refuse to identify
His thought with any particular form of Jewish opinion. In
accepting this conclusion, also, we do not depart from the belief
that Jesus was the sovereign exponent of Apocalypse. Kather
may we claim to enforce that idea with thoroughness and
goodwill. It was of the essence of the apocalyptic tradition
that it left room for individual liberty, and that it did not
define its terms. And, therefore, it is reasonable to suppose
that the supreme Master of it was supremely free, and that He
expressed with completeness the imaginative variety of its
genius. There remains, then, the task of showing that this

52 THE WORLD TO COME

interpretation of our Lord's prophetic message is confirmed by
the testimony of the records.

1. The Kingdom doctrine. — And this is not an undertaking
that presents any great difficulty, either in the case of the
Kingdom doctrine or in that of the Parousia predictions. The
belief that the Kingdom idea is expounded in a clear and con
sistent way in the Gospels is quite unjustified. Any one that
is in doubt of this has only to consider what he would say if
he were asked to tell us what precisely our Lord's conception
of the Kingdom was in its concrete form and relations.

The difficulty of answering this question is indeed illustrated
fully by the want of agreement among those who make the
attempt. For instance, most readers of the Gospels will have
no doubt that Jesus taught an ethical doctrine of the Kingdom
— that He thought of it as a state in which moral life continued,
and men practised self-denial and mercy. And this impression
seems abundantly justified by the qualities which our Lord
required of those who would inherit the coming Age, by His
assertion that the law of love would govern it, and above all
by His doctrine of God. An ethical view of the divine nature
would seem to imply a similar view of the divine govern
ment. Yet some eminent authorities find reason to assert that
the idea of the Messianic State, as held by Jesus, was purely
religious and predestinarian — without moral content, " the bare
idea of a Keign of God." Nor can we say that this interpreta
tion is without basis in the Gospels ; since it is evident that
many of our Lord's commandments are directed to men sur
rounded by evil and violence, and would find no sphere of
fulfilment in an ideal state of things. Similarly, the Gospel
records suggest that Jesus believed the Kingdom to be, in some
sense, present in the world. This is the apparent teaching of
the Parable of the Leaven, and is directly stated by St. Luke ; l
and it is reasonable to say that if Jesus knew Himself to be
the Messiah, even in the days of His flesh, He must have
believed that the Messianic State was ideally come. The
Kingdom could not be absent from the earth if its King was
there. He carried it about with Him wherever He went, and

1 Luke 1721. '

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 53

He realised it in His own perfect obedience. Yet many
authorities whose opinion is worthy of great respect certainly
teach that our Lord never thought of the Eealm of God except
as a thing to come.1 These are only illustrations of the con
tradictory answers that are given by competent persons to the
most elementary questions regarding our Lord's doctrine of
the Kingdom. And surely it is fair to conclude that there
can be no clear teaching where such diversity of interpretation
is possible.

Suppose, again, we ask ourselves which of the Jewish
conceptions of the Messianic Age was nearest to the mind of
Jesus, the answer is far from clear. It is evident that He did
not think of the Kingdom as a purely heavenly state. He
looked for a time in which the will of God should be done on
earth as it is in heaven.2 Was His hope, then, of the character
which is expressed in the oldest of the Enoch writings — the
hope of an earthly Paradise, a state of material well-being,
victory, and peace ? Or did it resemble, rather, the vision
contained in the Similitudes of Enoch — the vision of a spiritual
Empire in a new world made after the pattern of Heaven ?
To such questions no unqualified answer can be given, since
some sayings in the Gospels support one view and some another.
There is, certainly, evidence that lends colour to the more
material interpretation. Promises of earthly reward and re
compense are found even in the earliest documents ; 3 and the
saying that Jesus will drink wine with His disciples in the
Kingdom of God 4 does, in its - literal meaning, suggest the idea
of a physical form of life. A like import, also, attaches itself
to the prediction that the disciples will sit on twelve thrones
to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.5 But, on the other hand,
such a conception of the Kingdom is difficult to reconcile with
our knowledge of the mind of Christ, and it seems definitely
excluded by the saying that those who inherit the Kingdom

1 Joh. Weiss's statement on this point is guarded (Predigt, p. 69 ff. ; cf.
also Charles, Escliatology, pp. 371-378. E. F. Scott, Kingdom, and Messiah- ;
also Moffatt, Theology of the Gospels, p. 49 f.).

2 Matt. 610. 3 Mark 1(P, Matt. 192a.
4 Matt, 2629, 5 1928,

54 THE WORLD TO COME

are "as the angels in heaven."1 It is also out of harmony
with the general doctrine of the New Testament.

The Gospels do, indeed, contain one description of the
Kingdom that seems to correspond in its outline with that
contained in the Visions of Enoch. The passage in question
declares that many Gentiles will come from all quarters of the
globe and will share with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the
Kingdom ; while Jews, rejected because of their unbelief, will
remain outside, and will gnash their teeth with envy at the
sight of aliens enjoying a privilege that is denied to them.2
This account seems to contemplate a limited dominion estab
lished at Jerusalem, having among its citizens saints that have
experienced resurrection, as well as many persons gathered
from all nations. But it is evident that this presentation
exhibits elements that are plainly incongruous, and also that
it does not harmonise with the universalism implied in the
prayer — " Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven." The reference to the Patriarchs may even
suggest that the prophecy relates to the future state, inasmuch
as it was commonly believed that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
would receive the faithful dead.

It appears, then, that the doctrine of the Coming Age does
not assume one definite and harmonious form in the Synoptic
Gospels any more than in the . other books of the New Testa
ment. Jesus dwelt with fulness of illustration on the religious
and moral aspects of the Kingdom as a state of complete
harmony with the will of God, of perfect restitution and reward.
But He does not seem to have declared any concrete picture
of it, such as could be grasped in a single act of the imagination.

2. Parousia predictions. — But it is evident that this con
clusion regarding our Lord's conception of the Kingdom must
influence our interpretation of the Parousia predictions. His
view of the Messianic Advent must have been conditioned by
His doctrine of the Empire which it was to inaugurate. A
definite and material idea of the Kingdom would harmonise
with a literal and dramatic prophecy of its appearing. On the
other hand, a more spiritual and ethical form of belief would

1 Matt. 22»°. - Matt. S"'12, Luke 1328- M ; cf. En. 9020'36.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 55

be likely to find expression in the idea that the Advent of the
Golden Age might be gradual and " not with observation." 1
And, finally, an indefinite poetic way of thinking about the
Eeign of God would be reflected in the prophecies of its ap
pearing. Also, one would suppose that the form in which our
Lord hoped for the coming of the Messiah would depend a
good deal on His conception of the Son of Man. A Messiah
who was a Judge, Euler, and Avenger would fittingly appear
in wrath and fire, heralded by earthquake and eclipse ; but a
Messiah who had come to the earth not to be ministered unto
but to minister, and who had attained His glory by sacrifice,
might be expected to come again clothed in a gentler beauty —
not with terror unto destruction, but without sin unto salva
tion.

This seems a reasonable view of matters, and it is confirmed
by the early records which show that our Lord's prophecies of
the Advent were in fact as varied as His presentation of the
Kingdom — corresponding now to one, and now to another
conception of the Messianic State, and harmonising sometimes
with the sterner and sometimes with the gentler view of the
character and office of the Son of Man.

(a) Even before we come to examine these prophecies
separately, and to compare them with each other, we are
perplexed by the difficulty of reconciling their general tone
with certain elements in the teaching of Jesus. When taken
by themselves they certainly suggest the idea that His mind
was dominated and possessed- by the conviction that the end of
all things was at hand. Yet there are features of His doctrine
which imply that He did not feel this sense of approaching
climax. The sweep and reach of His ethical demands, which
call men to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect,2
seem to require a long period of time for their fulfilment. It is
remarkable, also, that when He counsels His hearers not to be
anxious about the future, He does not enforce the lesson by
reminding them that there will be no future to be anxious
about — does not say, " Be not anxious about the morrow ; for
to-morrow the Lord cometh." This would have been a most
20. 2Matt. 548.

56 THE WORLD TO COME

powerful argument to have used if Jesus had been possessed
by the conviction that the end was at hand. Yet He is content
to base His appeal on a homely and familiar thought which
implies that things will be in the days to come even as they
have been in days gone by, and that the old pathetic human
experience will go on repeating itself. "The morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself : sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof." l This is a striking example of a strain in
the Gospels which does not suggest a foreshortening of the
future.

One may refer, also, to those sayings which speak of the
Ecdesia. There is no sufficient reason for rejecting the declara
tion to Peter, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my Church ; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it. I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven :
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven." 2 In this connection we must remark, also,
the institution of the Lord's Supper. Now this idea of the
Church closely corresponds, in some respects, to that of the
Kingdom. The institution of the Eucharist suggests the old
belief that the saints would be fed at the table of the Messiah
with mystical food ; and the saying, " On this rock I will build
my Church," implies that our Lord thought of the Ecclesia as
a thing to be established in the future, at the close of His
earthly ministry. Also, the promise to Peter of the power of
the keys points to the continuous exercise of a spiritual
authority. And from all this it seems to follow that the
Church was pictured by Jesus as, at least, an imperfect and
preliminary form of the Kingdom — a visible society in
which He would be present by His spirit in the sacrament.
But, if such was His conception, it is difficult to see how it
could be harmonised in His mind with the belief that the
advent of the Eeign of God was just at hand. It is much
easier to reconcile it with the view that He thought of the
Kingdom as already present with Him in the world and
destined to reveal itself visibly, though not with completeness,
1 Matt. 634. 2 1618- 19.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 57

after His death, in the Ecclesia, and to continue in that form
until the fulness of the times was come.1

(&) But if the Parousia predictions are thus difficult to
reconcile with other elements in the Gospel message, they are
still more difficult to harmonise with each other. Some of
these indicate that Jesus expected to return at a certain
moment and in a physical manner — that His coming was
to take the form of a great event. On the other hand, St.
Matthew's version of His declaration in presence of the chief
priests describes rather a spiritual process, a thing that is to
go on continuously in the experience of men. " Hereafter shall
ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven." 2 And this conception of
the Advent would harmonise with those parables which liken
the Kingdom to the slowly growing seed and to the leaven
which gradually does its work, as well as with the saying, " The
Kingdom of God cometh not with observation." 3

Again, Jesus certainly speaks as if His coming is to be
secret and hidden, like the entrance of a thief in the night.

Men are to be carefully on the watch for it lest they miss their
opportunity, lest the Master find them sleeping. And yet He
predicts also that His advent will be unmistakable, open and
apparent to all men, like " The lightning that cometh out of
the east, and shineth even unto the west." 4 It is hardly
credible that such opposite predictions could apply to a definitely
conceived historical event.

But perhaps the most perplexing of these apparent contra
dictions appears in those sayings which speak of the time of
the Second Coming. On the one hand, it is expressly declared
that the day and the hour of the Advent are known to God
only. " Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even
the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."5 There
is no saying in the Gospels that has more authority than this.
It belongs to the primitive tradition ; and it is a confession of
ignorance which must have been uncongenial to the temper of

1 Cf., however, E. F. Scott, Beginnings of the Church, pp. 50-.r>6.

2 Matt. 26M (of. Moffatt's version). 3 Luke 1720.
4 Matt. 2427. • Mark 1332.

58 THE WORLD TO COME

early Christian faith. Nothing but the conviction that it was
certainly uttered by Jesus could have induced the Evangelists
to record it. It is, therefore, the dominant saying regarding
the time of the Second Coming, and with it all other utterances
must be reconciled. Yet Jesus is represented as promising to
return within the lifetime of His own generation ; l and this
although it is said that all nations must be evangelised before
His coming. And the apparent meaning of these sayings,
taken together, is the incredible idea that Jesus was granted
knowledge in terms of generations but not of days and hours ;
that He had power to promise His return within a certain
number of years, but not to give any more definite assurance.
Also, it is implied that He expected the whole world to hear
the Gospel preached, in such a manner as would give it a real
chance of changing all its thoughts and ways, within the space
of a lifetime.2

There are thus real difficulties and apparent discords in
the Synoptic accounts of our Lord's teaching, both as to the
general conception of the coming Kingdom and as to the
manner and time of its appearing. No critical analysis removes
them. Even when all allowance has been made for the un
certainties of tradition, we recognise something intractable in
the discords of the evangelic prophecies. They refuse to be
charmed away by the touch of a dexterous exegesis. The
stones are too diverse in shape and substance to be builded
together in any way, nor do they yield to the chisel of the
mason, chisel he never so wisely.

3. Inferences. — What, then, is the inference which we must
draw from this conclusion ? Not that Jesus was mistaken, or
that He held eschatological beliefs and hopes that were really
inconsistent with each other. The inference is, rather, that,
as before indicated, He thought and spoke about the future
according to the spirit and forms of that imaginative type of
prophecy which is found in some of the greatest passages of
the Old Testament, which was developed by the Jewish mystics,
and which finds typical expression in the Apocalypse of St.
John. There are two possible ways of presenting a niany-
1 Mark 1330, Matt. 1628. - Mark 1310.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 59

sided religious idea like that of the Kingdom. The one is to
state it in general poetic terms, avoiding all detailed expression
— this i.s the method of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The
other is to portray each side of it in turn, in one vivid picture
after another, and leave the task of harmonising to faith and
to experience — this was the method of Apocalypse, and of
Jesus. If we accept this view with any goodwill, the discords
of Gospel prophecy will not perplex us, nor shall we keep
looking for dogma in a type of teaching which was careful to
preserve a freedom of outlook. Apocalypse had a reasonable
ness of its own, but it was not the rationality of logic. It was
tolerant of the most opposing images and symbols, caring only
that each of these expressed some truth of the spiritual order.
The writings that embody its spirit resemble a picture gallery
wherein the most dissimilar presentations of Nature hang side
by side, all being welcome which worthily reflect genuine
aspects of the world. No teacher using the forms of Apocalypse
was, or could be, careful to display the second-rate virtues of
the systematic mind. All that he could be expected to do was
to see that each of his utterances was in itself an authentic
message of truth. And the best illustration of this is to be
found in the recorded words of Jesus. He was the greatest of
apocalyptic prophets, in a more thorough sense than even the
school of Weiss admits, inasmuch as in His predictive visions
He expressed one aspect of truth at a time, and expressed it in
a concrete form and in an absolute way, without regard to
other features of reality, or any concern for logical consistency.
Many of our difficulties arise from forgetfulness of this, from
fixing our attention on the mere fashion of His sayings, and
from confusing the truth of the spirit with that of the letter.
Why, for instance, should we be troubled by the thought that
the predictions of Jesus speak of the consummation as being
" nigh, even at the door " ? The sense of immediacy was
always characteristic of the prophetic mind, as is apparent
in the case of Isaiah and other Old Testament teachers, as
well as of the Jewish mystics. Just as a distant shore seen
through a telescope seems close at hand, so the atmosphere of
prophecy magnified and defined the vision of things to come,

and brought them very near. When a prophet declared that
an object of faith and hope was just about to appear, he really
meant that he saw it with vividness and that its coming was
sure. And this consideration does, I think, explain in large
measure the note of imminence which certainly characterised
many of our Lord's predictions of the Kingdom and the Second
Advent. And similarly, most of the apparent discords of His
eschatology may be explained by the peculiarities of the instru
ment of expression which He employed. All His sayings,
interpreted in the free spirit of apocalypse, correspond to
realities and can be reconciled by faith. Suppose He said that
the coming of the blessed time was to be gradual and hidden,
yet also sudden and apparent — what then ? Spiritual principles
do work secretly : nevertheless they finally reveal themselves
in vivid manifestations ; they are like brooks that run a long
way under ground, but leap at last into the light. Suppose,
again, that He taught both a moral and a material view of the
Messianic State — what then ? The Kingdom is a thing both of
inward and outward life ; at once of the body and of the soul.
Suppose, finally, that He did present the consummation some
times in a light austere and exclusive — what of that ? Judg
ment and mercy are alike facts of the moral order, and the
Coming of the Sou of Man is both for peace and for revolution,
is a hope and also a fear.

Constructive Statement.

Perhaps we may express this view of our Lord's message
in some such way as this : — The mind of Jesus, in so far as it
can be said to have belonged to any particular type, was of
the mystical and poetic order. He conceived all reality,
whether spiritual or moral, in terms of the imagination, and
He saw things in direct prophetic vision. And this quality of
His genius conditioned the manner in which He interpreted
His own vocation and the hope of its fulfilment. He knew
Himself to be invested with a supernatural authority, and to
hold an unique relation alike to God and man, and to be the
appointed Mediator of salvation — of a perfect good for the

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 61

world of men. This salvation, this ideal good, was apprehended
by Him under the form of the Kingdom, the Eeign of God
upon earth, the breaking in of the eternal order upon the
world of temporal things. Of this Kingdom He believed
Himself to be the appointed head — the Son of Man, the Lord
and Master. This He was already, in the sight of God and of
His own soul ; and His Kingdom was present with Him wher
ever He wrought mighty works, and wherever men fulfilled
His law and shared His spirit. But the Kingdom was yet to
come in its fulness in some great day of regeneration, and
with it He was to be manifested in the glory of His power.
But before that day could come He had a work to accomplish.
It was necessary that He should perfectly affirm and fulfil in
His own person that supreme law of sacrifice which He knew
to be the only means of spiritual achievement, whether for the
individual or for the race. That the Kingdom of Life might
come, He must give Himself to death. That there might be
redemption and healing for the sons of men, the Son of Man
must be rejected, betrayed, and crucified, must drink the cup
of mysterious woe that was given Him of the Father.

That such was indeed the belief of Jesus regarding Himself
and His mission, is attested by evidence that cannot be shaken.
Of course, these convictions did not occupy His mind to the
exclusion of other elements. He had a human life to live, a
revelation of the Father to declare, and works of mercy to
accomplish. He was conscious of no discord between His own
natural joy in the world of. nature and of humanity and His
vision of the Kingdom. All the elements of His manifold
experience dwelt together in the harmony of a perfect faith.
Nevertheless, the thought of the future, and of the means by
which the advent of the Kingdom would be attained, was the
dominant note of His earthly life ; and He conceived this
thought with all its accompaniments under the familiar forms
of apocalypse. These forms He did not criticise ; He was
indifferent to the apparent contradictions they involved,
They expressed for Him every element of the complete truth —
judgment, salvation, retribution, reward; the redemption of
life iu all its concerns, physical and spiritual, individual and

62 THE WORLD TO COME

social. He was at home in a world of traditional imagery,
which the light that shone from His own mind touched with
an alien beauty, which His unique knowledge informed with
eternal meaning. Of the precise significance which He
attached to His prophecies we know only that it was such
as was worthy of His perfect understanding of God and His
measureless love for the souls of men.

It is quite possible, indeed, that He never had any definite
conception of the fashion in which the Kingdom would realise
itself in the world ; and was content to leave this matter in
the hands of God, and to declare such aspects of it as were
revealed to Him in flashes of insight, in visions and signs. He
disclaimed knowledge of the day and hour of the Consumma
tion ; and it may well have been that He did not seek to know
in what guise His promises would be fulfilled — after what
manner He would come again, or in what outward appearing
the City of God would manifest itself to mortal eyes. Jesus
made no mistakes ; no hope He inspired was vain ; somewhere,
some time, every prophecy of His will be found to be justified,
and every picture He drew, to have its counterpart in reality.
But we cannot be sure that He sought in the days of His flesh
to distinguish between the form and the substance of truth, or
to harmonise the various aspects of His message. The condi
tions under which the sovereign purpose of good would
accomplish itself in the relations of space and time may have
been among the secret things that were known of no man, nor
of the angels, nor of the Son, but of the Father only.

But, while all this may be said with truth regarding our
Lord's belief, in its historical aspects, it is well to remind
ourselves that His faith and hope were but the unique and
supreme expression of an universal religious assurance. What
is the Kingdom of God, after all, but the higher world of
white ideals, of broad spiritual expanses, of clean thought and
generous service, of just and steadfast vision, of the loving fear
of God and the reverent love of men — that world which all
men behold sometimes when the clouds break, of which some
high souls are the constant citizens, though most of us know

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 63

it only in those rare hours when almost we are what we would
hope to be. This heavenly state, this home of our ideals, is
the source of all our light. In it are treasured the perfect
types of all good things that can be known to any man, or be
embodied in any society or in any Church or in any Age of gold.
No faith, no race, has any exclusive right in it ; it has always
been the motherland of all the faithful. What matters the
name by which we call it — the New Jerusalem, the Realm of
God, Eternal Life ? What matter whether we speak of it in
the language of vision as the Heavenly Zion coming down from
on high, or in the language of ethics as the Chief Good ? It is
the same whatever it be called, however it be conceived, in
whatsoever terms it be described. It is always in heaven yet
always on earth, ever present yet ever to be. To religious
men, it is always the City of God ; to the Christian, its Messiah
is Jesus, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The expectation
of its perfect coming is the assurance of a measureless good for
the individual and for the race, and the certainty of the triumph
of God in His redeeming purpose through Jesus Christ our
Lord.

IV.

CHURCH TRADITION.

Now, the view of the New Testament doctrine on this
subject which I have thus sought to illustrate is supported by
the later developments of Christian thought. It is true that
there has arisen in modern times a type of theology that seeks
to interpret all the tenets of our Faith in terms of the Kingdom
idea, which it thus employs as a dogmatic category. But this
system is apart from the main current of tradition. The
Church has never defined its belief in the Eeign of God ; but
has held it in freedom of spirit, and has taken it for the
symbol of many shining hopes. The Kingdom has always
meant, for believers, the Church and also something wider
than the Church — the good Cause, the purpose of righteous
ness which God has in view for the world. It has also signified

64 THE WORLD TO COME

the promise of the return of Christ at the last day. And,
again, it has represented that incorruptible and undefiled
inheritance which is reserved for the faithful beyond the gates
of death. Thus the historical faith has preserved the imagi
native variety of New Testament teaching. It has not
endeavoured to harmonise its thoughts on this great theme,
any more than Jesus did ; but has been content like its Master
to entertain a vision of manifold good, and to express it in the
concrete forms and many colours of Apocalypse.

In ancient Christian thought the Ecclesia is the visible
Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom, as a thing that is to come,
is the Ecclesia triumphant and glorified and in manifest
communion with the saints in heaven. St. Augustine, stand
ing amidst the ruins of the ancient order — the imperial city
fallen, and the Koman Empire crashing to destruction around
him — displayed a divine prophetic genius when he directed
the thoughts of men to the eternal City of God, the great
community of the faithful, which had been in the beginning,
was still and ever would be the indestructible witness to
things spiritual and everlasting, the inviolate home of souls.
This City had been standing over against the earthly Kingdom
of mortal things ever since evil appeared in the universe. It
had embodied itself in the company of the Patriarchs, in the
elect and chosen People, in the Church of Christ. It was the
new Jerusalem, continually coming down from heaven because
continually supported by grace from on high. It must endure
through all the coming and going of empires, and rising and
falling of powers and dominions, because founded on the
immutable decree of God. And it would enter at last into
final and manifest victory when He should appear, who was
the blessed and only potentate, King of kings and Lord of
lords. There is nothing that so attests the greatness of
Augustine as his ability to proclaim this confident message of
hope in the midst of a generation whose hearts were fainting
for fear because the end of all things was come. It was an
heroic faith that was able to say in such a time as that — So
passes away the glory of the world, but so passes not away the
glory of the Kingdom.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 65

Of a like nobility with the message of Augustine, also, was
the great medieval conception of the Holy Eoman Church
and the Holy Roman Empire, embodying together the complete
Lordship of Christ over the whole life of man. According to
that ideal the Pope was to be the visible representative of
Christ in things spiritual, the Emperor in things temporal :
and these two together were to subdue all the world into one
dominion of the Crucified. It was, no doubt, an impossible
programme, but a splendid vision ; and, like Augustine's
conception of the City of God, it was a genuine development
of old apocalyptic hopes. It was true, as the Church of Rome
has been true throughout, to the mystical, imaginative tradi
tions of Jewish revelation. It embodied, in an enriched and
universalised form, the ancient vision of an Empire in which
the eternal order should become manifest, and the perfect
righteousness visibly appear.

Akin to such conceptions, also, and in the true apocalyptic
succession, are political speculations like those of Dante,
pictures of the Ideal State like Bacon's Atlantis and More's
Utopia, elusive dreams like that of the Holy Grail, social and
evangelical enthusiasms, and that divine and generous dis
content which inspires the heroes of humanity. Luther,
amid the grim battles of the Reformation, spoke again the
very language of Augustine, and of many an older prophet,
when he declared :

" These things shall vanish all ;
The city of God remaineth."

It is along such lines as these that we must seek for the
true historical expression of the ideals that were contained in
the New Testament prophecies of the Kingdom. When our
Lord predicted the Reign of God on earth He did not have in
His mind a fellowship of good men scattered all over the
world, having no actual relations with each other and bearing
no external marks of kinship. He thought of something
visible and corporate — something that signified well-being in
the whole of life, outward and inward, physical and spiritual ;
something more like to a perfect state than to a dispersed
5

66 THE WORLD TO COME

multitude of righteous people, resembling a Church rather
than a dominion ; a great family of the Father rather than a
mere Kingdom, which is after all but a chilly home for the
souls of men. Schweitzer speaks truly when he says that
Jesus set Himself to translate Apocalypse from words into
facts. Where others had dreamed about the Kingdom, He
determined to make it a reality in the world, by prayer and
sacrifice and ministry, by death and resurrection, by the divine
compulsion of love. And it is not by the way of abstract
thinking that we are to serve ourselves heirs to His concep
tion of the Kingdom. It is rather by social effort, by the
strengthening and purifying of the Church, by common
worship and sacrament, by the nurture of the devout life, by
all those endeavours and visions which make the eternal order
to appear in this transitory world, that men show themselves
apostles of the Kingdom of God according' to the mind of
Jesus.

The idea of the Parousia, also, like that of the Kingdom, is
essentially an imaginative and spiritual form. It belongs to
the vision and poetry of faith. We need not be concerned to
answer very definitely the question — What do you mean by
the Second Advent? If we cherish the hope of a visible
appearing of the Son of Man, no one can deny us our right to
such an expectation. We believe that God intervened in the
affairs of men once when Jesus came ; and who shall say that
He may not intervene again after another fashion ? If, again,
we cherish no such hope, but believe simply that a time will
surely come when the Lordship of Christ shall be universally
owned in spirit and in truth, no one can say us nay. The
Church has held its belief in the Parousia in varying forms
throughout the ages. The thought of the Second Coming was
to the early Church, as has been said, " as some great eastern
window that burns and shines in unearthly radiance and
gorgeous hues in the splendour of dawn." x Succeeding
generations have thought of it, now as near at hand and now
as far away ; have conceived it sometimes in a literal, some
times in a spiritual, sense ; and individuals have thought about
1 D. S. Cairns in Students' Movement.

KINGDOM AND SECOND ADVENT 67

it according to their varying moods and habits of mind. But
the hope itself has been treasured as a precious possession in
all the centuries. It is expressed in the songs and prayers of
the Church universal. It is in Augustine's City of God, it is
in the Imitation of Christ, in the Te Deum, in the Apostles'
Creed, in the hymns of Bernard and Luther. It appears in
every Liturgy and in every book of devotion and in every
celebration of the Eucharistic Feast. It is, therefore, part of
the permanent heritage of Faith, to be variously held in the
liberty of the spirit, but never in any wise to be denied.
Whatever our school of thought may be, whatever our manner
of belief, we can all sincerely unite in the prayer of the
Advent Collect, that we may be enabled to " cast away the
unprofitable works of darkness and put upon us the armour of
light, in the time of this mortal life," in which our Lord Jesus
Christ " came to visit us in great humility, that in the last
day, when He shall come again in His glorious majesty," we
may " rise with Him to the life that is immortal."

CHAPTER III.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, THE INTERMEDIATE

STATE.

JEWISH BELIEFS.

THE Jewish ideas of the Resurrection, Judgment, and Inter
mediate State are really, as we have seen, part of the Kingdom
of God conception. This is illustrated by the fact that those
of the " revelation " books in which the Messianic hope is most
vivid and strong are also characterised by specially clear pre
sentations of the Rising-again, the great Assize, and the regions
of the Underworld.1

1. Resurrection. -- The belief in Resurrection was, for
obvious reasons, allied in a peculiarly intimate way with the
Kingdom doctrine, and was determined as to its form by the
manner in which that doctrine was conceived. Men who took
an earthly view of the Kingdom held a material conception of
the Rising-again. Those, on the other hand, whose thoughts
about the Age to come were spiritual, cherished a corresponding
form of the resurrection hope. Originally, the Resurrection
of the Just was simply a reincarnation to a new life on a
glorified earth. But later it experienced the development
which culminated in the sublime doctrine of St. Paul. The
further idea, that not the just only but all men would arise
from the grave, grew out of the earlier, more limited, belief by

1 For Jewish teaching on these several themes, see refs. in App. I. ; and for
comparison with N.T. doctrine, see App. II.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 69

a quite logical movement of mind. If justice required that
departed saints should be recalled from Hades that they might
have a portion in the Kingdom, it also demanded that the
unrighteous dead should be summoned to the earth to share in
the great debacle of the heathen world.

2. Judgment. — But this belief involved, again, the notion of
the great Day of Reckoning, when the multitudes of the living
and the dead were to have declared to them their final destiny.
The innumerable hosts were to stand before the Judge of all,
and the righteous were to be called, with the redeemed Israel,
into the Kingdom ; while the armies of the ungodly, with their
kings and their mighty men and their great lords, were to be
cast into the Pit prepared for the devil and his angels. This
was the earliest form of the Jewish belief in the Last Judg-

ment; and the apocalyptic doctrine on the subject always
bore traces of its origin. It never identified itself altogether
with the idea of personal responsibility, nor was it mainly
concerned with the destiny of individuals. Its interest was in
the issue of moral history as a whole, not in the fortunes of
this man or of that. There are no portraits of separate faces
in the visions of the great Assize. Apocalypse painted its
pictures in broad outline and with a big brush, and it thought
of men as being judged in the mass — not by their private
record, but as members of parties and nations. It always
stood for the great truth that the world moves on to a moral
end.

Thus, Resurrection and Judgment belonged to the hope of
the Kingdom of God. The pictures of them which we find in
the Jewish books are part of the pageantry, the pomp and
circumstance, of the coming of the Messianic State", but the
ideas themselves are logical consequences of the belief that
history is to culminate in a golden Age of retribution and
reward.

3. Hades. — To this same logical necessity we owe the
doctrine of the Intermediate State. If the coming Dominion
of the Lord was to include the dead as well as the living, then
it was evident that departed souls were, in the meantime, in a
state of waiting. Disembodied, and experiencing imperfect

70 THE WORLD TO COME

forms of joy and pain, they were expecting in Hades the sound
of the last trump which should call them up, to pass by
resurrection and judgment into the perfect blessedness of the
Kingdom or the tmmingled sorrows of Gehenna.

Now this Jewish doctrine of the Intermediate State is one
of considerable theological importance ; and it is necessary to
consider it with some care for the sake of the light it sheds on
the belief of the Apostolic Church. The New Testament
writers say so little about the matter that we are compelled
to seek for information as to their opinions in the national
literature. In the absence of express evidence to the contrary,
we may assume that their ideas were those of their time and
people.

(a) The original belief of Israel was that the souls of men
descended after death into Sheol, which was a condition very
like the Greek Hades, though it was seldom pictured by the
Hebrew mind with the vividness and poetic power that we find
in the writings of the Greeks.1 Sheol was a state of existence
that was, in some aspects of it, but little removed from death
— cold and shadowed, without joy or grief, voiceless and empty
of hope. There was no retribution there for sin, and no reward
for virtue, no praise of God and no communion with Him, no
development of character, no fear and no expectation. There
the wicked ceased from troubling and the weary were at rest.
The moral history of a man was at an end when he went to
dwell in that shadowy land of ghosts, that colourless dwelling
of disembodied souls.

(6) Such was the older Hebrew doctrine of the Future
State. Nor had it entirely lost its hold on the Jewish mind
even in the time of Christ. The powerful party of the
Sadducees retained the ancient idea of Sheol, and looked for
no reward or punishment beyond the grave. This latter
position is expressed in the Book of Sirach, one of the greatest
of Jewish writings, composed during the second century B.C.
It suggests no hope of any immortality beyond that of the
influence which a man leaves behind him in this world. It
teaches that there is neither penalty for sin nor reward for
1 Of., however, Isa. 149'18.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 71

virtue in the place whither a man goeth. "Thanksgiving
perisheth from the dead as from one that is not." "Weep
gently for the dead, for he has found rest."

(c) It is evident, also, that the old belief in Sheol continued
to influence the thought even of those who adopted the
doctrine of a true immortality. One can see, for example,
that they never thought of Gehenna as a condition of continued
moral life, in which character went on developing itself, but
merely as a state of punishment. Gehenna was just Sheol plus
torment. It is probable, also, that the tendency which the
Jewish mind always showed towards the idea of conditional
immortality is to be attributed to their ancestral belief in
Sheol. That belief led them to think of the wicked as destined
to a state of moral nonentity; and the conception of moral
non-existence readily passes over into that of actual extinction.

(d) But, however this may be, there can be no doubt that
very many Jews of our Lord's time had come to think of Sheol
as a state intermediate between death and judgment. In the
Book of Enoch we find a very elaborate description of this
Underworld. It is there divided into two parts — a dwelling
of the righteous, and an abode for the wicked. Each of these,,
again, is subdivided ; the righteous who have suffered greatly
in this world and deserve, therefore, a better compensation in
Sheol, are separated from those who have enjoyed a prosperous
life on earth and thus have earned a lesser recompense ; and
conversely, the wicked who have been punished during this
mortal existence enter an a.bode of less suffering hereafter,
while those who have hitherto escaped retribution inherit a
prison-house of more bitter chastisement.1 Thus the old con
ception is profoundly changed. It has become an intensely
moral idea. Hades has now a real place in the spiritual
history of a man. There the just and the unjust together
await, in earnest expectation, the final Judgment and its
solemn issues.

(e) If we ask ourselves whether the countrymen of Jesus
entertained the hope that deliverance might be found in
Hades, the answer is not clear. One would not expect refer-

1 En. 22.

72 THE WORLD TO COME

eiices to this subject in the Apocalypses, as it belongs to the
question of individual destiny with which these books had
little concern. Their common teaching is that men experience
in Hades foretastes of their ultimate fate, that as they die so
they appear before the Judge at last. At the same time, the
importance of intercession is constantly magnified in these
books ; and it is evident that great difficulty was felt in setting
any limit to the efficacy of prayer, whether offered by angels or
by men, for the living or for the dead. It is true that some
apocalyptic writers affirm strongly that such prayer does not
avail after the Judgment, but the very emphasis with which
this assertion is made would suggest that it does avail until
that great day. Also, it is significant that in the Book of
Enoch intercession is said to be the perpetual office of the
Archangel Gabriel.1 We are told, moreover, that Enoch
interceded for the fallen angels; and this indicates that no
dogmatic objection was taken to petitions for the lost.2
Further, in the Books of Adam and Eve it is written that
Adam through the intercession of the angels was committed
to purifying punishment until the end of the age, that he
might be rendered worthy of a glorious resurrection.3 In
Second Maccabees, also, we learn that Judas caused prayer and
sacrifice to be offered for the souls of his men who had died
in sin.4 This statement is of great importance, since Second
Maccabees is founded on an older work and thus embodies a
persistent tradition. It is incredible that such a story would
have been told about a great national hero if the idea of
prayers for the dead had been alien and unacceptable to the
Jewish mind. So that, altogether, it cannot be said that even
the popular literature of Judaism is without indications of a
hope that reached beyond the grave.

(/) The Rabbis did not distinguish between Hades and
Gehenna. But many of them believed that punishment in
the place of fire would, at least in the case of many, last for
only a limited time. It is in conformity with this belief that

1 En. 40°.

9 En.. 12-13; also, Secrets of Enoch, IS7.

» Fit. Ad. et Eve, 481'8. « 1238-45.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 73

we find in the Talmud some distinct assertions that prayer
avails for the dead, and that the Jewish prayer-book contains
a petition for the departed soul which begins thus — " O Lord
and King, who art full of compassion, in whose hand is the
soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh, who killest
and makest alive, who bringest down to the grave and bringest
up again, receive, we beseech Thee, in Thy great loving-kind
ness, the soul of who hath been gathered unto his

people." The substance of this prayer, though not its present
form, is very ancient, and some think that it may have existed
even in the time of Jesus. Of this latter point, however, there
is no proof ; though we may admit that the teaching of the
two great Rabbinic schools which at that time dominated the
Synagogues would have been friendly to such a practice of
devotion.1 Clearly, men who taught that the period of future
punishment would, in some cases, be limited, and who believed
intensely in the value of intercession, could have had no
objection, in theory, to petitions being offered for souls in
Purgatory.

This is all that we can say with any assurance on this
subject ; but it is enough to forbid the dogmatic assertion that
the possibility of salvation beyond the grave was unanimously
rejected by the Jews of New Testament times, or that they
were at one in definitely denying that prayers availed for
the dead.

II.
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

Introductory. — Such, then, was the history of, the Jewish
doctrine of immortality, and such the opinions held among
the fellow countrymen of Jesus at the time of His coming.
We may conjecture that the Jewish Christians of the first
generation continued to hold the traditional faith regarding
the fate of the departed. The great change wrought by
Jesus in the outlook of His disciples upon the future life did not
consist in an altered dogmatic belief as to the Last Things, but

1 Cf. Daily Prayer-Book, etc. , pp. 323-324, also pp. ccxxxi-ccxxxii.

74 THE WORLD TO COME

rather in an enrichment and glorifying of the ancient forms.
Especially were the old beliefs transfigured by their association
with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every thought of the
future was, for the early Christians, simply part of their
thoughts about the risen Master. They looked, as their
fellow countrymen did, for the Coming of the Messiah, the
Judgment, the Kesurrection. But the Messiah they expected
was the returning Jesus ; the Judgment they awaited was in
His hands ; the Kesurrection they hoped for was one like His
own ; the unending blessedness they believed in was unending
communion with Him. It was Jesus that made the difference
for them. The Intermediate State and all the great Events
of the Coming Age remained in their faith as they had
inherited them ; but they had all received new content and
meaning for their hearts since they had come to trust in One
who had the keys of Hades, who had lived and died and was
alive for evermore.

(L).
RESURRECTION.

1. New Testament doctrine. — The idea of the Insurrection
occupies a far more prominent place in the New Testament
than it does in the Jewish books. In the latter it is one
among several co-ordinate forms ; but in the classical writings
of our faith it holds a position of unique religious splendour,
through its association with the victory of Christ. The thought
of it is the master-light in which men see all things clearly.
In the view, especially, of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Evangel
is essentially a gospel of the Kesurrection; and throughout
the whole New Testament the Easter message is the word of
wonder that makes all things new. And yet it is not possible
to deduce from the sacred writings one clear and consistent
doctrine of the Kising from the dead.

(a) On the one hand, the Apostolic teaching on this
subject corresponds closely, in some respects, to that of Jewish

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 75

Apocalypse, and exhibits the same variety of form. It is
probable, as we have seen, that popular Christianity took over
from popular Judaism the primitive belief that the dead
would be endowed with new bodies resembling closely in their
character the earthly house of this tabernacle. This view is
suggested in St. Luke's statement that the risen Jesus " did
eat " in the presence of His disciples.1 But the sacred writers
were no more bound by the terms of the ordinary belief than
were the Jewish mystics. There may be found in the New
Testament as many different ways of conceiving the Resurrec
tion as of describing the Kingdom. A spiritual view of the
matter is implied in the saying — " They that are accounted
worthy to obtain that Age and the Resurrection . . . are equal
unto the angels."2 Yet the idea of physical resuscitation
seems involved in the prophecy — " All that are in the graves
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." 3 And again, the
Pauline doctrine suggests the thought of the transmutation of
the material into the spiritual — " It is sown a natural body ; it
is raised a spiritual body." 4 The one thing certain, from this
point of view, is that while the Apostolic writers may express
somewhat varying views as to the nature of the Rising-again,
they had no doubt whatever as to the Fact.

(&) On the other hand, the New Testament conception of
the Resurrection from the dead is not so closely associated as
is the Jewish with the idea of the Kingdom of God. It is
possible to show that each apocalyptic writer did try to adapt
his doctrine on this subject, to the form in which he held the
Messianic hope. But it is not so in the case of the Christian
teachers. Rather is it plain that Apostolic thought tended
to depart from the tradition which regarded the. Rising-again
as the door of entrance to the Messianic Kingdom. They
believed that Christ had risen from the dead; for them,
therefore, resurrection was not only a part of their hope for
the future, but a part also of their belief in the living Saviour.
Hence it became for them more and more the symbol of
personal immortality. Moreover, there appears in our sacred

1 Luke 24^ (possibly an interpolation, but cf. Acts 1041).

2 Luke 2035- 3S. 3 John S28- ». 4 1 Cor. 1544.

76 THE WORLD TO COME

books a highly imaginative type of thought which conceives
the rising from the dead as a present moral experience, equal
to conversion. This form of teaching has no doubt its parallels
in Hellenistic writings ; but, as expressed by the Apostles, it
has its root in the doctrine of Jesus that men must die to live,
and that " whosoever will lose his life shall find it." l It is
elaborated fully by St. Paul and St. John. The former
declares that Christians have been crucified with Christ and
have also risen with Him.2 In like manner, St. John loves to
dwell on the thought that the hour of resurrection " cometh,
and now is." 3 Thus both these teachers describe resurrection
as a part of present experience ; and in doing so depart from
Jewish practice and from' the standpoint of apocalyptic
prophecy. This peculiarity of theirs, no doubt, adds greatly
to the beauty and suggestiveness of their spiritual teaching,
but it does not help us to define their eschatology.

This phase of thought is indeed so strongly marked in the
Johannine writings as to excite suspicion in some minds that
their author, under the influence of Philo, had given up belief
in the Resurrection. They think that the saying, " They that
are in their graves shall come forth," is either an interpolation
or a mere concession to popular belief, or is perhaps due to a
certain traditional element that lingered in the mind of the
Evangelist, though it was out of harmony with his personal
convictions. But surely if St. John had disliked the idea of
the Resurrection he would not have told the story of Lazarus,
nor been at such pains to show that the risen Lord possessed
a real body. Also, it seems plain that if he had shared Philo's
notion that embodiment was a humiliation of the spirit, he
would not have said that " the Word was made flesh." There
is really no sufficient reason to suppose that St. John ever
departed from the general faith of the Church regarding this
great matter.

•(c) This figurative use of the resurrection phraseology,
however, does render it difficult to say whether the Apostles
agreed with those Jewish writers who confined the privilege of
Resurrection to the righteous, or with those who extended it

1 Matt. 1626. 2 E.g. Col. 31'3. 3 John S25.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 77

to all mankind. Certainly, it does seem as if the thought of
St. Paul and St. John implied the conclusion that only
believers would rise from the dead — that, as none but those
who were in Christ experienced the process of spiritual
resurrection in this world, so none but they could have any
part in that rising-again which was to be the crown of the
regenerate life beyond the grave. And yet one suspects that
the general Apostolic eschatology, especially St. Paul's hope
of an Universal Kingdom of God, implies some kind of
re-embodiment for all men. The Apostles believed in a
Judgment Day wherein all were to appear before the throne
of God ; and it is not likely that they entertained the
grotesque imagination of an assemblage, consisting partly of
ghosts and partly of fully embodied personalities. The uni
versal Judgment seems to involve the universal Resurrection.

(d) But, whatever view one may take of this difficult
question, it is undeniable that the New Testament seldom
speaks of the Resurrection except as it concerns the regenerate,
the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. The experience awaiting
the unregenerate in the day when the trumpet should sound
and the dead should be raised, was not a matter which engaged
the minds of Evangelists and Apostles. Their thoughts were
filled with the vision of the glory that awaited the redeemed
in the great Day. In so far as they considered at all the
meaning of the rising out of Hades for the unregenerate, they
probably thought of it as an appearing for judgment in vivid
consciousness, and in fulness of personality. Such a wretched
and sorrowful thing they could not hold to be worthy of the
name resurrection. That great word was associated in their
minds with the triumph of their Master over death ; it was
the symbol of the most glorious and sacred fact in history.
It stood for the most profound experience of the Christian
life, and for all the brightness of the Christian hope. How,
then, could they have it in their minds when they thought of
the multitudes of the impenitent standing, sullen and miserable,
before the throne of God ?

(«) The New Testament, as we have seen, does not commit
itself to any definite theory of Resurrection on what may be

78 THE WORLD TO COME

called its physical side. It teaches that men are to be endowed
with some sort of habitation, that the life of Heaven is not to
be the life of disembodied spirits. But as to the nature of
that new temple of the soul, it has nothing to say beyond
picture and speculation. The Apostle Paul speaks of a
spiritual body which is related to this material frame of ours
as the living wheat is related to the dead seed ; he speaks of
" this earthly tabernacle ;> being dissolved and our receiving in
its place " a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens " — so that we are not to be " unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life." J
And this teaching of St. Paul represents the highest expression
that has ever been given to the Christian hope. No doubt,
different minds will always attach different meanings to the
confession — " 1 believe in the Resurrection of the body." But
the substance of that confession is vital to the catholic faith —
is, indeed, that which distinguishes the peculiarly Christian
view of immortality. 'When we say that we believe in the
bodily resurrection, we profess our conviction that all which
enters into the being of a man here shall have something
corresponding to it in the life hereafter : that nothing of our
personality shall be lost, but that all of it shall be transmuted
into something familiar yet new, finite but deathless.

2. Dogmatic difficulties. — It is true that we are often
invited to recognise that the Kesurrectiou idea is incredible,
beneath the attention of the modern mind, part of the cast-off
garments of faith. But the grounds on which we are asked to
make this admission are not so convincing as one might expect.
The theological Hector is prone to employ such epithets as
" obscurantist," " superstitious," " reactionary," and so on. But
these are innocuous terms, and express nothing more than an
ecstasy of disapproval. Strong language of this sort might,
perhaps, be justified were it directed against the notion that
the body, after it has suffered corruption, will rise again out of
the grave. But belief in the Resurrection is not to be
identified with this crude and popular form of it ; though even
this has been of great value as a symbol of the truth that

1 2 Cor. 51'4.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 79

personal identity is preserved beyond death. It seems a
forcible thing to say that " rising-again " must refer to the
body — that as the body alone goes downward at death so it
only can be said to " come up " again. But Jewish thinkers
did not recognise this piece of logic, nor did the Apostle Paul,
nor need we. Those who are troubled by such reasoning have
forgotten the facts of history, and fail to remember the vague
and poetic nature of the apocalyptic forms. They are leaving
out of sight the truth that thinkers as early as the authors of
the Book of Enoch held the faith of the Resurrection without
affirming the resuscitation of tin's mortal body.

But, in any case, the conception of immortality that is
symbolised by resurrection is perfectly credible. Even the
idea of Reincarnation is not irrational, as is evidenced by the
fact that it was held by Plato. Indeed it is, on speculative
grounds, as defensible as any other theory of the future state.1
If the soul has been embodied once, it certainly may be again ;
and one feels, in reading Eastern literature and the writings of
modern theosophists, that the thought of a succession of lives
under bodily conditions solves many hard problems and
explains many perplexing facts. The main objections to it are
that it fails to preserve a real continuity of personal experience
from one life to another, and that it condemns the soul to a
prolonged, if not a perpetual, bondage to the law of birth and
death. But the doctrine of Resurrection differs widely from
that of Reincarnation, though it belongs to the same order of
ideas. It asserts simply that souls will experience hereafter
something analogous to embodiment, on a higher plane of being
— something that shall conserve the fulness of the human
personality. It thus asserts the continuance of individual
self-consciousness beyond the grave, and affirms that men " will
wake and remember and understand." Also, it declares that
a man can die but once, and that, having suffered the dis
solution of the flesh, he is henceforth free from the bondage of
decay. In these respects it is speculatively superior to the
doctrine of Reincarnation ; and it presents difficulties only
when we seek for an unattainable precision of thought, and
1 Cf. Archer Hind's Phnedo, Introduction.

8o THE WORLD TO COME

ask ourselves how and when the resurrection will take place.
It is often objected that the idea of the Rising-again is
materialistic ; but this argument would be more impressive if
we knew what matter is, or had reason to suppose that it can
not assume a guise other than that which it presents to us in
this earthly life. And so one is not disposed to admit the
unreasonableness of this ancient belief, in the substance of its
meaning. On the contrary, the alternative idea of a dis
embodied existence exceeds all that is conceivable. The notion
of a mind without an organ of expression, of a soul without a
local habitation, is a mere rational abstraction, and is unable
to support itself by any appeal to imagination or to experience.

(IT.).
JUDGMENT.

1. New Testament doctrine. — (a) The New Testament
teaching about Judgment presents the same characteristics as
its doctrine of Resurrection. In its exposition of the subject
we find the same variety of statement, and difference of aspect
and standpoint. Just as Resurrection is sometimes spoken of
as the privilege of the righteous, sometimes as the lot of all ;
sometimes as a moral process and spiritual experience, and
sometimes as a great coming Event: so Judgment is now
presented as a thing to befall the wicked only,1 and again as a
trial which all must face ; 2 now as a matter already accom
plished,3 and, again, as the great Day of Reckoning which is to
mark the end of the world.4 Also, while Judgment is generally
said to be in the hands of Christ, it is occasionally described as
the direct act of God.5

These so-called contradictions are, however, of small import
ance and represent little more than varieties of standpoint,
different angles of vision. It is not surprising that Judgment
should generally be described as in the hands of Jesus, yet in

1 John 5M. 2 1 Pet. 48 etc. 3 John 318.

4 Rev. 2011'14. 5 Heb. 12211.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 8i

some passages as directly enforced by God, since all things,
according to the New Testament, are of the Father through
the Son. Nor need we suppose that the manner in which the
Apostles keep expressing the idea that the judgment is a
process always going on casts any doubt on their belief in the
last Assize. All the supreme objects of religious hope and
fear are recognised by the sacred writers as facts of present
knowledge, as well as things that are to be looked for in vivid
appearing hereafter. The Kingdom is present, and yet it is to
come ; the Eesurrection is a matter of daily experience, yet it
awaits men beyond the grave ; and, in like manner, Judgment
is already taking place,1 and yet it is to be expected. Men are
always being tested and tried, and their deeds are writing
themselves from hour to hour on the records of the soul.
Nevertheless, there is a great Day that is to " break in fire " ;
and " we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ." 2

(b) One is conscious, however, that it is extremely difficult
to interpret with completeness the Apostolic doctrine on this
subject. All that we may say about it is qualified by the
impression that the ancient belief in the Last Eeckoning was
profoundly modified by the Gospel. The new knowledge that
had come through Jesus Christ, the vitalising of the whole
moral world which had been accomplished by His spirit,
disturbed inherited conceptions of the Judgment more than
the early Christians were able to express, or even fully to
realise. This is especially evident in the writings of St. John,
whose mystical type of faith transcended all definite forms.
Thus he tells us that they who dwell in love dwell in God ;
and so are enabled to have " boldness in the day of Judgment,"
since " perfect love casteth out fear." 3 Evidently this is a
doctrine which really transmutes the old idea of the last Assize
into something that is new. And it is the expression of an
undertone of New Testament teaching which must always be
kept in mind when we speak about its prophecies of the Day
of wrath and revelation.

1 John 1231. - 2 Cor. 510. 3 1 John 414'19.

82 THE WORLD To

at death and the great Reckoning which is to mark the end of
the world. It cannot be said that the New Testament makes
this formal distinction ; rather does it leave the whole con
ception in the vague and imaginative state which is proper
to its apocalyptic origin. Nevertheless, it is convenient to
separate in our thoughts the idea of an universal Reckoning,
which belongs to a world-view of things, from the expectation
of individual judgment, which pertains to personal religion.
We may claim, also, that these two aspects of the matter are
both presented in our sacred books.

(d) Universal aspect. — As to the New Testament teaching
about the universal Judgment little need be said. It is
expressed in the imaginative terms of Jewish prophecy, and
belongs to the doctrine of the Kingdom of God. It is depicted
sometimes as with a brush that has been dipped "in earth
quake and eclipse," but more often in sombre colours and with
austere reserve of tone. But the substance of it was always
implicit in the apocalyptic message. The essential idea that
is symbolised by the picture of a Great Assize wherein the
dead, small and great, stand before the throne is really involved
in the belief that the human race has a corporate life of its
own, and that its history is moving towards some moral end.
Just as all the spiritual strivings and sufferings, victories and
defeats, experienced by the individual are part of a develop
ment which must issue at last in a definite state of character,
so all the travail and effort of Humanity belong to a process
of evolution which moves towards an appointed goal — towards
an End wherein the true nature of all its history shall be
made plain. Lord Acton has called history " the conscience of
the Eace," and it is in conformity with this view that we
expect history to culminate in a great Day of moral manifesta
tion, wherein the conscience of the Race shall declare itself,
wherein the truth of things shall be once for all affirmed.

(e) Personal aspect. — But this aspect of the Judgment, in
which it appears in its true apocalyptic guise of a great world-
event, is not the one which is mainly emphasised in the New
Testament. The Christian teachers departed from the
apocalyptic standpoint very decidedly in their treatment of

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 83

this subject. They maintained, indeed, the old belief that the
Most High had appointed a day wherein He would judge the
world ; but they were chiefly concerned with the thought that
every man must give account of himself to God, that each
separate soul must at last " be made manifest " 1 in the light
of the truth, in the shining of the face of Christ. And the
remarkable thing is that they thought of this experience as
awaiting the redeemed as well as the lost. The Apostles,
indeed, speak of it chiefly as a prospect of awe and dread for
the believing soul. St. Paul may be said to dwell almost
continually under the shadow of Judgment. In one remark
able passage he describes it as a purgatorial experience in
which Christian men shall be " saved, yet so as through fire."
St. Peter expresses the same thought of a dreadful ordeal in
the saying, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear ? " And these sayings, no
doubt, represent fairly the attitude of the Christian mind in
New Testament times. Wonder is often, indeed, expressed at
this characteristic of Apostolic thought. St. Paul especially
is held to show great inconsistency in declaring that " there is
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," 3 and at
the same time expressing a fear of the Judgment ; and it is
thought necessary to explain that this latter characteristic of
his mind was due to a lingering remnant of his Jewish belief.
But some better solution of the difficulty must be found than
this, since it was by no means congenial to Jewish thought to
regard the Judgment as a prospect of dread for the righteous.
Kather did it tend to think of the Last Day as the final
vindication and triumph of the just. The truth is that the
alleged inconsistency of the Apostolic teaching on this matter
is rooted in the realities of the moral life. If it is true that
men are justified by faith, it is also true that personal responsi
bility is an unchanging fact of the spiritual order. If Jesus
taught that the penitent were received by the Father with a
free and simple welcome, He also declared that men must give
an account for every idle word.4 The logic of the religious life
is not the logic of the understanding ; and the Christian mind
1 1 Cor. 310"16. : 1 Pet. 418. » Rom. 81. 4 Luke 15n, Matt. 12s".

84 THE WORLD TO COME

always continues to combine the assurance of faith with the
awe of judgment aiid the fear of God.

Indeed, the difficulty of interpreting St. Paul's doctrine on
this subject does not connect itself so much with the idea of
salvation as with that of perdition. His view of the last
supreme Crisis is almost purely ethical, and implies that all
souls will be brought to recognise their own spiritual state.
And it is easy to understand how such a moral experience as
this should occur in the history of the redeemed, but hard to
see how it can be the prelude of endless death. If the verdict
of the great Assize were a physical thing, like the deliverance
of a criminal court, and meant simply that the condemned
were to be sent away by force into material torment, there
would be no difficulty in seeing how a hopelessly evil character
could experience judgment. But if the sentence of the
supreme Tribunal means something moral, and involves the
wakening of the conscience and the opening of the spiritual
vision to reality, then it does seem that no man utterly lost
can stand at the bar of God. Only a creature that remains
essentially good can possibly recognise a spiritual decree,
assent to the justice of a moral condemnation, or be made
manifest in his own eyes before the Throne of the Highest.

2. Theological interpretation. — Such, then, are the two
aspects of the Judgment idea. On the one hand, it is a great
world-event; on the other hand, a personal experience. No
doubt it is difficult for us to combine these two thoughts, or
even to form any clear idea of their relation to each other.
Nor could it, indeed, be otherwise, since in speaking of these
things we are dealing with symbols of unknown reality, and
with forms which are but as gleams of light on the wide
moorlands of our ignorance. Some help towards an under
standing of this matter will, however, be afforded if it be
remembered that the individual is a part of the Kace, and his
moral experience a part of the experience of Humanity. 1 1 is
not possible so to separate each life from the organism to
which it belongs as to value and judge it by itself alone. As
Carlyle has said, " No thought, word, or act of man but has
sprung withal out of all men, and works sooner or later,

recognisably or unrecognisably, on all men." And this truth
is the key to the doctrine of Judgment, even as it is the key
to the inner meaning of other apocalyptic forms. When we
remember the organic unity of the Race we see that no final
verdict can be passed on the individual except as part of a
verdict on mankind. Not till the Book of the Soul has been
closed can the record of souls be written.

(a) If we were to essay a definite account of the entire
conception of Judgment to come, we would find that it had in
it two distinct elements. In the first place, there is a personal
individual reckoning, a crisis of revelation, wherein a man
sees himself as he is, knows his position in the sight of God —
his relation to the moral law and the divine Kingdom. This
experience determines his own immediate destiny. But, in
the second place, this individual crisis is not, and cannot be,
a complete and perfect judgment, giving an account of the
whole man and the final value of his life. He is not only an
individual, possessed of this or that private character, he is
also a member of a race ; and evidently th'is aspect of his
record has to be taken into consideration in estimating the
total significance of him. A man of genius, for instance, like
Shakespeare, lives his personal life, meets with certain tempta
tions, fights his battles in the lonely places of the soul, attains
a certain type of character ; and at the end goes in and
stands before his Master. But there is something more to be
said about Shakespeare than this. He was entrusted with
supreme creative powers, and he exercised them in accordance
with a great ideal. He set in motion forces which remain for
ever active in the lives of men. His works are part of the
world so long as it endures. And all this is to be taken into
account in considering the value of the man. The manner in
which he exercised his gifts had a moral worth and meaning —
a worth and meaning that cannot be told till the end of things
is come. We see all this clearly in the case of Shakespeare
and of every other great personality. But that which is true
of him must be true, in some degree, of all. No man lives to
himself alone, or even to himself and God alone. He lives
also to Humanity. In the things he has made, the work he

86 THE WORLD TO COME

li.is done, lie lias become a part of the history of mankind:
and the moral worth of his influence is something distinct
from his private character, whether that be good or bad. His
life has become an eternal element in a larger whole, and
maintains itself from generation to generation. But the
complete effect and import of him, in this aspect of his
existence, will not appear till our Race has reached its goal.
It is this final valuing of a man, as a part of the complete
Humanity, that we call the Final Judgment.

(&) Rational basis of belief. — The rational grounds for
belief in some kind of Future Judgment are, as already
suggested, of considerable weight. The most important of
these is the witness of conscience. Conscience is doubtless, in
its own degree, a tribunal of divine appointment ; but it has
shortcomings and disabilities which involve the existence of a
higher tribunal than itself. It bears the characteristics of a
lower court, whose decisions are subject to review. It claims
an absolute authority, but it lacks power to enforce its decrees ;
it can be bribed and cajoled into silence; and it is often
incapable of making its meaning plain and beyond dispute.
Its message is often hard to interpret, and its voice muffled by
the jarring voices of the world. For its vindication it requires
the appearing at last of a Tribunal incorruptible and undefiled ;
able to enforce and establish its verdicts, to make its righteous
ness clear as the noonday, to pronounce its decrees in a world
where but for its voice there is silence.

It is evident, also, that there are things in the moral
universe which are of the nature of Crisis, and experiences in
our spiritual life which come suddenly and are produced by
agencies outside ourselves. And these are clearly of the same
order as the Judgment to come, and point towards it. We
know, for instance, that the great moral laws which, for the
most part work in silence, out of sight, do manifest themselves
also in outward and visible fulfilment. The condemnation of
evil doing, which is always being written in the records of
character, keeps expressing itself from time to time in crises
of suffering, in terrors of self-understanding, in paroxysms of
conviction, in sudden, vivid revelation. Without these crises,

RESURRECTION. JUDGMENT, HADES 87

these hours and days of judgment, the moral order, as we
know it, would be incomplete — would, indeed, have little iu it
of healing or of promise. That law of retribution which
ordains that the heart shall grow harder and ever harder as it
persists in an evil course, has in it no tendency towards salva
tion, but works always towards insensibility and death ; it is
necessary, therefore, that its action be checked, and its narcotic
influence interrupted, by outward impact upon the life of a man
— by the sound of warning voices, by the stroke of adverse cir
cumstance, by the glare of sudden light, by the awakening grip
of fear, by the vital touch of love. A man to whom the voice
of conscience had spoken in vain has often been awakened to
the reality of his state when he has read the truth about his life
in the faces of his fellow-men, or heard it spoken by a faithful
voice, or felt it graven on his flesh by the fiery stamp of pain.

Apart from these awakening forces, where were the hopes
of men ? Without these days of judgment the process of
judgment was always an agent of destruction. So evident is
this side of the moral order that the human instinct of
righteousness is not content with the thought that a man is to
be left alone to suffer that inner process of retribution that
hardens the heart, or that he is to have no warning given him
beyond the chiding of the enfeebled voice of conscience. The
sense of poetic justice requires that there shall be something
outward to correspond with the inward state, that the wrong
doer shall not only be condemned for his evil deeds, but shall
know himself condemned. It is not enough that he be slowly
robbed of moral strength while his spirit sleeps ; he must be
awakened to a sense of his enfeeblement. Consciousness of
penalty is an essential part of retribution. Without that,
righteousness is not accomplished ; there is neither fairness to
the sinner nor vindication of the moral law.

There are thus elements in God's dealings with men which
cannot be described as belonging to the mere process of punish
ment — elements with which the thought of a final Reckoning
completely harmonises. Nay, we may go further, and say that
without the hope of future Judgment these great things in the
moral experience of mankind would be left without complete-

88 THE WORLD TO COME

ness. They would be as a road without an end, a voyage
without a port, and a prophecy without fulfilment.

All this, then, one may say with confidence on this great
subject. And yet it is necessary to repeat that there is some
thing in New Testament teaching and in the principles of our
Religion which is not expressed by the category of Judgment.
The idea of the Last Assize always bears a legal aspect, and is
concerned only with retribution and reward : but the last word
of Christianity is not law or retribution, but grace. The
thought of a Last Reckoning, also, suggests a point which closes
moral history ; but there can be no absolute finality in the life
of a spiritual being or in the manifestation of God in Christ.
Thus Judgment is a reality, and all that the Scriptures say of
it is true. But there is a higher truth that transcends it ; and
even the terrors of the Day of the Lord must be seen at last to
have had a place in the infinite purpose of redeeming love.

(III.)

INTERMEDIATE STATE.

1. New Testament doctrine. — («) We may take it for
granted that the belief in the Intermediate State was a part
of the ordinary, popular creed of the Apostolic Church, since
it is a necessary element in the apocalyptic scheme of thought?
and belongs to the expectation of Resurrection and Judgment.
There is nothing in the New Testament to discourage this
view, but rather a good deal to support it. It is not in the
least contradicted by those sayings of the Apostles which
indicate the hope of entering into blessedness at the hour of
death, and being immediately with the Lord. No intelligent
Jewish believer thought of Hades as a state in which the
righteous dead experienced anything else than pure happiness
— a happiness only slightly less than the full glory of the
Kingdom. And this was probably the character of the
primitive Christian hope.

(6) It is true that the doctrine of Hades does not hold any

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 89

prominent place in the New Testament; but this may be
explained by the fact that the early Christians lived in daily
expectation of the Parousia, and were confident that some of
them would see the coming of the Lord. This being so, the
space between death and the end of the world counted for
little in the outlook of believers. The Intermediate State,
therefore, held a small place in their thoughts, being cast into
shadow by the expectation of the Second Advent, the great
Beckoning, and the end of the world.

(c) Such references to the Intermediate State, however, as
do occur in the New Testament suffice to show that early
Christian thought on this subject exhibited the same general
features, and was just as indefinite, as the Jewish doctrine.
The traditional conception of the Underworld appears in the
Parable of Dives and Lazarus, where our Lord employs the
imagery commonly used in apocalyptic descriptions of Hades.1
Also, the idea which is expressed in the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs, that the Messiah would hold the power of
the keys, is apparent in the saying that Christ has the keys of
hell and of death.2 Again, the apocalyptic belief that Hades
would pass away at the Judgment and merge in heaven and
hell, is reflected in the prophecy of St. John that Hades will be
cast into the lake of fire.3 Similarly, the habit of describing
the state of the departed as a condition of " sleep " is common
to the New Testament and Apocalypse generally.4 Finally,
the suggestion sometimes found in Jewish writings, that some
of the dead may find deliverance from Hades, or at least
may profit by the intercession of the living, is indicated
by St. Paul's reference to " baptism for the dead " 5 and by
St. Peter's account of " the descent into Hades." 6 ,

(d) " Sleep of souls." — The persistence with which the
sacred writers describe death as " sleep," " sleep in Jesus," is
very striking, and has led in some cases to the doctrine,
suggested even by Luther, that souls remain in a state of

1 Luke 1619-'26 ; cf. En. 22, also^ Mace. 1317.

2 Rev. I18 ; of. Testament of Levi, 1810.

3 Rev. 2014 ; cf. ^ Ezra 803. 4 1 Cor. 1518 etc. ; cf. En. 9210 etc.
5 1 Cor. 1529 ; cf. 2 Mace. 1238'45, " 1 Pet. 318'25 4s,

90 THE WORLD TO COME

unconsciousness between death and resurrection. There is
nothing irrational in this belief. The mind, whether it be
ever really unconscious during this life or no, is undoubtedly
robbed of the power to express itself by that quiescence of the
brain which occurs in slumber, and sometimes in disease.
And it is not incredible that it may experience a similar
disability in the intermediate state if it be there deprived
altogether of its organ of expression. Nor does the idea of
the sleep of souls involve the conclusion that the blessedness
of the departed is really delayed. To the man who has been
asleep there seems to have been but a moment between falling
into slumber and awaking again. And in like manner, the
soul that passed into unconsciousness at the moment of death
and awoke again at the resurrection would not be aware of
having suffered loss although it had slept for ten thousand
years. It does not, however, seem that the Apostles are to be
understood in a literal sense when they speak of " those who
sleep." Such an interpretation would be contrary to Jewish
thought as a whole, and to many sayings in the New Testa
ment. Probably the description of death as sleep is to be
understood in a poetic way, as signifying rest, peace, security.
This conception has permanent hold on the Christian mind,
and has received final expression in Shakespeare's perfect line
— " After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well."

(e) Descent into Hades. — But the most interesting and
important references to the Intermediate State are contained
in those passages which show that the traditional belief in the
Descent of Christ into Hades goes back to New Testament
times. St. Paul probably refers to this belief when he says in
the Epistle to the Ephesians that our Lord " descended into
the lower parts of the earth." But the First Epistle of St.
Peter supplies more definite information as to the nature of
the ancient opinion on this matter. In that Epistle the Apostle
declares, first, that Jesus descended in the spirit into Hades
and proclaimed good news there to certain spirits in prison ;
and, secondly, that the gospel was preached to the dead that
these might live according to God in the spirit.1
1 See App. II. (Hades).

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 91

Various endeavours have been made to explain these sayings
in such a way as to exclude the idea of a Descent into the
Intermediate State, or, failing that, to escape the conclusion
that Jesus preached " good tidings " there. For instance, it
has been said that our Lord descended into the lower world
in order to make a kind of triumphal progress through that
region and to exhibit the proofs of His victory. This was, in
effect, Luther's view, and it was expressed by Goethe in one
of his early poems. Calvin held that the Saviour went down
into hell itself, partly to declare to the lost their doom, and
partly " that He might endure in the spirit the cruel torments
of a lost and damned man." l This is an idea of quite gratui
tous horror, having no relation to Scripture or reason, but
evolved entirely out of the inner consciousness of theologians.
Other explanations are that the Apostle teaches merely that
the gospel was preached to the spiritually dead in this present
world, or that he refers to something which took place before
the Incarnation. But all these interpretations, however in
genious or theologically convenient, have the fatal defect of
finding no support whatever in the words of St. Peter, who
declares that Jesus descended into Hades and preached good
news.

Whatever difficulty, then, may beset the detailed exegesis
of these admittedly difficult passages, their general import
seems plain. St. Peter almost certainly meant to teach that
Jesus in the interval between death and resurrection went
down into the lower world and there proclaimed good tidings.
" There should be no doubt," says Dr. Briggs, " as to the New
Testament doctrine of the descent of Christ into Hades in the
main features, though many details are obscure." 2 This con
clusion is, indeed, the only one that can explain the widespread
belief regarding this matter which existed in the early Church.
Poly carp, Ignatius, Hernias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian,
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Hippoly tus, all refer with more
or less emphasis to the Mission of Christ to departed souls.

1 "Quod diros in anima crociatus perditi ac damnati hoiniuis pertulerit "
(Institutio, Lib. II. cap. 16. 10).

2 Fundamental Christian Faith, pp. 129, 130.

92 THE WORLD TO COME

Hernias extends the sweep of the tradition, and asserts that
the Apostles after their martyrdom continued in the under
world the redeeming work which their Master had begun —
" The Apostles and the teachers who preached the name of the
Son of God, after they had fallen asleep in the power and faith
of the Son of God, preached also to them that had fallen asleep
before them." l The most vivid account, however, of this
tradition is to be found in the Christian apocalypse entitled
the Descent into Hades, written some time during the first half
of the second century. It tells of the bright light which
shone of a sudden in the darkness of Hades, of the appearing
of John the Baptist to announce the coming of the Son of God,
of the rejoicing with which Patriarchs and Apostles hailed His
approach. It describes the terror of the evil powers at the
news that the Conqueror was drawing nigh, their endeavours
to close the gates against Him, their ultimate confession of
defeat. It shows us, finally, the multitudes of the ransomed
children of Adam, and the company of the saints departing
from Hades, led by their divine Deliverer, with songs of joy
and thanksgiving.2

This primitive belief receives final expression in the familiar
article of the Apostles' Creed — "He descended into Hades."
It is to be remembered that this Creed was practically com
pleted in the fourth century, and that it contains nothing
which was not considered to pertain to the Catholic faith. It
is a singularly successful endeavour to express such beliefs as
were held to be of apostolic authority. That its testimony as
to the Descent into Hades was generally received by medieval
Christianity is witnessed by Dante, who represents Virgil as
telling how, shortly after his own arrival in the infernal region,
there came one, " With crowns of conquest gloriously graced,"
who released from their imprisonment and took away with him
to heaven Adam and Abel, Moses and David, and all the
primitive fathers of the ancient faith.3

So Peter's reference to the ministry of Christ in the Under-

1 Sheptord of Hermas, Hi. 16.

2 Gospel of Nicodemus (Westcott's edition), pp. 17-23.

3 Inferno, Canto IV.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 93

world thus remains the earliest and most important of those
utterances which show that primitive Christian thought agreed
with apocalyptic Judaism in that it did distinguish between
Hades and Gehenna, and also that it did not object to the idea
that some of the dead might hear good tidings and be delivered
from the Prison-house of Souls.

2. Theological developments. — But the doctrine of the
Intermediate State, which has never ceased to find a place in
Christian theology, is to be traced to something deeper than
the mere authority of certain New Testament sayings. It owes
its vitality to the evident truth that it is involved in the
doctrine of Judgment. We have seen that the Apostolic
teaching presents Judgment as an experience which awaits
all men, and is to be anticipated with reverent awe even by
believers. And this view of the matter is taught by Jesus
Himself, inasmuch as He declares that " every idle word that
a man shall speak, he shall give account thereof in the day of
Judgment," and also affirms that the Lord at the establishment
of His Kingdom will chasten His undutiful servants with a
severity proportioned to their talent and responsibility. But,
if this be so, it is evident that the world to come will contain
something besides the perdition of the lost and the perfect
glory of the saints, namely, an experience of discipline and
trial. In other words, it will contain an intermediate state —
intermediate between the conditions of this mortal life and the
inheritance of the saints in light. In any case, this is un
doubtedly the belief that has given vitality to this aspect of
the ancient faith in immortality.

Greek doctrine. — As to the persistent power of this belief
in an Intermediate State there can be no question. 'It has main
tained itself thoughout the ages in all the three great branches of
the Christian Church, though in varying forms and with varying
degrees of dogmatic definition. The Greco-Eussian Church has
retained in a vague fashion the old apocalytic view of Hades as
a state in which the good and the evil experience imperfect
forms of joy and of sorrow while they await the Judgment.
Thus Palmer tells us that theological students in Eussia write
dissertations on such subjects as " The Intermediate State of

94 THE WORLD TO COME

imperfect happiness aud imperfect torment, aud the profitable
ness of prayers and oblations for the departed ; especially for
those who have died with faith and repentance but with great
sins, and without having had time for full amendment of life." 1
In this doctrine we may find a characteristic trait of orthodox
Eastern Christianity, which is faithful always to tradition and
distrusts the Western tendency to precise logical statement.

Roman doctrine. — The Roman theology has developed out
of the old idea of Hades its dogma of purgatory. Accord
ing to Roman teaching, the soul's destiny is eternally fixed by
the individual judgment which takes place at death. Those
who are condemned in this judgment depart into unending
torment ; those who endure this final test inherit everlasting
salvation, but not all of them enter at once into perfect felicity.
Immediate admission to heaven is the privilege only of certain
saintly souls ; the great majority of the redeemed must experi
ence the ordeal of purgatory, which is a condition partly of
retributive punishment and partly of purifying discipline.
Whenever the cleansing flame has completed its work, the
redeemed and purified spirit ascends to the region of the
blessed, and enjoys henceforth the glorious liberty of the
children of God.2

Protestant speculation. — (a) The Protestant Church, on the
other hand, has formally rejected both the Greek and the
Roman doctrines of Purgatory, mainly because it finds some
thing in them which is inconsistent with its view of salvation,
and because it dislikes the thought that retributive suffering
remains in the life of the blessed dead. And yet Protestant
theology has not been able to divest itself altogether of belief
in an intermediate state. Most of those who in recent times
have maintained the doctrine of Eternal Punishment have
recognised that many who depart this world in a condition of
repentance and faith must begin the future life with an ex
perience of cleansing and education. And the majority of
evangelical teachers at the present day hold some form of the
doctrine that is commonly called " Future Probation." This

1 Visit to the Russian Church, p. 305.

" For statement of Roman doctrine, cf. Moehler, Symbolism, pp. 349-353.

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 95

latter form of thought is really the Protestant version of belief
in an intermediate state, and its exponents find warrant for
it in those features of New Testament teaching to which I have
already referred, and also in the many declarations of Scripture
which affirm the universality of the Gospel. Their argument
is that, since the New Testament asserts that there is no salva
tion except through Christ, it implies that every soul of man
must have an opportunity of accepting Him. But this again
involves the conclusion that the ministry of the Saviour
continues beyond the grave. If He is to draw all men unto
Himself, then He must be lifted up in the sight of all men ;
and those who have not seen Him in the days of their flesh
must be enabled to see Him hereafter. If this be not true,
then the teaching of the Apostles is meaningless ; their claim
that He is the appointed Saviour of all men is altogether vain.
Such is the reasoning of many thinkers, such as Dorner,1
Muller,2 Godet, Delitzsch,3 and other more recent writers ; and
if it be accepted, then the idea of a continued ministry of grace
in the state between death and judgment is supported not only
by the direct statement of St. Peter, but by a great mass of
indirect New Testament evidence.

(b) Speculative strength of this theory. — Now, the positive
strength of this theory is derived mainly from the fact that
existence in this world does not bear the aspect of being
intended to afford equal opportunity and full probation for
every soul of man. One may admit that this earthly life is
admirably adapted for the development and testing of
Humanity as a whole. The struggle with nature and the
necessity of learning its secrets and conforming to its laws;
the constant need of labour ; the clash of race with race ; the
mingled experience of joy and pain, of childhood, youth,
maturity, old age ; the various relationships of life ; the
process of reconciling individual freedom with the good of
society — all these together constitute a mass of influence
which is admirably suited to develop the human type, and to

1 System of Christian Doctrine, vol. iv. pp. 408-410.
- Ohritiian Doctrine of Sin, vol. ii. p. 429.
3 System of Biblical Psychology, p. 553.

96 THE WORLD TO COME

produce at last such a creature as man is intended to become.
Matters assume a very different aspect, however, when \ve
come to consider the case of the individual. It cannot be said
that the brief span of mortal existence affords equal oppor
tunity or fair probation for every one that is born of woman.
Vast multitudes never attain the age of self-consciousness.
Many more fail to reach maturity. Only a small number
experience all the seven ages of man. Some, again, inherit
defects of physical life which react upon the mind and hinder
its expression. Some are born into a low state of civilisation.
The lives of others are narrowed and confined, and denied the
means of self-realisation. To how few it is given to know the
glory of the world, or to taste the fulness of the cup of life.

One can imagine an arm of the sea stretching between two
shores, of which it might be said — " This strait seems perfectly
designed to afford a test of the sea-going qualities of ships. It
has in it all kind of perils — rocks, shoals, currents ; also all
sorts of weather — squalls, storms, calms, heat and cold. No
better trial could be given any ship than a voyage across this
water." But, suppose we found on inquiry that of all the
vessels launched on that sea the greater number sank before
they cleared the harbour bar ; that of those which survived to
reach the open waters some experienced favouring winds and
peaceful skies, while others had test of continual storms and
bufferings and varied perils ; that, finally, only a few of the
craft which attempted this voyage ever made the opposite
shore, we should surely be disposed to doubt whether this
stretch of sea was really designed after all to afford a fair test
of the efficiency and worthiness of ships. This mortal life is
such a sea. In theory it affords an ideal probation. But in
experience it does not, since a multitude of souls never are
exposed to its trials nor granted its opportunities, since very
few complete its course, and since its tests and its privileges
are not given in equal measure to this man and to that.

There are thus many difficulties besetting the view that
this earthly life is designed to afford a final probation of souls.
And the greatest of these, perhaps, is suggested by the fact
that so many perish in infancy. The problem presented by

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 97

this feature of human existence has always been felt by
theologians.1 The general teaching of the Roman Church has
always been that, of all who die in early years, those that have
enjoyed the privilege of baptism inherit the fulness of eternal
life ; while those who have not been baptized experience
unending happiness, though they fail of perfect blessing.
This is probably the meaning of that passage in the early
part of Dante's Inferno which gives to unbaptized infants a
place in that region where dwell the good and great of the
pagan world — Homer, Virgil, and their peers. The early
Reformed theology, less humane than the Roman, commonly
taught that elect children were received at death to Paradise,
while the non-elect shared with all lost souls that everlasting
doom which is the appointed penalty of original sin. On the
other hand, modem theology of the liberal evangelical type
usually rejects both these theories, and affirms broadly that all
who leave this world before they reach the age of responsi
bility are saved. But this latter view, though it harmonises
with the sentiments of Christian humanity, is not easily
defended so long as we maintain that this life presents the
final probation of souls. We may assume that such a trial as
is given us in this world is necessary for the perfecting of
moral character, is an essential stage in our development. It
is, indeed, only on this assumption that we can justify all the
cost, the pathos and tragedy of human history. The suffering
and heartbreak which have attended probation on the earth
cannot be reconciled with the goodness of God, unless we
believe that such a probation was necessary for the attainment
of eternal life. But if this moral conflict and trial are thus
necessary for the gaining of the highest good, how can it be
said that those who have never experienced it may yet
without it achieve the crown ? If the battle is the only path
to victory, how can those who have never fought be counted
among the conquerors ? This is certainly a very weighty
objection to the general liberal doctrine of infant salvation.
But it is a difficulty that loses all its force as soon as we
confess that this life is not the scene of a complete and final

1 Of. Gregory of Nyssa, De Statu Infantium, etc.
7

98 THE WORLD TO COME

testing, that the period of opportunity stretches out into the
future state and endures until all have experienced the necessary
discipline, have faced " the hard task that man was made for,"
and have, for good or for evil, attained to permanence of
moral character.

(c) Criticism. — Such are some of the advantages which
attend the theory of future Probation, and they are generally
admitted by those Protestant theologians of our time who
believe that evil is eternal, or who affirm Conditional Immor
tality, or who profess an agnostic view of the whole matter.
One may confess, however, a certain want of interest in the
mere question of future Probation. The term "probation"
does not adequately describe the experience of spiritual
creatures or their relation to the Creator. It stands for an
element in the moral life, but not for the whole of it. There
is something narrow and legal in the idea that we are given
life merely that we may be tested, either here or hereafter,
and if we fail to stand the trial, may be cast away for ever.
Such a conception is, indeed, inconsistent with the doctrine of
the Fatherhood of God. An inventor may make a machine,
and if it fail to do its work may break it in pieces ; a master
may engage a servant, and if the servant prove incapable may
dismiss him ; but a father cannot reject his son on the ground
that he has not fulfilled his expectations. No man who is
worthy to have a son says to himself, " I will test this lad, and
if he fails I will cast him out." He knows that no failure, or
succession of failures, on the part of his son, can make an end
of his obligation to do and to desire the best for him. Such
failure must, of course, entail suffering and penalty ; but trans
cending all punishment, all retribution, is the necessity that is
laid upon a father to strive to the last that his child may be
saved and brought into the ways of good. But if the idea of
" probation " is thus an inadequate account of the relation of
any man to his son, much less is it capable of expressing the
whole attitude of the Heavenly Father towards any to whom
He has granted the gift of life. God, who knows all things,
does not require to try any man in order to discover his
capabilities ; and so all the testing to which He subjects us is

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 99

better described as discipline than as probation. He does put
us on trial, He does bring us to judgment. But the issue of
testing and of judgment cannot be retributive, and nothing more.
It cannot make an end of that divine grace which is from ever
lasting to everlasting ; which ceaselessly strives to transmute
all failure and all penalty into righteousness and peace.

3. Prayer for the dead. — Closely related to the doctrines
of Purgatory and of Future Probation, and belonging like
them to the subject of the Intermediate State, is the question
of Prayer for the Dead. There can be no doubt that the
practice of supplication for the departed prevailed widely in
the early Christian Community. Arnobius, for instance,
mentions incidentally that petitions were offered in the
churches of his day for the dead as well as for the living.1
In later times, of course, this custom became universal ; and it
is still an essential element in the public worship and private
devotion of that great majority of Christians who adhere to
the Greek and Eoman Communions. Even in the Evangelical
Churches, also, many thinkers have protested against the idea
that the inhabitants of the Future State are excluded from the
reach of intercession ; and petitions for the welfare of those
who are gone before are quite commonly offered at the present
day in Anglican places of worship. So that the weight of the
historical evidence in favour of this observance is undoubtedly
very impressive.

It is beyond question, also, that there have always been
individual Protestants of perfectly orthodox belief who have
been mindful of their beloved dead, in their hours of private
devotion. Thus Samuel Johnson, a man of the simplest faith,
always continued to pray for the soul of his wife departed.
After the death of his friend Thrale, too, we find in his diary
the touching petition — " Almighty God, who art the giver of
all good, enable me to remember with due thankfulness the
comforts and advantages I have enjoyed through the friendship
of Henry Thrale, for whom, so far as is lawful, I humbly
implore Thy mercy in his present state."2 And we may

1 Contra Oenles, Book IV. sec. 36.

2 Prayers and Meditations, }>. 135.

zoo THE WORLD TO COME

confess some difficulty in showing reasonable grounds for
condemning any who may follow Johnson's example in this
matter. Modern theology has largely departed from the
dogmatic position which excludes intercession for the dead.
No one, for instance, can logically object to such intercession
who believes in future probation, or who thinks that the souls
of the blessed gradually develop in holiness after they have
departed this life, or who is uncertain in his doctrine of
future destiny. Also, it is reasonable to ask by what authority
we interfere with the rights of the individual believer in so
intimate a matter, and say to him — Thou shalt not. Not by
the authority of any express commandment of Christ or of
His Apostles, since the New Testament is silent on this
subject. Not in the name of the Church universal, since the
great majority of Christians in all ages have prayed for the
dead. Not on the ground of assured knowledge, for we cannot
knmo that intercession does not avail for the departed. Nor
can we urge that it is a reverent and religious thing to leave
the beloved dead silently in the hands of God. Evidently
this is an argument which might be used to discourage prayer
for the living, since they, as certainly as " those who sleep,"
are in the care of the almighty Love. May we not say with
justice that intercession, in all its forms, is a matter of faith,
not of reason ? It is one of the great enduring facts of the
religious life, always and everywhere, and is simply to be
accepted as one of the essential features of the spiritual Order.
We might as well ask whether the outburst of life in the
springtime is of any use, whether the rotation of day and
night serves any end, as say — " What is the value of inter
cession, and how can it avail ? " As to the manner in which
intercession avails we have no knowledge ; we cannot see how
the All-wise and All-loving can be moved by the poor
petitions of our ignorance. But we do know that pray for
each other we must ; and we do know, also, that this necessity
arises from the least selfish and the noblest instincts of the
soul, and that it binds us to our brethren and to God. We
trust, also, that in some sense it makes us fellow-workers
with God in the fulfilment of His purpose. But if this be so,

RESURRECTION, JUDGMENT, HADES 101

we may well distrust all limitations of intercession which rest
on logical reasoning, or on the assumption that the power that
avails within the borders of this mortal life is brought to
impotence by death. We believe in the communion of saints ;
we believe that we who dwell here and those who are gone
before do but inherit different rooms in the Father's house.
How then can we be sure that our prayers for them, or theirs
for us, are profitless and vain ? While, therefore, we may be
content to remain by the tradition of our own Church in this
matter, we may, at the same time, confess that the forbidding
of petitions for the departed is difficult to justify. Indeed, it
is evident that all religious men do in effect, though not
perhaps in words, pray for the dead. " Prayer is the soul's
sincere desire " ; and the sincere desire that the departed may
find forgiveness and peace, may enjoy the light and life
eternal, is really a spiritual act which differs in nothing but
form from stated intercession, and is the substance of all the
liturgies.1

Permanent value of belief in Intermediate State. — But,
whatever our view of these difficult questions may be, and
whether or no we are prepared to accept any theological
formula as to the subject of the Intermediate State, we cannot
doubt that the Christian Church, whether Greek, Roman, or
Reformed, does recognise in some degree the force of those
considerations which created and have sustained the three
fold doctrine of future destiny. And so we are constrained to
admit that the belief in " Hades," like the other apocalyptic
forms, has shown such vitality and endurance as to prove it
the expression of abiding truth — as to vindicate the place
which it has held in religious faith since ever ntan came to
believe in the life everlasting.

We have seen that the Kingdom, the Eising from the dead,
and the final Reckoning owe their permanent power to their
being the symbols of moral and spiritual realities. And, in like
manner, the doctrine of the Intermediate State has its roots
in something deeper than historical circumstance or changing
speculations. Like the beliefs in an universal Resurrection

1 Of. Mackintosh, Immortality and the Future, pp. 161-163.

102 THE WORLD TO COME

and Judgment, it rests on the assured conviction that the lot
of the individual, whether for weal or for woe, must have
something wanting to its completeness until the destiny of the
race as a whole has finally been determined. No one can
doubt that this is a conviction which is firmly based on truth ;
nor does its validity depend on any particular view of ultimate
destiny. If every man be judged at death according to the
record of his life, and enter thereafter into a settled condition
of sorrow or of blessedness ; still it is evident that until the
number of the condemned be accomplished and the company
of the redeemed completed, the cup of experience must remain
unfulfilled for every one that is lost and for every one that is
saved. If, again, there be a final Judgment at the close of
earthly history which shall mark the end alike of hope and of
fear ; then, until that day has dawned, no saint and no sinner
can inherit in its completeness the place prepared for him of
old. If, finally, beyond all judgment there stretch a period
of penalty and discipline and ministry which shall culminate
at last in some far-off event of final peace and light ; then, till
that consummation be attained no separate soul in all the
universe, however rich in blessedness, however crowned with
life, can know the flower and glory of beatitude. For the
purpose of God is, in all its parts, a purpose for the race of
men ; nor can it be fulfilled in one until attained in all.
Until the latest laggard of the human host has reached his
house of destiny, it must be true of all his comrades gone
before that they without him cannot be made perfect.

CHAPTER IV.

GEHENNA.
(EVERLASTING TORMENT.)

Introductory.

1. THE doctrine of Gehenna and its fiery torments affords
a striking example of the essentially symbolic character of the
apocalyptic genius. That doctrine was originally just the
negative side of the Kingdom of God conception. It had
really no connection with any deliberate theological opinion
about the ultimate destiny of mankind. And all later
endeavours to identify it with the dogma of Everlasting Evil
have been unsuccessful and unfortunate — unfitted to endure a
rational analysis, and harmful in their effects on religious
thought and life. At least, this is the view of the matter
which I propose to illustrate, in this chapter.

2. The sources of the Gehenna belief, as it appears in the
Christian Church, must be sought far back in the history of
Israel; and its peculiar forms must be attributed largely to
remote influences, mainly Egyptian and Persian. We have
seen how in later Old Testament times it was believed that
the benefits and blessings of the Messianic Kingdom would be
extended to such of the Gentile nations as should submit to its
sway. The negative side of this expectation, however, was
that the persistently hostile among foreign peoples would
experience total national destruction — irrecoverable calamity
and disaster. An emblem of this doom was found in the

104 THE WORLD TO COME

putrefaction and burning that were in the valley of Hinnom
where, according to tradition, were gathered abominable de'bris
and carcases of the slain. " Their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched." 1

3. This was, generally speaking, the early conception of the
aeonian punishment. It was a purely mundane thing, "the
everlasting desolation of many generations." But, as the belief
in immortality matured, and as the thought of punishment
became more individual and ethical, the notion of this final
destruction was carried forward into the future state. It
became the conception of a personal and other-worldly as well
as of a national and earthly ruin. And this development led
to an incongruous fashion of using imagery that had been
suited to the older belief, to illustrate the features of the newer
conception. When the scene of punishment was extended
beyond this earth no emancipation was achieved from the
barbarous forms of thought which had been derived from the
horrors of war and of Oriental tyranny. Rather did these
become greatly exaggerated. Imagination became free to riot
in visions of the torments of the future state. No one could
check its excesses and say : " I have been in the lower regions,
and these visions are not true." Hence there appeared in
Jewish teaching about Gehenna ingenious descriptions of com
plicated horrors, which the apocalyptic prophets embellished
with materials drawn from the folklore of the peoples, and
especially from Persian sources. Not only general conceptions,
but also definite symbols like the " outer darkness," " the
eternal fire," and so on, were borrowed from the Zoroastrian
Scriptures.2 Not that the Jewish artists stood greatly in need
of resorting to foreign teachers for help in the production of
pictures fully adequate to the requirements of their theme.
They showed a wealth of original genius in depicting the
manifold tortures and sorrows of Gehenna.

4. Thus the doctrine of future torment became established.
But it was quite vague and undogmatic. It was a mere exten
sion into the future state of the penalty and ruin which it had
been the custom to predict for the godless nations in this

1 Isa. 66-4. 2 Of. Mills, Avesta Exchatology, p. 50.

GEHENNA 105

present world. It is important to bear this in mind — to
remember that the idea of aeonian punishment is older than the
belief in personal immortality. It had in the beginning no real
likeness, and can never have any legitimate relation, to the
dogma of Eternal Evil. It was not the creation of men who
had faced the problem of human destiny, and had come to a
definite conclusion regarding it. It simply meant that, even
as this present world was to witness the Messianic Kingdom
and the overthrow of its enemies, so the future state was to
see the vindication of the righteous and the destruction of
their foes. The older conception and the new remained side
by side in Jewish thought. Doom and destruction awaited the
Gentiles here ; and Gehenna flamed for the godless hereafter.
And whether men spoke of aeoiiian punishment as a thing of
the present or of the future, they meant by it nothing theo
logical. The flames of Gehenna filled the background of the
picture which had for its foreground the City of God.

II.

JEWISH SPECULATIONS.

1. There can be no doubt, of course, that in the time of our
Lord, which was a period of great mental activity, men were
beginning to suggest theories of ultimate destiny. But the
expression of such theories was always hindered and confused
when the Gehenna symbolism was employed. Thus the Eabbis
of the schools of Hillel and Shammai would have been able to
make their meaning much clearer had they not felt obliged to
use the cumbrous and grotesque language of tradition. It was
unfortunate that, when they wished to say that the period of
future punishment would be limited, they had to speak of
sinners going down into the Gehenna flame and " moaning and
coming up again." Also, they did themselves injustice when
they expressed the idea of annihilation by asserting that souls
would be " burned up " and " their ashes scattered under the
feet of the righteous." And these are but examples of the

106 THE WORLD TO COME

truth that the old figurative language was unfitted to become
the instrument of speculative thought.

2. Another illustration of this is found in the difficulty
which, as we have seen, besets any attempt to interpret in a
dogmatic sense the Gehenna imagery in the Book of Enoch.
And a similar perplexity attends the doctrinal exegesis of all
the books of this class. Fourth Ezra, for instance, is so hard
to understand that some excellent authorities find in it the
idea of conditional immortality,1 while others are quite sure
that it expresses belief in unending torment. It is interesting
also to note that while the Apocalypse of Baruch is said to
have issued from the school of Sharnmai its language seems to
assert that all the wicked suffer everlasting woe. This was
not the doctrine of Shammai, who reserved the fate of per
petual torment for the worst of sinners. Why, then, does
Baruch convey no hint of any distinction between one class of
transgressors and another ? Evidently, for the reason that the
language of Apocalypse was adapted to express only the con
ception of general destruction.

3. But a final proof of the elusive nature of the Gehenna
imagery is afforded by the inability of modern writers to give
an account of its dogmatic force without contradicting them
selves. Thus, the learned article on " Eschatology ," in the Jewish
Encyclopaedia, states the doctrine of Judaism to be that " all
evil deeds meet with everlasting punishment." Yet it also
says that " Gehenna has a double purpose, annihilation and
eternal pain." Further, it tells us that Shammai's doctrine of
Gehenna " resembled Purgatory," and finally that some Rabbis
believed that "the punishment of the wicked endured for
twelve months." Surely these are perplexing contradictions ;
but they are due simply to the writer's fidelity in describing
a state of hopeless mental confusion. And this confusion
arose partly out of the endeavour to express rational theories
and distinctions of thought through the medium of imagery
that was meant to convey only a vague conception of over
throw and ruin.

1 E.g. Schultz, 0. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 395 (note).

GEHENNA 107

III.

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE.

But if all this is to be said about the Jewish presentations
of Gehenna, very much the same things are to be affirmed
concerning the .early Christian teaching on this subject. The
New Testament prophecies of fiery wrath and judgment are
not more easy to interpret than the pictures of Enoch. In
their references to the pit of destruction, our sacred writers
betray little sign of speculative influences ; and their use of
the fire imagery is very free and varied. It is literary rather
than dogmatic, and suggests sometimes one thought and some
times another.

1. Its general characteristics. — (a) The writer of the Book of
Eevelation, for instance, tells us that the wicked "shall be
tormented day and night for ever " ; * but, on the other hand,
he says that " death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." 2
The first of these sayings, taken literally, states the doctrine of
Everlasting Torment; while the second suggests the idea of
Annihilation, since its intention is to teach that there will be
an end of death and of the Intermediate State. And so, if we
are to suppose that this writer had in mind a theory of destiny,
we must conclude that he enforced two contradictory views.3
The absurdity of this conclusion warns us not to attempt
dogmatic interpretation. Indeed, the impossibility of attach
ing importance to St. John's prophecies of eternal doom
becomes evident when we remember his saying that the smoke
of the fallen city of Rome will " go up for ever and ever." *

(b) The Apostle Paul, like Philo, avoids all reference to fire
as the symbol of eternal perdition. It is true that in Second
Thessalonians he predicts that the Lord will come " in flaming
fire " ; 5 but the terms used in this passage point to the thought
of annihilation. On the other hand, the element of fire appears

1 Rev. 2010. 2 2014.

3 This is Beyschlag's conclusion, N. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 404.

4 Rev. 193. B 2 Thess. I8.

io8 THE WORLD TO COME

as a symbol of testing and saving power in the third chapter
of First Corinthians, where it is said that in the day of judg
ment certain believers in Christ will be " saved as by fire." l
And so, if we are to dogmatise the fire imagery used by St.
Paul, we must say that it embodies the doctrine of Purgatory,
and also of Destruction.

(c) We may further add to these illustrations of New
Testament usage the passage in which St. Peter likens faith
that is tested by affliction to gold that is tried by fire.2 Also,
it is important to remember the great imaginative utterance in
the Epistle to the Hebrews, " Our God is a consuming fire." 3
The same Epistle declares that apostates from Christ have
nothing to look for but judgment and a fierceness of devouring
fire, and that their "end is to be burned."4 It must be
admitted that this is language which suggests the doom of
utter extinction.

(d) But it is when we come to the Gospels themselves that
we find the greatest difficulty in attaching one fixed theological
meaning to the symbolism of fire. Thus, the Baptist declares
that the Messiah will baptize " withXhe Holy Ghost and with
fire," and will " burn up the ch#ff with unquenchable tire." 6
And it is clear that in the first of these prophecies he has in
view spiritual and moral force ; while the apparent meaning
of the second prediction is that the wicked will be totally
destroyed. Our Lord, also, makes fire the symbol of spiritual
power in the saying, "I am come to send fire on the earth,"6
and still more in the striking utterance, " Every one must be
consecrated with the fire of self-discipline." 7 Evidently, the
Synoptic use of this symbolism is quite as free and varied as
that of St. Paul or of St. John the Divine.

It thus appears that the emblem of fire in common New
Testament usage signifies four different things — spiritual
energy, purifying discipline, penal suffering, and total extinction.

2. Gehenna, prophecies of Jesus. — But, of course, the most
important and difficult of those sayings in the sacred books

1 1 Cor. 315. - 1 Pet. I7. :: Ileb. 1229.

4 1027 6". 5 Matt. 3n- 12. 6 Luke 1249.

7 Mark 949 (Mofl'att's translation) ; cf. Bruce in Expos. Greek Test.

GEHENNA 109

that embody this type of symbolism are found in the Synoptic
prophecies that the outcasts from the Kingdom will be cast
into Gehenna, the unquenchable and eternal fire.1 And these
predictions afford a final proof that this imagery is quite un-
dogmatic in its meaning. The attempt to deduce from them
a definite and consistent theory of future destiny is entirely
fruitless.

(a) In the first place, it is impossible to say that all these
references to Gehenna and its torments are couched in the
very words of Jesus. They do not, as a rule, bear the imprint
of His mind, being expressed in terms which are entirely
traditional, and therefore not suited to convey any message
that is individual or definite. Phrases and sayings that have
been used over and over again by all sorts of people lose their
power to declare anything but a vague and common idea.
And so, when we find such expressions in the Gospels, we are
without any means of assuring ourselves that they belong to a
verbatim report. They do not verify themselves, any more
than would a proverb or a commonplace quotation. It would
be otherwise, of course, if these Gehenna prophecies were
accompanied by any qualifying or explanatory sayings, such as
might show that they had issued with newness of meaning from
the mind of Jesus. But no such interpreting phrases are found
in the Gospels. Other apocalyptic forms, like those of the
Kingdom and of the Messiah, appear in the Synoptic records
so modified and enriched by contact with the mind of our Lord
that they guarantee themselves as part of His teaching. But
these predictions of Gehenna are not different in any respect
from similar prophecies in the Jewish books. Indeed, they are
singularly wanting in any feature that might associate them
with the personality of the Saviour. We cannot find in them
any image or thought which is not traditional.

This will appear at once if we quote a few typical sayings
from the Synoptics, and compare them with parallel expressions
in the Book of Enoch. Thus we read in St. Matthew's Gospel
— " When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of

1 Cf. Matt. 1342-50 18s, Mark 943-48 etc.

no THE WORLD TO COME

His glory. . . . Then shall He say . . . ' Depart from Me, ye
cursed, into the eternal fire.' . . . The Son of Man shall send
forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all
things that offend, and them who do iniquity ; and shall cast
them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. ... As therefore the tares are gathered and burned
in the fire ; so shall it be in the end of the world. . . . Fear
Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." l

It will not be questioned that these sayings, taken together,
represent the whole Synoptic Apocalypse of punishment.
Compare it, then, with a similar statement composed of quota
tions from Enoch — " When they see the Son of Man sitting on
the throne of His glory . . . He will deliver them to the
angels of punishment . . . the holy angels. . . . And they
will be banished from His presence . . . cursed for ever. . . .
They shall be led to the abyss of fire ... a fire which burns
for ever . . . the flame of a burning fire, and the voice of
crying and lamentation and weeping. ... As straw in fire
shall they burn." 2

Who can fail to observe the resemblance between these two
prophecies ? Who can say that the first, any more than the
second, bears any marks of individual genius ? Surely it is
evident that they both owe their form to a common imaginative
tradition. Also, it is to be remembered that this tradition kept
repeating the same imagery, through all changes of thought,
for at least two hundred years. It is plain that such ancient
and conventional symbols were not able to express anything
that was peculiar to the mind of any one teacher. Indeed, the
proof of this, in the case of Jesus, is written on the face of the
records. No one could infer from these Synoptic prophecies
that our Lord distinguished between different classes of sinners,
or that He believed in degrees of punishment, or that He had
compassion for lost souls ?

(&) This is a consideration, however, which does not help
us much towards a theological conclusion. It does not prove
that Jesus did not utter prophecies of this kind, but only that

1 Matt. 2531-41 IS4*-*** JO*.

- En. 625- ll 63n 102' 101:i 6713 108s- 6 48s.

GEHENNA 1 1 1

we cannot be sure that we possess them in the very terms He
used,1 or in the fulness of their original form. Still less does
it create any doubt that our Lord did speak of Gehenna as the
appointed doom of those who might be outcasts from the
Kingdom. But this admission does not enable us to attain a
definite interpretation of this element in the Gospels. We
have to remember that Gehenna represented the negative side
of the Kingdom of God idea ; it signified exclusion from the
blessings of the Coming Age. And this fact presents a serious
obstacle to any attempt at confident interpretation. The negative
side of any idea is conditioned by the positive side ; our know
ledge of the one is limited by our understanding of the other.
Hence it follows that the Synoptic doctrine of Gehenna must
be interpreted by the Synoptic presentation of the Kingdom.
But we have seen that our Lord's conception of the Eeign of
God was poetic and undefined, and we must conclude that His
idea of Gehenna was of the same character. If we do not
know whether the Messianic Kingdom which Jesus predicted
was to be temporal or eternal; and if He described it as at
once earthly and heavenly, material and spiritual, present and
to come — then it is difficult to see how we can attach any one
fixed meaning to His sayings regarding the fate of those who
should be exiles from the City of God. And so the knowledge
that Jesus spoke of Gehenna helps us little towards an under
standing of His mind.

(c) But, in the second place, it is evident that difficulties
remain even if we grant that Jbhese Gehenna sayings do embody
a doctrine of future destiny. We have still to ask what that
doctrine is. We have to inquire, for instance, whether the
doom which is prophesied for the unrighteous is -everlasting
punishment or torment ending in annihilation. The attempt
to solve this problem leads us into a field of entirely profitless
discussion. We become involved in a debate about the mean
ing of a few ambiguous words, and of two or three pictorial
expressions. We are constrained to balance a very little
evidence on one side against a very little on the other ; and we

1 "Eternal lire," "eternal punishment," being peculiar to St. Matthew,
are doubtful.

112 THE WORLD TO COME

know that it matters nothing whether the scale inclines in this
way or in that. The doctrine of Jesus as to the fate of man
kind is not to be ascertained by a precarious weighing of petty
probabilities.

It is true that in the great parable of Judgment (Matt.
2532-48) «the eternal fire" is defined as "eternal punishment."
But this is a passage which does not lend itself to the designs
of confident theologians. Its closing declaration, " These shall
go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life," is probably no part of the parable. It seems to
be a comment of the Evangelist or of some later scribe ; since
it really distracts attention from the main purpose of the
passage, which is not to declare the duration of punishment,
but to explain the principle of judgment. We have to
remember, also, that the phrase " aeonian punishment " is used
with great freedom by many Jewish writers, as is illustrated
by a passage in the Fragmenta of Philo,1 wherein this very
expression describes a purely temporal and earthly penalty.
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, also, states that
women who adorn themselves unduly are reserved for " eternal
punishment " ; 2 and, surely, no one can attach dogmatic rigour
to this pronouncement. It is to be borne in mind, further,
that the apocalyptic writers use the term "eternal life" to
describe the life of the Kingdom even when there is no
suggestion of endlessness ; 3 so that eternal punishment prob
ably meant for them simply the state of exclusion from the
Messianic dominion. The looseness with which Hellenistic
authors of that time spoke of " eternity " is indicated by the
passage in which Philo says that the lower creatures are
enemies of mankind to " an illimitable eternity," and yet goes
on to assert that these will be reconciled to humanity at the
coming of the Kingdom.4

But, leaving this point aside, it is beyond dispute that the
parable as a whole presents peculiar difficulties for the ex-

1 See App. III. : N.T. term " Eternal."

2 Betibf.n 5s (/c6Xacris al&vios).

3 Cf. Fragments of Greek Version of Etweh, 1-36.

4 Praem. et Poen. 15 (&Trcplypa<f>ov altiva).

GEHENNA 113

positor. St. Matthew's version of it is certainly an account of
something that Jesus said ; there is, indeed, no apocalyptic
passage in the Gospels that is more certainly interwoven with
elements that are characteristic of the Saviour. Nevertheless
it may not be a verbatim report of His words. It is an
elaborate piece of literary apocalypse, highly allusive, and
showing an intimate acquaintance with the Jewish books. It
is evidently founded on the Judgment scene in the Book of
Enoch, and might almost be reconstructed, so far as its imagery
and accessories go, out of the " revelation " literature.1

Dr. Burkitt says of this parable : " It seems to me, there
fore, that we are really in the presence of a sort of Midrash,
by which I mean an application of the Judgment scene in
Enoch to enforce a particular moral " ; 2 and this is an opinion
which we may accept. The precise terms that are used in the
passage, therefore, cannot be held to have any doctrinal im
portance, nor can any momentous conclusion be drawn from
the imagery it contains. Its message is expressed in the great
saying so characteristic of Jesus, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto
the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me." Its
purpose is to show that the Gentiles who have not known
Christ are to be judged according to the measure in which they
exhibit the spirit of love and ministry, and have served the
Lord by serving those who are His own. The possession of
this spirit is the very essence of the Kingdom and its blessed
ness, while to be without it is to be an exile from the divine
Society and an alien from the commonwealth of Christ. To
teach this is the whole intent of the parable.

But, even if we admit that this and some other passages
do suggest the doctrine of Everlasting Penalty, we must agree
that the Gehenna imagery as a whole distinctly supports the
idea that the wicked will be destroyed. We read of tares
being cast into the fire ; 3 and we know what happens to things
that are thrown into a furnace. We read also of Him " who

1 See App. II. : Judgment.

2 Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, p. 25. For account of resemblances to
Zoroastrian doctrine, see Mills, Avesta Eschatology, pp. 50-52.

3 Matt. 1330.

114 THE WORLD TO COME

is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,"1 and \vc
cannot imagine any language more fitted to express annihila
tion. Indeed, there is very little of the fire symbolism in the
Synoptics which is not, at least, capable of being interpreted
in this sense. And so we must admit that it is not possible
to say that the prophecies of future punishment which appear
in the Gospel records enforce one harmonious doctrine of
ultimate destiny. It is true that New Testament scholars do
sometimes make very definite assertions on this matter. We
are told, for instance, that Jesus certainly believed that " the
unrighteous descend to everlasting torments," and that " punish
ment is generally conceived in the Gospels as everlasting."
But such confident statements surprise us very much when we
remember the state of Jewish thought in those days, and when
we consider the evidence actually presented by the Gospels.

3. Review. — On the whole, then, a review of the New
Testament teaching on this subject supports the opinion that
the fire imagery is just as difficult to interpret in our sacred
writings as it is in the Jewish books. Apostles and Evangelists
use it to symbolise many kinds of spiritual force — retributive,
purifying, destroying. Also, their prophecies of Gehenna
cannot be understood in a dogmatic sense without involving
the impossible conclusion that they taught both the unending
punishment and the utter annihilation of the wicked. In the
case of our Lord's teaching, especially, we cannot attach
theological importance to the terms in which He is said to
have declared the doom of the lost. A literal method of
exegesis is forbidden by our knowledge of contemporary forms
of thought and by our want of assurance as to the words
which He used. Also, it can lead to no decision regarding the
question of ultimate destiny. If the message of Jesus has any
light to cast on this problem, it must be found elsewhere than
in apocalyptic sayings which convey no idea that is in the least
complex or characteristic, or which distinguishes Him from
other teachers of His time.

But if we cannot deduce dogmatic results from the

Gehenna predictions of Jesus, iior even be sure that we possess

1 This saying is rejected by some critics. But it corresponds to Matt. 580 etc.

GEHENNA 115

them in His actual words, we yet cannot doubt that He did
employ the symbol of the Everlasting Fire ; and we can see
that it was fitted to express, in a general way, an aspect of
His mind. It represented, for instance, that intense moral
indignation and implacable enmity which was so marked a
feature of His attitude to certain sins, such as pretence,
cruelty, treachery, and the oppression of the weak. It
embodied, also, His belief in future Judgment and the retri
butive wrath of God. But chiefly, perhaps, it expressed His
sense of the pity and terror of spiritual loss. He referred
often to that which was lost as the most sad and tragic of all
things in His eyes, and in the sight of God and of His angels.
He thought more of what men might lose than of what they
might suffer. That they should miss the good of life and fail
of the Kingdom was a possibility that had for Him every
attribute of dread and sorrow. An existence without the
spirit of love and without communion with God was, to His
mind, death, perdition, and Gehenna. Thus His apocalyptic
judgments exhibit a very stern aspect of His message. He
believed in the penalties of sin and in the danger that besets
the moral life ; and He expressed this belief through the
imaginative form that lay to His hand, the austere and terrible
image of the Everlasting Fire. His was a mind that trans
muted every old and common thought into the pure sim
plicity of truth. And He saw the ancient vision of Gehenna
cleansed of all that was cruel and base, and become the perfect
symbol of the spotless fear of -God.

IV.

EARLY CHURCH DOCTRINE.

1. Popular belief in primitive Church. — (a) There can be
little doubt that the Christians of the post- Apostolic Church
held the doctrine of future punishment in the form which
distinguished popular Jewish belief rather than New Testa
ment teaching. Gibbon, with characteristic irony, numbers

ii6 THE WORLD TO COME

among the things that explain the triumph of Christianity the
intensity with which it taught the everlasting torment of the
wicked. Pagans were naturally impressed, he says, by the
claims of a Gospel which professed to be the only means of
salvation from the flames of hell. " The primitive Church
delivered over without hesitation to eternal torture the far
greater part of the human species." " The careless Polytheist
was very frequently terrified and subdued by the menace of
eternal tortures."1

(&) Such is Gibbon's account of the early Christian doctrine ;
and we must admit that it is not without truth, in so far at
least as the popular belief was concerned. The recorded
sayings of the martyrs of our faith leave us in little doubt as
to this. These sayings prophesy with the utmost clearness
the fate that awaits all who reject or betray Christianity.
The threats and warnings addressed by the followers of Jesus
to their persecutors and judges bear, indeed, a startling
resemblance to the sayings of the martyrs of Judah as these
are given in the Books of the Maccabees.

As illustration of this, take these warnings addressed by
the seven Jewish martyrs to the tyrant Antiochus : " You, for
the wicked and despotic slaughter of us all, shall, by the divine
vengeance, endure eternal torture by fire." "The divine
vengeance is reserving you for eternal fire, and torments that
shall cling to you to all time " : 2 and compare these with the
following sayings of Christian witnesses : " All who do not
profess Christ to be very God shall be sent into eternal fire."
"Although thou usest more grievous torments thou injurest
me in no wise, but providest for thine own soul eternal
torments." " Thou canst not injure me by thy torments, but
providest for thine own soul inextinguishable fires." " Lest I
fall into eternal fire and perpetual torments, I worship God
and His Christ." " I fear not thy temporary fire ; but I fear,
if I give way to thee, that I may become partaker of His
eternal fire."3

1 Decline and Fall, vol. i. chap. xv. sec. 2.

2 4 Mace. 9» 1212.

3 Cf. Puscy, What is of Faith, etc., pp. 154-171.

GEHENNA 117

These sayings of the martyrs show quite clearly that early
Christians held the old Eschatology, and held it in the old
spirit. The Church was for them what the Chosen People
had been for the patriots of Israel. It was God's peculiar
possession, His favoured Kingdom. Within its walls were
eternal life and peace ; beyond its borders were spiritual death
and everlasting doom. As many of the Jews had believed all
the Gentile world to be hastening towards the Pit of fire, so
numbers of the primitive Christians affirmed that all who
where outside the Church were appointed to Gehenna torments.
And there can be little doubt that, as Gibbon suggests, this
belief was a source of valour and endurance. It presented to
the imagination vivid forms of supernatural hope and fear,
which helped men to despise the promises and to overcome the
terrors of earthly joy and pain.

(c) We cannot, however, agree that this popular creed was
dogmatic in the sense that it represented the fruits of reflection
or was adopted as the result of deliberate thought about the
problem of destiny. Popular forms of belief are always
extreme, and are, indeed, not so much thoughts as symbols.
In order to know what any faith really means, one must consult
the utterances of its educated teachers. And when we turn
to the works of the early Christian Fathers, we find that the
imagery of the Eternal Fire had, to begin with, no very fixed
or definite meaning. It is used, for instance, by Irenaeus and
Justin Martyr, whose teaching as to final destiny is so doubtful
that it is quoted by modern authorities in support now of one
theory and now of another. And even in somewhat later days,
traces of this original vagueness of meaning are found in
Tertullian, Origen, and Arnobius. These all refer to " the
eternal fire " ; but for Tertullian it signifies everlasting torment,
for Origen universal restoration, and for Arnobius the destruc
tion of the wicked. These references suffice to indicate that
the popular Christian belief of primitive times was little more
speculative than the older Jewish doctrine, and represented
just the traditional thought that utter defeat and destruction
awaited all the enemies of the Kingdom.

2. Dogmatic development. — The mention of the Fathers,

n8 THE WORLD TO COME

however, suggests to us how soon dogma began to invade the
territory of Apocalypse. And this process of invasion went
on until the old imaginative symbolism wan compelled to
surrender its proper office and become the instrument of one
determinate doctrine. That this was an unhappy development
one can hardly doubt — unhappy in its effects both on popular
religion and theological thinking.

(1) Popular presentations. — In order to illustrate its effect
on popular belief, we must study the literature of the times
during which the doctrine of everlasting torments exercised its
fully developed power. Throughout many ages the minds of
theologians were in a state of chronic eschatological intoxica
tion. Their imagination rejoiced in pictures of torment and
woe. It displayed the morbid activity, the inebriated
ingenuity, of the opium-eater. The Catholic mystic, Suso,
thus expresses himself : " Alas, misery and prison, thou must
last for ever ! Oh eternity, what art thou ? Oh end without
end ! Oh Death which is above every death, to die every hour
and yet not to be able ever to die ! Oh separation, everlasting
separation, how painful thou art ! Oh the wringing of hands !
Oh the sobbing, sighing, weeping, unceasing howling and
lamenting, yet never to be pardoned ! " a And this utterance is
not an extreme example of the style which prevailed among
Eoman preachers of all schools during "the Ages of Faith."
The tedious minuteness of Dante's descriptions when he deals
with the varied torments of the Inferno are typical of the
" insane licence " which the Christian imagination allowed
itself when it dwelt on the future state of retribution — that
state concerning which we, in point of fact, have no definite
knowledge at all. Nor was the tone of Protestant discourse
during many generations very different in temper from that of
the Eoman. Preachers of great repute for sanctity and zeal
painted their pictures of Gehenna in colours of a crude
vulgarity. Their imagery revealed often a singular acquaint
ance with the worst horrors of human life. They depicted the
future state of the masses of men as one of a torture like that
of the rack or the vivisection table, protracted to all eternity.
1 Cf. Hagenbaoh, History of Doctrines, vol. ii. p. Ifil.

GEHENNA 119

It was a state of every nameless outrage, of every agony and
shame, of every unendurable wrong. And over all this scene
of sordid cruelty the saints of heaven watched, and were glad.
Any one who desires to have full and copious illustration of
this kind of frenzied assertion need only consult the sermons
of many popular teachers, from the time of Tertullian on to
the present day.

The investigation of this type of prophecy is the most dis
tasteful duty that is involved in the study of the doctrine of
Immortality. Of course, the Church in its corporate capacity
is not responsible for the excesses of individuals ; and in its
official statements regarding perdition it has been very guarded
and reserved. Still, it is surprising to contemplate the indulg
ence which ecclesiastical authorities have shown in their
attitude to those who have allowed themselves unwarranted
liberty in depicting the torments of the lost. This aspect of
popular teaching has done more, perhaps, than anything else to
provoke a revolt against the whole Christian view of the world ; l
and yet we have never heard of a man being charged with
heresy on account of the severity of his eschatological predic
tions. The truth is that such presentations as I have referred
to bear no peculiar mark of Christianity at all. They differ
in no important respect from those found in ancient pagan
mythologies. They, also, surpass the Jewish Apocalypses in
their own line. They out-Enoch Enoch. They repeat the
doctrine of the old " revelation " writers, but with a harder
dogmatic meaning, and with, an inhuman emphasis unknown
to the fanatics of Judah.2

(2) Tertullian, Origen. — (a) Let us turn, however, from this
unhappy aspect of popular Christian teaching, and see how the
gradual combination of the Gehenna doctrine with a dogma of
Eternal Evil wrought confusion and trouble in the field of
scientific theology. The dogmatic period in the history of any
doctrine begins when its precise meaning becomes matter for
debate, and different interpretations come to find exponents.

1 Cf. Shelley, Queen Mob, 6.

2 For illustration of this type of teaching, see Alger, History of Doctrine of
Future Life, pp. 508-520. Also Pollok, Course of Time, Book I. pp. 8-12.

120 THE WORLD TO COME

By the end of the second century the apocalyptic idea of
future penalty had undoubtedly reached this stage of develop
ment, since Tertullian not only paints vivid pictures of
torment, but definitely asserts that "Not all men will be
saved." This is a statement that clearly implies a controversial
atmosphere. No one would think of saying, " Not all men will
be saved." x unless some people had asserted the opposite. In
like manner, his saying that " the fire of hell will burn yet not
consume, like the fire of volcanoes," 2 may reasonably be read
as a denial of the annihilation of the wicked. Tertullian thus
definitely adopts a fixed view of human destiny, and maintains
it against those who say that all men will be saved, and against
those also who assert that some will be utterly destroyed.

(Z>) Origen, on the other hand, uses the fire imagery to
present his doctrine of Universal salvation. The eternal fire,
according to his teaching, is, in the first place, a thing created
within the soul by its own evil deeds and thoughts. Just as
poisonous humours in the body produce at length fever, so sin
in the soul kindles an inward torment and anguish. This is the
dreadful internal Gehenna which the sinner creates for himself
— retributive and destructive. But after this penal flame has
done its work of punishment and desolation within the soul, G-od
applies to it another fire which produces in the end restoration
and health. He says : " When the dissolution and rending
asunder of the soul shall have been tested by the application
of fire, a solidification into a firmer structure will undoubtedly
take place and a restoration be effected."3

Now, Origen's way of interpreting the fire imagery has in
it beauty and fitness, since all the poetic and worthy thoughts
which we naturally associate with fire suggest purifying, renew
ing, and destroying power. And this is the interpretation that
the Church embodied in its doctrine of Purgatory, which has
always afforded practical relief from the pressure of the Gehenna
dogma. We may conjecture that the devout Roman Catholic
does not really hold himself to be in danger of hell. He has
been regenerated in baptism, and he is kept in spiritual health

1 Adv. Mare. ii. 24. '* Apologia, 48.

* Dt Principiis, Lib. II. cap. x. 5.

GEHENNA 121

by sacramental grace. He is thus in small peril of eternal
loss. Further, he is seldom called to face the thought that his
beloved dead are entered into everlasting perdition, since the
same faith which gives him hope for himself gives light to his
thoughts about them. It is really the temporary pain of
Purgatory that is the actual object of his fears, both for himself
and for his friends. He also cherishes a large hope for the
non-Catholic masses of men on the ground of God's "un-
covenanted mercies " and of His power to turn souls to repent
ance in the very moment of dissolution. So that, generally
speaking, the thought of perdition does not hold a large place
in his religious life, being really supplanted by the idea of
Purgatory. This peculiarity of Catholic faith is illustrated by
the fact that throughout the Middle Ages the terror which lay
like a black cloud over the popular mind was the fear not of
Hell, whose pains though endless were remote, but of Purgatory,
with its temporary but dreadful and imminent fires. We
must remember, also, that the suffering of Purgatory itself is
a very modified thing in the belief of many Eomans. How
tender and reverent the Catholic thought of the Intermediate
State may be illustrated in Newman's Dream of Gferontius,
where the angel who commits the soul to its place of punish
ment says :

" Farewell, but not for ever ! brother dear,

Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow ;
Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,
And I will come and wake thee on the morrow."

(3) Augustine. — But, while Origen's interpretation of the
fire imagery was thus perpetuated in the idea of Purgatory, it
was not allowed to extend itself to the doctrine of final penalty.
And that this was so may be attributed mainly to the influ
ence of Augustine, whose imperial mind and power of clear,
rhetorical statement enabled him to leave an indelible stamp on
the general thought of the Church. He was not, of course, the
first to identify the apocalyptic vision of Gehenna with the
theory of Unending Evil, but he expressed this view with fresh
mastery, decision, and force. He tried to give it an assured

122 THE WORLD TO COME

place in a rational scheme of things ; and he certainly secured
for it a long reign in the popular theology of Christendom.

(a) Great, however, as was the success of Augustine in this
matter, one can hardly feel that it was altogether merited.
The passage in the City of God which deals with the subject oi'
perdition is perhaps the weakest part of that great book.
Augustine's philosophical opinions could not really be reconciled
with Jewish forms of thought, and a literal interpretation of
these forms was alien to his habit of mind. It is true that, by
a superb exertion of force and ingenuity, he contrived to bring
Enoch into apparent agreement with Plotinus, and to erect on
a Greek foundation a Jewish eschatology. But a close ex
amination of the structure reveals the essential incongruity of
its various elements. Indeed, his eschatological statement
resembles one of those curious trees which are produced by
grafting a stem on an alien root. In such a plant we discover
branches which come directly from the root and are altogether
different in leafage and blossom from those which belong to
the ingrafted stem. And so in Augustine's doctrine we find
elements which pertain to his Neo-Platonist philosophy and
which harmonise ill with those forms that own another origin.

(b) Augustine, of course, maintained the doctrine of Ever
lasting Punishment, and argued at some length against the
Universalists of his day ; though he never suggested that these
were not entitled to a place in the Church, and had nothing
worse to say about them than that they were " perversely com
passionate." He teaches that the fire of Gehenna, though not
that of the Intermediate State, is a material flame, and that
the lost will be furnished with bodies able, like the salamander,
to live for ever in the furnace. He associates this doctrine,
also, with a high theory of predestination, and thus conforms
entirely to the traditions of Apocalypse.

(c) Matters, however, assume a somewhat different aspect
when we come to consider all this in the light of Augustine's
philosophical postulates and his general thought about things.
No idea is more prominent in Augustine's system than that of
the harmony and beauty of the Universe, and the essential,
permanent goodness of everything that God has made. In

GEHENNA 123

consonance with this doctrine, he denies to evil the attribute
of positive existence. The good was, in his view, the only real,
and sin was merely negative — a privation, a defect of the will.
Oil this ground he evades the necessity of accounting for its
beginning, maintaining that a thing which has no real exist
ence, which is a defect or perversion, can have no origin.
Hence he affirms that all moral creatures are, and must remain,
in their nature good. If they became evil they would, of
necessity cease to be, inasmuch as evil itself belongs to the
realm of the non-existent. This is true even of devils and lost
souls. It is in virtue of that in them which is good that they
continue to exist, and that they suffer regret and spiritual
pain.

Now all this is, surely, difficult to reconcile with Augustine's
eschatology. If sin be possessed of nothing more than a
negative existence, how can we be sure that it will be immortal ?
If even lost souls remain essentially good, how can we be
certain that they will never repent and find salvation ? What
place has everlasting torment in a Universe of perfect harmony
and beauty ?

(d) It is not difficult, of course, to see how Augustine met
these difficulties ; but a consideration of his way of doing this
suggests doubts as to the orthodoxy of his doctrine — at least
from the modern point of view. If we ask how he could
believe that evil had no real existence, and yet that it was
certainly immortal, the answer is that he did not affirm the
eternity of sin, but only of 'punishment. It is true that he
does not explicitly deny that sin will last for ever. But we do
not find in the City of God any suggestion that he thought of
the future state as one in which men continue in active rebel
lion against the Most High. The moral history of a man was
ended when he was condemned at the Judgment ; and eternity
was, for him, only a perpetual reaping of the harvest he had
sown in this earthly life ; it was a state of simple retribution.

If, again, we inquire how Augustine could be sure that the
lost, while remaining essentially good, would yet never repent,
the reply is that this conclusion followed from his belief that
moral life, in the case of the unregenerate, did not go on beyond

124 THE WORLD TO COME

the grave. They were destined by the decree of God to enter
a condition of spiritual paralysis, and to have no consciousness
beyond that of consuming pain, physical and mental. And
beings who existed in such a state were, of course, incapable of
repentance.

If, finally, we press the objection that Augustine's belief in
the sovereignty of God and in the perfect harmony of the
universe was inconsistent with the doctrine of everlasting evil,
we find that he escaped this difficulty by affirming that eternal
penalty was not an evil but a good. The unending existence
of pain could be attributed to the will of the Holy One, because
it was the righteous punishment of evil ; and it could be
regarded as an element in the beauty of creation, since it
supplied the place of shadow in a great picture, and since it
represented a perfectly beautiful thing, the justice of God.
" God would never have created man, whose future wickedness
He foreknew, unless He had equally known to what uses in
behalf of the good He could turn him, thus embellishing the
course of the ages, as it were an exquisite poem set off with
antitheses." That is to say, man even in his fallen state, and
in all his sufferings, remains part of the divine order and con
tributes to its beauty — his evil establishing by contrast the
loveliness of virtue, and his penal sufferings illustrating to all
eternity the austere splendour of the divine justice. Thus,
even as Heaven is the perpetual manifestation of God's mercy,
so Hell is the unending apocalypse of His righteousness. It
is an element in the foreordained harmony of things, and a
perpetual witness to the beauty of God.

(e) Now this is, I think, a fair account of Augustine's
doctrine as contained in the City of God,1 his most mature and
deliberate work. And it supports the view that the notion of
Everlasting Torment was no necessary part of his system. It
owes its place in his teaching to that respect for tradition
which led him to accept the imagery of Apocalypse. That
imagery was utterly unsuited to the part which he assigned to
it. He claims it as an element of harmony in his presentation
of the universe ; but it is in its nature so aggressive and highly

1 Civitas Dei, Lib. 21, c. 9 H'.

GEHENNA 125

coloured that it holds our attention and proclaims his whole
picture a discord. It is quite intractable to his purpose ;
refuses to assume a reasonable guise, or to lend itself to his
philosophical intentions. It remains alien to his thought, and
goes far to rob it of moral force or intellectual appeal.

(/) It is, indeed, quite apparent that Augustine never had
any imaginative understanding of what was meant by the
phrase " everlasting torment by fire." If he had, he would
not have been capable of defending it with a smooth and easy
eloquence. It is difficult to be patient with the inhuman
urbanity of the Bishop of Hippo when he discourses elegantly
of the value of human suffering in embellishing the ages by
supplying an artistic shadow in the spectacle of the world.
We detect, also, the doctrinaire ruthlessness of academic
dogmatism in his talk about the beauty of an everlasting
torture-chamber, and his sneer at the "perversely compas
sionate" people who disliked the thought of it. These are
features of his discussion which we very properly resent. It
is vain to suggest that such want of human pity was
characteristic of his time, since his own argument shows that
many of his contemporaries saw as clearly as we do the revolt
ing nature of the Gehenna doctrine. That so great a spiritual
genius as Augustine failed of a like perception is final proof
that the apocalyptic idea of Hell was not a thing that he saw
as it was in its concrete reality. It was just a traditional
form, not suited to the uses of his mind. It was, indeed, but
little more than the algebraic- symbol of an unknown quantity.
It is probable that all that was really vital to his belief, or
could be reconciled with his philosophy, is to be found in his
immortal words of devotion — " Thou, 0 God, hast made us for
Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."
The substance of his thought regarding the fate of those who
might suffer final exclusion from the Kingdom was that an
eternity without God must be an unspeakable burden of rest
less misery for beings whom He had created for Himself.

126 THE WORLD TO COME

MODERN DOCTRINE.

1. Newman, Puscy. — (a) It thus appears that Augustine
failed in adapting Apocalypse to the purposes of rational theory ;
and it is certain that no later writer has succeeded in the task
which lie attempted. Koman Catholic theologians have always
continued to use his language, and to speak of " perpetual
torments by fire." Even Moehler, a most acute and liberal
writer, refers to the denial of everlasting torments as if that
were an almost incredible degree of heresy. Nevertheless all
these thinkers are found to make admissions which involve
them in contradiction, and even render doubtful the sense in
which they really hold the accepted dogma. I shall have
occasion to illustrate this in the case of the medieval Doctors
when we come to discuss the theological theory of Everlasting
Evil. But it is not less marked in the work of those modern
writers who adhere to the ancient tradition. Thus, Newman
maintains the old doctrine in a literal form, and he expounds
it in some of his sermons with excessive violence ; but in the
Grammar of Assent l he recognises its difficulty, and indeed
goes a long way towards rejecting it. He suggests that there
may be no sense of continuity in the minds of the lost, so that
they shall not be aware of a past or a future of pain ; also that
occasional intervals of cooling (refrigeria) may be granted the
victims of the Eternal Fire — so that their punishment, though
it will be everlasting, may not be without a break. But this
latter assertion surely savours of heresy. Evidently a suffering
that has intervals of cessation is so far from being endless that
it has many ends. No dialectical skill avails to show that
successive paroxysms of pain with intervals of ease are the
same thing as one perpetual anguish. There is also some
thing unreal in the idea that the lost are, as it were, lifted out
of the fire from time to time and granted a period of coolness.
It conceives of penalty not as an inward condition due to the
1 P. 422, and Note III. in Appendix.

GEHENNA 127

action of moral law, but as a thing imposed from without, and
so capable of being relieved by the exercise of external power.
That Newman should have been constrained to support such a
conception shows that the Gehenna imagery is apt to betray
the dogina which it is expected to represent and defend.

(5) Dr. Pusey begins his treatise on Everlasting Punish
ment with the statement that he believes literally in everlast
ing fire.1 But, having done this, he proceeds to surround his
doctrine with so many qualifications that we are left in some
doubt whether any one is likely to sutler perdition. Of those
who die in infancy all the baptized are saved, while the un-
baptized enjoy endless natural happiness. All the heathen
who have in them any good thing, when judged by their own
standard, receive the benefits of Christ's redemption, as do also
the heathen at home. Finally, no one is lost who does not
" obstinately to the end and at the end reject God " ; and great
hope is to be placed in God's dealing with souls in the
mysterious hour of dissolution, " the almost sacrament of
death." The remarkable thing about Pusey 's really noble
statement is that while he asserts everlasting torment in
literal fire, he also says that there will be degrees of punish
ment, and that the main burden of perdition will be the want
of the divine presence, which, he holds, will be punishment
enough.2 Surely this is doctrine hard to be believed. How
can there be degrees of punishment in a furnace of tire ? Also,
if an eternity without God be penalty enough, why should
there be added to it the pain -of physical torture ? Altogether,
it is plain that for Pusey, as for others who seek to dogmatise
Apocalypse, the notion of everlasting torment was only a form
of thought. Whoever says that any mental anguish can be
the supreme sorrow of a- creature who is being tortured in
living flame, fails to grasp the meaning of his own imagery,
and is using strong words without sense.

2. But there is no need to illustrate further the truth that
the old Gehenna belief is intractable to dogmatic interpreta
tion, and has never been anything but a perplexity to those
who have tried to make it a doctrine of ultimate destiny. A

1 What is of Faith, etc., Preface. 2 Ibid. pp. 1-23.

128 THE WORLD TO COME

rigorous and literal rendering of its message is impossible.
Nothing can be a help to rational theory which is itself
incapable of being grasped by the reason ; and torment without
end is not conceivable by any mind of man. Just as the glare
of a stupendous furnace would paralyse the sight of one who
faced it with open eyes, so the Gehenna doctrine destroys all
definite impression in the mind that considers it. Nothing is
left but a vague blur of confused horror.

tr.

REVIEW.

1. I have thus endeavoured to trace the process by which
the ancient vision of Judgment was transformed into a
determinate doctrine of everlasting torment, and to show that
this was in the main an unfortunate and illegitimate develop
ment, perplexing the work of the theologian and leading to the
disfigurement of Christian eschatology. I have sought to
illustrate the position that the Gehenna symbolism had no
ascertainable meaning either in the Jewish books or in the
New Testament beyond the general assertion of future retribu
tion, and that later attempts to identify it with a rational
theory of the End have signally failed of success. Imaginative
expressions that were fitted to the aims of poetic prophecy are
alien to the purposes of formal dialectic. The wild horses of
apocalypse were never meant to be yoked to the heavy chariot
of dogma.

2. We must recognise, indeed, that it was by constraint of
historical circumstance that the imagery in question came to
be imposed upon theology. ' The Gehenna belief became part
of the popular Christian faith through the strength of the
apocalyptic tradition, and through the storm and stress of the
early days of the Church's life. The imagery of the eternal
fire was presented to the common mind while as yet it had no
dogmatic force ; and it commended itself to men as a part of
that pictorial message of vivid hopes and fears which received

GEHENNA 129

its best expression in the Revelation of St. John, and which
appealed with singular power to a persecuted, despised, and
humble people. One can see, also, that this imagery, in its
indefinite popular meaning, did correspond to certain require
ments of moral truth. If it had a dark significance, it dealt
with a dark subject, the consequences of evil. If it was fierce
and hopeless in its spirit, the penalties of sin are the fiercest
things in our experience, and conscience often finds a hopeless
element in life.

In any case, the popular acceptance of this symbolism was
so general that it had to be employed by theologians, who were
for the most part preachers and ecclesiastics as well as abstract
thinkers. And thus the idea that the doom of the unre-
generate was unending physical torment was not the result of
careful thought, but was the fruit of an old inheritance. It
did not owe its origin to the Christian genius, or to any great
principle of the Gospel, but to the symbols of an ancient
tradition, distorted and misapplied.

It is only along this line of thought that we can offer any
apologia for this feature of the Church's eschatology — a feature
which has been often described in terms that are very good
rhetoric but very poor history. Those scholars who maintain
that the Gehenna imagery had a dogmatic meaning both in the
Jewish books and in the message of Jesus, and that later
theology correctly interpreted that meaning, are dangerous
allies of the orthodox1 apologist. They compel us, either to
reject the teaching of our Lord, or to attempt the defence of
an incredible doctrine. The effect of their contention is not to
conserve but, to destroy ; it presents an impossible picture of
the mind of Christ, and affords material for the exposition of a
crude and popular form of unbelief. It is for this reason,
indeed, that it is worth one's while to give to this matter
careful consideration from the historical point of view.

3. It thus appears that the ancient prophecy of Retribution
lends itself even less than the other apocalyptic forms to rigid
theological definition. But, like these also, it has abiding
authority and value as the poetic expression of enduring truth.
Fire has always been the emblem of religious thoughts and
9

130 THE WORLD TO COME

spiritual realities; shining on the altar of every faith; tho
type of things which do not pass away. And the image of the
Eternal Fire, as justly and purely conceived, ought never to
lose that aspect of imaginative greatness which belonged to it
in the beginning, and which it doubtless wore for the mind of
Jesus. It should never have suggested to men petty thoughts
of cruelty and pain. Fire inflicts lingering torments only when
it is weak and small. Omnipotent flame does not excruciate
and agonise ; it purifies and destroys. It is the noblest of all
the elemental forces ; too strong to be cruel, too swift to defile.
Hence a white flame is the best symbol known to men of the
unspotted holiness of God, whose " fear is clean, enduring for
ever," whose " pure love is the only eternal fire." And hence,
too, the enduring fitness of that vision of the retributive Flame,
which is older than Christianity, older than Judaism, older
than any faith whose records remain on the earth. That
vision is true. It has sight of an austere force which guards
the moral law ; of an ever-living energy which tests the gold,
and consumes the wood and the hay and the stubble and all
things that offend. It is the apocalypse of a righteous Majesty
that goes forth in judgment against all who profane the ways
of life, violate the sanctities of nature, oppose the sovereign will
that moves without rest and without haste to its appointed
end. Who shall deny that this is a wise and faithful witness,
or that the symbol in which it is -uttered is suited to its theme ?
It may be that only ignorance and superstition can speak of
unceasing torments, or an endless infliction of meaningless
pain; but it is sober reason and experience that discern an
uttermost terror in the moral Order, that see in > the spiritual
universe an Everlasting Fire.

PART II.

PROBLEM OF FINAL DESTINY.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

ON JEWISH OPINION IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES.

I HAVE had occasion in preceding chapters to make reference
to Jewish Opinion on the subject of final destiny. Indeed, the
apocalyptic doctrine as to the fate of the lost has been so fully
illustrated that no further account of it is necessary. It may
be well, however, to preface the second part of this discussion,
especially the consideration of New Testament teaching, with
a brief statement of the views held by certain writers who
stood apart from the purely prophetic and imaginative tradition
represented by Enoch. The question is whether the utterances
of these latter authorities contain any more coherent or
dogmatic belief than is to be found in the " revelation " books.
In pursuing this inquiry, it will be necessary to refer (1) to the
historian Josephus ; (2) to the Jewish Alexandrians, especially
Philo ; and (3) to the Rabbinic teaching.

Josephus (born about 38 A.D.). — This very able, though not
perhaps very admirable, person tells us that the Pharisees held
the doctrine of everlasting punishment. " The Pharisees . . .
hold," he says, " that every soul is imperishable, but that the
souls of the good alone go into another body, while those of
the bad are punished with everlasting vengeance."1 In
another place he defines the Pharisaic idea of Future Punish
ment as " perpetual imprisonment." Yet again, he states his
own personal belief in the following terms — " the soul is a
portion of the Deity which inhabits our body " ; ..." Pure and
obedient souls obtain a most holy place in Heaven from whence
in the revolution of the ages they are again sent into pure
bodies." 2 It is to be noted, also, that he was acquainted with

1 Antiquities, xviii. i. 3. 2 Wars of Jews, HI. viii. 5.

133

134 THE WORLD TO COME

the idea of conditional immortality ; for he affirms that Titus
declared to his soldiers that those who died in battle secured
for their souls a future life, while those who perished by natural
decay or sickness passed utterly out of existence1 — which reads
very like an excellent military version of Conditionalisrn.

Now, this statement of Josephus is somewhat perplexing,
since it ignores the doctrine of the Eesurrection, and depicts
the Pharisees as believing that the wicked would suffer in the
life to come everlasting vengeance or imprisonment, while the
righteous would be granted the privilege of reincarnation.
Many discredit it altogether on the ground that this historian
deliberately omitted, as a rule, to mention such elements in his
own faith and that of the Pharisees generally as might be dis
pleasing to pagan readers. They also think that he must have
been wrong in representing his countrymen as believing in re
incarnation. It is more likely, however, that Josephus was guilty
of nothing worse than merely attributing to the whole of the sect
to which he belonged opinions which in fact were held only by a
few of them. There is nothing incredible in the idea that some
at least of the Pharisees held the doctrine of the reincarnation of
souls or that this was the view of Josephus, since that doctrine
was not, after all, very far removed from the common Jewish
notion of resurrection to a bodily life on earth. We may
conclude, also, that the historian held liberal and indefinite
views about the future state from his extremely sympathetic
account of the Essenes, who denied the resurrection, and
taught that souls at death escaped from the body, as from a
prison, and returned to that state of liberty in which they had
existed before they became incarnate. In any case, the state
ment of this writer shows that a man could believe himself an
orthodox Pharisee and yet feel at liberty to speculate freely on
the subject of future destiny.

Philo Judaeus (B.C. 20-A.D. 50). — The chief writer of the
Alexandrian school was, of course, Philo, a thinker of great
power and influence, a man of wide learning and spiritual in
sight, a master of clear, and often elevated, expression. He was
a contemporary of Jesus, and was the chief exponent of that
1 Wars of Jews, vi. i. 5.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 135

Hellenistic type of thought whose influence is evident in
the New Testament writings. Hence he is a thinker whose
teaching it is desirable to understand. But the interpretation
of his doctrine is, unfortunately, very difficult. He, as an
important member of the highly privileged Jewish colony in
Alexandria, had access to the stores of learning contained in
the library of that city, and was brought into contact with
various types of Gentile thought. The result of this is
apparent in his work. The various influences in his mind
keep compromising, thwarting, and contradicting each other.
He tries to be as much of a Platonist as he can, while retaining
elements of Stoicism and continuing loyal to his Jewish faith ;
and the consequence of this is considerable confusion. As a
Platonist he should have affirmed the eternity of the soul ; but
his Judaism would not permit this, so he contented himself
with asserting its pre-existence. His individualism, derived
from the Stoics, is inconsistent with the doctrine of the
Kingdom of God. The influence of his Greek masters leads
him to teach that God is separated from the world by inter
mediate beings, and that He created it through the Logos ; but
his loyalty to the Jewish belief in revelation causes him to affirm
that God makes Himself known directly to the souls of men.
His Platonism destroys his belief in the Resurrection, and his
doctrine of the Fall in Adam is not reconcilable with his notion
of pre-existence, which is coloured by Gentile conceptions.

All souls, according to Philo, enjoyed in the beginning a
life of communion with God, and only those with a downward
tendency were attracted towards a bodily life. Hence, exist
ence in this world is, in his view, a kind of purgatory, partly
penal and partly probationary. Souls which follow after
philosophy and piety return at death to their original state of
blessedness. They escape as from an evil prison-house, achiev
ing immortality. On the other hand, souls that fall under the
dominion of the earthly life pass from this world into perdition ;
death is for them " the beginning of sorrows."

So far the doctrine of Philo is clear. When, however, we
ask what his view was as to the final destiny of lost souls, we
encounter much perplexity. Considering his philosophical

136 THE WORLD TO COME

opinions, one might have expected him to adopt the idea of
Transmigration, and to teach that the wicked, after a period
of punishment in the unseen world, returned again to the
earth to endure another trial.1 He was, however, precluded
from taking this view by his Jewish orthodoxy — especially by
his belief that terrestrial history would culminate ere long in
the Kingdom of God, And so he taught that, for the good
and evil alike, death was the final end of bodily existence.
How, then, did he picture to himself the ultimate doom of the
unspiritual multitude beyond the grave ?

A common interpretation is that Philo, like some other
Alexandrian Jews, held the doctrine of everlasting torment ; 8
but it does not seem to me that the evidence for this view
is conclusive. Thus, some authorities quote a saying in the
treatise Concerning Eewards and Punishments : " That he
should live continually dying, and that he should in a manner
endure an undying and never ending death."3 This saying,
however, refers to the curse of Cain and to his punishment in
this life. It appears, also, from another passage that Philo
believed that Cain was doomed, like the Wandering Jew of
legend, to move ever restlessly hither and thither on the earth,
denied the boon of death. Hence this utterance can hardly
be held to refer to the fate of the lost in general.

The other passage commonly cited is from the treatise
Concerning the CJierubim, and is as follows : " He who is cast
out by God must endure an eternal banishment, for it is granted
to him who has not yet been completely and violently taken
prisoner by wickedness, to repent, and so to return to virtue
from which he has been driven, as to his great country ; but
he who is weighed down by, and wholly subjected to, a violent
and incurable disease, must bear his misfortunes for ever, being
for all times unalterably cast out into the place of the wicked,
that there he may endure unmitigated and everlasting misery." *

1 Fairweather (Background of the Gospels, p. 360) says that Philo expects
the wicked at death to "return into another body." But I cannot find this
in Philo.

2 Cf. Charles (Eschatology , pp. 313, 314) ; Drummond (Philo, ii. pp. 321-323).

3 DC Proem, et Poen. 12. * i. 1.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 137

The context shows, however, that this refers to the ex
pulsion of our first parents from Paradise. Taken literally it
would mean that Adam and Eve, and presumably all their
descendants, were doomed without hope to everlasting misery.
But this is certainly not Philo's teaching. He tells us, for
instance, that the Logos is God's security to the human race
that it will not revolt altogether from Him, and that the
Creator will not forget His own creatures.1 On the whole, it
seems possible that he means to describe here the fate of the
race on this earth, and refers to its restless, painful, evil exist
ence, doomed never to know a return to the Paradise it has lost.

But even if we waive this question, and agree that this
and some other sayings of Philo point to the doctrine of ever
lasting torment, we cannot exclude from view other utterances
of his which bear a different import. Thus, to quote one out
of many passages of a similar kind, he says : " If any one burns
with a desire of virtue which makes the soul immortal, he,
beyond doubt, attains to an heavenly inheritance ; but . . .
the earth, as it is the beginning of a wicked and depraved man,
so is it also his end (finis)." 2

' This pronouncement belongs to a class of sayings which do
seem to indicate the idea of conditional immortality ; as, for
instance, these — " Piety, by which alone the mind attains to
immortality (immortalitatem assequitur) " ; 3 "Philosophy, by
which man though mortal becomes immortal (airaOavart^erai)"^

More important, however, than any individual utterances
of Philo is the general tendency of his thought. The most
significant feature in his system, from this point of view, is his
doctrine of the Logos. The Logos is a personal-impersonal
being intermediate between the soul and God, "a model of
the one and a copy of the other";5 "the soul of the world,"6
the intercessor for mankind.7 By it all things were created,
and in it they cohere. It is the first-begotten Son of God, the
Divine Reason immanent in the universe, the Mediator of all

1 Quis Heres. 42. 2 Quest, et Solut. i. 51.

8 Ibid. i. 10. * De Mundi Op. 25.

5 Quis Heres. 48 (irap<iSfiy/j.a . . . 4iretK<W/xa). s De Migrat. 32.
7 Quis Heres. 42.

138 THE WORLD TO COME

rational and moral life. It is by communion with the Logos
alone that man maintains his contact with his original state of
spiritual blessedness, and is capable of that virtue and philo
sophy by which he attains immortal life. Hence, uuspiritual
men, being out of fellowship with the Logos, are dead while
they live ; " the unholy in real truth are dead." l They have
surrendered all relation to reality, and have become the subjects
of an alien power, the power of the lower, material, fleeting
world. How then could Philo suppose that such as these
would be able to maintain themselves in being, when those
things which had become their real nature should have passed
away at death ?

Further, Philo denies the everlasting duration of sin, which,
he says, has no place among immortal things.2 Also he teaches
that it is only the higher part of the soul that is in communion
with the Logos — draws from it continual vitality, and through
it achieves unending existence.3 And the inference from this
is plain. If only the higher reason be immortal, and if it have
fallen into a state of death by neglect of fellowship with the
divine Word, in the case of unspiritual men, then it follows
that there is nothing in these unhappy beings that is capable
of eternal life.

While, then, Philo does not express himself clearly on this
subject, being, perhaps, but faintly interested in the destiny of
the lost masses of men, it seems that the general tendency of
his thought is towards something that resembles the idea
of Conditional Immortality. The vagueness of his thinking
on a theme which must have seemed to him an unwelcome
source of trouble is reflected in the vagueness of his language.
But, if he believed that evil men were " dead " now in ignorance
and futility and were doomed to " death " hereafter, he must
have regarded them as destined to find a place among the
mere refuse and waste of the Universe. The best he can
have expected for them was that they would remain in a
kind of Sheol. But it is more likely that he imagined them
as suffering the final dissolution of personality. Such an idea

1 Quis Herts. 42. 2 De Incorr. Mundi, 21.

3 Of. Denney, Factors of Faith in Immortality, p. 41.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 139

must have been familiar to him as a student of the Stoics,
and would have heen congenial to the austerity of his mind.
Philo, as Kuenen says, believed . not that everlasting life was
possessed by all men, but only that " it was attainable by all." l

Book of Wisdom, etc. — But, if there is thus some doubt as
to the nature of Philo's eschatology, and some ground for
finding in his works a tendency towards Conditional ism, there
can be no question that the Secrets of Enoch* and Fourth
Maccabees3 teach Everlasting Torment with vigour and
decision, though without clear dogmatic intention.

The Book of Wisdom, on the other hand, which is, next to
the writings of Philo, the greatest work of this school, is very
confused in its doctrine. The first part of it affirms, as does
Philo, that the wicked have no true life. They confess at the
Judgment — " We died as soon as we were born." It also
asserts that the punishment reserved for the unspiritual is
" death." Whether this death signifies annihilation or no is a
point on which authorities are hopelessly divided. It is
doubtful whether the author knew himself what he meant.4
The second part,6 on the other hand, has for its thesis that
all punishment is remedial. And this is a doctrine which
involves, beyond doubt, the conclusion that all men will be
saved. If punishment in the future state be remedial it
must issue in salvation. This conclusion is also in harmony
with the general tone of this writing :

"But Thou hast mercy on all men. because Thou hast power to

do all things ;
And Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end that they may

repent.

For Thou lovest all things that are. . . .
Thou sparest all things because they are Thine,
Oh, Sovereign Lord, Thou Lover of souls."6

On the whole, then, it is reasonable to say that these

1 History of Israel, vol. iii. p. 200.

2 S. of En. 10, etc. This book is, however, apocalyptic, although influenced
by Alexandrian thought.

3 4 Mace. 99. 4 Wisd. 21'8 51'"- 19- *> etc.
5 Second part, 11 seq. s H23-26.

140 THE WORLD TO COME

Alexandrian writings do contain at least the germs of all the
later doctrines of destiny. The theory of Conditional Immor
tality is implicit in Philo and possibly also in the first part of
Wisdom ; Everlasting Punishment, in Fourth Maccabees and in
the Secrets of Enoch ; Universal Salvation, in the second part
of Wisdom. The promise of the latter doctrine is also to be
found in Philo's teaching regarding the Logos and its universal
relation to mankind.1

Habbinic teaching. — When we turn to the teaching of the
Kabbis, the professional theologians of Judaism, we find, as
might be expected, more definite doctrine than in the
apocalyptic books, but still a great absence of assurance.
The collection of Kabbinic Sayings which is incorporated in
the Jewish Liturgy contains no statement of any moment
regarding the subject of ultimate destiny ; and the study of
quotations gathered from the Talmud leaves one very much
perplexed by the utter want they display of any apparent
unity of opinion. Authorities, also, differ very widely in their
accounts of Kabbinic doctrine. Emmanuel Deutsch, for
instance, who possessed the unusual advantage of knowing the
Talmud at first hand, states in the most abiSolute manner that
the idea of an endless Hell was altogether foreign to Rabbinic
doctrine, that according to it the duration of punishment was
limited even for the worst of criminals, and escape from
Gehenna into Paradise by repentance remained always a
possibility. He even asserts that the Jews distinguished

1 In describing an element in the thought of John and of Paul as
"Philonic" and "Alexandrian," one means to say that these two writers were
influenced by the "Logos" doctrine which was common to all forms of
Hellenism, and was developed especially by Philo. The truth of this view, at
least as stated in next chapter, is not prejudiced by the contention that Paul
and John were indebted to the "Wisdom" tradition, illustrated in Jo)),
Proverbs, Enoch, Wisdom of Sol. etc. (see Godet, Gospel according to 8t. John,
i. pp. 230-241 ; Rendel Harris, Prologue to St. John's Gospel). For (1) the
"Word" and the "Wisdom" doctrine were both held by Philo, and not
clearly distinguished even by him. (2) This was true also, no doubt, of the
sacred writers. (3) Col. I16'17 is unmistakeably "Philonic." (4) If Philo had
become a disciple of Jesus, and retained his philosophy, he might have
written the Prologue, and he would have had to adopt the Christology of
Colossians.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 141

themselves from other Semitic peoples by their protest against
the doctrine of everlasting torment.1

Now these statements of Deutsch are of a startling
character and have caused much debate. But no one has ever
known the Talmud better than he ; and his accounts of it are
the most vivid and inspiring that have been written ; though he
wanted perhaps that frigid impartiality of mind that is one of
the privileges of mediocrity. It is to be observed, also, that
the difference between him and his critics lies chiefly in the
interpretation of the phrase "To all generations," which is
applied in the classical Eabbinic passage to the fate of those
who are " signed and sealed " to perdition.2 Deutsch under
stands this expression in a limited sense, whereas his opponents
take it to describe absolute endlessness.

Dr. Pusey is at the opposite extreme from Deutsch, and
maintains that unending suffering was the doctrine of practi
cally all the Rabbis.3 Edersheim, again, who shared Deutsch's
Talmudic learning, holds that all the Rabbis at the time of
Christ believed that some at least of the wicked would suffer
eternal punishment. This general statement of his must,
however, be read in the light of the evidence on which it is
founded.4 He shows that the rival schools of Shammai and
Hillel, which between them represented Jewish thought in our
Lord's day, were nearly agreed in their teaching on this
subject. The former taught that the perfectly good are at
death immediately "written and sealed to eternal life," the
perfectly wicked to Gehenna, while an intermediate class " go
down to Gehenna and moan and come up again." The school
of Hillel asserted that sinners of Israel and of the Gentiles
were punished in Gehenna for twelve months, after which
" their souls are burned up and scattered as dust under the
feet of the righteous." " But it excepts from this number
certain classes of sinners who go down to Gehenna and are

1 Literary Remains, pp. 53, 87.

2 See citation of this Rabbinic passage in Farrar, Appendix to Eternal
Hope ; also Schechter, Rabbinical Writings.

3 What is of Faith, etc., pp. 71-98.

* Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pp. 791-796.

142 THE WORLD TO COME

punished there to the age of the ages." From this evidence
Edersheim draws the conclusion that both of these schools of
Jewish thought believed in the unending punishment of some
sinners; but he indicates that Hillel and his followers, in
harmony with the gentle spirit of their theology, hoped that
the number of the lost would be small.

Volz, the leading German authority on Jewish eschatology,
agrees generally with Edersheim in his account of this matter.
He says that the school of Shammai probably held that for
ordinary sinners Gehenna would be a purgatory cleansing
them from their defilement. The school of Hillel, he says,
believed that for special sinners damnation would be eternal,
but for the less heinous transgressors, temporary and ending
in annihilation (eine zeitweilige Verdammnis, die mit der
volligen Vernichtung endigt). He also, like Edersheim, shows
how rapidly a mild doctrine of future punishment developed
among the Rabbis after the time of Christ ; how Akiba taught
that the punishment of sinners in hell would last for twelve
months, while his contemporary, Jochanan ben Nuri, said that
it would endure only from Passover to Pentecost. As to the
question whether this short time of torment in Gehenna was
expected to end in salvation or annihilation, Volz concludes :
" Whether these learned men held that the end of the sojourn in
Hell would be the pardon of sinners or their dissolution into
nothingness, on this point we receive no information." x Volz
thus differs from Edersheim only in his important contention
that the school of Hillel, which was so powerful in the time' of
Christ, taught that consignment to Gehenna meant, for all but the
worst sinners, a short time of punishment ending in extinction.

The perplexities of the account thus given by Volz,
especially as to the fate of the intermediate class of men
(the mittelmassigen, as he quaintly calls them), are evident.
He describes the doctrine of Hillel as " milder " than that of
Shammai. Yet he maintains that the former believed that
all sinners except the worst would suffer annihilation, while
the latter affirmed that they would experience purgatorial
cleansing. Surely it is hard to see how the idea of purgatorial

1 Jitdische Bscfiatologie, pp. 286-288.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 143

cleansing ending in release can be described as more severe
than that of punishment issuing in annihilation. But diffi
culties of this kind beset every attempt to give a faithful
account of Jewish eschatology.

On the whole, it appears that the academic, theological
type of mind in the time of Jesus was no longer satisfied with
that vague assertion of the general overthrow of the
unrighteous which was the apocalyptic gospel, and was
beginning to move towards a speculative doctrine of future
destiny. It was not content with the prospect of the
immediate triumph of the elect, and was seeking to attain
some conception of the ultimate fate of mankind. Its ideas
were still confused and uncertain, but we find in them the
same elements of doctrine as appeared more clearly in the
words of Akiba and other Rabbis of the second century, some
of whom taught the annihilation and some the final pardon of
the lost. To Hillel and his school we owe the beginnings, at
least, of those free and bold thoughts about the Last Things
which have generally characterised the Jewish theology
throughout the ages. In any case, there can be no doubt that
all the Eabbis of New Testament times believed that Gehenna
was a state from which release was possible. They did not
hold that every one who entered it had met his final doom,
ftather did they hope that most of those who went down into
the place of bondage would finally come up again. The
Gehenna of the thoughtful Jew of those days is, therefore, not
to be identified with the Hell of later Christian theology. If
it was Hell, it was also Purgatory. There was no inscription
over its gates — "All hope abandon, ye who enter here."1

An extremely interesting picture of the state of Jewish
thought, in some quarters, towards the end of the New
Testament period, is presented in the Salathiel Apocalypse
which forms the most important part of the Book of Fourth
Ezra. This writing is called an apocalypse, but it is really a

1 On Rabbinic teaching, cf. Stanton, Jewish and Christian Messiah, pp. 336-
339 ; Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality, p. 367 ; Farrar, Appendices
to Eternal Hope and Mercy and Judgment.

144 THE WORLD TO COME

highly speculative, and even sceptical, polemic. Its creed is
the darkest pessimism. The world has been created for the
sake of Israel ; but Israel is scattered and oppressed. Of the
Chosen People itself only a few are predestined to salvation :
the rest of humanity is altogether without hope. For all but the
righteous of Israel, the doom of mankind is to live a short life
and do a little evil here, and then to pass on to unspeakable
torments and utter destruction. " The present age the Most
High has made for many, but the age to come for few."1
" Many have been created, but few shall be saved." 2 After
this life is over, there is no hope of help or of pardon ; fathers
may not then intercede for sons, nor sons for fathers, nor friends
for their dearest. " Perish the multitude which has been born
in vain."3

Such is the creed which Fourth Ezra professes to expound.
But the apocalypse is really one long protest against it, one
varied exposition of its insuperable difficulties. Salathiel
presents his doubts and perplexities before God and His
Angel, and receives an answer — the dialogue being after the
manner of the Book of Job. God has chosen, out of all the
nations, Israel only, " out of all the flowers of the field, this
one lily " ; yet Israel is rejected and scattered abroad — Why is
this ? Of Israel itself but a few are righteous and the rest go to
destruction, so that life altogether is but a tragedy of darkness
— Why is this ? The great world, the vast multitudes, perish
without hope; "they are counted as smoke, are comparable
unto the flame ; they are fired, burn hotly, and are extin
guished" — Why is this? Such are the questions which the
seer urges against the Providence of God. He argues and
pleads with wonderful force and pathetic beauty. He can see
no good or joy in life, no value in immortality, since such is
the lot of man. Far better that all human beings should
perish utterly at death than that the world to come should
only be hopeless anguish for all but two or three. The cattle
of the field have reason to rejoice over man, since they die and
are at peace, while men go to torment and judgment. " For it
is far better with them than with us; for they have no

1 4 Ezra 81. 2 8s. 3 9s2.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 145

judgment to look for, neither do they know of any torture or
of any salvation promised to them after death. For what does
it profit us that we shall be preserved alive, but yet suffer
great torment ? " 1

Such are the appeals and questions and laments of
Salathiel as he presents his doubts and pitiful imaginings to
the ear of God. It cannot be said that the answers attributed
to the Deity are at all equal in force to the questions of the
prophet, or that these questions are really met. The divine
reply is that man cannot understand God ; that the righteous
of Israel shall be compensated for their sufferings in the Age
to come ; while, as for the unfaithful Jews, their destruction
will be no loss or grief to God. " I will not concern Myself
about the creation of those that have sinned, or their death,
judgment, or perdition : but I will rejoice for the creation of
the righteous, their pilgrimage, also, their salvation and their
recompense." 2 As for Salathiel himself, he is to cease troubling
about the fate of mankind and be content with the thought
that his own blessedness is sure, and his own life appointed to
eternal joy.

This is the answer which this apocalypse attributes to
God; and it is an answer so insufficient, so shallow in its
thought, so dreadful in its arrogant cruelty, that we can hardly
suppose the author can have meant it as a serious reply to
the questions he had raised, or as any real solution of his
problems. One is almost led to suspect that the book is a
covert attack on the theology it expounds. Certainly, the
prophet does not profess himself satisfied with the answers he
receives ; and the controversy ends without being settled. In
any case, this wonderful and suggestive book shows how rest
less some minds among the Jews were, how dissatisfied with
the old exclusive view of things. It shows that some in New
Testament times faced the problem of universal destiny and
were troubled — that they felt

"the burden of the mystery . . .
Of all this unintelligible world."

1 4 Ezra 7B°-B
10

CHAPTER I.

FINAL DESTINY.

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE.

INTRODUCTORY.

WE have now completed the first part of our study, which has
concerned itself with the apocalyptic forms of belief — the
Kingdom and Parousia, Eesurrection, Judgment, Hades and
Gehenna. There still remain to be considered those theories
of ultimate destiny which have found a place in Christian
thought. In proceeding to this second portion of our task we
are not forsaking altogether the territory of Apocalypse ; since
the doctrines of Everlasting Evil and of Conditional Immortality
may both be said to have their roots in Jewish thought, and
the hope of Universal Salvation may claim to be a development
of the Old Testament belief in an all-embracing Kingdom of
God, as well as of the apocalyptic prophecies of St. Paul.
Nevertheless, it is reasonable to separate this field of eschato-
logical thought from that which has engaged our attention
hitherto. Those theological speculations which we have now
to discuss do not belong to the realm of ancient symbol and
sign. They pertain to a region wherein the religious mind is
no longer content to express itself in terms of the imagination ;
they go beyond the mere question of judgment and retribution.
They are endeavours to answer the ultimate question — What
is the goal to which the march of the race is tending ? What
is to be its fate in the end of all things ? Are the evils which
now so darkly beset humanity to endure for ever ; or has God

reserved for it some better thing ? Does He intend, by ways

146

FINAL DESTINY 147

of death or ways of life, to bring it at last to a City of eternal
peace ?

Of course, this is a subject which wise men often think it
better to ignore. They dislike the discussion it involves ; and
they advise us to leave the whole question of the End alone, in
its universal aspect, and confine ourselves to a contemplation of
heavenly glories and the consummation of the Kingdom. This
view is held by many whom we all respect ; also, it is in itself
attractive. Who would not evade the ultimate problems if he
could ? And yet this is a position from which, on many
grounds, there is reason to dissent. In the first place, the
Christian Church has never agreed to be silent as to the fate
of the lost ; the majority of its representatives have asserted
the doctrine of Eternal Evil with vigour and decision. The
idea that we should have nothing to say about the final fortunes
of humanity is a recent discovery, and is due to the pressure
of sustained criticism, both within and without the Church.

In the second place, it is evident that we cannot expect
our opponents to desist from attack because we find the
conflict inconvenient. The enemies of the Faith have always
found a suitable field of battle in the sphere of eschatology ;
and they will not withdraw their batteries though we withhold
our fire. Those who reject the Christian view of the world
commonly attack, especially, the traditional doctrine of destiny ;
and we cannot refuse to answer their protest unless we mean
to make surrender. When they present us with long quota
tions from our great divines," and repeat the words of our
Confessions, and say, " This is your belief," we cannot afford to
make no reply.

Further, the doctrine of the End is one that cannot, in
the nature of things, be left alone. It is essential to a complete
presentation of truth. We may not deny this, unless we are
prepared to say that Christianity is merely a practical message,
intended to secure certain moral effects, and involves no
rational " view of God and of the world." But if Christianity
does involve sucli a view, we must at least try to state it ; and
we cannot make that endeavour under a statute of limitations,
or begin it with the proviso that one particular realm of thought

H8 THE WORLD TO COME

is excluded from debate. Nor, indeed, could we adhere to such
a condition, even if we laid it down. When we state the
Christian doctrine of God, we are asked how we reconcile it
with the painful facts of human life. In answer to this we
assert our belief in a future state of perfect justice, retribution,
and redress. But forthwith we are challenged to show that our
view of immortality really secures an issue of absolute fairness
and recompense for every soul. And so we find ourselves
constrained to face the question we are anxious to avoid.

Moreover, it does appear quite hopeless to expect that
men will continue to believe in immortality, and yet be content
with silence as to its import for our race. We see the great
stream of human life flowing for ever into eternity : we behold
the countless hosts of mankind passing across this little space
of sunlit earth, and marching onward to that bourn from
which no traveller returns ; and we cannot, even if we would,
refrain from asking ourselves towards what goal these " un
wearied feet of mortals " go their way. Even though we see
that some battalions of this innumerable army cany the
banner of the Cross and have an heavenly light upon their
brows, we cannot confine our gaze to these alone, or content
our hearts with a sure and certain hope for them. We may
not forget that every one of all these multitudes derives his
being from the Father of us all, is the heir of a limitless
destiny, and has an appointed place in the universal purpose
of " the Sovereign Lord, the Lover of Souls."

In any case, it is obvious that the problem of the End
cannot be excluded from discussion in a treatise on Eschatology.
And it is evident, also, that any historical study of this matter,
from the Christian standpoint, must begin with the New
Testament — must inquire at the outset whether Revelation
has any clear light to shed on the destinies of man. It is to
this inquiry, then, that we must now address ourselves ; it will
be our business to consider the basis which each of the great
theories may claim for itself in the letter and in the spirit of
the Gospel message.

FINAL DESTINY 149

TEACHING OF JESUS.

It is natural to begin our study of the New Testament
doctrine with the sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Synoptic
Gospels. It will not be necessary, however, to discuss His
apocalyptic prophecies, as these have been considered in a
former chapter. The question we have now before us concerns
the extent to which His teaching, in its general drift and
meaning, supports the belief that the lost will suffer either
everlasting punishment or annihilation ; or encourages a hope
that reaches beyond the terrors of the Judgment.

I. Its negative side. — (a) The darker interpretation of our
Lord's thought regarding things to come does not depend for
its evidence on any distinct declaration of His, but rather on
the solemn and warning note which sounds throughout His
message. For instance, the condemnation passed on Judas,
that it had been good for him if he had never been born,1 is
often said to involve the doom of unending punishment, inas
much as no lesser evil than this could make it true of any man
that he had better never have lived. But although this may be
good logic it is not convincing. A logical way of treating this
expression appears to us out of the question when we remember
that it was a current saying, as old at least as the Second part
of the Book of Enoch?' You really cannot translate a proverb
into a syllogism.

A similar difficulty attends the interpretation of the passage
in which our Lord declares that the sin of blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven.3 There is no doubt
that this saying has made a powerful impression on the common
Christian mind. You remember, for instance, how George
Borrow, in his Lavengro, tells of one who believed that he had

1 Matt. 2624.

- 382, cf. also ,? Bar. 10s (in neither of these cases is there reference to
the future state).

3 Matt. 1224'32, Mark 3"-so, Luke }210.

ISO THE WORLD TO COME

committed this sin in childhood, and whose entire after-life
was haunted by the memory of it and by the sense of impending
doom. Many theologians, also, have found in this utterance
conclusive evidence that Jesus taught the doctrine of ever
lasting punishment. Yet its precise theological import is not
in the least plain. It was provoked by the attitude of the
Scribes, who attributed the works of Jesus to His alliance with
the evil powers. In so doing they blasphemed against that
divine spirit of compassion which inspired the healing ministry
of the Saviour. They sinned against love ; and this was ever
the kind of offence that was most hateful to Jesus. Hence
He declared with passionate indignation that their attitude
was beyond the reach of forgiveness. This pronouncement of
His cannot, however, be said to convey a sentence of personal
and irrevocable doom unless we can be sure that it was directed
against individual men. And we cannot attain to such
certainty. Rather does it seem that the offence of the Scribes
was committed by them as a class or party, not as separate
persons. This interpretation is rendered probable by the fact
that the Jewish mind was accustomed to the idea that nations
and bodies of men could commit an unforgiveable sin. Thus it
is said in the Book of Jubilees that when the children of Israel
break the law of circumcision, " there will be no more pardon
or forgiveness unto them for all the sin of this eternal error." 1
This view is supported also by the context, since it is evident
that the Scribes were inspired in their accusation against Jesus
by official and professional prejudice, rather than by personal
depravity. It is difficult to believe that Jesus meant to say
that each individual Scribe, in allowing party passion to lead
him so far astray, had placed himself beyond the reach of
divine grace and mercy. We know, indeed, that the sect of
the Pharisees included men of good and even beautiful char
acter. The Apostle Paul himself belonged to it, and shared
for a time its bitterest thoughts towards Jesus ; and yet he
was called out of this party and this state of mind, was granted
forgiveness, and became the greatest of the servants of the
Crucified.

1 Jub. If.34.

FINAL DESTINY 151

On the whole, then, it does not seem certain that this im
pressive declaration has a direct beariilg on the subject of final
destiny. It expresses an intensity of wrath against the loveless
and uncompassionate spirit that Jesus saw to animate the
Scribes — a spirit which He hated, wherever it appeared.' He
always warned men that those who did not forgive could not
be forgiven,1 that without works of charity none might enter
the Kingdom,2 that he who injured the little ones should wish
that he were dead.3 Hence this anathema against the Scribes
is characteristic of Christ. It bids us understand that sins
against humanity and mercy are not tolerable under the
government of God at any time or in any world. All this is
clear ; but the attempt to translate these prophetic words of
the Master into the formal language of theology can only rob
them of vitality and power.

And the disabilities which thus attend the dogmatic
interpretation of this passage appear whenever we seek to
show that any individual utterance of Jesus conforms exactly
to the requirements of modern theory. When, for example,
He declares that there are few that find the narrow way that
leads to life, while many tread the easy path that leads to
destruction,4 He certainly teaches that, as good and evil are
opposed in their nature, so also are they opposed in the ends
towards which they move. But, as soon as we proceed to ask
what is meant by the " destruction " towards which evil tends,
we find it impossible to provide an answer which is not at
least debatable. One simply cannot show that " destruction "
certainly means annihilation, as opposed to final ruin, or
indeed that it is anything more than a synonym for " Gehenna."
In the same way, the doctrine that "whosoever would save
his life shall lose it"5 expresses one of the most profound
principles in the teaching of the Master. But how we spoil
this saying when we interpret it, not as a statement of
universal moral truth but as a prophecy that the selfish life
must end in total extinction. Indeed, the habit of applying
the methods of minute verbal analysis to such words of Jesus

1 Matt. 6'5. 2 2541'46. 3 18«,

152 THE WORLD TO COME

is unhistorical in spirit, and is not conducive either to rever
ence or understanding. It distracts attention from the
religious and prophetic force of the evangelic sayings, and
directs the mind to the mere details of their expression. It
thus subordinates that which is vital, and that of which we
can be sure, to formal peculiarities which are usually doubtful
and always of minor moment. Also, it compels us to bring
the utterances of our Lord into the region of laboured contro
versy ; and whatever is made the subject of prolonged debate
begins to wear an aspect of uncertainty. The longer one
studies the works of partisan divines the more one is convinced
that the path of wisdom lies in refusing to base doctrinal
conclusions on any single text or on any merely verbal grounds.
No doctrine is secure that is not supported by a persistent
element in the Gospel records.

(6) To say all this is not, however, to minimise the force
and weight of our Saviour's message, on its ominous and
negative side. While the sayings to which we have referred
do not, when taken separately, bear any final dogmatic witness,
their cumulative meaning is extremely impressive. They
pertain to an aspect of the Galilean Gospel which is far from
hopeful. There is, for instance, a characteristic of the apoca
lyptic parables so persistent and so independent of mere
imagery as to imply a deeply rooted conviction. This
characteristic is the continual prophecy of a decisive separa
tion of the heirs of the Kingdom from the rest of humanity.
The King is constantly depicted as closing the gate of the
City against those who are without, and refusing to open it
again — being deaf to all appeals, all entreaties, all knocking at
the door.1 This note of exclusion is so dominant as to suggest
a most solemn thought in the mind of Jesus. It belongs to
a minor strain which is heard in the voice of our Lord — a
sadness of foreboding, a stern perception of ominous possibili
ties. There is a broad and easy way that leads to destruction ; -
it profits a man nothing if he gain the whole world and lose
his own life;3 it had been well for Judas if he had never been
born; apostate disciples are as salt that has lost its virtue

1 Matt. 251'12. 2 713- ». 3 1626,

FINAL DESTINY 153

and is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and
trodden under foot of men ; l there is an obscurity of the soul,
wherein the very light is as darkness ; 2 there are those whose
lives are like painted tombs full of dead men's bones and all
uncleanness ; 3 there are offenders for whom it were better
that a millstone were hanged about the neck and they were
drowned in the depth of the sea.4 These are all sayings that
are weighted with a burden of prophetic warning. They
compel us to recognise, with an awe of spirit which is the
deeper the more humbly we acknowledge the authority of
Jesus, that He believed in an immeasurable danger which
threatened the souls of men ; a horror of great darkness from
which they had to be delivered ; a desert of dreary exile
towards which the beloved race of mortals was straying with
careless feet.

2. Its positive side. — (a) Now, there can be no doubt that
the perception of this element in the teaching of Jesus,
combined with a dogmatic interpretation of His Gehenna
sayings, has been the chief scriptural source of the Christian
belief in everlasting perdition. It is probable, also, that a
large number of New Testament experts in our time would
affirm on critical grounds that Jesus taught either the ever
lasting torment or the total destruction of all who might be
excluded from the Messianic Kingdom. And it is certain that
the words of our Lord have extinguished in many reverent
minds all hope of universal salvation.

From the standpoint adopted in these lectures, however,
it does not appear certain that this confident interpretation of
the Synoptic doctrine is altogether justified. If we exclude
the idea that the Gehenna symbol was identified in our Lord's
time with any fixed theory of destiny, and if we do not find
it legitimate to build theological conclusions on those indi
vidual utterances to which we have referred, there does not
remain evidence to show that the teaching of Jesus as to the
fate of the lost went further than that message of retribution
and judgment which is contained in His apocalyptic prophecies.
But, apart from these considerations, we have to bear in mind

1 Matt. 513. 2 B23. :! 23-17. 4 18".

154 THE WORLD TO COME

that these warnings of wrath to come, which we find so
impressive, represent only one side of the Galilean Gospel.
It surely cannot be denied by any student of the doctrine of
Jesus that there is an element in His teaching and an aspect
of His character and ministry which do not suggest the idea
that all mankind except the immediate heirs of the Kingdom
are destined to a fate of torment and perdition.

But it is true of the brighter as well as the darker side of
our Lord's message that it is undefined, and is a matter of
principle rather than of distinct utterance. The separate
sayings to which liberal scholars are accustomed to appeal will
not bear the weight of great conclusions. Some theologians,
for instance, find the doctrine that all penalty will have an
end in the saying that some sinners will be beaten with few
stripes and some with many. And no doubt the passage in
which this expression occurs l is disconcerting to our orthodoxy.
In it our Lord declares that the Son of Man at His coming
will find among His servants three different classes — (1) the
faithful, who shall receive the fulness of blessing; (2) the
deliberately evil, who will be cut asunder and given a portion
with the unbelievers ; (3) those of lesser guilt, who will be
chastised with a severity proportioned to their offences. And
if this prophecy may be applied to the future state it certainly
suggests a threefold doctrine of destiny like that of the Rabbis.
Even if it be held to refer only to the servants of Jesus, it is
inconsistent with established dogma. But it certainly does
not even hint the idea that all the world will be saved.

Much weight, again, is attached by some writers to a
phrase which occurs in St. Matthew's version of the declara
tion about the unpardonable sin — "shall not be forgiven,
neither in this age nor in that which is to come." 2 It is held
that this expression implies that every sin except one will be
pardoned in the future life. But we cannot be sure that this
saying refers to the world to come, : it may refer only to the
Messianic Age. Also, it is not certain that St. Matthew's
version is an exact reproduction of the words of our Lord.
And so we are unable to draw dogmatic conclusions from this
» Luke 1241'48. - Matt. 12s*.

FINAL DESTINY 155

particular expression — in so far, at least, as the teaching of
Jesus is concerned. No doubt the fact that the Evangelist
believed our Lord to have said that only one sin was unfor-
giveable in the age to come, indicates a somewhat free state of
opinion in the early Church. But nothing more than this can
be affirmed.

Still less is it possible to attribute any doctrinal import
ance to the passage wherein our Lord counsels men to agree
quickly with their adversary while they are in the way with
him, rather than take their quarrel before the judge, who may
cast them into a prison, where they will remain until they
have paid all that they owe. This passage is often said to
involve the doctrine that those who are condemned at the
Judgment will endure penalty only until they have fulfilled
the claims of justice. And it is true that St. Luke, unlike St.
Mark, does give this word of Jesus in a context which shows
it to refer to future retribution. The phrase, however, which
theologians emphasise — " thou shalt not depart thence, till
thou hast paid the very last mite " l — belongs to the incident
and circumstance of a parabolic saying, and cannot be treated
as if it expressed the intention of the whole utterance. The
purpose of Jesus here is to enforce the need of settling all
accounts without delay in view of the coming of the Son of
Man ; and we cannot feel confident that He desired to state
any opinion about the duration of penalty. We may con
jecture, indeed, that if He had really declared any definite
doctrine on this subject we would not have had to seek for it
in obscure corners of the Gospel story, in the details of a
picture, in the chance turning of a phrase.

On the whole, then, one is not disposed to agree with those
who find the idea of universal salvation in any one of the
sayings of Jesus. At the same time, we may admit that those
passages to which I have referred belong to a strain in the
Synoptic doctrine that is not easily harmonised with a rigorous
eschatology. Jesus certainly taught that there would be
degrees of future punishment and a greater and lesser con
demnation. Also, we may find in His discourses some traces

1 Luke 1258- «•.

i.S6 THE WORLD TO COME

of Eabbinic thought regarding the age to come. Even though
we may not be inclined, for our own part, to attach much
dogmatic importance to any of the sayings in question, it must
still be conceded that in their general import they discourage
the idea that the world to come has nothing in it but utter
most doom on the one hand, and perfect blessedness on the
other. In short, the three earlier Evangelists do ascribe
sayings to Jesus which tend to modify the accepted doctrine
of perdition, though they do not afford a basis for confident
conclusions.

Christian optimists are perhaps on somewhat firmer ground
when they appeal to certain general features of the Synoptic
teaching, and certain principles which inform it. It is to be
remembered, for instance, that the eschatology of Jesus is
expressed in terms of the Kingdom of God. This peculiarity
of our Lord's method renders it hazardous to argue in a
rigorous way from the negative and exclusive side of His
teaching. We can never be quite sure whether, in any given
case, He is thinking of the Kingdom as a temporary Messianic
state or as the condition of final blessedness in heaven. If
the former thought were in His mind, then He need not have
meant a sentence of eternal doom when He spoke of the
penalty of exclusion. For it is evident that men who were
not prepared for entrance to a temporary Kingdom when it
was inaugurated on eartli might yet come afterwards to be fit
for the eternal City of God. It is to be borne in mind also
that Jesus, as a rule, does not extend His prophecies further
than the advent of the Son of Man and the beginning of His
dominion. St. Paul carries his thought beyond this point, and
seeks to picture the later history of the Kingdom as it goes on
its way and conquers all its enemies. But Jesus stops short at
its establishment, with the attendant circumstances of judg
ment and exclusion. And it is not safe to assume that His
silence regarding things beyond must be interpreted in a hope
less sense. Indeed, there are one or two expressions in the
Gospels which suggest something that resembles the doctrine
of St. Paul. Thus the Kingdom is likened to a tiny seed that
grows into a great spreading tree, and to the leaven which,

FINAL DESTINY 157

placed in a measure of meal, leavens the whole mass. These
illustrations seem to imply that matters will not be settled
all in a moment when the Kingdom appears — that, on the
contrary, the Empire of God will go on gradually extending
itself till it has attained an universal sway.

Some weight, also, must be attached to the view that our
doctrine of immortality should be influenced, in a hopeful
sense, by the principle of compensation which is enforced
throughout the teaching of Jesus. The idea that the future
will afford redress for the inequalities and hardships of this
present state was a favourite thought in the mind of the
Saviour. It is expressed, for instance, in the Parables of Dives
and Lazarus and of the Talents, as well as in the blessings
pronounced on the poor and the mourning and the persecuted,
and in the sayings : " There are last that shall be first " ; " To
whom little is given, of him little shall be required." And, if
this characteristic doctrine of Jesus be applied to the world to
come, it certainly suggests the extension of opportunity, and of
the ministry of grace, beyond the limits of this present life.
It seems to encourage the hope that some kind of reparation
will be made to the man who has been poorly endowed in this
unequal world. Men must begin the future life in the condi
tion which is theirs when they die, even though that condition
may not be due to their own demerit. Suppose they enter
the unseen world halt and maimed and blind, it matters little
that they owe these disabilities to their earlier poverty of
privilege. Their weakness is a reality, whatever its cause may
have been ; and no redress is accorded them if they are simply
granted a minor degree of chastisement. Their actual spiritual
state is their real penalty ; and if that penalty is to be re
mitted, it can only be through their positive enjoyment of
means of grace, such as may annul the privation of their
earthly lot. In short, the doctrine of compensation involves
the assurance that every man who has received small measure
of advantage here shall receive much hereafter — much of
opportunity, and of the healing grace of Christ.

(b) One may conjecture, however, that those who in all
ages have entertained hopeful thoughts regarding the future of

i$8 THE WOULD TO COME

the human race have not really been inspired by direct sayings
of Jesus, or even by inferences drawn from general principles
which underlie His teaching, but rather by the influence of
His personality, His attitude to men, His doctrine of God, and
especially His Cross and Passion. Just as John Tauler said
that the Kingdom of God was God Himself, so we may say
that the Gospel of Jesus is Jesus Himself. Especially is it that
aspect of His character and ministry of which we are the more
assured because it was the least according to tradition or the
expectations of men. It is that benignant light of His spirit
which all the fiery clouds of apocalypse could not obscure —
that amazing breadth and tenderness of His humanity which
not even the misunderstandings of His narrow generation have
availed to hide from our eyes. It is that singular grace and
truth which shone in the Galilean ministry and in all His
companyings with the poor, the despised, and the outcast ;
which inspired the plea for His disciples, " the spirit is willing
but the flesh is weak," and the prayer on the Cross — " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do," and the serene
confidence of the saying recorded by St. John — " I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." It is this in
Jesus that constitutes His gospel, and is the real source of
every Christian hope.

In complete harmony with this aspect of His mind is His
doctrine of God. God is, for Him, essentially the universal
Father, who sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,1 ami
is kind to the unthankful and evil ; 2 who receives back with a
double joy the wandering son,3 and is not willing that one of
the little ones should perish ; 4 whose passion it is to recover
and to save ; and who is as the shepherd that seeks for the
one lost sheep till he finds it, and in whose presence there is
more joy over one sinner that repenleth than over ninety and
nine just persons that need no repentance.5 This is our Lord's
consistent doctrine of God ; and it is not more truly an account
of the Father's heart than it is of the spirit that dwelt in
Jesus.

1 Matt. 5«. • Luke G35. » 1532.

4 Matt. 1814. 5 Luke 158-10.

FINAL DESTINY 159

It is almost certain, indeed, that this element was even
more prominent in the teaching and thought of the Master
than the Synoptic Gospels would lead us to suppose. These
Gospels do not fully express the universal aspect of our Lord's
mission ; nor make it clear that He regarded Himself as the
Saviour of mankind, or believed that He had been sent into
the world because of the love of God for the whole human race.
Yet, other New Testament writings express these truths without
hesitation or doubt. This is, indeed, the most original note in
the evangelic message. The idea that the Christ is the
redeemer of all men, that His work has an unlimited reach,
that He is the unspeakable gift of the Father to the world
which He loves, was not suggested by tradition, nor was it
congenial to the Jewish mind. Whence, then, did the Apostles
derive it ? From what source does St. John obtain confidence
to say that Jesus is " the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world,"1 or St. Paul to affirm that "God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself " ? 2 Evidently from
Jesus; from the impression made by His personality; from
the influence of His spirit ; from memories of His life ; from
sayings of His which the Synoptists have not recorded. There
is, perhaps, no fact that testifies more strongly than this to the
measureless power which dwelt in Jesus Christ. He spoke in
apocalyptic terms that were exclusive and narrow; He said
things which suggested a limited purpose and mission; He
was surrounded by influences that rendered men adverse to a
gospel of boundless sweep. And yet the universality of His
spirit overcame all these things, and compelled His followers,
spite of themselves, to say — " God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son." 3 And His Church throughout
the ages, though it has clung to the literal meaning of His
words and has accepted dogmatic teaching which has limited
His gospel, has yet been constrained by His influence to call
Him by names of universal import, and ascribe to Him the
Lordship of all things — to call Him, not the Saviour of the
elect, but Salvator Mundi ; not the Light of the Church or of
the Kingdom, but the " Light of the world."

1 John I20. a 2 Cor. 519. s John 31G.

160 THE WORLD TO COME

While, then, we do not find in the sayings of Jesus any
clear doctrine of ultimate destiny, we do find a profoundly
universal and hopeful element in His message and His work,
in the light of which we must interpret those solemn warnings
and forebodings that are not heard in the voice of any prophet
more certainly than in that of the Prophet of Nazareth.

II.

APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE.

(St. Paul and St. John.)

When we pass from the Synoptic account of the teaching
of Jesus to the interpretation of the Gospel presented in the
other New Testament writings, we find the same apparently
conflicting strains of thought — on the one hand, predictions of
immeasurable doom ; and, on the other, great assertions regard
ing the mind and purpose of God which encourage the widest
hope. It is the harmonising of these two that constitutes the
problem of apostolic eschatology.

In discussing this problem it will be convenient to confine
our attention for the most part to the teaching of St. Paul and
St. John. Indeed, the other New Testament writers have very
little light to shed on the subject of universal destiny ; their
statements as to the doom of the impenitent being couched, as
a rule, in the doubtful terms of Apocalypse. There are, how
ever, two points which may be noted as characteristic of the
sacred writings generally. In the first place, they declare that
the work of Christ has a relation to all mankind. Thus, the
Epistle to the Hebrews says that the Saviour " tasted death for
every man " ; l the First Epistle of St. Peter affirms that the
ministry of our Lord extended beyond the grave ; and in First
Timothy we read — " God willeth that all men should be saved."
" Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." •" We
have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all
men, specially of them that believe." -

1 Heb. 29 "should taste death for every man " (inrlp iravTh).
3 Tim. 24- 6 410.

FINAL DESTINY 161

In the second place, the element of dark prophecy in the
New Testament books is chiefly expressed in those passages
which speak of the state of spiritual " death " that awaits the
children of this world. It is in the light of these utterances
that we must interpret such words as " perdition " (aTrwXeta),
and " corruption " or " decay " (<j>6opa), and " destruction "
(o\efy>o<?). The state of being lost, of decay, and of destruction,
is equivalent to that mysterious condition of death which is
declared to be the appointed lot of sinners beyond the Judgment.
The Christian teachers affirm that the natural man is already
dead in trespasses and sins; and they prophesy that if he
continue in this state he must die, in some deeper sense, here
after. Thus St. James tells us that desire is the mother of
sin, and sin is the mother of death.1 Hence, the controversy
regarding the New Testament doctrine of final destiny, on its
negative side, really turns on the interpretation of this term
" death," in its application to the fate of the lost.

Having thus briefly observed these two elements in the
Apostolic tradition, let us now proceed to discuss them as they
appear in the writings of the two theologians of the New
Testament. In discharging this task, it will be suitable for us
to consider the doctrine of St. John before that of St. Paul.
This is, of course, not the proper chronological order ; but it is
justified by the consideration that St. Paul's thought is more
speculative than that of the later writer, and is far more
directly applied to the subject of final destiny.

Teaching of St. John.

1. Its "dualism." — (a) The Johannine theology is pre
sented in two works — the Gospel and the First Epistle of St.
John. But it is not necessary, for purposes of exposition, to
separate sayings that occur in the one of these books from
those that appear in the other. Whether St. John is telling
the story of Jesus Christ or is directly addressing the churches,
his teaching remains the same. He does not distinguish
between the message that was spoken by Jesus and the belief

1 Jas. I15.
II

1 62 THE WORLD TO COME

which the Spirit of Jesus has created in his own mind.
Neither of his writings contains direct predictions as to ultimate
destiny. Both of them deal almost exclusively with the great
facts and principles which are spiritual realities in this present
world. The outcome of these facts and principles in the life
to come is matter of " solemn conjecture." The Johannine
doctrine gathers itself round the conception of eternal life.
Those twice-born men who are possessed of this supreme gift
are separated from other men by a great gulf. The unre-
generate are, from the spiritual point of view, dead. Their
existence belongs to the realm of illusion and vanity. It is
occupied with the appearances and shadows of things ; it is of
the world that passeth away. And the purpose of Christ in
His death and resurrection is to deliver men from this state of
death and to give them the true eternal life which is of God
and abideth for ever. Christ is, indeed, the only means whereby
this redemption can be obtained. Apart from Him, and from
communion with His spirit, there is no deliverance from the
bondage of death. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." 1

Now, there can be no doubt that this view of things does
present, at first sight, a hopeless opposition of thought. On
the one hand is the world lying in the evil one, abiding under
the wrath of God, in bondage to corruption, shrouded in dark
ness, buried in death. On the other hand is the fellowship of
the redeemed, dwelling in celestial light, possessed of everlasting
peace, nourished with heavenly bread, renewed with the water
of eternal life. " We know that we are of God, and the whole
world lieth in wickedness." z Such is the dualism of St. John ;
and if we regard it as absolute and unreconciled and ask our
selves what kind of eschatology it suggests, we can only reply
that it is one of extreme gloom. The apocalyptic conception
of future torment is really more hopeful than the view of
destiny which is founded on the Johannine idea of spiritual
death. After all, there is hope in pain ; there is purifying in
fire ; so long as there is suffering there is life. But if we are
to believe that the state of utter death which belongs to the
1 John 6s3. * I John 519,

FINAL DESTINY 163

unregenerate here is continued in an ever-deepening form here
after, we can hardly conceive that there remains any ground
for hope regarding the fate of the multitude. The only
question that can arise is whether that fate is unending desola
tion or the absolute loss of existence.

(6) But if we apply ourselves to this latter problem we find
no means of reaching a confident conclusion. It is customary
to appeal to " Hellenistic " thought on such questions, as a key
to all our perplexities. But this is a habit which is not to be
followed with any great assurance. Some writers speak as if
Hellenism were a thing of which we possessed a perfect know
ledge, as if it were a defined and familiar system, like, for
instance, Calvinism. Whereas, we have no sure information
about it except such as we derive from Philo, the Book of
Wisdom, and other Alexandrian works, a few fragmentary
inscriptions, and some quotations from lost writings. As to its
general features, we know that it was an attempt to combine
Jewish belief with Greek philosophy ; that it prevailed widely
throughout certain regions in New Testament times ; and that
it commonly believed in the pre-existence of souls and held
the doctrine of the Logos, denied the Resurrection, and was,
perhaps, as much Stoical as anything else in its ethics. This
elusive and vague type of thought attained to something like
coherent utterance only in Philo. And Philo is no safe guide
to the understanding of St. John. For one thing, the Christian
writer, while he accepted many Philonic forms of thought,
held them in a sense of his own, and used them with the
freedom proper to one who was a disciple, not of the Alexan
drian, but of Jesus. Also, Philo, great thinker and. great soul
as he was, is himself very difficult to interpret. His work is
illumined by flashes of insight, fine turns of expression, and
high mystical vision. But it is full of tentative endeavours
and incomplete adventures, and is encumbered by an unattain
able ambition to reconcile Judaism with the doctrines of the
Academy and of the Porch. Evidently, then, Hellenism even
as expressed by Philo, does not help us beyond a certain point
in our study of St. John. And this is especially true in the
matter of eschatology, since the Alexandrian doctrine of

1 64 THE WORLD TO COME

destiny, as it concerns the unregenerate, is, as we have seen,
very doubtful and obscure. Even though one may think that
it tends towards the thought of conditional immortality, one
recognises that this is a conclusion which cannot be stated in
any confident or dogmatic way.

(c) It thus appears that contemporary literature, even of
the Hellenistic type, does not afford us any complete guidance
towards an understanding of the Johannine eschatology. The
most it can do for us is to suggest that the dualism of the
Fourth Evangelist may imply that the unspiritual will suffer
either eternal perdition or actual loss of personal life. As
between the claims of those who definitely assert either of
these views against the other, it is therefore hardly possible to
decide. Theologians who maintain the orthodox interpretation
of St. John's teaching have certainly a strong case to present.
Their position is supported by the consideration that " death "
in the Johannine writings signifies that state which is the
opposite of eternal life. It is reasonable to argue that, as
eternal life is not mere existence but a spiritual quality of
being, so the condition of death, which is the contrary of it, has
nothing to do with physical dissolution or extinction of
personality, but is rather a mode of existence which, from the
moral point of view, is not worthy of being called life. If
unregenerate men are dead already, and yet continue to be
physically alive, they may go on in this condition hereafter
and yet for ever remain in possession of self-conscious person
ality. This is a perfectly defensible interpretation of one
element in St. John's teaching ; and if we think it sound in
itself, and also consistent with a due appreciation of other
notes in his message, we may decide that he meant by spiritual
death in its final issue a state of permanent exclusion from the
Kingdom — of complete and incurable inability to experience
the powers of the higher life.1

(rf) On the other hand, the contention that St. John
believed in Conditional Immortality, or at least that his
thought tended towards it, may be argued with a great deal
of force, and has special weight with those of us who think

1 Cf. E. F. Scott, Fourth Gospel, pp. 247-263.

FINAL DESTINY 165

that Philo's theory of immortality implied that the unspiritual
must suffer the doom of final extinction. St. John certainly
believed, as the Alexandrian did, that apart from communion
with the Logos no man had any true life at all. And it must
be confessed that his language does suggest that there is no
such thing as immortality for any who do not abide in the Son
of God, feed upon His flesh, drink His blood, receive from Him
the new supernatural life which He alone bestows. This, at
least, is the Conditionalist view of the matter. Those who
maintain that view do not deny that " death," like " life," is
used figuratively by St. John ; but they say that this symbolic
usage has, lying under it, conceptions that point to actual
extinction as the ultimate fate of the unregenerate. The state
of death in which these are is a state of mortality. It is not in
the nature of things that it can endure for ever. Concerned as
it is with unreality, bound up as it is with evil, it is of necessity
transient. Just as eternal life involves perpetual existence
though it is the possession of men who are appointed to
physical dissolution, so spiritual death means final annihilation
though it is compatible with a temporary existence in this
world and beyond it. The "life" of the believer means
immortality, because it makes him a part of the everlasting
order ; and the " death " of the unregenerate means evanescence,
because it makes him a part of the transient world. He who
has a portion, by faith, in the everlasting Kingdom is himself
everlasting ; he whose lot is cast with perishable things must
himself perish. "The world passeth away, and the lust
thereof ; but he that doeth the will of God abide th for ever." l
2. Reconciling element. — (a) Now, this Conditiojnalist inter
pretation of St. John's doctrine has even more to be said for it
than has the view that he believed in eternal evil. But the
weakness of both these constructions is their assumption that
the dualism of the Fourth Evangelist is absolute, and shows no
signs of being mediated by a higher thought. Surely this is
very far from being the case. It is true that both in the
Gospel and in the Epistle the universe of moral and spiritual
things is divided into opposing realms of light and darkness,

1 1 John 217.

1 66 THE WORLD TO COME

life aiid death ; and this is the feature of their doctrine 011
which, up to this point, I have dwelt. But there is another
and a reconciling element in Johannine thought which really
transcends its oppositions. This third and unifying principle
is St. John's doctrine of God and of His relation to the whole
world in Jesus Christ. He declares that the mission of Christ
had its origin in the nature of the Father,1 who is love.2 He
says that every one that " dwelleth in love dwelleth in God," 8
and that such an one has " passed from death unto life." 4 He
asserts that the purpose of our Lord is universal salvation —
" God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world ;
but that the world through Him might be saved." 5 He teaches
that the sacrifice of the Cross was a sacrifice for all sins of all
men. " He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours
only, but also for the whole world." 8 He assures us that Jesus
was confident that if He were lifted up from the earth He
would draw all men unto Himself.7 Finally, he teaches the
necessary relation of Christ to every man, affirming that He is
the eternal Word, or Eeasou, of God, by whom all things were
created and in whom they all exist ; that He embodies that
spiritual principle which is the medium of all our seeing, is the
light which coming into the world lighteth every man.8

(6) Now, it is surely impossible to give due weight to this
element in the message of the Fourth Evangelist, and yet to
say that the dualism of his thought is intractable and hopeless.
His assertions regarding life and death, light and darkness, are
true to one aspect of our Lord's teaching, and indeed to the
results of all earnest moral reflection. Nevertheless, he had
not so learned Christ as to see in the spiritual universe nothing
but eternal conflict and invincible oppositions, or to suppose
that the recognition of discords was the last word of faith.
When we think of his doctrine that " God is love," we see that
it involves the universality and everlasting persistence of
divine grace. When we consider his declarations regarding
the intention of our Lord in His ministry and sacrifice, we feel

1 Gospel 316. 2 1 Epistle 48. s 418.

4 3". 8 Gospel 3". 6 1 Epistle 2«.

7 Gospel 1231. 8 I1'10. *

FINAL DESTINY 167

that they imply a limitless purpose of salvation. When we
remember, also, that this strain in his teaching is the peculiar
and characteristic feature of it, we cannot hold it to be sub
ordinate to other things in his message which are by comparison
traditional and obvious. Surely it is not reasonable to think
that convictions regarding the character and purpose of God,
which he can have attained only through the Spirit of Christ,
are to be limited by his sayings about " life " and " death "
which, after all, might have been uttered by Philo as naturally
as by Jesus or by John.

(c) It seems, then, that if we allow due value to the re
conciling and universal note in the message of the beloved
John, we are unable to accept the view that his Gospel did not
transcend the dualism it so strongly affirmed. And this being
so, we cannot agree with those who say that he held and
taught either that the wicked would be destroyed or that evil
would be eternal. We cannot do this, because both of these
positions rest on the belief that there is nothing in St. John's
thought that transcends its discords, and because they sub
ordinate the universal and unique aspect of his doctrine to
that which is limited and traditional. To say this, however,
is not to affirm that the Evangelist taught the doctrine of
universal salvation. His mind was of the direct mystical type
which is not troubled by logical perplexities, and knows with
out labour that all things are reconciled in Love. And there
is no evidence that he believed himself commissioned to declare
any doctrine of the End. He certainly believed in the terrors
of judgment, the wrath of God, the penalties of sin here and
hereafter. But whether he held any fixed belief on the subject
of final destiny, we cannot say. What we do know is that he
was not conscious of teaching anything that limited or
weakened the truth of his message concerning the love of the
Father for the whole race of mankind, the sacrifice of. Christ
for all human sin, and the divine desire and purpose to work,
in some sense, an universal salvation through Him who was
called the " Resurrection and the Life."

1 68 THE WORLD TO COME

Teaching of St. Paul.

1. His doctrine .of " death." — The teaching of the Apostle
Paul regarding life and death bears a resemblance to that of
St. John, and its influence is evident in the later writer. But
it is more varied, more individual, and more definitely applied
to the future state. While eternal life is mainly conceived by
St. John as a present possession, it always means in St. Paul's
language something to be attained hereafter, and is the opposite
of that state of death which is the appointed doom of the un
godly. " The wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is
eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 1

(a) Now, this Pauline doctrine, on its negative side,
presents a most bewildering and discouraging subject of study.
The idea of death, both as a physical fact and as a spiritual
experience or state, seems to have had a peculiar fascination
for the Apostle. His references to it are so frequent, and
exceed so much in variety of meaning all contemporary
example, as to suggest a personal characteristic. He has
recourse to the symbolism of " death " whenever he is deeply
moved by the sad and stern aspect of things, and whenever
he wishes to describe painful experiences or any want of
sensibility. Sometimes he uses it in an extremely rhetorical
way, as when he says, " I die daily " ; 2 " death worketh in us,
but life in you " ; 8 " if Christ be in you, the body is dead." 4
Again, this phraseology often indicates the idea that those who
are under the sway of any one influence are free from the
power of its opposite, as in the declaration that those who are
alive to God are dead to sin.5 In this aspect, the symbol of
death and dying is devoid of all colour of its own and takes a
bright or a dark meaning according to the connection in which
it occurs. Thus, baptism is likened to burial,6 and the experi
ence of the Christian to crucifixion ; 7 and believers in Christ
are described as dead.8 Once more, he occasionally indicates
by this form of expression, want of power, as in the saying,

1 Rom. G2*. s 1 Cor. 15S1. 3 2 Cor. 4".

4 Rom. 810. 5 6U. • 64.

7 Gal. 2*>. 8 Col. 33.

FINAL DESTINY 169

" apart from the law sin is dead." L An excellent example,
also, of the hyperbolical way in which he speaks of " dying " is
found in the statement, " sin revived, and I died." 2 Clearly, it
was not the habit of the Apostle to weigh his terms with care,
or to measure his language in a scientific spirit ; and he
employed the tremendous symbolism of death in cases where
writers of a different temperament would have expressed them
selves with more moderation and variety. And he thus lays
himself open to the danger of being misunderstood by literal
and laborious minds. We may conjecture that he never
expected his words to be so carefully examined, and would
have been surprised at the importance which has often been
attached to his impetuous expressions.

(&) There can be no doubt, however, of the austerity of
meaning which belongs to St. Paul's prophecy that death will
be the wages of sin. Physical dissolution itself seemed a
terrible thing to St. Paul. And it is probably to this, as much
as to the influence of contemporary thought, that we must
attribute his persistent habit of describing the state of perdition
by likening it to that dreadful power which is the tyrant of
creation. He saw in the king of terrors a fitting symbol of the
uttermost spiritual doom. For him, as for Philo, to be un-
spiritual was to be dead now, and was to be moving towards
a climax of death beyond the grave. To fail of eternal life at
the last was to be given over to the powers of ruin and decay.3

(c) So far, we are on secure ground in interpreting the
general doctrine of St. Paul regarding the wages of sin. The
matter is different, however, when we come to ask ourselves
whether his prophecy of coining death and corruption can be
said to imply a theological conclusion on the subject of final
destiny. The difficulties that beset an attempt to answer this
question are, to some extent, similar to those which confront
us when we seek to translate into dogma the parallel teaching
of St. John. The task of doctrinal exposition is, however,
much more complicated in the case of the Pauline writings
than in that of the Johannine. The latter are the work of a

1 Rom. 78. 2 79.

3 Of. H. A. A. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conceptions of Last Things, chap. iii.

170 THE WORLD TO COME

mind that belonged essentially to the mystical type, and their
method is to present ideas in various aspects and relations
rather than in orderly sequence of thought. The former, on
the other hand, reveal a genius of " infinite variety." St. Paul
was a mystic, but he was a logician as well. He was a master
of emotional appeal, a prophet, a poet, an evangelist ; but he
was also a theologian. In him is to be found the source of
many speculations which have shown astonishing vitality ;
also, unlike St. John, he was interested in the problem of the
End. Hence one expects to find a deliberate meaning in his
eschatological statements ; nor is this expectation altogether
disappointed. As we study his letters we discern in them a
strain of independent thought regarding the Last Things, which
shows itself in many ways and steadily increases in definite-
ness and power.

(d) An example of this element in the Apostle's teaching
is to be found, for instance, in his silence about Gehenna and
its torments. This is, indeed, a most significant feature of his
doctrine. He had been trained in a Kabbinic school which
constantly employed the symbol of the eternal fire. Also, he
must have known the tradition as to the preaching of Jesus on
this subject which is embodied in the Synoptic Gospels. Why,
then, does he avoid the language with which he was familiar ;
and why does he not conform to the example of Je^us ? The
reason cannot ha»ve been that he addressed himself largely to
Gentile Christians who were not acquainted with the Jewish
forms. It is true that these might not have recognised the
term " Gehenna," but they would have understood quite well
the notion of torment by fire. Nor can we explain his silence
by the idea that he held himself free to ignore the doctrine of
his Master. Why, then, had he nothing to say regarding the
Pit of fire and destruction ? Most likely, because he did not
wish to teach, or believe that Jesus had meant to enforce, the
idea of perpetual torment. In all his writings there is only
one saying which even suggests the latter conception.1 It
seems plain, then, that it was with intent that he spoke of
death, decay, and perdition, rather than of the everlasting fire.

1 Rom. 2s- 9.

FINAL DESTINY 171

And what can that intention have been, if it was not to
convey a general and negative, rather than a concrete and
sensuous, message of coming doom ?

(e) This, then, is the first of the things that one notes as
indicating the theological tendency of St. Paul's mind in this
particular direction. Its effect, of course, is mainly negative ;
but it shows that, while he accepted all the other forms of
Jewish prophecy, he rejected the Gehenna symbol as unsuited
to his purpose. But the second feature of his doctrine is that
the imagery which he chooses to employ in place of the
apocalyptic emblem is used with such freedom and individu
ality as to convey no definite idea beyond that of uttermost
retribution. No doubt, if we consider St. Paul's terms,
" death " and " decay," as we might study words occurring in
a legal document, without regard to the peculiarities of his
style and without reference to other elements in his teaching,
we may conclude that he believed that the doom reserved for
the wicked was complete destruction, either of the moral
nature or of personal existence. One need not illustrate this
at length, as to do so would involve the repetition of much
that has been said already in considering the doctrine of St.
John. Of St. Paul, even more certainly than of the Fourth
Evangelist, it must be said that his sayings will often bear the
Conditionalist interpretation. For instance, the prophecy,
" He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup
tion,"1 expresses that foreboding and forewarning of the
transience of all evil powers and all evil lives which is so
characteristic of St. John. Many other declarations also
might be quoted to show that St. Paul may have foreseen
awaiting the impenitent, somewhere in the future, a second
death which was death indeed.

On the other hand, it is quite possible to maintain that the
Apostle always meant by final " death " a state that was the

1 Gal. 6" ; cf. Test. Levi :

' ' And sow good things in your souls,
That you may find them in your life ;
But if ye sow evil things,
Ye shall reap every trouble and affliction."

172 THE WORLD TO COME

opposite of eternal life. In this view, the significance of the
warning, " If ye live after the flesh, ye must die," would be — If
ye follow the law of the lower nature, ye must fail of the
resurrection, must suffer exclusion from the Kingdom, must
inherit a disembodied existence, shadowy and vain, without
moral content or true reality, without God, without light and
without hope. This is an interpretation that can be defended
so long as we confine our attention to the negative side of St.
Paul's message — though it is hardly to be reconciled with the
universal aspect of his thought. But it evidently indicates a
doctrine of moral destruction, and so does not differ in practical
effect from the Conditionalist view.

(/) But, while a dogmatic conclusion of this kind may be
deduced from the words of the Apostle, if they are considered
without reference to his temperament and without allowance
for his individual manner of using them, it is not so easy to
be confident about their precise import when we bear these
personal characteristics in mind. It may be true that Philo
and the Book of Wisdom always mean to enforce the idea of
extinction, either of personality or of moral life, when they
speak of the death that awaits sinners. But it by no means
follows that St. Paul conformed to their example. His vitality
both of mind and of will rendered him more likely to create
precedents than to follow them ; and the Alexandrians were
greatly inferior to him in originality and force of genius, as
well as in power of clear expression. So that our knowledge
of their opinions helps us little to determine the opinions
of St. Paul. But the main source of our uncertainty as to
the degree of definiteness which the Apostle intended to
characterise his use of words like " death " and " corruption,"
is the extraordinary freedom which we have seen to distinguish
his employment of this phraseology. For instance, we might
be ready to say that the prophecy, " If ye live after the flesh,
ye must die," pointed to a fixed and final event, if we did not
remember the similar and clearly imaginative saying, "Sin
revived, and I died." We have always to bear in mind that
the terms of the " death " imagery had no such theological
content for him as they have for us, to whom they represent a

FINAL DESTINY 173

long dogmatic tradition. He had been nurtured in the Jewish
Church which had no assured doctrine of immortality, far less
of ultimate destiny ; and members of that Church had spoken
of death as the wages of sin, without themselves having any
faith in a life to come.1 Also, St. Paul was a pupil of a
Rabbinic school which was only beginning to consider the
problems of future existence. Hence, words like " death " and
" perdition " were for him still in a plastic state, and were
ready to take many different forms of meaning under the
touch of his individual and creative genius. And so it is not
a safe thing to say that when they occur in his prophecies of
judgment they are designed to "teach" this or that modern
doctrine. It is much more reasonable to suppose that the
Apostle, so far from employing these terms in the interests of
a definite theory, chose them just because he was not prepared
to be definite, and desired to confine himself to the warning
that a dreadful and menacing doom was prepared for those
who, with hard and impenitent hearts, persisted in the ways
of death.

It thus appears that the theological bent of St. Paul's
mind reveals itself even in the negative side of his eschat-
ology ; leading him to avoid the use of the Gehenna symbol,
and to substitute for it terms which were in themselves of
doubtful meaning and which he never sought to define.
But this tendency is displayed, of course, in a much more
emphatic way, in that universal strain in his message which
indicates a steadily growing faith in the love of God for all
mankind, and in the limitless sweep of that kingdom of life
which was yet to be established through Jesus Christ the
Lord.

2. His doctrine of reconciliation. — This evangelical and
universal side of the Apostle's message is expressed, to some
extent, in general statements as to the scope of the divine
purpose in redemption. But it is to be found more explicitly
in his prophecies of the final Consummation. These latter
are couched for the most part in apocalyptic terms, but they

'E.g. Sirach, "So the godless man — from nothingness to nothingness"
(4 110) ; cf. also, 2025 etc. ; cf. also Prov. 83fi 918 etc,

174 THE WORLD TO COME

sometimes owe their form to the influence of Alexandrian
thought.

(a) Among the more remarkable of the sayings which
express, in direct evangelical terms, the width of the gospel,
we may note these — " God hath shut up all unto disobedience,
that He might have mercy upon all,"1 "God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself."2 It is true that the
eschatological import of these utterances, and of others like
them, has been the subject of much debate, but we may agree
that they assert the universality of God's purpose in salvation,
and are thus of great value for the light they shed on the
meaning of those passages in which the Apostle predicts the
triumph of the Kingdom and the Summing-up of all things in
Christ.

(6) The earliest of those Pauline prophecies which are
capable of bearing an universal interpretation is found in the
fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians — a chapter which
exhibits with wonderful completeness all the varied character
istics of the Apostle's genius ; his impetuous logic, his rhetoric,
his indignation and pathos, the electric leap of his thought
from point to point, his passionate faith and hope. It is also
a signal illustration of that originality of mind which enabled
him to employ the old apocalyptic forms in such a way as to
express through them his own distinctive gospel and to make
them the instrument of his speculative thought.

The portion of this passage which concerns us here is that
contained in vv.22-28. " For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order :
Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at His
coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall deliver up the
kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have
abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must
reign, till He hath put all His enemies under His feet. The
last enemy that shall be abolished is death. For, He put all
things in subjection under His feet. But when He saith, All
things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted
who did subject all things unto Him. And when all things
1 Bom. II32. 2 2 Cor. 6".

FINAL DESTINY 175

have been subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself
be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him,
that God may be all in all." l

Now, the impression produced by this prophecy on the
average reader is that it predicts a perfect and universal
triumph of Christ. But this is not the view of all New
Testament scholars. Many of these, and among them some of
the most distinguished, read the passage in a strictly limited
sense.2 These maintain that, as the resurrection of which the
Apostle speaks throughout this chapter is that of believers
only, so also the description of the final blessedness refers
exclusively to them. It is they only that are to be made alive
in Christ, and for them alone that God is to be all in all. A
very restricted interpretation is thus given to the whole
prophecy — an interpretation, too, that is undoubtedly supported
by many features of the Apostle's statement, and is certainly
in complete harmony with the general doctrine of Jewish
apocalyptic.

This limited rendering is, however, not free from difficulty,
as is evidenced by the number of theologians who do not
accept it.3 These are not all agreed as to the means by which
the Apostle expected the victory of Christ to be attained.
But they all believe his doctrine to be that, whether through
destruction or salvation, the purpose of God will consummate
itself in a state of universal peace. Certainly there is much
to be said for this interpretation. The narrower rendering
appears hardly adequate to the strength of St. Paul's expres
sions. The prediction that death will be destroyed recalls the
saying in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, that during
Messiah's reign sin will come to an end,4 and seems to indicate
the disappearance of that entire aspect of things, evil and
negative, which is represented by death. It is difficult, also,

'R-V.

2 Cf. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conceptions of the Last Things, p. 308 ff. ;
Charles, Eschatology, p. 448 ff. ; Pusey, What is of Faith, etc., pp. 32-35 ;
Weiss, N. T. Theology, p. 404 f.

3 Cf. Volz, p. 288 ; Beyschlag, N. T. Theology, ii. 276 ff. ; Pfleiderer,
Paulinism, i. p. 271 If. ; Morgan, Religion and Theology of Paul, pp. 236-238.

* Levi, 18».

1 76 THE WORLD TO COME

to limit the sweep of the statement that, excepting only the
sovereignty of God, all things shall be subjected to Christ.

Of course it is necessary for us to understand these terms
in a modified sense if we suppose that this whole chapter is
one consistent exposition of the truth about the resurrection
of Christ and of those who are united to Him by faith. But
need we take this view ? It is beyond doubt that the purpose
of the Apostle throughout is to expound the doctrine that
believers shall share with their Lord in His glorious rising
from the dead. But is it equally certain that the prophecy of
the Kingdom and its consummation forms an integral part of
this argument, and that therefore St. Paul's vision of the end
must be held to concern itself only with the lot that awaits
the redeemed ? It was not his custom to adhere with logical
rigour to one fixed line of thought ; he delighted always in
digressions. And this prophecy of the final triumph is
probably an illustration of his manner. It is not strictly
relevant to his main theme of Eesurrection, and might be left
out of the chapter without impairing its completeness as a
discussion of that subject. His imagination was fired by the
emotional intensity of the argument which culminates in the
exultant affirmation — " Now is Christ risen from the dead and
become the firstfruits of them that slept," and he passed
straightway from reasoning to prophecy, and from a defence of
the Kesurrection to a description of that glorious Kingdom of
which the Resurrection was to form the prelude. Nor did he
desist from this inspired irrelevance until his vision had
culminated in that supreme assertion, beyond which neither
thought nor language can reach, — " that God may be all
in all."

(c) This seems, on the whole, a reasonable interpretation,
though one cannot profess any assurance on the matter. And
it is very much strengthened when we compare this Corinthian
prophecy with the later teaching of St. Paul. In the Epistles
to the Colossians, the Ephesians, and the Philippians, the
Apostle states in the clearest terms that it is the purpose of
God to achieve a perfect reconciliation through His Son. In
Ephesians and Colossians this doctrine is expressed in terms

FINAL DESTINY 177

of Alexandrian thought. Christ is identified with the eternal
Reason of God, active in creation, providence, and redemption.
" He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all
the creation — for it was by Him that all things were created
both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen,
including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers ;
all things have been created for Him and by Him ; He is prior
to all and all coheres in Him. . . . For it was in Him that the
divine Fulness willed to settle without limit, and by Him it
willed to reconcile in His own person all on earth and in
heaven alike, in a peace made by the blood of His cross." 1 In
Philippians the same doctrine is expressed with even more
completeness, and in the language of apocalypse — " Therefore
God raised Him high and conferred on Him a name above all
names, so that before the Name of Jesus every knee should
bend in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth, and every
tongue confess that ' Jesus Christ is Lord,' to the glory of God
the Father." 2

(d) Now the universal import of this teaching seems
beyond question ; and there can be no doubt that it is set forth
with deliberate dogmatic purpose. If it had been expressed
only in the terms of apocalypse, or only in those of the
Philonic philosophy, we might have supposed that its apparent
force was due to the traditional form in which it was uttered.
But the matter assumes a very different aspect when we
consider that the Apostle employs both the Logos doctrine and
the Kingdom doctrine, to the end that he may predict a victory
that is a reconciliation and that embraces all the regions of
life. It cannot have been by accident that St. Paul combined
the methods of Philo and of Enoch that he might convey
a message that was not within the thought either of the
Alexandrian philosopher or of the Jewish mystic. It is,
indeed, difficult to see how the Apostle could have expressed
his hope of an universal Kingdom of God with greater variety
and clearness. (1) He stated in direct evangelical terms that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, and

1 Col. I15- 20 (Moffatt's translation).
- Phil. 29'11 (Motfatt's translation).

178 THE WORLD TO COME

that He had shut up all unto disobedience that He might have
mercy upon all. (2) Again, in First Corinthians he so trans
figured the traditional prophecy of the Messianic Keign as to
give it a new comprehensiveness. (3) And, finally, in his
latest writings, he asserted in terms of current speculation
that God had created all things in Christ and intended to
reconcile all things in Him ; also, he affirmed in the imagery
of apocalypse that God had exalted Jesus in order that every
being in all regions of existence might confess that He was
Lord. How is it possible to evade the force of all this, or to
escape the conclusion that he regarded the message so variously
expressed as a part of the Gospel that was given him to
declare ? I confess inability to understand those writers who
emphasise the negative side of the Apostle's teaching, which is
uttered in one vague form, and yet depreciate the force of a
prophecy of good which is expressed in the most varied and
vital terms.

3. Dogmatic interpretations. — We have thus considered the
doctrine of St. Paul in its twofold bearing on the problem of
destiny and tried to trace its dogmatic development. But
there remains the difficulty of showing that his thought had
attained to harmony — that his forewarnings of death can be
reconciled with his prophecies of Eeconciliation. The darker
side of his message finds little place in the latest Epistles —
only in two sayings of small importance.1 But these suffice to
prove that the Apostle continued to assert that there was such
a thing as perdition and exclusion from the Kingdom. How,
then, are we to harmonise the different strains in his thought,
and to show that he had attained to a logical and consistent
eschatology ?

Evidently there are three ways in which this task may at
least be attempted.

(1) It may be said that the Apostle thought of the wicked
as sinking at last into a state of complete moral nonentity —
continuing to exist, indeed, but descending to a level of life

1 Phil. 311* "Whose end is perdition" (dn-wXeia). Part of a very rhetorical
saying. Eph. 5* Hath not any "inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of
God." In Phil. I28 d?rw\eia has no clear eachatological import.

FINAL DESTINY 179

beneath that of responsible creatures. If this were his view,
he would naturally regard the lost as ceasing to belong to the
spiritual universe ; so that their failure to be included in the
final Keconciliation would not destroy its completeness, any
more than if they had been actually dead. This interpretation
does give a definite meaning to the warning that they who live
after the flesh must " die " ; and it does succeed after a fashion
in harmonising the Apostle's doctrine. But it is highly
artificial ; it implies the very unlikely assertion that St. Paul
did not believe in the resurrection of the wicked ; l also, it
overbooks the fact that he describes all the inhabitants of the
underworld as confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is
absurd to suppose that creatures whose moral nature had been
destroyed could be capable of making any confession of faith
whatever.

(2) It may be urged that St. Paul believed in the annihila
tion of the impenitent, and that when he prophesied the re
conciliation of all creatures he meant to speak of all who
might remain in existence when the end should come. This
is the view of many important authorities,2 and has much to
be said for it. It gives fulness of meaning to the term " death,"
as used by the Apostle, and presents his teaching as perfectly
coherent and harmonious throughout. It is, however, difficult
to believe that if St. Paul had held this clear-cut theological
doctrine he would have refrained from expressing it in his
prophecies of the End. Also, it-is to be noted that the Apostle's
doctrine is that as God had created all things in Christ, so it
was His purpose to reconcile all things in Him. And it is
surely hard to harmonise this doctrine with the idea that some
who had been created through the Son of God would be
destroyed. " Keconciliation " and " destruction " are not con
vertible terms.

(3) It is possible to maintain that St. Paul believed in the
final salvation of all souls.3 This is a view which is at present

1 I see no reason to reject St. Luke's testimony on this point ; c-f. Acts 2415.

2 E.g. Morgan, Religion and Theology of Paul, pp. 237, 238.

3 See Beyschlag, vol. ii. ; Gordon's Ingersoll lecture : Immortality and the
New Theodicy, p. 94.

1 8o THE WORLD TO COME

much derided ; and yet as good a case can be presented for it
as for either of the other interpretations. It seems to be
supported by the saying that all in heaven and earth and under
the earth will unite in the Christian confession l that " Jesus
Christ is Lord." Also, it is in harmony with the passage in
Colossians which speaks of the principalities and powers being
reconciled in Christ. If the Apostle thought that the lords of
spiritual wickedness might be brought within the peace of
God, he may surely have entertained the same hope for lost
men. Further, this interpretation justifies, more fully than
any other, the prophecy that Christ will attain a complete
victory over death. It is evident that if death, before being
itself destroyed, were able to make an end of many of God's
creatures, it would not be utterly defeated, but would have
attained to some degree of triumph. Finally, the idea that St.
Paul taught universal salvation is encouraged by those sayings
of his which express his predestinarian belief. A high doctrine
of foreordination, combined with an universal view of the
redemption wrought in Christ, would logically yield the con
clusion that all men must be saved. Of course, many objections
are taken to this rendering of St. Paul's thought, but they are
not all of equal weight. For instance, there is no certainty
that his prophecies of doom absolutely exclude the idea of
redemption beyond the grave. He believed that unregeuerate
men were " dead " even in this world, and were under the
dominion of " decay " and " perdition," and yet he taught that
they might be aroused out of this death and might be delivered
from this bondage. And so we cannot be quite sure that he
thought of the state of loss and death and decay hereafter as
completely endless and incurable. Neither is there much force
in the argument that if he had believed that men could be
saved beyond the grave he would have taught the doctrine of
Future Probation. Thinkers of his time did not speak of
" future probation " — did not conceive the life to come as a
continuation of the present existence. They thought of it as
a state of punishment and reward. And when they spoke, as
some Kabbis did, of sinners emerging from Gehenna, they
1 Cf. E. F. Scott, Beginnings of tfie Church, Lect. ii.

FINAL DESTINY 181

simply meant that their term of punishment ended. And it
is an arguable position that the two sides of St. Paul's teaching,
taken together, involve a doctrine of this kind. The most
forcible objections to the Universalist view are that the
Apostle's warnings of approaching doom do have a note of
finality in them, and that his prophecies of a final reconciliation
do not certainly imply that every man will enjoy the fulness
of redemption. He sometimes speaks as if he distinguished
between being " reconciled " and being " saved." l And he
may have regarded the work of Christ as reconciling all men
unto God, and delivering them from the uttermost doom,
and yet not have believed that they would all come to the
measure of the stature of the perfect man in Jesus Christ our
Lord.

On the whole, it does not appear that any one of the
attempts to bring the teachings of St. Paul into perfect
harmony is altogether successful. The likelihood is that he
had not attained to the goal of his thinking on this subject.
He certainly faced the problem of destiny as well as other
problems of faith. But the work of theological construction
was not his main concern, nor was it easily pursued. When
he brought to bear upon the content of his gospel his eager
speculative mind, and sought to form a theory concerning
the faith that had been delivered to him, he was beset witli
difficulties. His training, his inherited ideas, his contact
with Gentile thought, his busy roaming life, all contributed
to the burden of his task. It cannot be said that his ex
planation of any great element in the Evangel is free from
perplexities. This is true of his teaching about Justification
and the Person of Christ as well as the doctrine of the Last
Things.

As to this latter subject he at first, in common with the
majority of the early Christians, held the traditional Jewish
view ; and traces of this original belief remained with him to
the end. But, from the hour of his conversion onwards, his

1 E.g. Rom. 5l° " For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled (^araXXa^^Tes), we shall
be saved (ffo>St)ff6/j.€0a) by His life,"

1 82 THE WORLD TO COME

faith in the Kedeemer Christ was the dominating influence in
all his thought. He might almost have used towards his Lord
the words of the poet :

"Behold I dream a dream of good,
And mingle all the world with Thee."

And this personal devotion to the Saviour revolutionised his
whole view of things, and especially his outlook on the Future.
As his conception of the divine purpose in Christ widened, so
his doctrine of destiny changed. The idea of foreordination
had a very strong hold on his mind, as it had on the mind of
every Jew ; the thought of the will of God being defeated was
alien to his whole mental habit. And this characteristic of
his thought, when combined with Christian faith, naturally
tended towards an ever wider eschatology. He started with
the belief that God had chosen Israel ; then he came to see
that this choice of the holy people had been for the sake of a
spiritual elect among all nations ; finally, the conviction that
God's purpose in His Son embraced humanity, as it grew upon
his mind, led him to assert that this purpose would be fulfilled
in an universal Kingdom of redemption. Till the last he spoke
of those who were lost, whose end was perdition, but he became
less and less able to set limit or bound to the reconciling
energy of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. All this is clear;
but beyond this we cannot go. We do not know that he ever
held one definite, coherent theory as to the final state of man
kind, or that on this subject he had " beat his music out," and
completed the development of his thought. " It is not in
cumbent on thee to finish thy work," says the Talmud. And
the Apostle had not been able to finish his work on the day
when he went from the Koman prison where he had thought
so profoundly on things divine — to pass by the way of
martyrdom to that clearer light wherein, as he himself said,
we see face to face, and know even as also we are known,

FINAL DESTINY 183

III.

KEVIEW.

On a review of the whole matter it appears that the
letter of the New Testament affords evidence that may be held
to suggest any one, or all three, of the historical Christian
doctrines of Destiny. If dogmatic meaning be attached to the
apocalyptic 'imagery, and if the eschatological terms " death,"
" perdition," " decay," " destruction " be read in the light of
Alexandrian teaching and considered apart from the entire
apostolic thought — then it is legitimate to infer that the sacred
writings enforce the theory either of Everlasting Evil or of
Conditional Immortality. If, on the other hand, emphasis be
laid on the evangelic message to the world which is embodied
in the character and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in His attitude
towards mankind, and in His doctrine of God, and which is
expressed with growing intensity and breadth, especially, by
the Apostle Paul — then it is reasonable to find in the Gospels
and Epistles the sources of a faith which is as a well of water
springing up to everlasting hope.

Which of these views we may incline to adopt as the more
probable will depend generally on our method of interpretation,
on our philosophical opinions, and above all on the individual
temperament that happens to be ours. For there is no depart
ment of thought in which temperament counts for so much as
it does in theology. One may conjecture that if the Christian
Church ultimately comes to hold one unanimous belief respect
ing the destinies of mankind, that belief will be founded not
on the import of scriptural texts, but on the general principles
of the Gospel, as these are unfolded gradually by the interpret
ing Spirit of truth, and as the mind of universal humanity, now
so largely under the sway of other religions, comes to accept
the Christian revelation, and to direct the resources of its
varied genius to the solution of the problems of the Faith. It
is, perhaps, impossible that any mere section of humanity can
attain to an abiding vision of the goal towards which the entire

1 84 THE WORLD TO COME

race is moving. It may be that only the whole world can
understand a message that was in the beginning intended for
the world.

But, leaving this aside, we have always to remember
that the New Testament is not a deliberate statement of
doctrine. It affords the materials out of which dogma is con
structed, but it does not itself declare dogma. It is not a work
of systematic theology, but the record of a faith. It tells of
the life and ministry, the sacrifice and the victory, on which
that faith is founded ; and shows how its first Apostle sought,
using the language of their own time, to commend it to the
hearts and consciences of men, to the end that these might be
saved. The Apostles were, in the first place, pastors and
preachers — the eager servants of a gospel, not the leisured
students of a creed. This is true even of St. Paul and St.
John. They declared a message that had been given them for
the redemption of the world. Their mission was to proclaim
the glory of Christ, and to witness to the realities of the
spiritual and moral order, as these were revealed in the light
of His face. Among these realities were the peril of sin, the
avenging forces of retribution ; the blessedness of obedience,
love, and faith ; the necessity of instant moral decision ; the
measureless love and immutable righteousness of God. To
each of these they bore witness, as it presented itself to them ;
of each they spoke in turn as the circumstances of their work
required. They saw with vivid clearness : and what they saw
they taught.

It is not surprising that the writings of such men should
contain apparent contradictions. The facts to which they
witnessed are contradictory. Mercy and judgment are opposed
to each other ; so also is sin to salvation, the universal rule of
God to the freedom of man, the conquering purpose of love to
the obstinate human heart. How, then, could the witnesses to
all these things maintain consistency in their words ? When
they saw the evil of the world, the terrible logic of sin working
out its ends in human lives, they spoke of perdition and
destruction — they said, " Ye shall die." When they felt the
blessedness of communion with Christ they said that without

FINAL DESTINY 185

this communion there was no true life. Seeing with open
vision the majesty of God, they declared the unreality of all
things that were opposed to Him ; they said that those who
were out of fellowship with His spirit were living in a vain
and passing show. Understanding the love of Christ and His
universal purpose of salvation, they prophesied a complete
redemption, an end of universal peace. These things are all
true, and they declared them ; but to show that they could all
be reconciled in one great rational harmony was not their
immediate task. The perplexities of their teaching, thus, are
not of the nature of error; they are found in all moral
experience; they belong to the content of faith. They are
" contradictions " which must always appear in the practical
enforcement of a gospel which applies itself to all the facts of
our confused and difficult life.

It is probable that St. John did not feel these oppositions
to be a burden. He was one of those for whom there are no
discords in the world of truth — one of those

" With whom the melodies abide
Of the everlasting chime."

The Apostle Paul, as we have seen, belonged to a different type
of mind. He saw that Christianity involved a rational view
of things, and he strove to express that view. This task he
pursued with a reverent daring and a splendid confidence in
the reasonableness of faith which have been the inspiration of
all who have come after him. Also, his sayings are a perennial
fountain of hope. But it was not the will of God that Paul
should bequeath to the Church a complete system of thought.
It was ordained that he should labour, and that others should
enter into his labours. It was decreed that he should know in
part and prophesy in part, and should await the coming of the
hour when that which is perfect is come and that which is in
part is done away.

But however all this may be, there are three assertions
which we may surely make regarding New Testament teach
ing — (1) Its doctrine of future punishment is perfectly clear,
and is not in the least affected by any view we may take of

1 86 THE WORLD TO COME

the bearing of that doctrine on the problem of destiny. That
every man must reap what he has sown, and receive of the
things which he has done in the flesh according to what he
hath done whether it be good or evil — this is the unmistak
able Christian message of judgment. Whatever else may be
symbolised by Gehenna and its fires, or by "death" and
" corruption," they certainly mean retribution, just repayment
and reward. They certainly imply that God will work a
perfect recompense for every man. And when this has been
said, all has been said. What more can any one desire, in the
interests of morality, than the assurance of ordered retribution ?
Who can ask that sin should be punished beyond the demands
of righteousness ?

(2) But, again, we may affirm that the negative side of New
Testament eschatology does not suggest belief in the eternity
of sin. There is no evidence that Apostles and Evangelists,
any more than other writers of their time, thought that men
would go on for ever in a state of positive rebellion against
God. If they believed in unending evil, it was in the sense of
perpetual penalty, not of everlasting transgression. Whatever
may be the speculative advantages of maintaining that the lost
will never cease to suffer because they will never cease to work
iniquity, this is not the doctrine of the New Testament, as it
has not been the common teaching of the Christian Church.
The idea of an eternal moral discord in the universe was
probably as distasteful to Paul as it was to Augustine.

(3) Finally, the new Testament, in the positive aspect of its
message, does distinctly affirm that, in some sense, the redeem
ing intention of God in Christ must attain to final victory.
That this element in its message should be emphasised by
Christian thought as the master note of Revelation is most
reasonable, since it constitutes the originality and glory of
apostolic teaching. It is altogether a fair tiling to say that
the assertion of God's universal purpose in salvation was, in a
peculiar sense, a direct inspiration of the spirit of Christ. The
conviction it expresses was not inherited by Apostles and
Evangelists. It is not in Philo ; it is not in Enoch ; it is but
rarely suggested in old Rabbinic lore. That they might give

FINAL DESTINY 187

it fulness of utterance, the Christian teachers had to unlearn
many things, and to depart from ancient forms of thought.
To express it, the Apostle Paul was compelled to do violence
to the apocalyptic genius ; and to force that ancient prophet
of wrath to proclaim the final domination of grace. The
assurance that the end of things shall see the universal
triumph of Christ is thus the supreme and dominant chord in
the gospel message ; achieved at a great price ; not derived
from man, nor obtained by tradition from the Fathers, but
received indeed of the Lord. And although it be not exclusive
of such solemn thoughts regarding the irreparable consequences
of sin as are inspired by experience and revelation, it is yet the
master of these; to it they must submit themselves, and with
it they must be reconciled.

CHAPTER II.

EVEELASTING EVIL

(DuALiSTic SOLUTION).

IN an earlier chapter attention was directed to the apocalyptic
conception of future punishment, and an endeavour was made
to show that the doctrine of Gehenna was a prophecy of judg
ment and retribution, not a theory of final destiny. It is now
our task to consider the dogma which asserts, on grounds of
revelation, reason, and experience, that evil is everlasting. It
is well thus to speak of " unending evil " rather than of
" unending punishment," for the reason that while some
theologians affirm only that penalty endures for ever, others
assert that sin will last to all eternity and will continue to
" register itself " in suffering. The phrase " everlasting evil "
embraces both these views, and is, therefore, more accurate
than the alternative expression. Besides this, it emphasises
the point which is really at issue in the controversy regarding
the probable end of things. The question is not, primarily,
whether all men will ultimately be happy, but whether evil is
a permanent fact in the universe.

Now, it will lend itself to an orderly study of this subject
if we consider in succession the following points : (1) The
claim of the theory in question to be the universal doctrine of
the Christian Church. (2) Modern expositions of it. (3) The
value of it as a speculative construction. (4) The spiritual
and moral content to which it may be said to owe its power
and persistence.

188

EVERLASTING EVIL 189

HISTORICAL ASPECTS.

It is often said that the doctrine of Everlasting Evil is an
essential part of the Christian religion — one of the distinctive
characteristics of its historical witness. And if this contention
could be admitted in all its force — if it could be shown that
the solemn Councils of the successive ages had declared this
dogma, that the great teachers of Christianity had, with one
accord and in one form, confessed it, and that the authoritative
Creeds had all confirmed it — then, indeed, an argument in its
favour would be presented of the utmost weight and value.
The universal belief of the Church, maintained throughout the
centuries, is not a thing which we may lightly disregard.
But, as a matter of historical fact, the claim in question can be
acknowledged only in a very modified sense.

It is, no doubt, true in a general way that the great
majority of Christians since the early times have believed that
those who die impenitent are utterly lost. It is also true that
this is the doctrine which has been commonly proclaimed in
popular address. So that, if ordinary opinion is to be accepted
as the testimony of the Church, we must hold this testimony
to be that evil is everlasting. Nay, we must affirm that the
Christian view of destiny implies that great multitudes of men
will enter at death into a state of physical torment without
relief and without end.

Things present a different aspect, however, if we assume
that the witness of the Christian society, in matters, of doctrine
as distinct from faith, is to be found in the statements of the
Creeds and in the teaching of thoughtful men. It is a remark
able fact that no important period of the Church's life, and no
one of the great schools of theological thought, has shown com
plete harmony in its teaching on this subject. It is notable,
also, that this want of agreement presents itself especially in
the earliest and in the latest period of ecclesiastical history.

Early Church. — (a) During that formative age, which
ended, perhaps, with Augustine, the primitive eschatological

190 THE WORLD TO COME

belief developed through a stage of discussion and debate, and
attained at last to something like dogmatic definition. But,
little sign of speculative thought regarding the Last Things is
to be found in the writings of those teachers who immediately
succeeded the Apostles. In the works of the Apostolic Fathers
we have to seek long and carefully for any definite references
whatsoever to the subject of future destiny. We find, indeed,
some sayings like the following : " Every one shall depart
unto his proper place." l " Nothing shall deliver us from
eternal punishment if we disobey His commands."2 "The
way of darkness ... is the way of eternal death with punish
ment." 3 " For the day is at hand in which all things shall be
destroyed, with the evil one." 4 It is evident, however, that
such sayings do not afford us very much light. Ignatius
remarks that those who deny the reality of our Lord's bodily
life shall have fitting punishment when, " being divested of the
body, they shall become mere spirits." 5 That is to say. that
having denied the body of Jesus, they shall have no body them
selves. And this is a prophecy which indicates an ingenious
tnind free from the shackles of definite opinion.

We shall have occasion to show later that the Greek
Apologists, developing the doctrine of the Logos on the lines
partly of Philo and partly of St. John, tended towards the
doctrine of Conditional Immortality. The same tendency is
shown also in Irenaeus ; though in his case, as in that of earlier
writers, it is confused by contradictory statements. On the
other hand, Athenagoras, who is the most lucid writer among
the Apologists, teaches with precision the necessary immortality
of the whole human nature.0 Also, he significantly confines
his doctrine of future punishment to the statement that " the
reward or punishment of lives, ill or well spent, is proportioned
to the merit of each." 7 It is a pity that we do not possess
more of the work of this man who seems to have been so fitted

1 Ignatius, Magn. c. v.

2 Second Epist. of Clement (so-called), c. vi.

3 Epist. of Barnabas, c. xx. * Ibid. c. xxi.

5 Smyrn. c. ii. 6 DC Resurrection*, c. XT.

7 Ibid. c. xxv.

EVERLASTING EVIL 191

to guide the thought of the Church along the lines of sanity
and moderation.

But if there was, thus, a want of dogmatic coherence in the
teaching of the Apologists on this subject, much more was
there a lack of unanimity among the teachers of the succeeding
age. To labour this point would, indeed, be " wasteful and
ridiculous excess." How can we say that there was harmony
at the time when the greatest genius and most learned scholar
of the Church was teaching Universal Restoration, or in the
fourth century when Arnobius tranquilly expounded the
doctrine of annihilation, and the Bishop of Nyssa elaborated
the message of Origen ? l How can there have been unity
even in the fifth century when Augustine had to reason at
length with the large party that denied Everlasting Torment ?

(6) It is not necessary, then, to illustrate further the
variety of eschatological opinion which reveals itself in the
writings of the early theologians. Indeed, to do so would be
to repeat what has been said in a former chapter, and also to
anticipate much that must be stated in the course of our
further discussion. It may be worth while, however, to
remind ourselves, at this point, that the great Creeds 2 of the
undivided Church maintain a singular silence regarding the
doctrine of Eternal Evil. This feature of the early Confessions
is sometimes explained by the supposition that the doctrine
in question was a matter of general agreement, and therefore
did not call for notice in statements of belief which referred
to controversial issues. But we have seen that this is a view
which cannot be entertained. The facts do not support it ;
Augustine himself is witness against it. More weight may be
attached to the contention that the early Creeds were con
cerned with christological problems, and that, for this reason,
the doctrine of the Last Things lay beyond their sphere. But
this consideration does not apply to the Apostles' Creed, which
was the complete expression of the primitive Eule of Faith,
and attained to practically its final form during the period of

1 Recoynitions of Clement (probably third cetitury) teaches quite clearly the
doctrine of Everlasting Evil. Book v. ch. 28.

2 Of. App. IV.

192 THE WORLD TO COME

eschatological debate. It is certainly remarkable that this
venerable and truly catholic Confession should have nothing to
say regarding the ultimate fate of the lost. It is quite fair to
find in this characteristic of the Apostles' Creed conclusive evi
dence that no dogmatic belief on the subject of ultimate destiny
was imposed upon the Christian mind of the earlier days.

Medieval period. — We may say, of course, that in later times
the doctrine of Eternal Evil dominated the thought of the
Church. But even this is a statement that cannot be made
without comment or qualification. The theology of the
Middle Ages, for instance, is commonly credited with a
wonderful unanimity of opinion on the subject of destiny.
But our later discussion will show reasons for modifying some
what this general belief. We shall see that there was positive
dissent from the prevailing dogma even during that period
which we call " the Dark Ages." Allowance must also be
made for the imperfection of our knowledge regarding that
great era. But, especially, we must beware of concluding that
the Catholic conception of theological conformity, as it is
revealed in the work of the Schoolmen, was the same as that
of the modern Calvinistic Churches. It would be foolish to
suppose, in particular, that the scholastic theories of perdition
would have satisfied a Presbyterian General Assembly of
Victorian times. A study of the medieval period shows that
the Roman eschatology permitted considerable variety of
interpretation, and was susceptible of certain mitigations and
reliefs. It retained Origen's belief in a purifying discipline
beyond the grave; and it commonly asserted that future
punishment would be proportionate in severity to the degree
of individual guilt, that there would be intervals of relief from
pain in hell, and even that positive suffering would have an
end. Erigena was supposed to maintain his peace with the
Church by saying that, while perdition would not last for ever,
the " phantasm " of it would linger — the ghost of a dead terror
haunting the soul. Also, it is to be remembered that the
Church never defined the doctrine of Everlasting Punishment
with any precision in its creeds. This element of freedom in
medieval theology is, indeed, fully illustrated in the great

EVERLASTING EVIL 193

poeni which is its best expression. Thus Darite describes
Virgil as dwelling within the gates of Hell ; but he does not
indicate that Virgil suffered any torment or sorrow. The
Koman poet is presented as the serene guide of the Christian
through the regions of the lost. Also, Dante depicts the
spiritual state of souls who inhabit the borderland of Hell as
very much like the condition of those who live on the lower
levels of Paradise. Mr. Gladstone remarked once that Dante's
optimism was too facile, too easily reached ; l and, while we may
not go so far as this, we may yet agree that he was no pessimist,
that his ultimate message was hopeful, and that, in the freedom
and humanity of his outlook and the elusiveness of his thought
not less than in the formal rigour and severity of his doctrine,
he represents the true genius of medieval Christianity.

Modern Church. — (a) It cannot be said that the Eeforma-
tion, in so far as its official statements were concerned,
increased the freedom of eschatological belief. The Protestant
Church affirmed the doctrine of Unending Perdition in an
absolute way ; and its Confessions of Faith left no room for
diversity of opinion. It excluded the notion of remedial
discipline after death ; it did not encourage the idea that there
would be degrees of future punishment; it entertained no
hope that the lost might experience any times of ease from
pain, or that positive suffering would have an end. In short,
it swept away all the subtleties and illogical humanities of the
older theology, and stated the dogma of Perpetual Torment in
all its blank incredibility. It is true that the Socinians taught
the annihilation of the wicked ; that the Zwinglian Confession
disclaimed knowledge as to the ultimate fate of the lost ; and
that the Anabaptists commonly entertained Universalist
opinions, while the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of
England are silent on this subject. But, in the main, the
Protestant creeds are in agreement with the teaching of the
Westminster Confession. And so it would appear that, on the
whole, the Keformed eschatology was more rigid and less
humane than that of the ancient faith.

(6) On the other hand, it is, of course, to be remembered

1 Morley, Life of Gladstone, iii. p. 488.
'3

194 THE WORLD TO COME

that the Reformation period witnessed a great revival of
individual speculation on all religious questions, and especially
on those which concern the life to come. The strictness of
the Protestant doctrine, and, in particular, its departure from
the idea of the Intermediate State, led of necessity to protest
and revolt. The refusal of the Reformed Church to allow
liberty of interpretation within the limits of dogma has been,
perhaps, the main source of that agnostic indifference to the
problems of immortality which prevails so widely in our day.
It is, however, sufficient for our purpose here to state the
incontestable truth that Protestant theologians have never
been in agreement in their doctrine of the End.

The question we have before us is the extent to which it
can be said that the dogma of Everlasting Evil represents the
universal witness of Christian thought; and, in considering
this matter, it is necessary to bear in mind the testimony of
thinkers and scholars, as well as of ecclesiastics and preachers
and religious laymen and the Assemblies that framed the
creeds. And, when we look at the subject from this point of
view, we see that no church, or school of thought, has been
unanimous in affirming what is called the orthodox theory of
destiny — not the Fathers, nor the Medieval thinkers, nor the
Mystics ; not the Romans, nor the Anglicans, nor the Calvinists,
nor the Lutherans. It is plain, therefore, that the harmony of
belief which is said to characterise the Christian Church has
prevailed only in the popular mind and has not been found
among theologians. Wherever trained reflection has been
brought to bear on the problem of destiny, divergence of
opinion has sooner or later appeared.

(c) We may, of course, be reminded that this variety of
intellectual view has shown itself in all departments of
religious inquiry ; that it is not confined to eschatology, and
therefore cannot be held to compromise in any peculiar way
the claim of the traditional doctrine of destiny to represent
the normal Christian faith. But the reply to this is that
differences of opinion regarding other matters, as, for instance,
the person of Christ, have been concerned, for the most part,
with questions of definition and rational statement, whereas

EVERLASTING EVIL 195

eschatological controversy has been directed towards the
fundamental issue — whether evil is everlasting. The only
analogous case to the opposition between the orthodox view
of the end of things and the Conditionalist or Universalist
assertion is to be found in the difference between the Christology
of the creeds and the purely naturalistic view of Jesus Christ.
It is generally true to say that all thinkers who have remained
within the orthodox Church have accepted, whatever their
speculative opinions may have been, the Christian attitude
towards Jesus as the Lord and Eedeemer of the soul. But
those who affirm that the wicked will be destroyed, or that all
men will be saved, deny the substance of the accepted dogma,
inasmuch as they assert that evil will pass away.

OUT own times. — (a) Granting, however, that in the main
Christian theology from the time of Augustine till quite
recently has affirmed a theory of Everlasting Punishment, we
are still confronted with the fact that in this latter age the
mind of the Church is seen to be returning towards the free
standpoint of the primitive time. Even within the Roman
Communion the Modernist movement threatens to exercise a
radical influence on eschatology. Books like Von Hiigel's
Eternal Life and Tyrrell's Christianity at the Crossroads are
very significant, if only for the things they leave unsaid.
Also, much allowance is to be made for the subtle and elusive
genius of Catholicism which always serves to modify the
detiniteness of dogma. It is interesting to note that, in the
biography of Mrs. Craigie, her spiritual director tells us that
she was greatly troubled about the doctrine of eternal punish
ment, and that he assured her that many difficulties did not
make one doubt, nor were many doubts equal to denial. If
we think about this statement we see that the freedom it
affords is almost without limit. There is emancipation in the
knowledge that we may suspect ever so strongly that a door
is open, and yet may believe that the door is shut.

(b) There is no need to dwell on the truth that the modern
Protestant Church is reverting to the early mood of eschato
logical thought. Indeed it may be urged with considerable
force that the practical power of the Gospel in our time is

196 THE WORLD TO COME

being somewhat weakened by want of dogmatic; assurance
regarding the whole subject of future retribution. We are not
altogether true to the apostolic tradition when we preach
" righteousness and temperance " and fail to speak of " judg
ment to come." In any case, we must admit that the
Eeformed theology and the Evangelical pulpit of to-day are
sparing in eschatological prophecy. We cannot doubt, also,
that, if a creed were to be formulated at this hour, any
endeavour to embody in it a clear statement of the old dogma
would be opposed by many of our most trusted teachers.

(c) The most significant sign of the times, in this regard, is
the increasing tendency among Evangelical theologians to
adopt an " agnostic " attitude towards the whole problem of
Destiny. This type of thought is, indeed, so prevalent and so
influential that it may be well to indicate its general character
istics. For example, it always affirms that the scriptural
evidence is inconclusive; it commonly accepts the theory of
Future Probation or Opportunity; it is energetic in its
criticism of more dogmatic views. But its most distinctive
feature is that it is generally stated in such a way as to show
that its advocate inclines towards some positive conclusion.
It is rarely colourless; being usually touched with a hue
either hopeful or despondent. Thus, Dr. Agar Beet, while he
asserts, on scriptural grounds, an agnostic view, yet finds no
speculative weakness in Conditionalism.1 In like manner,
Principal Griffith Jones refuses to affirm any assurance as to
the issue of things ; also he subjects the theory of Conditional
Immortality to very severe criticism, and rejects the belief in
Universal Salvation. Yet, in his constructive statement, he
expounds the doctrine of Future Probation, and concludes, in
effect, that all men will be saved except, perhaps, some obdurate
souls whom God will utterly destroy. And so his own position
seems to be a combination of two theories, each of which he
rejects. It is Universalism, qualified by the thought of
annihilation.2 Principal Fairbairn, again, teaches that God
will always seek to redeem men, but that He will respect the

1 Of. The Last Things, passim.

2 Faith and Imnwriality, pp. 239-279, 292.

EVERLASTING EVIL 197

freedom of the will ; He will neither force them to repent nor
consign them to destruction. Hence his struggle against sin
may be unavailing. But should God's purpose of universal
salvation fail, " yet He will have been so manifested, by the
attempt at it, that all the universe will feel as if there had
come to it a vision of love that made it taste the ecstasy and
beatitude of the divine." 1 Now this may be agnosticism, but
it has hope in its heart.

Similarly, Dr. H. E. Mackintosh grants that the Universalist
view is permissible, as a private opinion and a source of
individual comfort, if it be held in the form of "a hope."
Such a hope, he says, is " a natural infringement " of that
" nearly complete agnosticism " which he believes to be
involved in the nature of Christian faith.2 In like manner,
Dr. James Orr's eschatological teaching shows a progressive
tendency towards optimism, though he thinks that we do not
possess " a calculus " by which we can decide so vast a question
as that of universal destiny.3 Dorner, again, although he
asserts that " the ultimate fate of individuals remains veiled in
mystery," and although he recognises great force in the orthodox
contention, yet makes statements that are consistent only with
belief in a final harmony. Thus he says that " the soul
remains metaphysically good," and that " provision must be
made somehow against a dualism being perpetuated for ever." 4
His final statement on the subject of perdition lacks the
coherence and vigour of his work as a whole, and is, indeed, a
tissue of broken threads and discordant colours. But it is
quite clear that, at this point, the optimism of his philosophy
is at variance with his Lutheran orthodoxy.

Kitschl, on the other hand, teaches that the appointed end
of the sinner is annihilation, but that we cannot know whether
any will actually incur that doom.5 And Martensen, while he

1 Chritt in Modern Theology, p. 468.

2 Immortality and the Future, p. 205, etc.

3 Cf. Christian View, etc., pp. 336-347, and Progress of Dogma, pp. 15,
348-352.

4 System of Christian Doctrine, iv. 416-428.

8 Cf. Orr, The 1'dtschlian Theology, p. 140 ; Garvie, The Ritschlian Theology,
p. 261.

198 THE WORLD TO COME

professes uncertainty as to the issue of things and finds the
scriptural evidence inconclusive, yet writes generally in the
tone of a firm believer in unending penalty.1

(d) Thus, we may discern in the statements of all agnostic
writers an inclination towards one or other of the positive
theories. Even when their position is not merely one of
personal doubt, but is the dogmatic assertion that nothing can
be known on the subject of final destiny, they generally pursue
a line of argument which is hostile to this or that solution of
the problem in view. And it may be urged that in this
respect they do not submit to the rigour of their own logic.
It is evident that, if nothing can be discovered regarding the
fate of mankind, no one theory on the matter can be preferred
to its rivals. We cannot exclude any possibility when we are
dealing with a theme that belongs to the unknowable. But
however this may be, there can be no doubt that agnosticism
is just as hostile to the traditional doctrine as Universalism
itself. Nay, it is even more so ; since one may hope to refute
those who say that all men will be saved, whereas we have no
weapon that we can use with effect against an opponent who
denies us the right to make any assertion at all.2

(e) Now, all this must be kept in memory when we ask
ourselves whether or no the traditional dogma is an essential
part of our Christian faith. Surely the witness of the modern
mind is as much to be respected as the testimony of medieval
piety. Surely the one is not less worthy than the other to be
taken into account in an endeavour to estimate the teaching
of historical Christianity. If the state of divided opinion
regarding human destiny which prevailed in the early days
is appearing again, in a more vivid form, in these latter times,
it is impossible to speak as if the testimony of the Church
were unanimous and clear. That testimony was not harmonious
in the beginning ; it is not harmonious now ; neither is it
likely to be so in the years that are to come. And so we may
conclude that, while the claim of the doctrine of Everlasting
Evil to be the universal Christian belief has sufficient support

1 Christian Dogmatics, pp. 474-479.

2 Cf. also Garvie, Ritschlian Theology, pp. 360-362.

EVERLASTING EVIL 199

to secure respect and to compel the admission that it is the
custodian of important truth, we are not constrained to say
that this doctrine, in its dogmatic form, is binding on the
Christian conscience, or is entitled to the veneration rightly
accorded to whatever has been always, everywhere, and by all
men believed. .

II.

TYPES OF DOGMATIC STATEMENT.

Let this suffice, then, for a discussion of the first point in
this chapter. We must now proceed to offer some illustration
of the forms in which the doctrine of Everlasting Evil has been
stated in modern theory. One need not allude, of course, to
writers like Newman and Pusey who, following Augustine,
have adhered to the apocalyptic tradition, since their teaching
has been considered in an earlier part of our study. Nor is it
necessary to take into account the work of theologians like
Jonathan Edwards, who do not admit that the idea of unending
misery presents any difficulties, and who discern in everlasting
torment a glorious and necessary manifestation of the justice
of God. To say that the perpetual pain of the creature is
essential for the revelation of divine righteousness, implies that
if men had never sinned, justice would never have been
exercised. It is equal, also, to the absurd notion that equity
would cease to exist in a country if jails and gibbets were no
longer necessary therein. By " modern expositions " one
means those which, whatever their date may be, respond to
such influences as move the modern mind. Hence, I propose
to refer chiefly to the greatest of Roman theologians, Thomas
Aquinas; to the most systematic of Protestant mystics,
Sweden borg ; and to a typical work of evangelical orthodoxy,
Salmond's Christian Doctrine of Immortality. I hope to show
that these teachers, while they differ in many respects, have
yet some common characteristics — that, for instance, they all
suggest alleviations of the ancient doctrine, and all show a
tendency towards compromise with opposing theories. No

200 THE WORLD TO COME

doubt the same features of thought might be illustrated by the
study of many other writers, as, for example, Julius Miiller,
who thinks that those only will be finally lost who commit
the unpardonable sin, which consists in " hatred of whatever
is known to be divine and god-like." l One might also allude
to the opinion expressed by A. B. Bruce, that we may hope for
the salvation of all who are not utterly conformed to the
nature of devils.2 But an account of the doctrine expounded
by the three theologians mentioned above may be sufficient for
the purpose one has in view.

1. Aquinas. — We find the main elements of many later
constructions in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas. Modern
theologians might learn a great deal from the Angelic Doctor
in the matter of fairness towards opponents, as well as of
exact definition and of speculative courage. In studying the
work of this great teacher, we find ourselves in presence of a
mind which counts nothing that concerns the faith to be so
small as not to merit careful attention, and, on the other hand,
considers no mystery of the gospel too high, and no problem
too hard, to be within the scope of reverent rational discussion.
In him there dwelt a splendid confidence in the reasonableness
of religion, a fine accuracy of thought, and a brave disdain of
all resort to mere rhetoric and easy generalising. Also, we
discern in his writings clear proof of a thing which the study
of other medieval teachers leads us to suspect ; namely, that
the religious intelligence of those days was keenly alive to the
difficulties of theological construction, and was confronted by
the same objections as have been taken in later times to the
teaching of Catholic Christianity.

(a) Aquinas expounds a doctrine of future retribution
which is orthodox in form ; but it is stated with characteristic
subtlety and care ; and when it is closely examined it suggests
some dubious questionings. He teaches that character is fixed
at death — being thereafter incapable of change, for good or for
evil. The punishment of the lost is partly physical and
intellectual torment, and partly spiritual privation. Divine

1 Christian Doctrine of Sin, vol. ii. p. 422.

2 Kingdom of God, p. 319.

EVERLASTING EVIL 201

mercy is, nevertheless, displayed even in retribution, as it is
always less than is deserved.1 The physical punishment
of the condemned will be torture by fire. Their intellectual
suffering will consist in regret for past sin, not because of its
guilt, but because of its consequences. It will also be the pain
which they will endure in seeing others enjoy a happiness
which they cannot share. As to their moral state, they will
desire and purpose only what is evil. Aquinas admits that
the will of a man can be moved only by that which seems to
him to be good ; but then he holds that evil will appear to be
good in the eyes of the reprobate, and so will determine their
volition. They will not think of God except as their judge
and the author of their woes, and will therefore have no
emotion towards Him save that of utter terror and hatred.2

(&) Aquinas, of course, affirms the everlasting duration of
future punishment. But he does not say, as some less careful
thinkers have done, that finite offence deserves infinite
penalty ; nor does he assert that every kind of future
punishment is unending, or that all the condemned endure
the same degree of chastisement. He is enabled to escape
these assertions by drawing a subtle distinction between
different aspects of sin and their corresponding penalties.
From one point of view sin is a " turning away from the
immutable good (incommutdbile lonum} which is infinite ;
therefore in this respect sin is infinite." From another stand
point it is " an inordinate 'turning to the mutable good
(commutabile bonutn)." In this respect it is finite, because " the
mutable good is finite, and because the act of turning towards
it is the act of a finite creature." In the former of these two
aspects sin, being a turning away from God and from the
supreme end of life, is a breach of the eternal order ; is there
fore irreparable and involves the penalty of loss (poena damni),
which is infinite, since it is the loss of the infinite good —
namely, God. In the latter aspect of it, however, sin, being
finite in its character, incurs the penalty of sensible torment
(poena sensns), which is also finite. So that, according to

1 Pars I. Quaest. xxi. Art. 4.

2 Pars in. Quaest. cxxix. passim.

202 THE WORLD TO COME

Aquinas, the only punishment which is everlasting is that of
spiritual loss.1

(c) Now, it is evident that this construction presents
remarkable features. In the first place, it asserts an austere
and terrible doctrine of retribution, but at the same time frees
us from the burden of belief in unending torment. In the
second place, it describes the state of the impenitent as one,
practically, of moral extinction. If these are, as Aquinas says
they are, reduced to a condition in which evil has become their
good, they have passed out of the moral universe as it is known
to us. For it is an essential of the divine order as revealed to
us in experience, that good is the reality of things, and evil is
the negation of that reality. And so, if the lost have entered
into a life in which that which is positive is seen to be
negative, and that which is divine to be evil, they have gone
into a state of perception which differs fundamentally from
that which is ours, and is a reversal of all truth. They have
passed into a world of dreams, and are themselves become as a
dream. Also, inasmuch as they have become incapable of
choosing good, they have lost ethical existence, for the power
of choosing the right is of the substance of responsible being.
Whoever has absolutely lost it, is no more a moral creature
than is a stick or a stone. If it be objected that the blessed in
heaven have become incapable of choosing evil, and that
therefore they might, by parity of reasoning, be held also to
have lost ethical existence, the answer, of course, is that the
inability of the redeemed to sin is due to a continual exercise
of free choice, inspired by the knowledge that sin is utterly
vain and without attraction. Also, the state of being unable
to do wrong is the normal, ideal condition of the soul, and, so
far from being bondage, is the only true freedom.

In the third place, it is apparent that eternal punishment,
which according to Aquinas is " the loss of God," need not
necessarily imply positive misery, seeing that it means, not
expulsion from the region of the divine government and
presence (since God is present everywhere and governs all
things), but only the loss of spiritual communion with Him

1 Pars ii. (1) Qvaest. Ixxxvii. Arts. 2, 3, 4, 5.

EVERLASTING EVIL 203

and the blessing of His grace. And this deprivation is a
penalty which creatures who have lost moral life cannot feel
to be a burden, or even be conscious of at all.

(d) It thus appears that this speculative statement of
Aquinas agrees with the popular doctrine of Everlasting Evil
only in form. It denies that pain will be unending — and this,
apparently, in the sense both of physical and intellectual
suffering. It is true that Aquinas speaks of the lost as finding
continual sorrow in the spectacle of joys which the righteous
in heaven possess. But it is evident that creatures to whom
evil seems good, and good evil, cannot continue to regret the
loss of joys which are based on goodness, or view with envy a
happiness of the saints which must seem to them misery.
Hence, Aquinas implies the possibility of the lost finding
existence to be tolerable enough, at least in a negative way.
Also, he does not really affirm the unending nature of sin,
since creatures that are incapable of choice are incapable of
guilt. Finally, while he asserts that all souls are physically
immortal, he really denies their continued existence as citizens
of the moral universe.

2. fiwedenborg. — Now, these features of the doctrine of
Aquinas arc reproduced with wonderful fidelity in later teach
ing. For instance, Swedenborg explicitly affirms, what Aquinas
only implies, that perdition will not be a state of unmingled
misery. The inhabitants of hell will have cheir own pleasures,
their own activities and interests. Horrid scents and tastes
will seem sweet and pleasant to them ; and they will find a
delight in evil, just as the blessed will in goodness.1 Sweden
borg also, like the great Schoolman, teaches a doctrine of
moral annihilation. He affirms that the lost will reach at last
a condition of dull brutishness in which they will be incapable
of any choice, and will have descended beneath the level of
good and evil. This means, of course, that they will have
ceased to exist as responsible beings. Their continuance in
mere life will be of no moment in the moral world any more
than that of snakes or vultures. As far as that world is con
cerned, they will be dead and done with. This doctrine thus
1 A'ngelic Wisdom, p. 352 passim.

204 THE WORLD TO COME

resembles that of Aquinas in that it does not really involve
the permanence of human sin or suffering ; since the lost will
have ceased to be conscious of any good or evil, of any pain or
misery.

3. Salmond. — But the standard statement of the modern
Evangelical doctrine of Everlasting Evil is, perhaps, Principal
Salmond's Christian Doctrine of Immortality ; and the teaching
of this book also does approach in some of its conclusions
towards those of Aquinas and Swedenborg ; though, of course,
it differs widely from both of these in form and standpoint.

(a) Dr. Salmond's exposition presents some puzzling
features, and departs in many ways from the traditional view
so widely that one is surprised at the cordial reception it
enjoyed in orthodox circles. He says that the doctrine of
eternal punishment " has to get the benefit of that finer moral
sense, those purer and higher ideals of punishment, those
humaner feelings, that deeper insight into the intrinsic nature
of things, which are the result of the gradual informing of
men's minds with the spirit of Christianity." * He also pleads
that " the doctrine has no necessary connection with the ideas
of punishment that were once current, or with those realistic
pictures of hell with which it has been burdened." z And yet
Dr. Salmond in an earlier part of his book appeals, in support
of his position, to passages in the Gospels which embody those
very ideas of punishment, and are the foundation of those very
pictures of hell, which he deprecates.3 We cannot help asking
how it comes to be that Jesus can be held to have taught the
Jewish doctrine of torments, and yet to have informed men's
minds with a spirit which has made that doctrine incredible.

As we study this writer's statement further, we see more
and more clearly how far he has departed from the traditional
position. He warns us that the dogma he defends " is not to
be associated with metaphysical ideas of eternity " 4— a saying
that opens the door to much curious speculation. It is so
difficult to think of any ideas of eternity that are not meta
physical ! Dr. Salmond also says that, for many people, " death

1 P. 664. - P. 664.

3 P. 359 ff. * P. 664.

EVERLASTING EVIL 205

itself may be their purgatory. In multitudes of human beings
there may be in the crisis of death or in the valley of the
shadow the first workings of a change in the principle of their
lives, and what may thus begin shall grow." Also, he affirms
that " the heathen are to be judged by the light they have,"
and that there will be degrees of punishment. He thinks that
"this doctrine of degrees gives all the relief which other
theories of the future profess to give." His view is that all
who die with the least turning of the soul to God will go on
gradually rising to a higher arid higher state of blessedness ;
while those who depart this life in a condition of impenitence
will steadily descend lower and lower through successive stages
of ever deepening weakness, misery, and death.1

(Z>) Dr. Salmond's theory thus resembles very closely those
of earlier writers. It embodies something very like the idea
of purgatory, inasmuch as it teaches that those who pass the
frontiers of death with their faces turned towards righteousness
experience a process of development towards eternal life. On
the other hand, it approaches closely, as do Aquinas and
Swedenborg, to the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, since
it maintains that the lost proceed continuously downward from
depth to depth of ever increasing perdition. Where is this
downward process to end ? Surely, in a condition of moral
futility which is, from the religious point of view, equal to
annihilation.

General Analysis. — (a) I have thus endeavoured to
illustrate the varieties of orthodox doctrine by reference to
the teaching of the greatest of the Schoolmen, of the most
powerful thinker among the later mystics, and pf a standard
work of modern evangelical theology. In the course of this
study we have seen how important are the points in which
these teachers resemble each other — their common desire to
lighten the burden of the traditional dogma, their general
agreement in describing the final state of the lost as empty of
positive content, their unanimity in affirming that evil is ever
lasting, in some form of perdition.

(ft) On the other hand, it is apparent that the expositions
1 P. 671 ff.

206 THE WORLD TO COME

of the writers we have named, as well as of maiiy others who
might have been mentioned, reveal the sharp and even radical
oppositions which exist within the domain of traditional
thought. We cannot find agreement among orthodox thinkers
regarding some of the most important questions, as, for instance,
these : Is eternal punishment the just penalty of a sinful life,1
or is it to be said, rather, that men will suffer always because
they will always continue to sin ? z Does opportunity end at
death,3 or does it extend to the Judgment ? 4 Does the state
of the lost remain fixed and unchangeable,6 or is it a condition
of progress downwards, from depth to depth and from hell to
hell ? 6 Does God continue for ever to seek the salvation of
men,7 or does He withdraw His grace from us when heart and
flesh do faint and fail ? 8 Is the endless penalty of sin actual
pain and misery,9 or is it simply moral loss and inability to
reach the highest good ? 10 These are matters regarding which
orthodox theologians are not, and never have been, agreed ;
and they are matters of the utmost moment. Divergences of
opinion as to questions like these are of the most significant
kind, and involve differences of view as to the whole problem
of life, and even as to the nature of God's dealings with His
creatures. If we were to restrict the orthodox position to
those assertions in which its defenders are all agreed, it would
mean little more than that, at some time or other, the destiny
of the impenitent becomes fixed — that, at some point in the
history of the sinner, salvation ceases to be possible, that
irremediable, unending loss is a fact of the moral universe.

(c) But, of course, it would not be reasonable to attenuate
the historical dogma to this extent. Very little would be left
of any doctrine if it were reduced to those elements in it which

1 Augustine, Civ. Dei, ixi. - Salmoml, etc.

* Augustine, Aquinas, Pusey, etc.

* Delitzsch, System of Biblical Psychology, 552-554 ; Martensen, Dogmatik,
sec. 286.

5 Edwards, Sermons, xi. 6 Salmond.

7 Dorner, System of Christian Doctrine, iv. 416-428.

8 Aquinas, Pars n. Quaest. Ixxxvii. Art. 5 ; Dahle, Life after Death, ]>. 4?5.

9 Edwards, Sermons ; Martenaeu, Bib. Psych, p. 162.
10 Leibnitz.

EVERLASTING EVIL 207

no one of its exponents has denied. We must find the mean
ing of any traditional teaching in its general characteristics,
as taught by the great majority of its professors throughout
the ages. And, if we interpret the belief in Everlasting Evil
in this light, we find that it involves the assertions that destiny
is unalterably fixed at death ; and that, therefore, those who
pass hence impenitent will inherit unending perdition — will
continue always either in a state of sin or in the endurance of
those penalties which sin entails according to the unalterable
laws of God.

III.

SPECULATIVE ASPECTS.

1. Now, it must be admitted that this theory of human
destiny does not show itself to the best advantage when it is
regarded from the purely speculative point of view. We have
seen the perplexities which characterise even the ablest
endeavours to elaborate it in detail, and to present it to the
mind in such a form as shall not imply logical contradictions
or things that are morally incredible. But, even if we exclude
from view the difficulties which are presented by any individual
expression of it, the doctrine of Everlasting Evil remains, in
its broad outlines, open to serious rational criticism. In so far
as it asserts that the history of the moral universe is to end in
a hopeless discord, it is not welcome to philosophy, which
always seeks after unity of thought and does not rest content
with unreconciled contradictions. A difficulty also emerges
as soon as we assert that the negation of good is everlasting.
No great Christian thinker, except perhaps Kant, has ever
maintained that evil, as an object of thought, has any positive
reality. Augustine and the Schoolmen teach, as clearly as
later philosophers, that only a relative existence can be
attributed to it. And it does seem almost incredible that a
thing which is the mere negation of reality can be possessed of
unending life.

2. (a) But, even if we set aside these objections, which may

208 THE WORLD TO COME

be said, perhaps, to rest on debatable grounds, there remain
other difficulties of a less metaphysical kind. In the first
place, if we assert that some men will certainly continue to sin
for ever, we imply that there conies a point in their moral
history at which repentance and salvation cease to be possible.
But, if we are asked what it is that brings about this state of
incurable bondage to evil, we must confess to some perplexity.
Some writers maintain that God at last withdraws His grace
from the sinner, and so removes from him all possibility of
redemption. And no doubt this is a logical enough position.
But, surely, it is evident that whatever a man may do after he
has been excluded from the ministry of grace cannot be called
sin, since it does not involve guilt. Without the divine help
we are incapable of good ; but we are also incapable of evil,
inasmuch as the moral choice is no longer within our reach.
The man to whom grace is denied is cut off from the spiritual
economy ; the evil which he commits is no longer the act of a
free, responsible creature. Hence, it is unreasonable to say
that he continues in sin. All that remains to him is a state of
penalty — a prison of darkness and death, from which he is
denied either the power or the desire to escape. Other
theologians, again, say that God never withdraws His grace
from any man, but that the impenitent evil-doer becomes at
last too hardened to accept it. The vital air continues to be
around him ; but he cannot breathe it. The bread of life
remains within his reach ; but he has lost the ability to take
it. This view, however, does not differ in effect from the other.
If the soul loses the power of receiving divine help, or of
repenting its iniquities, it becomes also incapable of sin. Sin
consists in the rejection of grace and the refusal to repent ;
and as soon as such rejection and refusal become impossible as
an act of the free will, moral history is at an end. Existence
goes on henceforth on a plane that is beneath the level of right
and wrong; there remains no longer the privilege of being
able to offend ; all that endures is retribution.

Thus it does appear that whether we say that God with
draws His grace from the lost, or that they become unable to
accept it, matters little. ,In either case they cease to be

EVERLASTING EVIL 209

sinners, inasmuch as they cease to be responsible for their acts.
They enter the region of moral nonentity ; they become as
demoniacs that gibber among the tombs.

(&) But, in the second place, the doctrine that evil is ever
lasting may mean, not that sin will be unending, but that
penalty will never cease. This is, indeed, the ancient and
classical form of the doctrine ; and it is more defensible on
general grounds than the other view. It may even be so
stated as not to exclude the hope of a final reconcilation of all
things. But, considered as a phase of the dogma under dis
cussion, the idea of everlasting penalty means something
positive — either physical torment, or mental anguish, or the
state of utter moral ruin. And in all of these senses it is open
to criticism. The idea of endless bodily suffering has been
sufficiently considered in an earlier chapter. The notion of
perpetual agony of mind is subject to the fatal objection that
mental suffering, such as remorse and regret, is a sign of
spiritual life, and must therefore disappear from the experience
of the lost as they go down into the depths of death and
perdition. On the other hand, the belief that the soul may
descend at last into a state of complete moral ruin, and so pass
utterly out of the spiritual universe, does correspond to certain
prophecies of the conscience, and is supported by some terrible
facts of experience. It is an idea, also, that may easily be
accepted by those who think that everything in the human
personality has been developed out of lower forms of life.
From their point of view it is quite conceivable that the
individual may fall back into that non-moral state of existence
from which the race has slowly ascended. It must be admitted,
however, that evolutionists of this type will tend naturally to
adopt the theory of Conditional Immortality. In any case, the
thought of utter moral destruction cannot be accepted by those
of us who hold that the soul is a spiritual substance, inde
structible, the child of God. From our standpoint it is
incredible that the human spirit can be divested of moral life,
any more than of actual existence. To us it seems that
freedom, the power to choose the right, belongs to the very
idea of the soul and cannot be taken away. Just as it is the
14

2to THE WORLD TO COME

nature of matter to be subject to necessity, so it is the nature
of spirit to be free. There exists no power that is able to cut
it off from its supernatural source. There are no chains that
can bind it, if it desires to return to the heavenly city. There
is no state of exile in which it can be robbed of the power to
come to itself and to say, " I will arise and go to my Father."

3. These, then, are some of the difficulties which beset the
theory of everlasting evil from the psychological standpoint.
But there are others that connect themselves with the doctrine
of God. For instance, the belief that evil will endure for ever
cannot be deduced from a consideration of the character of
God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. No one can reason
directly from the divine attributes to the conclusion that a
thing which is the denial of all these attributes will never have
an end. Once the doctrine of perpetual sin and misery has
come into existence and been formulated, it may be possible to
reconcile it with the Christian conception of divine goodness ;
but no one will assert that it can be deduced as a necessary
conclusion from the idea of that goodness, or that it presents
a view which suggests itself to the reason as that which is in
perfect accord with our highest thoughts concerning the Most
High.

4. This theory is, further, open to the criticism that it does
not even tend in the least to solve any problem or to lighten
any difficulty. Of course, a belief may be true and yet may
cause perplexity, since there are many things which are painful
and yet are facts. And so we cannot argue that because belief
in everlasting punishment is a burden to us it is therefore
false. But we are regarding matters at present from the
speculative point of view ; and the object of a speculation is to
explain things that seem inexplicable, and to rationalise things
that seem unreasonable. And so it is fair to say that the
theory in question has this weakness, that it fails to explain or
to rationalise. Indeed, it perplexes and puzzles faith in any
attempt to solve the riddle of the universe. The pain and
sorrow of the world, the manifold anguish of life, is a sore
burden to every believer in God ; and that burden is certainly
increased by the thought that the suffering and the sorrow are

EVERLASTING EVIL 211

to endure for ever. The origin and existence of sin, also, with
all the loss and ruin it has brought, presents a mystery that
Christian Theism has never been able to penetrate. How
greatly is that mystery deepened by the conviction that moral
evil is never to end. Surely it cannot be denied that any
theory which teaches the everlasting existence of sin and its
dreadful attendants is no contribution to a rational view of the
universe — enlightens no darkness, comforts no sorrow, eases
no doubt. On the contrary, it presents the sorest puzzle to
Christian thought, and clouds the joy of immortality. We
cannot conceal from ourselves that it has rendered the belief
in a life to come . of no value to many not ignoble spirits, and
changed it in their eyes from a sure and certain hope to the
master of all the fears.

Such, then, are some of the objections which may be taken
to this theory of destiny — that it asserts an everlasting discord,
that it affirms the unending existence of something which is
the negation of reality, that it presents grave psychological
difficulties, that it cannot be directly deduced from the
Christian doctrine of God, and that, if it be offered as a solution
of the puzzle of the world, it fails, inasmuch as, so far from
lightening the problem, it increases very greatly its perplexities.

IV.

MORAL AND EELIGIOUS SANCTIONS.

1. All this may be admitted; but it remains true that
this ancient doctrine in its various forms stands for certain
important elements in Christian faith. We do it a grave
injustice if we judge it by merely speculative standards ; if we
forget that it was not in the beginning a creation of philosophy,
or a deliberate attempt to construct a rational theory as to the
End of things. It was developed out of apocalypse and a
certain interpretation of New Testament teaching, and it owes
its strength to its moral and religious content. It was founded
on authority, and it has stood in experience. It has been held

212 THE WORLD TO COME

with reverent sorrow by multitudes of devout and tender souls
who, while they have felt its terror, have believed it true to
facts. With a fine loyalty to truth, as they have seen it, they
have faced the reality of things. Among the elements of this
reality they have found the tragic nature of sin and its
penalties, the possibility of making final choice of evil, a real
peril in the moral life. They have measured the greatness of
the danger that threatens the soul by the greatness of the
sacrifice of Christ. Their attitude has been that of Butler
when he says — " Things are what they are : and the conse
quences of them will be what they will be. Why then should
we seek to deceive ourselves ? " As to the masses of believers,
no doubt they have accepted the traditional doctrine as a thing
that had been given them, without much thought or question ;
but it is idle to suppose that it would have meant anything to
them, had it not found an echo in the soul, had it not corre
sponded to a prophecy of the conscience. The common mind
is never troubled by speculative difficulties about a doctrine if
it instinctively discerns a moral truth in it. No dogma ever
means for men more than that element in it which serves the
uses of the spiritual life ; and so, all the dreadful forms and
pictures in which the thought of future punishment has clothed
itself have never signified anything to the majority of people
but the terror of the consequences of sin. These have shown
themselves in the experience of mankind to be so fearful that
men have often felt as if no prophecy about them could be so
dark as to be incredible. Hamlet says that no evils of this
present life are to be compared with " what we fear of death."
And in so saying he reveals the secret of the popular belief.
We know the horror and misery wrought by greed and lust
and cruelty and pride in this world, and we look with dark
forebodings to their issues in the life to come. If the conse
quences of evil are thus and thus here, what shall they be
hereafter ?

2. Purpose of punishment. — Most powerful perhaps among
the convictions which underlie the orthodox doctrine is the
belief that the penalty of sin is not merely remedial and
redemptive, designed for the good of the sinner, but also, and

EVERLASTING EVIL 213

indeed mainly, retributive — that is to say, resulting from a
moral necessity. To say that punishment is retributive is to
assert that it follows on evil because it is just, because it is
required by righteousness, because it vindicates moral law.
It is inflicted, not that the sinner may be redeemed, but that
the order he has broken may be established. It belongs to
the nature of things, and falls upon the offender without
immediate regard to his interests. Punishment may help a
man, may save him, if he receives it in the right spirit, if it
leads him to repentance. But this is his affair. Whatever
he makes of it, he must suffer it.

"Who sets his feet in law's firm track,
The universe is at his back."

And, conversely, he who sets himself in opposition to law has
the universe for his enemy ; its august forces move against
his soul. A man shall reap what he has sown, not because it
is good for him, but because it cannot be otherwise.

This view, that punishment is in its nature retributive, is
rooted deeply in moral experience. That experience does,
indeed, reveal to us many forms of penalty, physical and
spiritual, which are immediately corrective in their effect, and
fitted to arrest evil and to produce a swift repentance. But
this is not the obvious character of the most powerful and
awe-inspiring penalty which we see to follow upon sin —
namely, the hardening of the heart. There is a law by which
every evil act weakens the moral nature, enfeebles the will,
dulls the conscience. There is an ordinance which provides
that every step downward shall make it harder to go upward
— shall render the path to the heights longer, arid take away
some of the strength that is needed for the climb. There is a
dreadful logic whereby evil deeds form into habit, and habit
into character, and character into destiny. There is a stern
decree that says, " From him that hath not shall be taken
away even that which he hath." This is the most certainly
punitive of all the moral laws of God ; and to say that it is for
the good of the sinner is, surely, impossible. It cannot be to
the advantage of the weak that they are weakened. It cannot

214 THE WORLD TO COME

be for the healing of the infirm that the dim eyes and the dull
ears are progressively robbed of sight and hearing. It cannot
be a remedial law that imposes a^i ever heavier burden as the
back grows less able to bear it — that renders the upward way
longest and steepest for the most feeble feet. As well say
that it is good for the wounded man that his blood should
slowly ebb away, as that it is well for the sinner that his heart
should be hardened, and that the chains wherewith he is bound
should increase in weight week by week and year by year. So
long as this law remains a fact in moral experience, it is im
possible to deny that there is a retributive element in the
justice of God, or to affirm that all His judgments are intended
merely for the healing and education of men.

This is certainly the view of penalty that underlies the
orthodox doctrine of future destiny. Of course, we cannot say
that the one involves the other. Indeed, the retributive theory
of punishment is not hostile to the hope even of universal
salvation. Penalty is not the only force that is in the hands
of God, nor is it even the dominant power in the spiritual
economy ; and repentance transmutes it at once from retribu
tion into discipline. Even the law of moral degeneration may
in the end, working together with other agencies, conduce to
the blessing of men. But Christian optimism, unfortunately,
has sometimes identified itself with the doctrine that all
suffering here and hereafter has for its sole purpose the saving
of the sinner. It has quite often depicted the universe as a
kind of hospital for sick souls, and has argued that, since men
are always punished that they may be saved, the penalties of
the future life can have no other object than redemption.
And the orthodox doctrine has been true to certain facts
of experience when it has denied this. It has been right
in saying that this is a view which really degrades humanity
and does not square with the realities of life ; that penalty, in
this world and in that which is to come, is meant to vindicate
the moral order, and is inflicted whether it does good to the
sinner or no; that the consequences of sin are not always
redemptive in their effects here, and may not be so hereafter ;
that punishment will work good in the future life, only if men

EVERLASTING EVIL 215

come to accept it in submission and reverence of heart, and so
supply the conditions under which alone it can, in any state
of being, work the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

3. The irreparable past — Another great moral conviction
which has enabled men to believe in Everlasting Evil is the sense
that there is such a thing as the irreparable and the irrevocable
— irretrievable loss, unavailing regret. This is, indeed, the uni
versal affirmation of mankind. It is expressed by the poets and
sages of all races and times — by Dante, Goethe, Milton, by
Marcus Aurelius as by Thomas Carlyle, by Sophocles as by
Shakespeare. It is the the essence of all tragedy. It is in the
anguish of Oedipus, in the remorse of Othello, in the " O
Absalom, my son, my son," of David. It is in the regret of
Danton — " The sins of my youth, how they injure the public
good ! " This it is that lends such moral impressiveness to the
drama of Faust; and to that most poignant scene in which
Lady Macbeth, being asleep, keeps for ever trying to wash her
hands of invisible stains — " Here's the smell of the blood still :
all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."
We may hear it also in the saying of Jesus — " Sleep on now,
and take your rest " ; and in the wistful pathos of His lament
— " Oh that thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the
things that belong unto thy peace : but now they are hid from
thine eyes." l

Now this is, certainly, only one aspect of moral truth, and
it is transcended by the Christian gospel of grace ; but it is a
side of things that cannot be ignored or denied, and it evidently
harmonises readily with the idea of everlasting penalty. We
recognise that if men find an element of irreparable loss in
their present experience they are likely to find it also when,
from the future state, they look back upon this earthly life.
If we sometimes feel that things we have done or omitted to
do must be a regret and a weakness to us till the end of our
days, shall we not much more feel in eternity that our misuse
of the years of our mortal life has meant for us an everlasting
penalty ? Does a man, come to the end of Ijis pilgrimage,
look back on things gone by and know that they can never be

1 Cf. K. W. Robertson's Sermoii, The Irreparable, Past,

216 THE WORLD TO COME

repaired? And shall he not have a more bitter knowledge
when he sees behind him a whole life misemployed ; when he
remembers that all the varied trials and opportunities,
blessings and sorrows, of earthly existence failed to teach him
moral wisdom, and that even the last solemn hour of dissolution
itself did not bring him to repentance ? The vision of human
destiny does " take a sober colour from " a mind that is
possessed by thoughts like these. The voice of the everlasting
No is heard in these tones of memory and of prophecy. And
nothing but the knowledge of the infinite resources of God can
avail in the least to modify their austere and solemn meaning,
or light the future with a living hope.

4. Eternity of moral choice. — There is yet another feature
of moral experience which, while it cannot form the basis of
dogma, does yet help to explain the willingness of the Chris
tian mind to entertain the idea of unending evil. This is the
sense that somehow the act of moral choice belongs to the realm
of eternal things. Aquinas gives logical expression to this
feeling when he argues that sin is a departure from the chief
end of life and the immutable good ; is therefore a breach of
the eternal order and, as such, is itself everlasting both in
nature and in consequences. He expresses this thought
memorably in the saying — "He who has sinned in his own
eternity will be punished in God's eternity." l No doubt this
argument of Aquinas is open to the charge of forgetting that
repentance repairs a breach in the eternal order, by a law
which itself belongs to that order. If it were not so, no for
giveness would be possible for any sin. Also, the conclusion
that future punishment must be everlasting, because sin is an
offence against the unchanging moral government of the world,
is defensible only if we agree that no repentance is possible after
death. But while the contention of the great Schoolman is
not convincing as a formal statement, it does symbolise a con
viction of the conscience — indefinable, perhaps, but none the
less real. We do feel as if in facing the great moral issues of
life we were standing in a world which does not pass away.

1 Pare. II. Quaest. Ixxxvii. Art. 3 : "Justuni tamen quod qui in sno eterno
peccavit, contra Deum in eterno Dei punietor " (quoting Ambrose).

EVERLASTING EVIL 217

We do have the sense that in confronting the decisions that
test the soul we are looking, not on the things which are
temporal, but on those which are eternal. There is something
in men that responds to the appeal :

"Choose well; your choice is
Brief, and yet endless."

These, then, are some of the great moral convictions which
underlie the traditional doctrine of future destiny. They help
to explain its wide acceptance among Christian people, and
they have given it power in its appeal to the consciences of
men. They represent the things which the teaching of the
Church has emphasised, and the interests which it has guarded.
They are considerations that must be kept in mind by those
who are inclined to a very severe judgment of the old eschat-
ology. Also, they stand for realities which no sound theory of
the future state can ever neglect or ignore.

CONCLUSION.

We have thus seen, in the two chapters which have been
devoted to the negative side of eschatological doctrine,
how the belief in everlasting evil was developed by Christi
anity out of elements that it received from Judaism, and which
Judaism, in turn, had inherited from the thoughts of other
races — " long, long thoughts " that reach far back into other
years. We have inferred that the Christian Church is not
responsible for the dark and terrible forms which this doctrine
has often taken — forms which it received by tradition from the
Fathers. We have noted also that the Church, as such, has
never been very definite or extreme in its dogmatic statements
on this subject ; that its thinkers and masters have not been
agreed in their teaching about it ; that there was in the
beginning, as there is now, a large body of Christian opinion
hostile to the idea of unending sin and misery. We have
therefore concluded that the claim of the dogma of Everlasting
Evil to be the authoritative testimony of Christianity cannot
be accepted in its fulness. But we have recognised, also, that
this dogma witnesses to certain abiding facts of religious and

2i 8 THE WORLD TO COME

moral experience. These facts, at least, explain its power and
persistence, and go some way to justify it as an attempt to
conserve certain important interests, to vindicate the testimony
of conscience, and to enforce the urgency of the spiritual peril.
The Church has always been concerned with practical ends
rather than with general views of things. It has been a pro
phet rather than a philosopher. Its care has been to guard
the intuitions of faith and fruits of experience, more than to
produce a rational scheme of the universe. It has been
anxious about the masses of men — the simple, the careless, the
unspiritual. Its desire has been to guard these from utter
most calamity, to bring them into the ways of peace, and
finally to present them in the presence of God with exceeding
joy. Hence it has been slow to teach or to entertain any
thoughts about the future state which might even tend to
weaken in men the sense of peril; or to take from the
intensity of the moral appeal. Deep in its heart, as in the
heart of its Master, has been the thought of the immeasurable
danger that threatens the soul. The conviction that life has
tragic issues and that the spiritual question is one that brooks
no delay, is expressed in the prayers of the Church through
out all the ages, in the intensity of her warnings, in the
witness of her saints. And this is the conviction, profound
and unchanging, that she has uttered, sometimes, no doubt, in
crude and cruel ways, but always with faithful and tender
purpose, in her doctrine of future destiny — the eternal issues
of life, and the solemn wages of sin.

CHAPTER III.
CONDITIONAL IMMOKTALITY

(MEDIATING SOLUTION).

ANATOLE FRANCE remarks somewhere that the pretension to
be without prejudice is itself a very great prejudice. And
certainly very few theologians would even pretend impartiality
in their attitude to the doctrine that the attainment of endless
life is conditional on the possession of certain moral and
spiritual qualities. This theory, somehow, has the faculty of
creating, on the one hand, fervid partisans, and, on the other,
very determined foes. One discerns in the writings of its
advocates an amazing zeal and conviction, and in those of its
opponents, often, a barely concealed intellectual contempt and
aversion. Yet we must assume a virtue if we have it not:
and at least try to give this doctrine careful and fair attention.
It is a thing to be reckoned with. It is a formidable and a
growing force. The strength of its position on New Testament
grounds is considerable ; and it has behind it forces which
prevail in many regions of thought. It is congenial to the
scientific mind ; it appeals to persons of the intensely ethical
type ; it is encouraged by the dominant philosophies of our
day; and it attracts those who revolt from the dogma of
Everlasting Evil, and yet are afraid of the ethical aspects of
Universal ism. Also, Conditionalism is formidable in this
respect, that it, more than any other eschatological speculation,
influences the entire theology of those who adopt it, and
would, if generally received, profoundly modify the whole

Christian view of the world and of life,

219

220 THE WORLD TO COME

1. Ancient doctrine. — The theory of Conditional Immortality
has not, heretofore, been widely accepted at any time or
among the adherents of any creed. The Greeks and Hebrews
signified by their doctrine of Hades and of Sheol their
inability to imagine the annihilation of the soul. The Hindu
belief in an endless series of incarnations involves the denial
of death. The Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana, even if we accept
the view that Nirvana means the loss of personal existence,
bears no resemblance to the notion that death is the wages of
sin: the absorption of the finite in the infinite, so far from
being the punishment of evil, is the ultimate prize of righteous
ness. The ancient religions of Babylon and Persia were quite
unfriendly to the thought that personality could be destroyed.
In the Norse mythology we do find a belief that the universe
will be utterly consumed by fire, with all creatures that
inhabit it, only one pair remaining to be the founders of a new
race on a new earth ; but this tradition does not belong to a
doctrine of immortality. The records of the Egyptian religion,
also, contain suggestions that the punishment of sin may be
the destruction of individual self-consciousness, though not of
the spiritual substance ; but there is no proof that this was
a popular opinion. So that, altogether, it appears that every
great faith has inspired the conviction that the soul is in its
nature indestructible. Conditional Immortality has not been
in the past history of religion a doctrine that has won the
allegiance of large masses of mankind.

Yet it cannot be denied that this theory of human destiny
has kept appearing from time to time in the writings of the
thoughtful. Some of the old pagan philosophers who believed
that physical death was the end of all things, for ordinary
men, yet indicated sometimes a hope that the virtuous and the
wise might continue to exist beyond the grave. The Stoics,
while they affirmed that all beings must ultimately suffer
dissolution, did not exclude the possibility that the souls of
the good might maintain an individual existence for, at least,
some time after the destruction of the body. The notion that
the wicked might suffer annihilation was, as we have seen,
ontertained by Jewish thinkers before and after the time of

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 221

Christ. It has been taught by many Kabbis throughout
succeeding ages. Also, it was involved in the general trend of
thought of the greatest of Jewish philosophers, Philo Judaeus.
2. The Christian Fathers. — (a) We have already discussed
the Philonic type of teaching as it appears in the New
Testament ; but it is necessary to illustrate the important
influence which it exerted over certain thinkers of the post-
Apostolic Church. It must always be a matter of debate to
what extent the writings of Philo were studied by any New
Testament writer, but there can be little doubt that most of
the Greek Apologists were directly influenced by that great
master. These Christian writers accepted the apocalyptic
doctrines which were prevalent in their time, and Justin
argues distinctly in favour of everlasting punishment. " The
wicked," he says, " undergo everlasting punishment ; and not
only, as Plato said, for a period of a thousand years." 1 Also,
he declares that each man "goes to eternal punishment or
salvation," z and that " eternal punishment is laid up for the
wicked."3 Yet he and many others of his time do, as
Harnack says, "argue against the conception of the natural
immortality of the soul."4 They regard Christ "as the
bestower of incorruptibility, who thus has brought salvation to
its goal " ; 6 and they maintain that " men are neither mortal nor
immortal, but capable of either death or immortality." 6 Thus
Tatian says concerning the soul — " If it continue solitary "
(that is, apart from the Logos) " it tends downwards towards
matter and dies with the flesh ; but if it enters into union with
the divine spirit it is no longer helpless, but ascends to the
regions whither the spirit guides it." 7 To the same effect is
Justin's statement — " Souls are not then immortal ; . . . the
souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the
unjust and wicked are in a worse, waiting for the time of
judgment. Thus, some which have appeared worthy of God
never die ; but others are punished so long as God wills them

1 First Apology, c. 8. 2 Ibid. c. 12.

3 Ibid. c. 18. * History of Dogma, vol. ii. p. 213 (note).

5 Ibid. p. 223. 6 Ibid. p. 213.

1 Ad Graecos, c. 13.

222 THE WORLD TO COME

to exist and be punished. . . . Souls both die and are
punished." l Now this teaching is evidently Conditionalism,
whether its authors knew it to be so or not. Dr. Plumptre is
undoubtedly justified in saying that the language of Justin
Martyr " tends towards the thought of a possible annihilation,
and it has certainly been so understood by both Roman
Catholic and Protestant writers." 2

(6) In the writings of Irenaeus, also, there occurs a passage
which is in complete harmony with the sayings just quoted
from the Apologists. It contains, for instance, the following
expressions: "Things which proceed from God" (like the
soul) " endure and extend their existence through a long series
of ages." " The soul herself is not life, but partakes in that
life which is bestowed on her by God." " The Father of all
imparts continuance for ever and ever on those who are saved"
" He who has not recognised God . . . deprives himself of
contimiance for ever and ever." " Those who in this life have
shown themselves ungrateful . . . shall justly not receive of
Him length of days for ever and ever." 3 Surely it is evident
that these sayings clearly assert that the privilege of im
mortality belongs only to the redeemed. One would not,
indeed, affirm that either Irenaeus or the other writers whom
we have mentioned had attained to one clear doctrine on this
subject, since they all made statements of an opposing kind,
and since their teaching as a whole is so uncertainly expressed
that it is interpreted by modern scholars sometimes in one
sense and sometimes in another. Indeed, their writings afford
conclusive evidence that eschatological thought in their time
had not reached the dogmatic stage of development. But it
may be agreed that all these early writers do keep saying
things which encourage eager theologians to claim them as
apostles of the belief that there is no immortal life apart from
faith in Christ. And it may be admitted, also, that these
utterances of theirs belong to a very characteristic element in
their thought. They certainly indicate that there existed in

1 Tryitho, c. 5 ; cf. also Theophilus, To Autolycus, Book II. c. 27.

2 Spirits in Prison, p. 314.

3 Contra Haeres., Lib. II. c. 34. 3, 4.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 223

the early Church a type of reflection which denied the natural
immortality of the soul, and tended to interpret the New
Testament in the light of that denial ; and was thus the
representative in those days of that attitude and temper of
mind which has produced the modern doctrine of Conditional
Immortality.

(c) But, indeed, this Conditionalist strain in early Christian
thought attained to definite dogmatic expression in Arnobius,
whose statement on the subject exhibits many of the
characteristics of later constructions. Arnobius, a convert
from paganism, wrote at the beginning of the fourth century,
and probably suffered martyrdom early in that period. He is
a writer of force and eloquence and considerable speculative
ability. But he did not live long enough to mature his con
ception of Christian belief. In his reaction against the Greek
idea of the eternity and divine nature of the soul he goes to
the opposite extreme, and seems to delight to dwell on every
fact that tends to discredit our humanity. Man is, in his
view, only the highest of the animals ; and he is not the direct
creation of God, but owes his being to some lower power, " far
enough removed " from the deity.1 He is not immortal by
nature ; and, if left to himself, will utterly perish. The
mortal character of the soul is, indeed, evident from the fact
that man suffers pain. " For that which is liable and exposed
to suffering is declared to be corruptible." " All suffering is a
way leading to the grave."2 An immortal creature cannot
experience sorrow. Hence, if it were true that the soul is
immortal, men would have nothing to fear from the threat of
future punishment. " Imperishable spirits would remain safe
and untouched by harm," even though they were " surrounded
by all the flames of the raging streams of fire." 3

But if the soul is thus not immortal, the question arises —
Does it perish with the body ? To this Arnobius replies that
there is much to- be said both for and against an affirmative
answer ; but that, for his part, he believes that " a cruel death "
awaits the unbeliever beyond the grave, "not bringing sudden

1 Adversus Gentes, Lib. II. c. 36.

- Ibid. cc. 26, 27. 3 Ibid. c. 30.

224 THE WORLD TO COME

annihilation, but destroying by the bitterness of its long pro
tracted punishment." l To those who ask how, on this theory,
any souls can attain to everlasting life, Arnobius rejoins that
what is impossible with man is possible with God, and that He
will preserve the faithful in unending existence by a miracle
of His grace.2

Such is, in brief outline, the teaching of Arnobius ; and it
betrays some of the crudity of immature and hasty thought.
But it, nevertheless, is marked by some of the qualities which
have always appeared in Conditionalist doctrine — austerity of
spirit, a certain contempt for human nature, and a tendency to
compromise with materialism.

(d) It is evident, however, that this type of teaching had
very little influence during the period of dogmatic construction.
The endeavour to show that the opinions of Arnobius were
shared by other important writers of that age is a task of
great labour and small result. It means picking up here and
there, from one teacher and another, occasional utterances
and stray phrases ; gathering these together as a miner may
collect a few grains of gold from tons of unproductive soil.
And the fruit of all this searching is a handful of sayings of
little value. The truth is that the doctrine of the indestructi
bility of the soul proved itself congenial to the Christian mind,
and very soon established itself in the theological schools.
Before the sixth century the belief of Arnobius had ceased to
be a real force. Augustine recognised in Universalism a living
enemy, so powerful as to demand serious and respectful
attention ; but he evidently reckoned Conditionalism to be
among the things that were dead and gone. He had not a
word to say of it in criticism or in reproach, or even in com
memoration.

1. Modern doctrine. — The Eeformation era was, however, a
great day of resurrection, a time when all manner of old
speculations and heresies awoke to life again and stirred once
more the hearts of men. And among the things that rose
from the dead in that great Easter time was the doctrine of
Conditional Immortality. The early Unitarians, even before

1 Ado. QeiUes, Lib. II. cc. 57, 61, - Ibid. c. 35.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 225

the appearance of the Socini, held this theory; and it was
clearly expounded in the Macovian Catechism, the earliest
Socinian Confession. And the fact that it failed to retain its
position in the Unitarian Church is a striking illustration of
its characteristic inability to secure the allegiance of the
common Christian mind. It is probable, however, that in
every age since the Reformation it has found a certain number
of adherents, and it is at present part of the formal creed of
the Christadelphians and several other peculiar sects. One
would certainly expect it to appear from time to time in
Protestant theology. The solution it offers is so simple, so
clear, so easily grasped, and the scriptural evidence in its
favour is so obvious, that it is sure to commend itself to a
certain type of mind wherever ecclesiastical authority is not
strong enough to deny it a hearing. Hence we are not
surprised to find expressions of approval in the writings of
some Anglican teachers of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. It is certainly interesting and important to note
that the theory of Conditional Immortality commended itself
to a High Churchman like Jeremy Taylor, on the one hand,
and to a Latitudinarian like Tillotson, on the other, as a view
that was not inconsistent with the historic Christian faith.

2. Types of modern theory. — But it was not until the
nineteenth century that this doctrine really attained to
fulness of expression, or received the support of any consider
able number of thinkers. During that century, however, it
did achieve a position of considerable influence, and was ex
pounded in several important works both of theology and of
philosophy ; and it is probable that it continues in bur day to
increase the number of its adherents. The prevailing opinion
among advanced Lutheran theologians inclines to favour it.
In England and America, also, as well as in France and in
Switzerland, there is a decided drift in the same direction.
Conditionalists are certainly justified in their claim that many
things in the present aspect of religious thought encourage
hopeful expectations for the future of their cause.

Now, there are four different forms in which this type of
eschatology presents itself to us. (1) There is a purely

226 THE WORLD TO COME

scientific, evolutionary theory, such as is elaborated by M.
Armand Sabatier, and is at least suggested by Professor Henry
Drummond.1 (2) There is a philosophical form of this doctrine,
of which the great exponent is Rothe. With him also may be
mentioned Eitschl, and, some would add, Bergson. (3) There
is a general tendency towards Conditioualism, which is ex
pressed in varying degrees of definiteness by different writers,
and is inspired by a variety of influences, scientific, ethical,
literary, and religious. We may find this tendency illustrated
by writers so unlike each other as Lotze, Matthew Arnold, and
Father Tyrrell. (4) Lastly, there is a theological and systematic
form of this speculation; represented by Edward White,
Petavel, Menegoz, Haering, and many other professional
divines, as well as by scholars and preachers like Huntingdon,
Bushnell, Lyman Abbott, Beecher, Joseph Parker, R W. Dale,
and ever so many besides.

In making this division, of course, one does not claim
absolute accuracy. It is evident that no strict line can be
drawn between philosophy and theology. Also, some of the
writers mentioned are both scientists and metaphysicians;
some are at once theologians and preachers, and some are
characterised by such varied accomplishment that it is difficult
to describe their precise position. Still the division indicated
does correspond, in a general way, to the facts of the case, and
does mark real distinctions of thought and expression. We
may, therefore, follow it in the present discussion.

EVOLUTIONARY FORM.

1. Naturalistic theory. — (a) The most brilliant exposition
of this theory from the scientific standpoint, with which I am
acquainted, is M. Armand Sabatier's Essay sur V Immortalite.
M. Sabatier deals with the subject from the position of one
who accepts frankly the naturalistic theory of development.
He is not, however, a materialist. In his view, "life and
spirit were diffused in the cosmic germ." Each germ cellule
of plasm has " a little soul " (la petite dme), a psychic element.
1 See also McConnell, Evolution of Immortulitt/.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 227

It is, as one might say, both material and spiritual in nature.
Every living thing is a bundle (faisceau), a group, of such
elements ; and every personality is a highly developed, closely
knit form of the living creature. " Personality is a bundle
firmly knit together, a group intimately harmonised, a power
ful and admirable concatenation ; but a bundle, a group, a
complex being." Evolution tends to the creation of such
personality ; and it has attained this end, so far, in the pro
duction of the human kind. Each individual of our race has
the power increasingly to personalise and strengthen himself,
to bind together more and more closely the elements of his
being. The brain is the instrument of this process. It is an
" accumulator and organiser of spiritual force." It is not able
to create spirit, " to make spirit out of that which has nothing
in common with spirit ; but it is able to make spirit with
spirit." That is to say, the will can so move and direct the
bram as to make it the means of attaining more and more
spiritual force and cohesion. This it does by acting along the
line of evolution, willing along the appointed path of develop
ment. This process means advance towards moral righteousness,
virtue, the Good ; for the end of evolution is the production of
the Good. " The moral being is called into existence by its
own will." " It is the artisan of its own evolution and of its
vitality." " It is free to form its own moral orientation, and
employ or refuse the means at its hands to defend its psychical
cohesion (faisceau)."

Thus, on this somewhat curious theory, man makes himself
into a spiritual being by working towards righteousness. In
so doing he is advancing towards the appointed aim of evolu
tion. He keeps storing up within himself more and more real
life, keeps binding together always more closely the elements
of his individuality, and so he at last attains to such a state of
inward strength and unity that he is able to survive even the
dissolution of the body, the disappearance of the brain which
has been the organ of his development, and to live on beyond
death. The man, on the other hand, who refuses the path of
righteousness, and so sets his face against the current of
evolution, moves backward toward the lower form out of which

228 THE WORLD TO COME

humanity has developed, loses psychic force and cohesion,
becomes less and less closely knit, more and more " dissolute."
And so when death conies he is unable to meet the shock of
it, has no energy left to maintain his personality, and is dis
solved again into the elements out of which he was made.

(6) Now, this statement of Sabatier's expresses the only
doctrine of Immortality which is possible for the evolutionist
who does not admit that the spirit of man is a new element in
the process of creation. According to the view he represents,
all life is a development from some unknown substance which
had in it from the beginning the " promise and potency " of
all existing forms. The evolutionary process has moved
upward from the inorganic to the organic, and through all
lower vegetable and animal species to the human race, which
is the crown of its achievement. In man is self-consciousness,
volition, and creative mental energy. In him also is moral
life — that is to say, the form of thought and conduct winch
experience has shown to conduce most to the well-being,
strength, and progress of society and of the individual. The
precepts and commandments of morality are " generalisations
from experience " ; they express the accumulative practical
wisdom of all the generations, the "ancestral voices" of the
past. The witness of conscience itself is but the utterance in
the individual of common, inherited belief as to the manner
of living which best subserves the general good. Eeligion is
the moral life " touched with emotion," rising to the height of
enthusiasm, inspired by the vision of what the perfect man
shall be, and stretching out its hands to that ideal in a
passionate longing for attainment.

(c) Now it is evident that if the hope of immortality is to
be retained at all, on this view of things, it can only be in
some such form as that which is stated by M. Sabatier. We
must suppose that a spiritual element has been in the process
from the beginning, and that it has been asserting itself more
and more strongly, and determining the path of evolution,
thus revealing the purpose of the Creator. Having produced
the human race, it is now evolving a higher type of humanity
in individual men so compacted, so well knit, so attuned to

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 229

the purpose of God, that they art} able to survive even the
shock of death and to retain personal identity in some loftier
state of being.

(d) But Sabatier's brilliant discussion shows the difficulties
which beset this theory when it descends from the region of
general principles and attempts definite logical statement.
What are we to make of the idea that spirit existed in the
beginning in many minute forms, " little souls," each attached
to a corresponding particle of matter ? And how can we
believe that these little souls, by a process of ever closer
cohesion in separate groups, have produced conscious animal
life, and then man, and finally a race of super-men endowed
with immortality ? Are we able to credit the notion that these
spiritual atoms, even if so closely allied as to form one intense
personality, are able at death to maintain their cohesion, and
to continue together after all the material elements with
which they have always been associated, and the very brain
itself which has been their centre of unity, have utterly dis
appeared ? We may doubt also whether experience supports
the idea that evil always tends towards the dissolution of
personality. The truth seems to be that while some sins do
tend to weaken the individuality of a man and blur its out
lines, other and worse vices, like pride, cruelty, and selfishness,
do not appear to have any such effect. Milton's Satan and
Goethe's Mephistopheles are certainly not wanting in distinct
and coherent vitality. One-notes also that the human species,
on Sabatier's theory, has for one of its chief characteristics,
not the actual possession of a certain quality, but the power of
attaining it. Surely, if this be the case, mankind stands alone
among all the species of creation. Every member of every
other race and kind must conform itself to its type. Nothing
but premature destruction can prevent a tadpole from becom
ing a frog, or a chrysalis a moth, or a rosebud a rose. Hence,
if a man is possessed, not of immortality, but of the power of
attaining it through the exertions of individual men, he is
solitary and unique among all the species of which we have
ever heard. Finally, Sabatier's theory does not provide for a
sufficient punishment of sin. We cannot tolerate the idea

230 THE WORLD TO COME

that a cruel oppressor, a .destroyer of innocent lives, a mean
betrayer of sacred trust, can go on without repentance to the
end, and suffer no penalty except the mere loss of continued
life — a loss of which he can never be aware. On this view of
things a wicked man does as he will, and has his day, and at
the end he sleeps.

2. Christian evolutionary theory. — (a) Those evolutionists
who accept the Christian revelation and the authority of
Scripture present the theory of Conditional Immortality in a
form somewhat different from that expounded by Sabatier.
They connect the attainment of everlasting life with the work
of Jesus Christ. They teach that all who in every age have
reached the higher manhood have been enabled to do so by
the grace of God, which has never been denied to any one who
has sought it according to the measure of his opportunity.
This grace, this supernatural power to live ideally, appeared in
its fulness in Jesus, by faith in whom it is possible to share it,
and so to attain eternal life. It is difficult, however, to see
how these thinkers can reconcile strict evolutionism with the
belief in the moral perfection of our Lord, inasmuch as no
rigid doctrine of development is able to admit that perfection
can be attained by an individual while the species to which he
belongs, and the environment in which he lives, remain in a
lowly state of advancement. Such individual completeness of
life could, in any case, appear only at the climax of the upward
process ; whereas, Jesus lived at a point very far from the
goal of human history. It seems clear, also, that any doctrine
of a real incarnation of God in Christ is inconsistent with a
rigorous theory of evolution ; since, if we admit such an inter
vention of the supernatural as is involved in the Incarnation,
we cannot refuse to accept the idea that God may have intro
duced a new element into the world when humanity appeared
therein. But, however this may be, Christian evolutionists do
not differ, except in form, from writers like Sabatier, and their
doctrine of immortality must be essentially his. Whether we
say that men attain the higher life by faith in Christ or by
their own moral endeavour matters very little. In either case
their achievment is due to some peculiar virtue of their own,

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 231

some quality which belongs to them as the elect of the race,
the flower of the moral process.

(6) Hence, the position of this entire school of thought is
aristocratic and exclusive. It is true that a popular American
exponent of Coiiditionalism urges that his doctrine harmonises
with democratic principles, inasmuch as it leaves the individual
free to live or to die as he may choose.1 But this is a claim
that is not to be taken seriously, since the right to commit
suicide is not recognised by even the most democratic com
munity. The evolutionary form of the Conditionalist theory
regards the end and purpose of the world's history to be, not
the creation of a redeemed humanity, but the production of a
selected number of perfect individuals. All through the
history of evolution the many have been sacrificed for the
sake of the few ; nature has been careful of the type but care
less of the individual ; and in the development of the human
race also the Power that directs all things has intended the
production of a type of super-man whose appearance should
justify all the sacrifice it had cost. This way of looking at
things is apparent, for instance, in Drummond's Natural Law
in the Spiritual World. What Drummond's personal belief
regarding ultimate destiny was I do not know ; but the whole
argument of his book, the illustrations he uses and even
definite assertions he makes, can mean nothing else than the
doctrine of Conditional Immortality. His conclusions might
almost be expressed in the words of Fourth Ezra — " This
world the most High has made for many, but the world to
come for few." " Perish the multitude that has been born in
vain."

PHILOSOPHICAL FORM.

1. Rothe. — (a) The more purely philosophical form of this
theory is represented, especially, by Eichard Eothe. Many,
indeed, would say that Eitschl was the greatest speculative
genius who ever held the doctrine of Conditional Immortality.
This doctrine was, however, no essential part of Eitschl's system ;

1 Palmer, Winning of Immortality, p. 220.

232 THE WORLD TO COME

it caimot be deduced from his general theory of things. Also,
he does not assert it, but rather suggests that it indicates a
possibility. He thinks that "the wrath of God means the
resolve of God to annihilate " the finally impenitent ; and he
believes this view to be in harmony with Scripture. But he
does not assert that some human beings will certainly be
destroyed. " Whether there are such persons, and who they
are, lies within the scope neither of our practical judgment nor
of our theoretical knowledge." And so, we find the great
representative of this position not in Bitschl but in Rothe,
whose philosophical system involves of necessity the idea that
immortality is a thing to be attained.1

(6) Eothe begins by assuming two things — the idea of God
and the idea of Something that is His opposite. This Some
thing, as an object of pure thought, is without positive exist
ence, inasmuch as it is opposed to Him who is the alone real.
But in the world-process it presents itself as matter, the non-
spiritual; and the divine activity is always at work on this
matter seeking to spiritualise it, to make it a part of its own
life. Age after age this work goes on ; but in no one age is it
perfectly successful, since there always remains at the close of
it some matter unsubdued and unspiritualised. It does not
appear that Rothe expected this struggle of the divine Spirit
with its opposite ever to issue in complete victory and harmony.
He, as Pfleiderer says, contemplated "an eternal process of
stages of development succeeding each other in time." Matter
was in his view " the primitive creature which is nothing in
itself, without which God cannot begin to work, ivith which
He cannot get His work completed." -

(c) The theological bearing of all this is quite apparent.
Rothe teaches that the creation of men arose out of the love
of God, out of His desire to bring into being a spiritual
creature worthy to hold communion with Himself. It was
not possible, however, for God to create men in the beginning
with a spiritual nature, since matter is that substance on
which alone He works. Nevertheless He made men with the

1 Dogmatik, iii. : Theologische Ethik, Stille Stundc.

3 Pfleiderer, Philosophy of Religion, vol. ii. pp. 288, 289.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 233

power of becoming spiritual. In Kothe's language, " God can
create the spiritual creature only indirectly, by creating a
material creature which is specifically so organised that it is
able to transubstantiate itself from materiality into spiritual
ity, or in other words to spiritualise itself." 1 Man, therefore,
in his present state is not conformed to his true nature. He
is only in the making. It is his business to create himself ;
the vocation of the human creature is to subdue his material
nature to spiritual ends, and so to become the son of God.

Moral evil emerged of necessity in the course of this
development. It had to be ; it is an incident of man's struggle to
attain his destiny. He must pass through it in his pilgrimage
towards the highest. This does not imply that the individual
man is not responsible for his sins or that his sense of guilt
is a delusion. He is not accountable for the moral evil which
exists in him of necessity as a member of the human race ;
but he is accountable for every act and thought in which he
yields obedience to that evil, in which he subordinates his
higher nature to his lower. For he is free, and it is always
within his power to choose the better part. And according
to his choice is his fate. If he yields himself to the lower
power he goes on towards destruction ; if to the higher, he
ascends towards eternal life. Every time he submits to that
in him which is without reality he takes a step towards
nothingness. So long as he remains impenitent he keeps
steadily transmuting his living substance into death. "The
human individual may permanently remain in sin and so bring
himself to annihilation. " 2 Although the race will be saved,
the individual may be lost. Although the army -must come
to victory, it will leave many dead behind it on its line of
march.

(d) Kothe, of course, does not teach that the possibilities
of individual redemption are exhausted within this earthly
life. He attaches the utmost importance to the idea of the
Intermediate State; which is a condition of corporeal life
wherein the warfare of the spiritual with the material nature
goes on to an ultimate issue. The unrighteous who persist in

1 Still Hours, p. 143. 2 Ibid. p. 185.

234 THE WORLD TO COME

their evil become more and more material and, therefore, more
and more sensible of pain and misery. To use again Rothe's
words — " The physical torments of hell will not be merely
sensual, but neither will they be entirely unsensual, because
the bodies of the lost did not achieve a pure and clean
spirituality. That in them which approximated to spirit will
be more and more resolved into matter, and they will thus
become always more susceptible to material pain."1 This
suffering is their punishment ; and it is ended at the close of
the age when they, having become, of their own free will,
entirely material, simply and necessarily cease to exist. Their
lives become part of the rubbish, the waste, the useless
element in the great world-process of which they have formed
a part.

(e) Now it is evident that, in its general import, this
construction of Rothe's resembles very closely that of Sabatier.
The one is the work of a philosophic theologian, the other of
a scientific evolutionist. The one is a dialectical system
proceeding from certain rational assumptions, the other an
argument based on a concrete view of things derived from the
study of nature. But both arrive at the conclusion that man
is a creature in the making; neither material nor spiritual,
but capable of becoming one or the other ; neither mortal nor
immortal, but possessing the power to destroy or to perpetu
ate himself. Both theories also illustrate the difficulty of
stating Conditionalism in such a way as to be at once definite
and convincing. Rothe's system has always excited admiration
by its brilliance, daring, and imaginative power, as well as by
its moral austerity and its profound religious conviction. But
it has never been taken seriously as a rational construction.
Rothe begins by presenting himself with a dualistic foundation
suited to the edifice he means to build ; he conceives matter as
unreal, and yet as possessed of such aggressive force that it is
able to destroy the work of God ; he asks us to think of the
Creator as engaged continually at a task which He cannot
complete. And these are all positions open to grave criticism.
We naturally ask — Whence did matter obtain the energy that
1 Still Hours, p. 272.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 235

enables it to destroy the spiritual element in human nature,
and even to defy the action of divine power ? And this is a
question very difficult to answer. Rothe's conception of
human nature is also full of perplexity. The spiritual part of
a man must be of the divine substance ; since, by hypothesis,
there exist only two original substances — God, and that which
is His opposite. It thus appears that, in being asked to
contemplate the possibility of the soul being destroyed, we are
invited to believe that something which is divine can be put
to death by an alien power. Further, this theory ascribes all
sin to the material nature of man ; whereas some sins are
clearly spiritual. Also, it asserts an extreme doctrine of free
will, and yet affirms the necessity of evil ; and it fails to show
how, on its view, there can be any true freedom either in God
or in man. It does not tell us what becomes of the waste
product of humanity — the spiritual element which has been
subdued by the material ; nor does it explain where the
substance is to come from for the creation of the resurrection
body. Finally, it presents God as exposing His creatures to
the risk of dreadful torment ending in death — and this in
order that He may create a being in whom He can take
delight. Man's suffering and doom are thus an incident in
the divine effort towards self-satisfaction. These are all grave
difficulties; and they are illustrated by Rothe's doctrine of
Christ. He quite evidently fails to find a necessary place for
the Redeemer in his scheme "of things ; and he does not really
affirm the sinlessness of Jesus, since he teaches that our Lord's
earthly experience was one in which the spiritual achieved a
gradual conquest over the material in His nature — a conquest
only completed in the supreme hour of His Ascension.

Such are the defects in Rothe's theory which render it
unacceptable as a rational and religious system. And similar
problems are always found to arise whenever Conditionalism is
wrought out with thoroughness and courage. That view of
things is strong in its general imaginative and moral assertions ;
but wanting the power of presenting a formal doctrine which
can endure the test of a careful analysis.

236 THE WORLD TO COME

UNDOGMATIC FORM.

1. Lotze, etc. — The third type of Conditionalism which
falls to be considered is rather a matter of tendency and
general standpoint than of definite eschatological statement.
It is to be deduced from the view of things expressed by
certain writers, from the principles of their thought, from
occasional things which they say, and also from their silence
regarding certain subjects. The greatest of the writers of
whom this may be said is Lotze, whose writings contain
passages which suggest the idea of a contingent immortality.
In his view God is the only being who is in the proper sense a
person. Men are only in the process of becoming persons;
and the inference from this is that only those who have
attained to a certain advanced degree of individual develop
ment are likely to survive death. But Lotze, in this aspect of
' his thought, stands for a great many religious teachers who,
without perhaps sharing Lotze's philosophy, agree with him in
approaching all questions, especially that of immortality, along
the line of moral and religious experience. These are prone to
dwell on the truth that the Christian idea of a life to come
developed out of pious convictions. Jewish saints possessed
with the joy of communion with God became unable to think
of that joy as belonging to this life only. In like manner,
early Christians living in fellowship with Christ could not
doubt that this fellowship would be everlasting ; their experi
ence of Christ was full of immortality ; they knew that He
lived and that they should live also. Their hope rested on no
rational grounds, or general ideas of justice and probability,
but on their intuitions as religious men. Mere continued
existence beyond the grave had no meaning for them except in
so far as it might be filled with the glory of Christ. And this
original mood of the Christian mind remains the true religious
attitude in all generations. It is only in so far as we are
pious and Christian people, possessed of a high spiritual and
moral energy, that immortality can be desirable to us, or
indeed possess any meaning for our minds.

Matthew Arnold supports this view of things in his

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 237

Literature and Dogma,1 and he gives it full literary expression
in his sonnet on Immortality :

" No, no ! the energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun ;
And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife,
From strength to strength advancing — only he,
His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life."

2. Tyrrell. — It is natural that those who reason in this
way should tend generally to depreciate all arguments in
favour of immortality that are founded on universal human
instincts, like the desire to be reunited to the beloved dead, or
on the consideration that belief in a God of love and justice
involves the conviction that He has something better in store
for men than this uncertain, unfair, bewildered and broken
life. Arguments like these are held to have little weight ;
and the whole burden of proof is rested on the experience of
the regenerate — their interests and desires, and the conviction
that such a life as theirs is surely indestructible. Thus
Father Tyrrell in his last book, Christianity at the Cross Roads,
says that the natural man as he grows old and weary feels
that he wants no more of this life. " Its prolongation would
be hell." z It is as the eternal life which is in a man asserts itself
that " the thought of extinction becomes more intolerable and
the faith in its perpetuity more imperative." 3 Life after death
is " a continuation, expansion,- and revelation of the life of the
spirit as lived even now by the righteous." 4 Tyrrell's whole
discussion ignores the idea of a natural, universal immortality,
for which he seems to hold that there can be no proof. The
mere idea of endless existence belongs to a magical type of
religious thought. Immortality is nothing else than the
eternal life which is begun in the righteous here, unfolding
itself hereafter in some condition of being, of which we can
form no conception because it must be totally unlike anything
that we have ever experienced or imagined.

1 Literature and Dogma, pp. 222-224.

2 Christianity at the Cross Roads, p. 133.

8 Ibid. p. 133. 4 Ibid. p. 127.

238 THE WORLD TO COME

Now it seems manifest that this way of thinking is
practically Conditionalism, since we cannot argue from a
partial experience to an universal conclusion. It is significant
that Tyrrell has nothing to say about the fate of the
unregenerate, and that, while he dwells eloquently on the
permanent value of all other apocalyptic forms, he has nothing
to say about the Gehenna doctrine, which occupied so important
a place in Jewish thought and has been so strongly emphasised
in the Christian Church. This silence is convenient, but it
is also natural and consistent. He, and all who share his
general view, whether Catholic or Protestant, must regard
the question of the immortality of the multitude as merely
irritating and irrelevant. If the life to come be empty of
significance except for the spiritual, it really follows that the
rest of mankind had better perish utterly. If they live on,
it must be in a kind of Sheol ; a dreary, empty state that has
no purpose or meaning in the universe of God — that can
have no value for the Creator, and can only be a burden for
the creature.

3. Criticism. — (a) One has great difficulty, however, in
following those thinkers who thus found the whole argument
for immortality on the experience of the righteous. It is, no
doubt, perfectly true that the Christian belief in eternal life
arose out of religious interests and emotions. But it is not
the case that faith created this belief out of nothing — that it
worked upon no already existing elements of thought. Men
possessed from early days the conviction that existence did
not end at death, that something in a man survived physical
dissolution ; and all that Jewish and Christian faith did was to
give richness of content to that somewhat vague and negative
idea. It inherited a belief in the future state ; and it filled it
with colour and light and song. It made the shadowy desert-
land to rejoice and blossom like the rose. But who shall say
that if no belief in a life to come had existed, faith would
have created it out of its own experience ? Who can affirm
with confidence that if no foundation had been laid aforetime,
religion would have been able to build its radiant City
of God ?

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 239

(6) It is also to be remembered that if faith did give
intensity of meaning to the idea of immortality for the
righteous, it also gave vividness to the thought of the future
state as it concerned the unregenerate. It is not quite in
accordance with historical fact to represent apocalypse, in
Father Tyrrel's fashion, as concerning itself only with the
notion that the world to come will be a development of the
eternal life which is begun here in the experience of the
saints. Apocalypse assumed belief in an universal survival of
death, and it continued to assert that belief, and to inform it
with wealth of meaning for all mankind. Whether or no the
Jewish prophets believed in the final destruction of some men,
they certainly taught that the evil life as well as the good
entered into fulness of inheritance hereafter — the one of
misery, as the other of bliss. And no view of the future state
is true to Jewish and early Christian belief which leaves out
of sight this universal element in its prophecy, or seeks to
evade the burden of thought by confining our vision to the
future of the City of God. Also, it is really as one-sided to
think of the world to come in this exclusive way as it would
be to have no concern for anything in this present life except
the interests of the good, the religious, and the wise.
Browning satirises this view in the lines :

"Dust and ashes, dead and done with,
Venice spent what Venice earned.
The soul doubtless is immortal —
Where a soul can be discerned.
Yours, for instance ; you know physics,
Something of geology,
Mathematics are your pastime.
Souls shall rise in their degree ;
Butterflies may dread extinction —
You'll not die, it cannot be ! " 1

(c) There is, indeed, some theological peril in any type of
thought that denies the force of all general arguments for
immortality, and stakes everything on the intuitions of faith.
The great reason for believing in a life to come must ever be
that it follows from belief in God, is an implicate of Theism. It
1 A Toccata of Oaluppi's.

240 THE WORLD TO COME

will never be possible to maintain with success that this world
was created and is governed by a perfectly wise and loving
Being, who renders to every one his due and cares for every
creature He has made, unless we can assert that there exists
beyond the limit of this transitory life a state in which all
wrong shall be righted, all inequalities done away, every
promise redeemed, and every broken and frustrate life granted
its fulfilment. If the problem of immortality be an ethical
one, it is so in the widest possible sense. It is concerned with
the claim which every man has, in virtue of his existence, on
the Power who created him. The right to fulness of oppor
tunity, to equality of privilege, to " answer and redress," belongs
to every citizen of the kingdom of life, whether he be saint or
whether he be sinner. And there are many not irreligious
minds whose assurance of a life to come is founded less on the
thought of the heroes and the righteous than on a compassionate
understanding of the great masses of common men — especially
the disappointed and the disinherited, the weary and the heavy
laden. Hopes unrealised, dreams and visions unfulfilled,
thoughts that are eternal, love that is " ever lord of death "-
these are the possessions of all men, and these are the " intima
tions of Immortality."

THEOLOGICAL FORM.

1. Edward White, etc. — (a) We now pass to the considera
tion of the dogmatic, theological form of this theory. The
classical exposition of Conditionalism from the point of view
of Evangelical orthodoxy is Edward White's Life in Christ. It
is true that there are many other works more modern than
this, and in some ways more attractive, which might be taken
as representative. The writings of Dr. Petavel, for instance,
contain every argument, weak or strong, that can be advanced
in favour of this doctrine; and they are characterised by
admirable clearness and force, combined with a joyous confi
dence and assurance rare in these doubting times. But White's
book, spite of its literal and antiquated methods of exegesis,
remains on the whole the most massive defence of Conditional-

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 24 i

ism, and has done more than any other work to secure for that
theory respectful and general consideration.

(&) White's position may be stated in few words : — Men
were created with the gift of immortality, but lost it through
the Fall. The doom of the sons of Adam is to perish utterly,
But Christ came to restore the lost inheritance. " The object
of the incarnation was to immortalise mankind." 1 Those,
therefore, who hear the voice of Christ and by faith enter into
a true fellowship with Him, attain to the possession of a life
that is indestructible, a blessed existence exalted above the
power of death. Those, on the other hand, who refuse to
receive the Son of God remain under the bondage of corruption,
and in due time become as though they had never been. We
are not to suppose, however, that the uuregenerate perish at
the moment of physical dissolution. The usual arguments in
favour of the belief in immortality are valid up to a certain
point. They are unanswerable, "if they are taken for what
they are worth, as simply probable evidence of survival or
revival." 2 But they cannot be said to be evidence for " eternal
survival." " The butterfly rises from the chrysalis, but the
butterfly is not eternal." 3 In short, we can infer from the
usual arguments that there must be for all men a life of fuller
opportunity than this — of redress, of fulfilment, of completed
promise, of adequate punishment. But there is no reason to
suppose that such future existence must of necessity be ever
lasting. If we are able to say that we have the sure and
certain hope of unending life, we can only say it by faith in
the gospel of Jesus ; and that gospel contains no warrant for
believing that perpetual existence is assured to any except
those who believe in Christ. Bather does it expressly affirm
that the doom of the impenitent is uttermost destruction.
While, therefore, we may be sure that all men will survive
death, we may also affirm that not all men will be everlasting,
(c) But as existence does not end with physical death,
neither does opportunity. Our hope for humanity is not
limited to this life. Final extinction will be the fate of those
only who are found in the end to have rejected all offers of

1 Life in Christ, p. 225. - Ibid. p. 81. 3 Ibid. p. 82.

242 THE woitLD TO COME

salvatiou and to have become hopelessly fixed in evil. " After
God has gathered out of the world's population by methods of
grace, on earth or in Hades, all salvable persons, there will
remain for the judgment of the last day those alone who will
deserve some terrible positive infliction as the antecedent to
destruction." l

(d) Such is, in barest outline, the system expounded by
White; and it represents, generally, the view of those who
maintain Conditionalism on purely theological and New Testa
ment grounds. Thus Dr. R W. Dale of Birmingham held, as
his son tells us, that " as man had been created in Christ and
redeemed by Him, he had no life save in Him, and it was not
worthy either of the justice or the mercy of God to tolerate to
all Eternity a dead universe, or a dead limb in a universe,
which He had expressly redeemed from death." 2

2. Strength of this theory. — (a) Now, it is quite evident
that this position is not wanting in elements of speculative
and practical strength. It has, especially, two great merits.
In the first place, it evades a dualistic view of the issue of
things, denies the immortality of evil, and affirms a final state
of perfect unity and peace. Its vision of the End is a City of
God which embraces in its sovereignty all surviving things.
All sin and pain, crying and tears, shall utterly pass away.
Evil shall disappear into the abyss of nothingness, carrying
with it all souls that have chosen to live its unreal life, and so
to share its ultimate death.

(b) In the second place, it combines with this assertion of a
final peace and the victory of Christ an equally strong affirma
tion of the peril that besets the moral life — a real perdition, a
fixed and inexorable doom. Thus it is able to attach a clear
and definite meaning to the warnings of conscience and of
revelation, and to press home upon the minds of men the
solemnity of the moral choice and the immeasurable nature of
the penalty that follows on the great refusal.

(c) These two characteristics of Conditionalism suffice to
explain its attractiveness for many minds. Men like Dale of
Birmingham have certainly found in this theory a way of

1 Life in Christ, p. 530. " Biography.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 243

escape from the burden of the orthodox belief, on the one
hand, and from the dangers of Universalism, on the other.
Nor can we deny that this doctrine does seem to otter a simple
and direct way of solving a heavy problem ; enabling us to
serve two masters — to satisfy the reason in its demand that
there shall be no ultimate discord in the universe, and the
conscience in its stern prophecy as to the end of an evil life.
Also, the imagination is unable to refuse its tribute to the
austere power and beauty of the statement of Eothe, and of all
teaching which depicts the march of evil towards destruction,
and declares with fulness of purpose that " the world passeth
away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever."

3. Criticism. — (a) But if Coiiditionalism thus presents
attractive features when it is considered in broad outline, it
exhibits grave difficulties when it is examined in detail. It is
a mediating theory, seeking to act as a kind of Daysman
between opposing views. It always endeavours to combine a
materialistic with a spiritual view of things, a denial of im
mortality with an affirmation of it, the assertion that good will
triumph with the prophecy that evil will also be in part
victorious. This is its weakness, that it is not a true recon
ciliation or synthesis, but a compromise. The wit of man
has never yet been able to endow any mere compromise with
the attribute of enduring strength.

(6) One cannot, however, agree with those who argue that
the theological type of Conditionalism would be in a stronger
position if it were to say that the life of the sinner ends with
this present world. Those critics who take this view think
that the idea of God raising men out of death, only that they
may undergo punishment before destruction, suggests a vengeful
exercise of Almighty power. Also, they hold it unreasonable
to suppose that any creature that is strong enough to sur
vive physical dissolution will succumb later to the forces of
annihilation. Surely the tremendous shock of the separation
of soul and body must make an end of any being who is not
inherently immortal. If personality can survive the crisis of
death, it may well be counted indestructible.

244 THE WORLD TO COME

It is to be remembered, however, that Conditionalists do
not say that all who die impenitent are finally lost : they hope
that many of them will be saved. Hence, they do not teach
that God keeps men in life beyond the grave merely that they
may suffer. He extends their existence that He may prolong
their opportunity of salvation. To this, of course, it is objected
that God foresees whether any man will finally be lost or no,
and that, therefore, He must, on this theory, grant to some
men a future existence which He knows will be an evil gift.
But this is a criticism that may be urged against the doctrine
of Eternal Evil as well as against that of Conditional Im
mortality. The supreme mystery is that life should be
given to any who shall suffer final perdition. And this
perplexity is not greatly increased by the thought that the
history of these reaches out into the future state. As to the
contention that those who are able to survive dissolution must
be immortal, that the man who defeats " the last enemy " is
not likely to encounter any other foe able to bring him to
naught — this is an argument which assumes that we know
what the experience of death really is, and what the extent of
its power to shatter personality. But this is not an assump
tion that can be made. For all we know, the hour of death
may not be so great a crisis as it seems, and may not even
tend to destroy individual self-consciousness. It may rather
increase the vital forces of personality by setting them free
from elements that hinder their action and limit their expres
sion. Death may, indeed, be a necessary part of the complete
experience of a moral being. One cannot, therefore, feel that
Couditionalism weakens its position by asserting the doctrine
of Future Probation, and teaching that there is a future life
for all, though an endless life for some. By doing this, it is
able to admit, in some degree, the force of the natural argu
ments for immortality ; it conserves the interests of justice ;
and it recognises the truth that the acceptance of Theism is
possible for us only if we believe that somewhere, somehow,
there shall be equality of privilege and fulness of opportunity
for every soul of man. And it does all this without adding
materially to the difficulty of uiiderslaudiiiy why the Heavenly

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 245

Father has created any man, knowing that it had been well for
him if he had never been born. This is a perplexity which
can be solved only by denying the foreknowledge of God,
or else by affirming that none will ultimately be lost. The
problem is not more difficult from the standpoint of Condition-
alism than from that of Orthodoxy.

(c) The real weakness of Conditionalism lies in its two great
denials. The first of these is its denial that the soul is inde
structible. In this it rejects a belief which the Church has
held ever since it began to give deliberate thought to the
questions of faith — a belief, also, which seems to belong to every
spiritual philosophy. Spirit is the supreme thing in the
universe, the ultimate reality — since God is spirit. Hence it
follows that if man possesses this quality of life he cannot be
destroyed. Any power that could destroy spirit would be its
master ; and we cannot admit the existence of such a force.
Nothing can be the master of that which shares the nature of
God. Also, spirit is the one living thing that cannot will its
own death. It cannot do so, any more than love can
extinguish love, or truth make an end of truth. The assertion
that a spiritual being can come to nothing is thus a saying
without significance.

But apart altogether from such metaphysical objections,
many rational perplexities beset us whenever we contemplate
the idea of the soul's dissolution. If the human spirit does
suffer extinction, it must be either by its own act or the act of
God. If we adopt the first alternative, we have to ask our
selves by what means the soul is to bring about its own
destruction. What deadly poison, what instrument, is it to
turn against itself ? No material weapon can destroy it.
What spiritual agent is there that can be used ? Does God,
as it were, place the pistol in the hand of the soul ? If so, He
is accessory to its suicide, and is in effect the agent of its
death.

Suppose, again, that we accept the second alternative
and say that God destroys the personality. In this case the
soul must agree to its own extinction, or else it must suffer
death against its will, But the latter idea is inconsistent with

246 THE WORLD TO COME

the Conditionalist assertion that the freedom of the will is
sovereign and inviolate. And so we must suppose that some
how men will come to desire their own annihilation. But it is
evident that if any creatures do come into such a state of mind,
it must be either because existence is in itself intolerable,
which is the purest pessimism, or else because the Almighty
does by the action of His law make life unendurable for His
creatures. This is, however, an idea of extreme severity. It
carries over into the next life the worst horrors of human
history, since it pictures a pain and misery so intense that the
afflicted soul cries out for merciful death. It is a picture
drawn from the torture-chamber or the place of pitiful disease.
No living thing desires death unless it be driven mad by pain
or sorrow ; and so, if some do come in the future life to seek
their own extinction, it must be because they shall have been
brought to a state of insanity by sufferings beyond their power
of endurance.

A third alternative may, indeed, be suggested. It may be

said that men will not desire death, but will simply choose to

remain in that state of sin which involves death. But this

view would present evil as the executioner of the spirit. The

condemned man does not wish to die, but he elects in spite of

warnings to remain in the hands of a power which possesses

the ability and the determination to slay him ; and that power

is sin. But it is evident that sin can be an executioner only

if the law of God gives it the authority to kill. So that God

is, after all, the ruler by whose ordinance death is brought

about. He says to the sinner, " If you continue in sin you

must die " ; and if he answer, " I do not wish to die, but I

desire to continue in my present state," his will is overridden

and he is put to death. What comes, on this view, of the

sacred freedom of the will, or of the contention that God does

not destroy any soul ? Conditionalists deal very severely with

that extreme Universalism which teaches that all men will be

constrained to salvation; but they never succeed in showing

that, on their own theory, men will not be constrained to

death.

Some writers, as we have seen, evade the difficulties that

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 247

beset the idea that spiritual beings can be destroyed, by
asserting that men are not spiritual by nature, but become so
at the moment of conversion. But this view renders the idea
that all men survive death quite untenable, and certainly
involves the denial that infants are immortal. If the unre-
generate man belongs entirely to the natural order, there is
evidently nothing in him that will be able to survive when he
is withdrawn from that order. Further, the idea that the
substance of a man's being is changed at conversion, that at a
given point in his history he passes from the natural to the
spiritual world, is a notion that belongs to the region of magic
and fairy tale. It has no foundation in reason or ethics, but is
created out of nothing to meet the necessities of a desperate
cause. If spiritual life be only a high degree of moral attain
ment, it can be achieved by the individual ; but it is impossible
to show that such ethical accomplishment can effect an
essential change in the nature of the personality, so as to trans
late it from the realm of birth and death into the region of the
incorruptible and everlasting. If, on the other hand, spiritual
life be a metaphysical quality of being, it cannot be achieved ;
it must be inherent in the substance of the soul. The cor
ruptible cannot attain to incorruption, nor the natural to the
transcendent, nor the animal to the likeness of the Divine.
" Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."

(d) The other great weakness of Conditionalism is that it
implicitly denies the organic unity of the human race. That it
does so is surely evident. No ingenuity of reasoning avails
to show that the quality of immortality is, on this theory, an
essential attribute of our common nature. Every essential
property of any species is found in all its members. A quality
which is the possession of some individuals only, of any given
kind, or is capable of being developed by these, but is not the
necessary characteristic of all the species, cannot be one of the
distinguishing marks of that kind of creature. It does not
belong to the idea of it, is an accident and not a property of its
life. Hence it follows that an immortality which is not necessary
and universal, but conditional and an attainment of individual
jneii, cannot be called a human attribute, a part of the

248 THE WORLD TO COME

essential nature of our race. But the idea that such a great
thing as immortality can be a merely contingent and
accidental quality is surely out of the question. The posses
sion of unending life by any number of individuals really
constitutes them a different species. The gulf between that
which perishes and that which is everlasting is greater than
the space which separates any kind of creature from another.
And so it is evident that Conditionalism really destroys the
unity of the race and divides it into two distinct and separate
species. If there exist, at any given time, some men who are
already immortal, or destined to achieve an endless life, and
others who are, and will remain, evanescent and mortal, these
two classes are so distinct as to belong to different orders of
being. Their unlikeness is of the substance of things.

Now, it is unnecessary to show how far-reaching and
destructive this conclusion is : how fatal it is to any rational
psychology ; how it cuts away the foundation of ethics ; how it
destroys the belief that Christ is the brother of every man,
and that all souls are of equal value in the sight of God
the Father. It is also repugnant to many generous human
instincts ; it suggests a certain want of race-loyalty in those
who accept it; and it has small support in the facts of
experience. " If," says W. D. Howells, " you have anything in
common with your fellow creatures, it is something that God
gave you ; if you have anything that seems quite your own, it
is from your own silly self and is a sort of perversion of what
came to you from the Creator, who made you out of Himself
and had nothing else to make you out of." This is a healthy
and manly utterance, and has a bearing on the question before
us. Men must rate very highly the value of human righteous
ness and faith if they suppose that these things are able to
constitute a distinct and transcendent race of beings. Whittier
showed a better perception of reality when he expressed the
hope that his good and ill would be alike unreckoned, and
" both forgiven through His abounding grace." The difference
between one man and another in respect of virtue is so small
when compared with the ideal, and the faith and merit of the
best men are so defective and so in need of being forgiven,

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 249

that we cannot conceive how any moral superiority possessed
by the saints can avail to secure for them the exclusive
privilege of immortality. If, indeed, the infinitely precious
qualities of courage and self-sacrifice were the peculiar
possession of the regenerate, the question might bear a some
what different aspect. But every one knows that this is as far
as possible from being the case.

"Now may the good God pardon all good men."

(e) It is true, of course, that evangelical Conditionalism
does not say that the power to live for ever is attained as a
matter of merit, but rather affirms that it is the free gift of
divine grace. " The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord." But this feature of the theory, as it is
stated by White and others, is really not of any importance.
The grace of God is either offered to every man, or it is not.
In the latter case it is not " a free gift," but is bestowed only
on such as are fitted to receive it. It has, therefore, never
been really within the reach of any man who may be found in
the end to be without it. He was destined from the beginning
to inherit death. If, on the other hand, " the bread which
endureth unto everlasting life " is truly offered to all men, we
have to ask what it is that causes some to grasp a blessing
which others refuse ? Evidently it must be some moral and
spiritual quality which they possess. The act by which a man
casts himself on God in faith, and so is enabled to receive
immortality, is an exercise of spiritual power, it is of the
nature of virtue, it is a good deed. And so it is, after all, by
an action of his own that a man comes to be immortal.
Whether you say that he achieves everlasting existence by a
long process of strenuous effort or by one decisive act of faith,
matters very little. In either case it is to a spiritual activity
of his own that he owes eternal life.

It seems, therefore, that Conditionalism must always
describe life without end as a prize gained by the individual
soul through the exercise of virtue, whether of faith or of
works. The immortals will be able to say in the end, either,
" We fought a good fight, we won our battle, and so we live

250 THE WORLD TO COME

when our weaker brethren are dead " ; or else, " We were
given the power to lay hold on eternal life. By divine mercy
we had the wisdom and the energy to stretch out our hand
for the offered gift, and so to attain that grace of God by
which we are what we are."

CONCLUSION.

1. Conditionalism, then, does not seem to be without grave
speculative defects. It bears the aspect of a compromise and
an after-thought — a theory devised to meet certain difficulties,
rather than the spontaneous work of the religious genius. It
affirms that a moral change can alter the metaphysical quality
of the soul, or else that the spiritual substance can be destroyed.
It denies the organic unity of the human race. It teaches
that men will ultimately bring about their own destruction,
thus implying that the right to commit suicide is recognised
in the government of God, and that spirit can make an end of
itself; or alternatively, it asserts that the Creator will slay
His own creature, in spite of itself — which is utterly incon
sistent with the Conditionalist insistence on the freedom and
sanctity of the will. And, finally, while it seems to secure the
triumph of God, it really fails to do so, inasmuch as it says
that evil will be so far successful as to bring about the
destruction of many souls, and thus to undo the creative work
of the Most High.

2. These, then, are some of the objections which may be
taken to Conditionalism as a reasoned systematic statement;
and they have sufficent force to discredit somewhat the confident
and even arrogant manner in which it is sometimes defended.
But, however this may be, one recognises gladly the important
elements of strength in its construction, and of practical
value in its testimony. Its intense, though perhaps extreme,
assertion of the moral aspect of religion is a bracing and
wholesome corrective to certain tendencies of sentimental piety.
It faces problems created by modern ways of thinking,
especially by the scientific doctrine of development, and at
least endeavours to present a solution. Also it seeks to

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 251

combine acceptance of the stern facts of the moral order with
a merciful view of the end of things. Above all, it is admir
able as an attempt to express, in a kind of rational symbolism,
abiding moral and religious truths. Christian doctrines of
destiny are, as has been already said, not to be valued merely
on speculative grounds, or counted unworthy simply because
they fail to satisfy the logical understanding, but are to be
tested also by the extent to which they represent real spiritual
interests. Judged by this standard, Conditionalism is worthy
of respect. The instincts and beliefs which inspire it are
of unquestionable validity. Faith does affirm that existence
apart from communion with God is not worthy to be called
life. An intense devotion to Christ does create the conviction
that without Him there is no true being ; and the experience
of regeneration does often cause men to feel that they have
entered into a higher state of life, and have inherited a world
wherein all things have become new. Conscience does affirm
that the wages of sin is death, and it is haunted by forebodings
of illimitable disaster. There is abiding poetic truth in the
thought that all things which oppose themselves to the divine
purpose of love are stamped with mortality, empty and fleeting,
ready to vanish away. Also, there can be no doubt that faith
does predict the victory of goodness, the fulfilment of redemp
tion, the final establishment, secure, unchallenged, unrivalled of
the kingdom of God and Christ. These things are true ; and
it is because this theory of destiny affirms them with force
and decision, redeems them from the danger of being forgotten,
and applies them with courage to the old and baffling problem
of the final state of man, that it holds a place among the great
forms of Christian eschatology, receives the respect of thought
ful men, and even commends itself to many devout minds as
the best solution of the great enigma.

CHAPTER IV.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION

(OPTIMIST SOLUTION).

THE belief that evil will finally pass away through the recon
ciliation of all souls to God has been regarded with something
akin to hatred by many devout minds. This dislike has been
due in part to the conviction that it is contrary to the teaching
of Scripture and of the Church ; in some degree also to the
idea that it exceeds the bounds of legitimate thought, and
ventures into a dim and perilous region where the mind is left
without the guidance of knowledge and experience : but mainly,
no doubt, to a fear of its moral consequences, its practical
effects on the conscience of mankind. And yet this doctrine
of a limitless hope has many claims on the indulgence of the
orthodox. If it errs, it is by excess of faith rather than of
unbelief. It is possible only where there is a profound belief
in immortality and in the omnipotence of love and righteous
ness ; and it is at enmity with no great Christian assertion as
to the nature of God, the Person of Christ, or the means of
salvation. Also, no so-called heresy has received more power
ful expression than this, or has had so many adherents
illustrious alike for piety and learning. It may claim respect,
too, because of the ability it has shown to endure from age to
age, to assert itself with fresh energy after each period of
defeat, and, on the whole, to increase rather than to diminish
in the width and effect of its influence.

This last aspect of the matter is one of great historical
importance. And it does not admit of reasonable doubt.
Universalism has defied all attempts to exclude it from the
evangelical Churches, and has been able to secure for itself

•52

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 253

formal toleration in the great Anglican Communion.1 More
over, while it is true that this type of thought is at present
out of favour in the theological schools, it certainly modifies
general Protestant opinion, both lay and clerical. Indeed, an
evangelical teacher of authority has recently said that " if at
this moment a frank and confidential plebiscite of the English-
speaking ministry were taken, the likelihood is that a consider
able majority would adhere to Universalism." 2 Evidently, then,
this is not a doctrine which can be ignored by any one who
seeks to give an account of the forms of Christian Eschatology.
Now the discussion of this subject opens up a very wide
field of speculation and research. In the study of Christian
optimism one encounters many attractive personalities, in
whose company it were good to linger. Also, there is a
temptation to wander into side paths of literature and philo
sophy that are full of interest, but that carry us far from the
line of direct advance. It will be necessary, therefore, to
confine our attention to one or two of the main features of a
rich and varied region. I propose (1) to show that Universal -
ism belongs to a strain of optimistic thought which is a
legitimate part of the Christian tradition; and to indicate
some of the forms in which it has expressed itself in literature
and theology; (2) to state its main dogmatic assertions; (3)
to consider the objections that are urged against it, especially
from the ethical standpoint..

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.

1. Ancient Church. — (a) The belief in universal salvation
has been so closely associated with the name of Origen that
the very mention of it reminds us of that marvellous genius
who has been called "the greatest gift which the Father of
Lights bestowed upon the Church during fourteen centuries." 3

1 Decision of Privy Council (1863-1864), Feudal versus Williams.
• H. R. Mackintosh, Immortality and the Future, p. 197.
3 Duff, Early Church, p. 302.

254 THE WOULD TO COME

It is not to be supposed, however, that Driven was the first to
entertain the hope of a limitless redemption. The idea that
he was the creator of the doctrine in question rests on the
supposition that the Church in the beginning held a dogmatic
belief in Everlasting Evil, and that all who have since differed
from that belief have been protesters and heretics, of whom
the earliest was Origen. But neither the New Testament
evidence nor the witness of early Christian history supports
this idea. The primitive conception of judgment and torment
to come was a fiery mist in which were concealed the promise
and potency of all the later doctrines of destiny. When this
began to evolve dogmatic forms, it produced the Orthodoxy of
Augustine, the Conditionalism of Arnobius, and the Universal-
ism whose first great apostle was Origen. We have seen that
there were, from the beginning, tendencies of thought towards
both the first and the second of these beliefs ; and it is equally
certain that there were forces at work in the speculation of
the Church, from the time of St. Paul, which found their
logical culmination in the teaching of Origeu. There is, for
instance, at least the suggestion of Universalisin in Irenaeus.
This writer affirms that Adam was saved, and his general
doctrine is that the fortunes of the race correspond to those
of the first man ; so that his assertion of Adam's salvation
involves the inference that all men will ultimately share his
blessedness. Indeed, there are sayings in the writings of
Irenaeus which indicate that he was prepared to contemplate
this conclusion. Thus he says that " the knot of Eve's dis
obedience was loosened by the obedience of Mary." He further
declares that God drove Adam out of Paradise " because He
pitied him and did not desire that he should continue a sinner
for ever, nor that the sin which surrounded him should be
immortal, and evil without end and without remedy. But He
set a bound to his sin by interposing death ... so that man,
ceasing at length to live to sin, and dying to it, might begin to
live to God." l This is teaching which shows that, while this
writer was inclined, for the most part, towards Conditionalism,
there was something in his theology which favoured another
1 Contra Hacrcs,, Lib. III. c. zzii. 4, u. xxiii. 6.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 255

view. Heiice Hariiack says of him — " It was ouly his
moralistic train of thought that saved him from the conclusion
that there is a restoration of all individual men." 1

Again, we have seen that Tertullian uses expressions which
suggest that some in his time believed that all men would be
saved. We must also note a passage in the Second Book of
the Sybilline Oracles which, although it is of uncertain date, is
probably earlier than Origen — " The omnipotent, incorruptible
God . . . shall save mankind from the pernicious fire and
immortal agonies. . . . For, having gathered them, safely
secured from the unwearied flame, and appointed them to
another place, He shall send them, for His people's sake, into
another and an eternal life with the immortals on the Elysian
plains." z

There can be no doubt, also, that Clement of Alexandria
asserted the doctrine of Future Probation, and that he followed
the second part of the Book of Wisdom in teaching that all
punishment is remedial in its purpose ; and these two affirma
tions taken together, certainly lead to the idea of universal
salvation, which is, indeed, at least suggested in some of
Clement's rather cryptic sayings. So that the elements of
Origen's system are contained in the writings of his master.

There are thus distinct indications that the hope of
universal salvation existed in the Church before the time of
Origen. And, indeed, the form in which the latter expresses
himself does not suggest that he was conscious of proclaiming
a new and startling doctrine. He speaks in one passage of the
moral effects which the denial of eternal punishment had
wrought in some cases,3 and it is plain that he could not have
done this if Universalism had been a new thing. It is true
that his system of thought was regarded with suspicion and
dislike by many of his contemporaries; but there is no
evidence that this antagonism was aroused entirely, or even
chiefly, by his assertion that all men would be saved. Origen's

1 History of Dogma, vol. ii. p. 275.

2 Book ii. p. 212 (Paris edit.) ; cf. Ballou, Ancient History of Universalism,
pp. 37, 38.

3 Cf. Hageubach, vol. i. p. 223 (tf).

256 THE WORLD TO COME

miiid was so fertile in heresies that we cannot be sure which
of these was the head and front of his offending. That it was
not his eschatology is suggested by the fact that Gregory of
Nyssa lived in the odour of orthodoxy, although he shared, and
expressed clearly, Origen's hope that none would finally be
lost.1

(&) But if we agree to describe Origen as " the father of
Universalism," we must yet remember that his teaching does
not correspond altogether to certain modem types of Univer-
salist thought. These latter often affirm the victory of the
divine purpose with such emphasis that they are accused of
denying the reality of human freedom; and they are char
acterised by an optimism which is sure that evil will utterly
vanish away. Origen, on the contrary, pressed the doctrine of
free will so far, sometimes, as to suggest that sin might go on
appearing and reappearing for ever.2 He taught, at least in
his earlier works, that finite beings would always remain un
stable in their moral condition, and that, as the lost would rise
again from hell, so the redeemed might fall again from heaven.
He thus foresaw a process of perpetual up-and-down through
"life after life in unlimited series." Evidently this is very
far from being a hopeful view. It offers a prospect of ever
lasting unrest, presents to the vision no sight of an ultimate
goal, and denies the hope of attaining a city that cannot be
moved. It reduces the spiritual universe to chaos, and makes
an end of the government of God. Also, it involves a kind of
moral scepticism, inasmuch as it implies a lack of faith in the
ability of goodness to maintain its victory and to hold the
ground it has won. It supposes that the divine grace that has
sufficed to bring a man into the Kingdom will not suffice to
preserve him there, that the power which has raised him from
death will not avail to keep him from falling.

It is probable, indeed, that Origen felt the force of these
objections, and that he outgrew this deplorable doctrine of the
unstable balance. Neander points out that the references to

1 Neander, vol. iv. p. 445.

2 It is to be noted that the authority for this is mainly Jerome's testimony.
Rufinus' version of the De Priticipiis does not contain this doctrine.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 257

it in his later works are few and indistinct.1 It is to be noted,
also, that even in the De Principiis he expresses the belief that
the whole process of change will issue in the attainment by all
moral beings of a final and perfect salvation.2 We may assume
that as he grew older he put less confidence in the sufficiency
of logic, and also in the absoluteness of man's free will, and
became content to affirm simply the ultimate restoration of all
souls. This is rendered probable by the fact that Gregory of
Nyssa, who followed Origen very closely in all his thinking,
shows no sign of having even remarked his master's doctrine
of an endless possibility of falling from grace. Probably he
knew that this idea had been a mere outpost of Origen's
speculation, having no vital place in his thought.

(c) Further differences which separate Origen from some,
at least, among modern teachers of universal salvation are
these — that he professed to hold his doctrine in submission to
Church authority ; 3 that he disclaimed dogmatic assurance on
the subject of destiny ; 4 and that he recognised that an
indelible mark might be left by sin on the substance of the
soul,5 and thus affirmed the possibility of eternal loss. This
latter point is worthy of note, in view of the charge of duplicity
which is sometimes made against Origen. Sayings of his are
quoted which declare that the truth of ultimate restoration
should not be taught to the common people ; and it is inferred
from these that he was willing- to affirm as a preacher the very
doctrine which he denied as a theologian. One may question,
however, the fairness of this charge. Origen speaks of " eternal
punishment," not only in sermons but also in scientific works
like the De Principiis ;6 and this shows that he did not reject
the truth contained in the idea of everlasting penalty. Like
many later writers, including Gregory, Tauler, and William
Law, he held his Universalist speculations to be consistent
with assent to the doctrine of perdition. The conviction that

1 Church History, vol. ii. pp. 404, 405.

2 De Principiis, Lib. I. c. vi. 1, 2.

* Ibid. Pref. 2. 4 Ibid. Lib. II. c. vi. 1.

5 Of. Pusey, What is of Faith, etc., p. 130, note d.
' De Principiis, Pref. 5.

258 THE WORLD TO COME

good would ultimately attain to perfect triumph was for him
a necessary resting-place alike for thought and for faith, but it
was not a part of the immediate message of the Church to a
sinful world. So far as the eye could reach, as it were, the
prospect of punishment extended. The end in redemption lay
beyond that, and was discerned by the vision of the soul. The
doctrine of Eternal Punishment conveyed a true practical
impression to the minds of men who were not concerned with
problems of thought. It bore to them the immediate truth
that an imminent and unspeakable peril besets the soul of
man.

(d) Gregory of Nyssa (331-395), who carried on the tradition
of Origen, is somewhat neglected by modern theologians ; and
this is surprising, for his habit of thought is not alien to the
modern mind. Whoever takes the trouble to study his works
becomes acquainted with one who is worth the knowing; a
reverent, humane, alive and devout spirit : a lover of nature,
of mankind, and of God. Gregory's doctrine of Universal
Salvation is stated with absolute clearness ; and it is remark
able that, in his various expositions of it, he shows no sign of
feeling himself to be on dangerous ground, or even to be in
a controversial region of thought. It is evident that his
Universalism is associated with his doctrine of the Incarnation ;
but, apart from that, he seems to deduce it from his view of
the character of God, the nature of evil, and the purpose of
punishment. As to the first of these, his hope is founded on
the goodness and wisdom of the Creator. " Being good, the
Deity entertains pity for fallen man ; being wise, He is not
ignorant of the means for his recovery.1 Concerning the
nature of evil, again, Gregory holds that sin has no positive
reality, and therefore must disappear." " In any and every
case evil must be removed out of existence, so that the
absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all." * Finally,
as to the purpose of penalty, Gregory affirms this to be " to get
the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the
communion of blessedness." 3 The pain of punishment occurs

1 The Great Catechixm, c. 21 .

3 De Anima, etc., p. 451 (English translation). 3 Ibid.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 259

in the process of redemption " when the divine force, for God's
very love of man, drags that which belongs to Him from the
ruins of the irrational and material." l As gold with its alloy
is put into the furnace that all its impurity may be burned
away, so the soul, with its sin, is committed to the purgatorial
fire "until the spurious material alloy is consumed and
annihilated." 2 In other passages Gregory likens punishment
to the surgeon's knife and the cautery, which are painful in
their action but blessed in their results.3 And so, on all these
grounds, he expects a time when every soul shall be brought
into conformity with the divine image and shall wear the
beauty of the Lord, when " a harmony of thanksgiving will
arise from all creatures, as well from those who in the process
of the purgation have suffered chastisement as from those who
have needed no purgation at all." 4

Such is a brief statement of Gregory's doctrine on this
. subject, drawn from various parts of his writings. His teaching
is singularly catholic in tone ; it is free from the speculative
excesses of Origen ; and it contains almost all the elements
found in later constructions. One may repeat that it is
surprising to find that a man of his time taught the theory of
universal restitution, and yet was so far from being counted
a heretic that he was held in honour as a foremost defender of
the faith, an orthodox and trusted bishop, " the arbiter and
moderator of the Churches."

2. Medieval Church. — (a) It has been a matter of debate
whether Origen's eschatology was condemned by the so-called 6
Fifth General Council (553) ; but the truth seems to be that
while the tenets of this teacher were anathematised by the
local Synod held at Constantinople in 544, the later Council
did not concern itself in particular with Origen's doctrine,
though it formally ratified the proceedings of the Synod.6

1 De Anima, etc., p. 451 (English translation). " Hid,

3 The Great Catechism, o. 26 (p. 496, English translation).

4 Ibid.

r> This Council was not truly Catholic. The Bishop of Rome was not
present.

B Cf. Gieseler, vol. ii. pp. 100-103. Also Ballou's Ancient History of
Unlversalism, p. 281 (note). Also discussion between Pusey and Oxenham,

260 THE WORLD TO COME

However this may be, there can be no doubt that Universalism
prevailed widely throughout the Church during the fifth
century. Probably it attained to the height of its influence in
that age ; which witnessed, on the other hand, the formulation
of the orthodox doctrine and the triumph of that dreadful
logic which led the Synod of Carthage to declare that
everlasting torment was the fate of all infants who died
without baptism. The extent to which Universalism prevailed
at that time is evident from the direct testimony of Augustine,
and from the tone in which he speaks of its defenders. But
it is equally clear that after the sixth century the power of
Christian optimism rapidly declined, and triumphant orthdoxy
became able to prevent its obtaining definite utterance. It is
true that the system of Maximus Confessor (seventh century)
was certainly Universalist in its meaning, but he was evidently
afraid to make this explicitly known.1 Thereafter, for many
ages, a hopeful view of destiny was never professed openly,
except by men of unusual daring who generally held it along
with a varied assortment of other heresies. The clearest expres
sion given to it by any teacher of repute between the seventh
century and the Keformation is to be found in the writings of
John Scotus Erigena (ninth century), wherein we read :

" I wonder on what principle you deliberate and hesitate,
thinking that evil and the death of eternal torments can
remain for ever in that humanity the whole of which the Word
of God took into Himself and redeemed ; whereas true reason
teaches that nothing contrary to the divine goodness and life
and blessedness can be co-eternal with them. For the divine
goodness will consume evil, eternal life will absorb death and
misery." *

This Erigena is a dazzling and momentous figure.
Appearing as he did at a time when the mind of the Church
seemed asleep, he was the prophet of the far-off modern world.
On the one hand, he took up again the broken succession of
mystical thinkers which, beginning with Plato, went on

1 Neander, v. 242.

2 De Division* Naturae, Lib. V. ; cf. Maurice, Moral and Metaphysical
Philosophy, Book I. pp. 497-499.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 261

through Philo and the later Christian Alexandrians to Gregory
of Nyssa and Dionysius. Begun again by Erigena, it stretched
forward through the Schoolmen and the Friends of God to the
great figures of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the
Transcendental movement. On the other hand, Erigena re
sumed that endeavour to rationalise theology which Origen and
his school had begun, and which produced that elaborate and
imposing structure of thought that is presented in the Summa
of Thomas Aquinas. In short, the spacious mind of this
man contained elements of strict logical reasoning, which were
fulfilled in Scholasticism, and others, mystic and poetical, which
developed themselves in Master Eckhart and in John Tauler.

(6) These latter, Eckhart and Tauler and the Friends of
God generally, never broke with the theology of the Church ;
but the ecclesiastical mind had reason for the suspicion with
which it regarded them. Eckhart's thought was as daring as
Erigena's ; and his system contains elements which were
developed later in the Hegelian dialectic. He asserted the
unity of the soul with God so strongly as to be accused of
Pantheism. He stated the doctrine of immortality sometimes
in such a form as to indicate the final absorption of the finite
being in the Infinite. And he affirmed the inability of good
works to achieve salvation with such zeal as to suggest
Antinomianism. Yet an Antinomian he was not, nor a
Pantheist nor a Buddhist, but a good Churchman and devout
believer ; possessed, however, of that type of mystical genius
which is incapable of orthodoxy. His eschatology was
certainly optimistic. No one who affirmed, as he did, that all
things came from God and returned to God, that the soul was
identical in substance with the Creator, and that sin was mere
defect of life, could believe in the eternity of evil. But he
brought his speculation into apparent conformity with tradition
by teaching that eternal punishment meant being deprived of
God. By this, however, he could only mean the loss of that
perfect intellectual knowledge of God which, in his view,
constituted the blessedness of the soul.

262 THE WORLD TO COME

Sermons are among the finest fruits of spiritual genius. Their
message does not seem to come from a far-off time nor from an
alien Church, since it belongs to that religion of the spirit
which is the true Catholicism, and is the same yesterday, to
day, and for ever. Tatiler'a discourse ranges from the highest
speculations to the simplest matters of Christian duty. He
talks of the " school of the eternal light " and the things to be
learned therein, of the joy of knowing God directly and seeing
Him face to face, of Christ in His perfect blessedness and
immeasurable sorrow, of the inability of works or sacraments
to save the soul, of " the Kingdom of God which is God Him
self," of forgiveness and mercy and brotherhood. On things
like these he loves to dwell, and in all his teaching he combines
the utmost clearness and simplicity of speech with a generous
confidence that his hearers will be as interested as himself in
the higher things of the spiritual life and the deeper problems
of the Christian faith. The fact that the common people
crowded to hear him suggests that the " dark ages " were not
so very unenlightened after all. Or perhaps we may say that
the very trouble and obscurity of men's lives in those days
invested with a double grace and attractiveness the serene,
benignant, and brave figure of this Friend of God.

The doctrine of Eternal Punishment was taught by Tauler
as sincerely as it was by Origen. But the knowledge that he
shared the philosophy of Eckhart, as well as one or two direct
statements of his, justifies those who reckon him among the
believers in the final triumph of good. Thus he says
somewhere — " All beings exist through the same birth as the
Son, and therefore shall they all come again to their original,
that is, God the Father." Like all mystics, Tauler held the
faith after a manner of his own, honestly but with a difference.
In his teaching, as in his conduct, he was careless of consistency
as commonly understood. Just as he sincerely professed
profound submission to the Church authorities, and yet
ministered to the plague-stricken people in defiance of the
interdict of Rome, so in his doctrine he made assertions that
were incapable of being logically harmonised. His mind
dwelt in a region where things that seem at war with each

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 263

other present the promise of reconciliation ; where necessity
and freedom, justice and mercy, eternal loss and eternal
salvation, are but different sides of one reality.1

(f?) It is very difficult to say whether the speculations of
Eckhart and Tauler represented any considerable body of
opinion in medieval times. There is no doubt that the popular
mind of those days was in bondage unto fear, and was
compassed about by apocalyptic terrors. But, on the other
hand, the " ages of faith " were ages also of very intense
unbelief; and a restless and daring type of thought had its
home among the secret societies and heretical sects whose
influence defied the rule of Holy Church. As we have seen,
also, a very real freedom existed within the seeming prison
of Scholasticism. It is noteworthy, too, that Aquinas, in his
exposition of the orthodox doctrine of destiny, states most of
the objections that are commonly taken to the dogma he
defends. Of course, he may have produced these objections
out of his own mind, or derived them from his study of ancient
works ; but the tone of his argument does suggest that he was
facing difficulties that were actual and living in his own day.
Much of the real life of those times is hidden from our eyes as
completely as if it belonged to a vanished world ; but there is
reason enough for conjecture that the broad and tender
humanity of St. Francis and the profound devotion of Thomas
a Kempis had their intellectual counterpart in a strain of
theological thought which was rich in hope and full of
immortality.

3. Modern Church. — (a) We have had occasion to note in
an earlier chapter that the Reformed Church was on the whole
less liberal than the Roman in its official doctrine of destiny.
But individual Protestant thinkers have, of course, diverged
from the accepted eschatology far more decidedly than any of
the medieval Doctors. In every age there have been found
within the evangelical communions men who have represented
the tradition of Christian optimism, and have been able to
secure for it a measure of respect. These have not, indeed,
always gone so far as to predict the salvation of all souls.

1 Life and Hermans of Dr. John Tauler.

264 THE WORLD TO COME

Sometimes their optimism has been no more than a disturbing
influence leading them to make doubtful and ambiguous state
ments on the subject of destiny, as in the cases, for instance,
of Butler,1 Tillotson,2 Jeremy Taylor,3 and Coleridge.4 An
illustration of this uncertain state of mind is found in the
ironical utterance of Sir Thomas Browne regarding Origen's
doctrine — " Which error I fell into upon a serious contempla
tion of the great attribute of God, His mercy ; and did a little
cherish it in myself, because I found therein no malice, and
ready weight to sway me from the other extreme of despair,
whereunto melancholy and contemplative natures are too
easily disposed." 6

Sometimes, also, this optimistic type of thought has been
content with the general assertion that somehow all things
work together for good.

"All is for best, though we oft doubt
What the omnipotent dispose
Of perfect wisdom doth make out ;
And ever best found in the close."6

(6) But, although Christian optimism has thus expressed
itself with varying degrees of force, and has commonly
refrained from any very definite attack upon the traditional
doctrine of destiny, there can be no greater mistake than to
suppose, as do some writers, that theological Universalism is a
heresy of recent appearance in the Protestant Church. A
glance at any bibliography of the subject is enough to dispel
that delusion, since it shows us that this theory was supported
in scores of books published before the eighteenth century.7
It had asserted itself even in Eeformation times ; and Petersen,
in the seventeenth century, stated nearly every conceivable
argument in its defence. With him, also, must be associated

1 Analogy (Wheeler's ed. ), pp. 26, 27, 48.

2 Eternity of Hell Torments.

8 Christ's Advent to Judgment, etc.

4 E.g., Notes on English Divines, i. 235 ; Table- Talk, p. 327.

5 Rcligio Medici, sec. 7. 6 Samson Agoniates.

7 Cf . Abbott's Bibliography, in Appendix to Alger's History of Doctrine of a
Future Life.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 265

many English and German writers of those old days, whose
names it were useless to mention. The truth is that the
tradition which goes back to Origen, if not to the Apostle
Paul, has never been wholly without its witnesses, either in
literature or in theology, and has been increasing in intiuence
since the Reformation time. Among the representatives of
this tradition we may include all who have confessed the
immortality of the soul, and have taught that evil is transitory,
or at least have not affirmed the opposite. One would be
inclined, for instance, to mantion in this connection all
exponents of the " larger hope " — such theologians as Dorner,1
who have taught that the period of opportunity extends into
the future state, and have admitted that it may issue in the
redemption of all. But, if we decide to confine our view to
those who may be described as positively Universalist in
statement, we must trace the line of this tradition from Origen,
Gregory, Maximus, Erigena, Eckhart, and Tauler, to certain
of the Reformation teachers like John Denck,2 and on to
Bengel, Schleierrnacher, Schelling, Neander, William Law,
Erskine, Maurice,3 Martineau, the Neo-Kantian thinkers of
the more conservative school, and the New England Trans-
cendentalists. These may all be called Christian optimists,
though they have not all made the doctrine of universal
salvation a prominent feature in their teaching. For the
elaboration of this view of ultimate destiny, we must refer to
the works of men who have devoted themselves to this end.
And it must be admitted that the study of this latter class of
writers does sometimes become a little wearisome. For the
most part, they attempt to prove their case by a somewhat
one-sided and uncritical treatment of the New Testament
evidence ; they are often less than fair to the orthodox
doctrine ; and they seldom define with any clearness the nature
of that salvation which they expect all men to attain. Like

1 System of Christian Doctrine, vol. iv. pp. 423-428.

2 Denck has suffered great injustice at the hands of Lutheran historians.
For a fair and scholarly account of him, see Beard's Hibbert Lectures (1883),
pp. 204-212.

3 Dogmatic Universalism is of the essence of Maurice's system, spite of his
ambiguous sayings.

266 THE WORLD TO COME

most polemical writers, they would be more convincing if they
were less confident ; they would gain much if they conceded a
little; they provoke suspicion that the problem of destiny
cannot be quite so simple as they represent it to be.

(c) It is not necessary for the purposes of this discussion
that we should proceed further with our illustration of
Christian optimism in the general line of its development ; but
it may be well to describe somewhat more fully the forms
which this type of opinion assumed during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, the periods of its greatest power. In the
eighteenth century the optimism of poets and philosophers
was much more emphatic than that of religious thinkers. The
former was extremely confident, while the latter was, as a rule,
of a very different mood, differing, indeed, from orthodoxy only
in this, that while it affirmed the doctrine of perdition in the
fullest sense, it refused to assert that sin and pain would never
end.

The philosophical system of Shaftesbury, for instance, is
both weighty and ingenious, and he has been described with
justice as enforcing "a most religious as well as a most
profound view of the world."1 But his optimism was so
pronounced that Pope believed himself to be expressing it
fairly in the saying :

" All discord, harmony not understood ;
All partial evil, universal good."

Very different, however, was the tone even of the most hopeful
theologians of that age. The clergyman and poet Crabbe
(1754»-1832), for example, says, with reference to the idea of
universal salvation :

" The view is happy ; we may think it just.
It may be true ; but who shall say it must ? "

And this is a saying that cannot be accused of audacity, any
more than of poetic beauty. It may be questioned whether
John Foster (1770-1843) ought to be included among men of
the eighteenth century ; but he is true to the spirit of that
age, inasmuch as his Universalism does not go further than

1 Pflciderer, Philosophy of Religion, vol. i. p. 120.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 267

the denial that evil is everlasting, and the hope that " some
where in the endless futurity all God's erring creatures will be
restored by Him to rectitude and happiness." l William Law
is sometimes more dogmatic — as, for instance, in the often-
quoted passage which affirms that " every number of destroyed
sinners must, through the all seeking, all redeeming love of
God which never ceaseth, come at last to know that they had
lost and have found again such a God as this." But this is
a saying which does not fairly represent the tone of Law's
teaching as a whole. His intention in all his works is
evangelical; it is to convert and edify. Hence his private
speculation regarding the End of things seldom finds expres
sion. Even a careful student, reading his books for the sake
of their spiritual splendours, may easily miss those sayings
which indicate his departure from orthodoxy; while, on the
other hand, his warnings of death and perdition are many and
vivid. Also, the influence of Boehme, which dominates his
later thought, obscures the expression of his own personal
beliefs. Yet there can be no doubt that the limitless hope
remained with Law until the end. For instance, he teaches in
one of the dialogues on the Way to Divine Knowledge that the
fall of man was due to the fact that Adam had no experience
to guide him in the act of moral choice which he was compelled
to make ; and the theological bearing of this doctrine is clear.
Further, in the same book the question is put to him whether
he teaches " that angels as well as men will be at last brought
back to their first state." And his reply is that this is a
matter on which we cannot obtain assurance. If the fallen
angels have " nothing heavenly in them," they cannot be
redeemed. But if they "are not essentially evil," they will
" infallibly " be restored. " The boundless goodness of God
will set no bounds to itself, but remove every misery from
every creature that is capable of it." z It is plain that this
teaching involves the conclusion that all men will be delivered.
God will redeem all creatures except those who are incapable
of it, and none are incapable of redemption who are not
essentially and utterly evil. But, of course, men are not, in

1 Letter to a Youmj Clergyman. '* Works, vol. ii. pp. 170-176.

268 THE WORLD TO COME

Law's view, wholly evil ; there is in every man " a heavenly
angel that died in Paradise," and died only in the sense that it
" is hid awhile." l And from this it follows that all men are
capable of salvation, and therefore will be saved. The con
dition that creates doubt in the case of devils does not exist
in the case of men. Thus this greatest of English mystics
illustrates the temper of Christian optimism in his time ;
which accepted the doctrine of perdition, but discerned a light
beyond it.

(d) There was thus, in the eighteenth century, a marked
difference between the optimism that was expressed in
literature and philosophy and that type of it which appeared
in Christian theology. The former was assured, and sometimes
rather facile; the latter was reverent, profound, and a little
afraid to declare itself,2 at least within the orthodox com
munions. Thus Dr. Thomas Burnett wrote an excellent
defence of Universalism, but its publication was delayed till
after his death.3 In the nineteenth century matters were very
different. During the Victorian Age optimism reached its
fullest and richest development; and its literary and theo
logical forms corresponded very closely to each other. It was
full of conviction, and it uttered itself with courage ; but it
was not facile, nor irreverent, nor wanting in perception of the
pity and terror of things. The Idealist-Bomantic philosophy,
which was the dominant intellectual force of that time, was
hopeful enough ; but it was the enemy of all mere compromise
and easy reconciliation. It insisted that no true harmony of
thought could be reached except by asserting to the uttermost
every element in its problems ; that a real synthesis could be
attained only through the fullest recognition of every discord.
Similarly, the optimistic theology of the age was confident in
its teaching, and its assault on the older eschatology was
sustained and resolute. But it had a deep conviction of sin ;
it asserted retribution with the utmost force ; and it saw, often
with distressing clearness, the difficulties that beset a sanguine

1 Works, vol. ii. p. 149.

2 Cf., however, Bishop Newton, Final State and Condition of Men.

3 De Statu Mortuorum.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 269

view of human destiny. The hopeful thinkers of that time
saw the ultimate light through a world of doubt and shadows.
Their enthusiasm of humanity was deeply touched with sad
ness, and was redeemed from despondency only by the power
of faith. It was Browning, the sturdiest optimist of his day,
that declared :

" There may be heaven ; there must be hell." 1
And he praised Christianity because it

"taught original sin,
The corruption of man's heart." 2

It is no wonder, then, that in an age when thought was of
this temper there was found that sympathy with the Uni-
versalist protest which undoubtedly prevailed among many of
those who then ruled in the world of letters. Literature has
generally been sensitive to the same forces which have moved
religious thought, and has responded to the influence of
theology either in the way of agreement or opposition. While
theology has seldom been good literature, literature has quite
often been good theology. But there has rarely existed so
close a sympathy between these two powers as was witnessed
during the days of Maurice and Tennyson, when the doctrine
of the limitless hope found as clear expression in poetry as it
did in sermons and in the works of controversial divines. So
true is this, that we cannot better indicate the various types of
modern religious optimism than by illustrating the truth that
not only the general position of Universalism, but even its
different forms, find expression in the literature of the
Victorian Age.

For instance, some Universalists, even as late as the
beginning of last century, used to teach that there was no
punishment of sin after death, that all iniquities received full
retribution here, and that the world to come was one of
immediate peace and blessedness for all. This doctrine was
not without its value. It emphasised the often forgotten truth
that evil is truly its own penalty, and always inflicts upon the
sinner some present loss of life and joy. Also, it expressed

1 Time's Revenyes. 2 Oold Hair.

270 THE WORLD TO COME

the hope, which we all entertain, that much of the fault and
defilement that mar human character is due to inheritance and
to physical defect, as well as to ignorance and false education,
and may be expected to fall away like a garment at the touch
of death.

"Such harmony is in immortal souls.
But while this muddy vesture of decay
So grossly wraps us round we cannot hear it."

But, while this old Universalist heresy did have something of
truth in its heart, it yet, as a dogmatic assertion, was plainly
out of harmony with reason and scripture, and most dangerous
in its practical results. It therefore very soon disappeared
from theology. Nevertheless, it embodied a belief which con
tinues to be held by multitudes of people, as is plain to every
one who has observed the way in which the dead are commonly
spoken of as being at rest and peace, whatever their manner of
life may have been. And this popular sentiment has never
ceased to find utterance of various kinds in literature. We all
know how often modern writers express the view that death
pays all debts, and cleanses the soul of all its stains.

" Past all dishonour,
Death hath left on her
Only the beautiful."

There is, again, a type of Universalism which may be
called evangelical, inasmuch as it is associated with belief in
the incarnation and perfect sacrifice of Christ ; and has no hope
for all men, or for any man, that does not rest upon the Cross.
It may be said that even Schleiermacher a represents this form
of thought, since his theology is centred in Christ, though he
supports the doctrine of ultimate restoration on many specula
tive and practical grounds. But more distinctly evangelical is
the argument presented by Erskine in his Letters* and by
Bishop Ewing,3 and by George Macdonald,4 whose sermons

1 Christliche Glanbe, ii. 603; cf. also Mackintosh, Immortality and the, Fitture,
pp. 199-201.

2 Letters of Thomas Ersl-ine, pp. 422-435. 8 Memoin.
* Unypolcen Sermonus, ct<-.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 271

contain a most winning expression of the limitless hope. This
view is elaborated also in works like Jukes' Restitution of All
Things, and Cox's Salvador Mundi. And the literary embodi
ments of this type of belief have been, of course, many and
striking. For illustration of this, one may refer especially to
the writings of Whittier ; * and also of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, who declared that Christ suffered death, and cried
upon the Cross, " I am forsaken," in order

" That of the lost, no son should use those words of desolation ;
That earth's worst frenzies, marring hope, should mar not hope's
fruition." 2

Once more, there is a form of optimism which, although
it is not divorced from historical Christianity nor fails to
emphasise the work of Christ, is yet mainly inspired by abstract
principles of thought. Perhaps the chief representative of this
school is Schelling,3 but to it also belong many theologians of
the Hegelian type, like Principal John Caird.4 Probably, also,
Maurice 5 and Stanley may be classed with this group. Tenny
son presents their point of view in the famous passage in In
Memoriam, which is the classical expression of the Larger
Hope. Whoever considers with a fair mind sections 54 and
55 of this poem is likely to recognise in them the best utter
ance of Christian optimism, in its combination of faith in
ultimate good with intense perception of the weight and force
of those darker elements in thought and experience which
seem to give that faith the lie.

" Behold, we know not anything ;

We only trust that good shall fall
At last — far off — at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring."

But, finally, there is a form of Universalism which is not
distinctively Christian except in the sense that it springs from the

1 Cf. Tauler, Eternal Goodness, etc.

2 Cowper's Grave. See also Drama of Exile, etc.

3 tiammtliehe Werke,, iv. 62 (on 1 Cor. 1524).

4 Cf. sermon in Scotch Sermons.

5 Theological Essays, pp. 443-478.

272 THE WORLD TO COME

Christian doctrine of God. The work of Christ is not an
essential part of it. It does not bear the stamp of the Cross,
but is simply a deduction from Theism. Martineau is a
representative of this position ; and the later Unitarians
commonly adhere to it. Its most passionate and forcible
exponent is Theodore Parker ; l but perhaps the most complete
expression of it is found in Frances Power Cobbe's essay,
Doomed to be Saved.2 This is the type of optimism that has
received the most abundant utterance in literature. One
example is afforded by Longfellow's lines :

"It is Lucifer,
The son of mystery.
And since God suffers him to be,
He also is God's minister,
And labours for some good
By us not understood." 3

But the greatest apostle of this evangel is Robert Browning,
who prophesies that

"There shall never be one lost good. What was shall live as before.
The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound.
What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more ;
On the earth the broken arcs ; in the heaven, a perfect round." 4

I doubt, however, if even Browning expressed the optimist
faith with such intensity of conviction as is found in Whit
man's verse:

"whatever else withheld, withhold not from us
Belief in plan of Thee inclosed in time and space,
Health, peace, salvation universal.
Is it a dream?

Nay, but the lack of it a dream,
And, failing it, life's lore and wealth a dream,
And all the world a dream."*

(e) Let this suffice, then, for a general sketch of Christian
optimism in its historical development. Enough has been

1 Discourse on Matters pertaining to Religion.

2 Hopes of Human Race. 3 Golds n Legend.
4 AU Vogler. 5 Leaves of Grass.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 273

said to show that this type of religious opinion has a legitimate
place in Christian theology, and to illustrate the impressive
nature of its testimony. That testimony is reverent and
humane ; it is founded on deep things in thought and in faith ;
and it generally bears the mark of having been learned at a
great cost. Meredith says somewhere that " it is impossible
to think at all, and not to think hopefully " ; and certainly it
is not possible to attain to an abiding hopefulness without
thinking a good deal. An unreflective geniality is not
optimism, any more than ill-temper is pessimism. The face
of the world is not to be read at a glance ; the unthoughtf ul
mind will see in it nothing but the reflection of its own pass
ing moods. Extempore judgments as to the meaning of life
are without the slightest value, and are as likely to be dark as
bright. It is only among those who have thought long and
carefully on the import and purpose of things that any
assured conviction on the matter can be found. And it is
certain that many of the most gifted and laborious thinkers
have agreed with the testimony of Goethe — " I have ever
believed in the victory of good over evil." In any case, those
optimists who have been distinctively Christian in their stand
point have, as a rule, been men of learning and of thought,
and their hope has not been easily reached or held. They
have not been strangers to grief more than other men, nor
unconvinced of sin, nor blind to the dreadful facts of life.
And their belief, whether mistaken or no, was gained through
an act of faith — a hard and difficult act. It is not easy to
believe in the supremacy of goodness in a universe that
groaneth and travaileth together in pain. Nor is it a simple
matter to discern that

" love must be
The meaning of the earth and sea."

After all, the only really hopeful thing in the world is the
vision of God — and the vision of God is not easily achieved.

274 THE WORLD TO COME

II.

EXPOSITION.

1. Having thus completed the more general and liistorical
part of this study, we must now go on to state and consider
the chief dogmatic assertions which characterise the optimistic
theory of destiny. In proceeding to this task, it will be
necessary to keep in view the statement already made
regarding the various forms which this doctrine has assumed.
Also, I shall not seek to expound the position of any one
thinker, but will endeavour rather to set down in order the
main affirmations which are embodied in this system as a
whole.

(a) Universalism assumes, in agreement with all Christian
theology, that God is to be conceived as a " Person," in the
sense that we can ascribe to Him thought, purpose, and will,
and also love, justice, and truth. But it dwells with special
emphasis on the belief that " God is love." It also postulates
personal Immortality, not as a thing to be attained by faith
and virtue, but as an original possession of the soul.

(6) Again, it generally affirms that evil has only a negative
existence, inasmuch as it is the opposite of good which alone
has positive being. Universalism, however, is not to be
identified with this view of the nature of evil, and is often
content to affirm simply that goodness is stronger than its
opposite, and, therefore, must in the end prevail. Martineau's
position, for instance, is that evil is in its nature self-destructive.
"All dominant evil is in the last resort doomed to natural
suicide, and we have a divine guarantee against a perpetuity
of corruption." l

(c) Further, Universalism teaches that God has a purpose
for His creatures, which is to deliver them from sin and
sorrow, and bring them to a state of final blessedness.

(d) Once more, this doctrine asserts the freedom of the

1 Study of Kcli(/ion, vol. ii. p. 116 ; of. Studies of Christianity, pp. 187,
197, 198.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 275

will; but it denies that this freedom is so absolute as to
permit of eternal persistence in sin. It counts it incredible
that God has bestowed on any creature the power to perpetuate
evil, and work its own everlasting misery. Such an endow
ment would not be a good gift ; and all the gifts of God are
good.

(e) Finally, it maintains that God's purpose of salvation
will certainly be effective in the case of every soul ; and this,
not through the action of any outward constraint, but by the
persuasive ministries of grace. It holds that to deny this is
to say that God will be defeated ; which is a contradiction in
terms, since He is God simply because He cannot be overcome.
A king who can be made to suffer a final disaster is evidently
confronted by a power that is stronger than himself ; and such
a king cannot be the supreme God. If it be urged that the
everlasting continuance of some souls in sin does not involve
the frustration of the divine will, inasmuch as His purpose
does not include the salvation of all, Universalists reply that,
if this be so, God cannot intend the total destruction of sin,
which can only be achieved through the salvation of every
sinner. But to say that God does not purpose to make an
utter end of evil, is to assert that He is not wholly opposed to
it, and is to deny that He is the God who is revealed in the
Christian gospel and in the- conscience of mankind. It is
evident that if He be indeed the implacable enemy of sin, He
cannot desire anything less than its complete extinction ; and
the New Testament undoubtedly declares that this is in fact
His purpose. Moral experience also testifies to the same
effect, since it finds the principle of goodness to be opposed to
the principle of evil without reserve and to the uttermost. It
is therefore plain that the loss of any soul, involving as it
must the persistence of sin, would mean the defeat of the
divine intention, which is to make an end of sin. And, seeing
that we cannot entertain the idea of such a defeat, we must
believe in the final redemption of every soul.

Of course, there is an obvious objection to this conclusion.
It is urged that if the permanence of sin would mean the defeat
of God, so does its present existence. Moral disorder is a fact

276 THE WORLD TO COME

of the universe, although of that universe God is the Lord ;
and even though it were always to remain a fact, His
sovereignty would stand. He willed that evil should not
begin, yet it appeared ; He wills that it should end, and yet it
may endure. The one of these statements does not imply the
frustration of Hie purpose any more than does the other.
But the answer that is commonly given to this objection is
that the existence of sin does not involve the defeat of God,
since His purpose did not exclude its appearance in the world.
He did not will that it should be, but He willed the conditions
which made it possible. He permitted evil when He created
a race of moral beings ; for the power of doing right involves
the danger of doing wrong. And we cannot say that such
permission of sin is inconsistent with the divine goodness and
sovereignty unless we make the same assertion as to the
creation of mankind ; since the one is a necessary part of the
other. Also, it is unreasonable to say that the temporary
continuance of sin is a frustration of the divine intention to
make an end of it ; for it is evident that a disorder which has
its root in the free will of man cannot be cured suddenly or by
force, but only through the patient working of spiritual influ
ence. Further, the argument, that whatever God permits now
He may permit for ever, is one that cannot be applied to all
the facts of life. Malignant disease and physical death are
facts of the present order, but no theologian argues that they
may endure eternally. We can reconcile the existence of
these things with our conception of the Divine character only
on the supposition that they will cease to be. And, in like
manner, we are able to harmonise our faith in God's goodness
with the existence of sin, only if we believe that it will finally
pass away.

Christian optimism thus finds its doctrine of the End to
be justified from many points of view. When we think of the
Divine character, we see that it is love ; and infinite love has
an infinite power to save and to reconcile. When we consider
the freedom of the human will, we see that it is limited by the
nature of things, by the moral necessity that good should
prove itself stronger than evil. When we reflect on the

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 277

nature of evil, we see that it is transitory, carries in it the
seeds of its own destruction, has no place among immortal
things. Finally, when we think of God as haviny a purpose,
we see that this purpose is universal, and must in the end
prevail.1

2. Now, this is a line of argument to which we must in
fairness attrihute considerable force. Nor does it represent
the whole strength of the Universalist case. Apart altogether
from its appeal to the character of God, this theory is able to
draw a powerful argument from the pathos, inequality, heart
breaking insufficiency of the human lot in this present life.
And thus it can present the doctrine of immortality with full
confidence as the solution of our most difficult problems. We
cannot disguise from ourselves that the apologetic value of
belief in a future state is very much weakened when it is
combined with the assertion that death is the end of oppor
tunity. If the fate of all men be fixed when they leave this
world, it is vain to say that the next world will afford them
redress for the many injustices they may have suffered in this
mortal life. It is quite impossible to maintain that only the
righteous have endured wrongs here, and that the unregenerate
have no claim for redress hereafter. Yet, in the orthodox
view, none but the saints will derive any benefit from exist
ence beyond the grave. For the rest of humanity, that exist
ence will be simply the crown of sorrow. Universalism, on
the other hand, is able to affirm that all wrongs will be righted,
all injuries redressed, all injustice done away, and is thus in a
position to give full value to the faith in immortality, and to
the thought that " only the infinite pity is sufficient for the
infinite pathos of life."

3. This doctrine is also able to give complete significance

1 For expositions of Universalism other than those mentioned in thu
chapter, see James Freeman Olarke, Orthodoxy : Its Truths and Errors ;
Ballon, Ancic.nt History of I'niversalism ; Alger, History of Doctrine of a
Future Life ; Neander, History nf Planting of Cltristianity, vol. ii. ; Farrar,
Eternal Hope, and Mercy and Judgment ; Winchester, Dialogues, etc. ;
Stopford Brooke, Sermons ; John Hamilton Thorn, Sermons. Also Latest
Wwd of Universalism, Universalist Bool: of Reference and other publications
of the Universalist Publishing House.

278 THE WORLD TO COME

to the great ethical truth of the organic unity of the race.
Universalists think that our theology has recognised clearly
the oneness of humanity in its doctrines of the Fall and of
the Atonement, and yet failed to discern the bearing of this
truth on eschatology. If we are all members one of another,
if every life is simply a part of a greater whole, if all our
actions, whether good or evil, find their place in the vast
complicated web of human history, then it is difficult to see
how the perfect salvation of any is possible without the
redemption of all. Suppose we divide the race into the two
great classes of the lost and the saved, we yet cannot conceive
these two as altogether dissociated from each other. A million
subtle and unbreakable cords of moral relation stretch across
the gulf between them. In the great credit and debt account
of the universe, it cannot be said that the creditors are all
found among the saved, and the debtors all among the lost.
Who can doubt that many sinners have just claims against
many saints ? Who can doubt that many a man who has
found salvation towards the end of an evil life will, on the
great day of reckoning, see not a few of his victims among the
multitudes of the lost ? And this consideration is only one
among many which bring home to us the truth that we are all
bound together in one bundle of life, and show us how hard it
is to believe that the perfect blessedness of some of us can be
harmonised with the ultimate perdition of others. This is
really a radical problem, and its weight is felt by many persons
who are not in the least theological. I suppose, for instance,
that it explains the saying of Abraham Lincoln, " it must be
everybody or nobody." And Hawthorne expressed it with
great force when he wrote, referring to the degraded poor of
our cities — " Unless these slime-clogged nostrils can be made
capable of inhaling celestial air, I know not how the purest
and most intellectual of us can reasonably expect ever to taste
a breath of it. The whole question of eternity is staked here.
If a single one of these little ones be lost, the world is lost."
4. These, then, are some of the elements of speculative
strength in the theory that evil will ultimately come to an end
through the reconciliation of all souls to God. We are not

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 279

concerned to deny that they are important and impressive.
It is, indeed, on its speculative side that this theory seems
least open to attack. It is evident, however, that the
argument it presents is founded partly on a philosophy that is
not held by every one. Pragmatists and Pluralists, for instance,
and those who are satisfied with a dualistic view of things,
will not recognise the value of its contentions ; nor will those
who say, with Boehme, that evil as well as good has its origin
in God. It is evident, too, that those who, believing in
naturalistic evolution, do not accept the doctrine of a necessary
immortality for all, are outside the range of the Universalist
artillery. So are those who assert that we cannot attribute
" purpose " to God, or who believe that He has so limited
Himself, in the creation of a moral universe, that even the
issue of things is beyond His control. No doubt, also, many
will think that Christian optimism reasons too confidently
from general principles, forgets that there may be elements in
the problem of destiny which it overlooks, affirms as certain
what can only at best be matter of hope, and shows un
warranted assurance in projecting the lines of present
experience into the unknown future.

A recent writer of distinction, following Professor William
James, describes Universalism as an "idyllic" theory. The
phrase is not very fortunate or fair. An idyll has no tragedy
or stress in it ; and I am not aware of any important teacher
of the optimistic school whose view of things is wanting in
these elements. Who can see anything " idyllic " in Origen's
doctrine of renewal by fire, or in the austere teaching of
Martineau, who likens the sufferings of the lost soul to the
torments of Prometheus ? l But the fact that learned writers
do describe Universalism in this way indicates a widespread
conviction that its confidence arises from the ignoring of many
grim and terrible facts; that it overlooks the desperate
wickedness of the world ; that it lives in an atmosphere of
thought which is remote from reality, and sees things in a
golden summer mist.

Now, the force of the considerations which inspire this

1 Stiulies of Christianity, p. 197,

280 THE WORLD TO COME

latter objection to Christian optimism is beyond doubt. Ex
perience, alas ! does reveal to us many things in life which give
the lie to hope. One suspects that there are times when the
strongest believer in the victory of goodness feels as if his
creed were the emptiest of delusions unreal as the pageantry
of dreams. And yet, Christian apologists do well to be
cautious in their appeals to the dark and menacing side of
things. Pessimism is a dangerous ally of religion. The very
facts to which we point in order to destroy Universalism are
the enemies of all belief in the spiritual view of the world, in
the dignity of the soul, in immortality, in the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The pettiness, the baseness, the
cruelty and selfishness, the sheer brutality of the world — these
are realities which, if we submit to their tyranny, will make
an end of faith. Faith is in its very nature the assertion that
there is a truth that transcends the dreadful truths of experi
ence. It sees death, but believes in life eternal ; it faces sin
and suffering, but confesses a perfect love and pity; it
recognises the cruelty of nature, but declares, " Behold the
birds of the air ... your heavenly Father feedeth them."
And so, if we are to blame optimism because it prophesies the
complete victory of good, in spite of the world, the flesh and
the devil, we must see to it that we make clear our own
grounds for affirming that

"God is love indeed,
And love Creation's final law."

III.

ETHICAL OBJECTIONS.

1. The speculative side of Christian optimism is not,
however, the aspect of it which has mainly provoked attack.
Objection has been taken to it chiefly on moral and practical
grounds. And it is to this side of the controversy that we
must now address ourselves.

It is frequently urged that Universalism has a bad and

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 281

even fatal, moral influence, inasmuch as it belittles siii, en
courages a slack view of the moral government of God, and
weakens our sense of the tremendous issues that depend upon
the act of moral choice. Edward White, for instance, calls it
" A death-dealing heresy." 1 Franz Delitzsch states directly
that a glance into the life of Petersen convinces us that
" even the noblest soul may be absolutely perverted in all its
relations by this doctrine."2 Dr. Pusey speaks of Dr.
Farrar's book on Eternal Hope, not merely with intellectual
dissent, but with moral indignation.3 And these are but
examples of a tendency which we find to be very strong in
certain quarters — a disposition to meet the advocates of
universal restoration not only with arguments that appeal
to reason and the Scriptures, but with the assertion that their
position involves a certain want of earnestness on the part of
its defenders, and is fraught with great danger to the souls of
those who accept it.

This tendency seldom embodies itself in the definite state
ment that Universalist teachers throughout the ages have
shown unusual depravity. Indeed it could not, in view of the
plain facts of history. No doubt such a charge has been
made sometimes ; but only by perfervid theologians during an
attack of that controversial intoxication which will occur even
in blameless lives. Christian optimism, whatever its faults
may be, has no reason to- be ashamed when we call the roll of
its apostles — beginning with Origen the Adamant, and ending,
say, with Law, Erskine, Maurice, and Martineau.

Moral distrust of this theory has generally, however,
taken the form of suggesting that it is dangerous as a practical
gospel taught to the masses of men. These, it is urged, will
see in the doctrine that all souls must finally be saved an
encouragement to delay moral decision, a ground for believing
that however they may live in this present world they are
assured of final blessedness — a reason for saying, " We will risk
the punishment that may await us hereafter, since we know

1 Lift in Christ, p. 532.

- tiystein of Biblical Psychology, p. 552.

;! Wliui is of Faith, etc., pp. 1, 2.

282 THE WORLD TO COME

that beyond it lies eternal joy ; we will venture hell since,
however long it may last, it will be as but a moment in ever
lasting years." Thus may the spiritually unlearned pervert
this doctrine to their own destruction.

Now this argument is perfectly legitimate, and has
naturally peculiar weight with preachers of the gospel. It
represents a widespread fear of the Christian mind. It is,
indeed, the root of the dislike which is felt by many, not only
for Universalism but also for the idea that probation extends
beyond the grave, and for the theory which professes not to
know whether all men will be saved or not. The old
Evangelical doctrine owes its force as a practical appeal mainly
to its assertion that death may come at any hour and end the
day of grace. And whoever doubts this assertion, or is not
sure about the issue of things, does, as certainly as the
Universalist, lose the right to say, " In this life only there is
hope." Altogether, it is not surprising that the fear of losing
power in urging the call to decision has been a strong check
on every kind of eschatological speculation.

This fear is, however, not a thing that can be tested by
an appeal to history. The Larger Hope has never been
preached to such an extent as to enable us to estimate its
practical results. In the ancient Church it was for a time
widely believed; but Augustine certainly makes no charge
against the moral character of the " very many " who in his
day held this heresy. History is thus practically silent on
the question of the actual effects which have followed the
denial of eternal punishment. And this is important, since
history is the only ultimate judge of the moral value of doctrines.
When that august and unerring authority withholds its
verdict for want of evidence, other and less weighty tribunals
are at serious disadvantage. On the other hand, history un
doubtedly discourages confident judgments as to the practical
fruits of religious opinion. It does not permit us to attach
importance to evidence which goes to prove that in one or two
cases a certain belief has had unfortunate moral effects. It
shows that nearly every great doctrine has been misused, and
that human nature exhibits a perverse ingenuity in turning

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 283

lofty truths to ignoble ends. It teaches us, further, that every
creed that is worth professing has been accused of moral
depravity by its opponents; and it records a hundred
prophecies of the terrible evils that were to result from the
adoption of certain opinions — most of them proved in the
event to have been utterly vain. So that the general effect of
an appeal to history is to enforce the lesson, "Judge nothing
before the time." Also, those whom history chiefly calls us to
admire were men who sought for truth as the pearl of great
price, and left results.to the God of truth ; who were obedient
to their visions, and found in the end that these visions had
not deceived them.

As to the theoretical aspect of this question, we may
grant that the mere speculative denial of endless evil is not
likely to prove immoral. How can we weaken goodness by
asserting its final triumph, or strengthen sin by saying that it
must perish ? But we may also agree that it would be a
foolish and perilous thing for the Church to declare, as its
practical message to sinful men — "You will certainly all be
saved in the end." A perplexing gospel, indeed, to preach to
unspiritual people closely beset by the many temptations of
this our mortal life. We must admit, however, that if we
belonged to a Universalist Society we would object to our
position being put in any such way. We should probably say
something like this : — The" belief in final reconciliation is not a
matter that concerns the immediate message of the gospel.
It deals with an issue so remote as to have no bearing on the
practical doctrine of future punishment. The important
thing to remember about sin is that, whether it be endless or
no, it is in its nature a bondage and a curse, the poison of life
and the enemy of souls, working unspeakable misery and ruin
both here and hereafter. Our doctrine of retribution is not
gentle or indulgent, but full of terror. We deny that penalty
is ever remitted ; though we confess that repentance alters its
character, changing it from mere pain and loss to a helpful and
friendly discipline. We deny that any man can ever escape
the consequences of an evil life by contrition in the article of
death. .We say that saint and sinner alike receives the

284 THE WORLD TO COME

reward of his deeds — that "God is not mocked," and that
" whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." We deny
nothing as to future punishment except that it is absolutely
without an end. And we make that denial because to assert
the contrary would be inconsistent with our thoughts of God,
and would mean the betrayal of that ideal of goodness which
is the object of our worship. We are sure, also, that
" nothing in the long run can strengthen the arm of moral
appeal that is not in harmony with our highest conceptions of
the divine character." l

In some such manner as this we would expect theo
logical optimists to answer the charge of teaching an immoral
doctrine. Indeed, this statement is drawn in substance from
their works. Whether it is satisfactory or no, is, of course, a
matter of personal opinion. But it certainly serves to remind
us of the perplexing truth that the same moral sense which
inspires some with a fear of Universalism, demands in others
the assurance that evil shall have an end. There are unques
tionably some men and women for whom belief in ultimate
good is an anchor of the soul which, if it were to fail, would
leave them adrift on the wintry seas of unbelief. And this
feature of the situation is one that surely ought to be
remembered by those who are honestly concerned about the
practical results of a hopeful eschatology. One is sometimes
disposed to think that the chief danger of the Church to-day,
in this regard, is to be found, not in any believing message,
whether othrodox or no, but rather in the cowardice that will
not face the ultimate issues, in the inanity of mind that cares
for none of these things, in the subtle spirit of unbelief that
veils as with a creeping mist the faith in immortality.

2. Another objection to dogmatic Universalism, from the
ethical point of view, is that it implies the coercion of the
ivill by the power of God. " The power of grace," says Dorner,
" can never fall into the physical sphere. Therefore rejection
of grace remains possible." - That is to say — men, as such,
are in possession of free will; they cannot lose it without

1 Gordon, Ingersall Lecture, p. 67.

- System of C1n~istiaii Doctrine, iv. p. 428.

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 285

ceasing to be themselves. And therefore they may eternally
choose evil. To deny this possibility is to suppose the
existence of some compelling force which in subduing the soul
to itself must at the same time destroy its very identity as
a moral, responsible being. To maintain that, by the mere
power of the evolving purpose of God, sin will certainly come
to an end, is to confuse physical with moral things, and is to
imply that the development of spiritual beings is of the same
kind as that of material worlds. It makes an end of freedom,
and therefore of morality, and introduces the idea of necessity
into the kingdom of the soul.1

Now there is certainly " vigour and rigour " in this con
tention, and it is, at first sight, very impressive. As we
consider it, however, we begin to feel that there is something
in it that is not quite sound. We begin to suspect that it is an
unsympathetic and external sort of reasoning. We come to be
troubled with the thought that it presents an argument which
might be urged against every type of religious assurance and
every kind of belief in the sovereignty of God. There is no
form of Christian faith that does not rest its hope of coming
good on the gracious intention of the Almighty. Every man
who looks in humble expectation for a place among the blessed,
every one who cherishes a good hope for his beloved dead,
every one who believes that some at least of the human
race will certainly be saved, places his confidence in the
thought that God has a purpose of good towards us — a purpose
which He will accomplish. The grace of God is the only
security of man ; and the grace of God is simply His power
working by appointed means towards an end of redemption.
Without the divine decree, no sacrament, no faith, no works,
could convert and save the soul. To believe this is of the
essence of piety. No confidence or trust, however limited,
which draws its life from anything else than faith in the loving
will of the Father has the slightest claim to call itself religious.
But if this be so, it is evident that the hope of the Universalist
rests on the same grounds as that of the Calvinist or the
Roman Catholic or any other Christian. No Christian is a

1 Cf. Griffith Jones, Faith and Immortality, pp. 241-248.

286 THE WORLD TO COME

fatalist, nor thinks of God as achieving His ends in the
spiritual sphere by means of mechanical compulsion. Every
religious man believes that divine grace operates in a moral
and rational way ; working within us, leavening the thought,
purifying the will, persuading the reason, and so subduing us
to itself. And this is just as true of the Universalist as of any
other Christian thinker. He differs from others simply in his
conception of the extent of that redemption which it is the
will of the Most High to accomplish. While they think that
it is of limited sweep, he believes that it will be effective for
all ; but he and they are entirely agreed as to the nature of
the agency which is to bring it about. He is not, therefore,
peculiarly open to the charge of denying the freedom of the
will ; nor is the difficulty of reconciling liberty and necessity
greater for him than for others. After all, predestination, in
some sense, is undoubtedly a New Testament doctrine. It is
also as inseparable from a speculative belief in God as it is
inherent in religious faith. And the perplexities it creates,
from the ethical point of view, are neither increased nor
diminished by the assertion that the Divine purpose is of
universal sweep. These remain of equal force, whether we
say that God intends to redeem a chosen number of men, or
whether we affirm that He wills the total destruction of evil in
every soul. The grace that is able without compulsion to
save some, may be able without compulsion to save all.

3. There remains, however, one objection to Universal-
ism, on its ethical side, to which it is difficult to find a con
clusive answer. This objection is that to assert the final
salvation of every man is really to deny the existence of any
ultimate risk in the moral life. The other two theories of
future destiny do clearly conserve the idea of uttermost
spiritual peril. According to the orthodox doctrine, that peril
is the loss of all that makes life worth the while, and the
falling into a state in which repentance, joy, light, hope, peace
are all for ever out of reach. According to the theory of
Conditional Immortality, again, the danger that threatens the
soul is actual extinction of the whole personality. Thus these
have both a definite answer to give to the question — What is

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 287

perdition ? what is the peril that spiritually besets us ? what
are the stakes in the conflict with sin ? Each of them says
that if a man crosses a given line in his course of evil he falls
into a pit out of which there is no release.

Now Christian optimism also has an answer to this question,
and it is one to which we cannot deny the attributes of pity
and terror. In its view, the peril of the sinner is the risk of
protracted misery, of a long, long struggle to regain ground, of
an inconceivable torment in the fire that purges the soul, of
paying to the last inite the debt he owes to the order he has
offended and the immutable law he has broken. The penalty
of remaining impenitent throughout this age may be to spend
the whole of the succeeding age in reaping the harvest of sin.
He who spends to-day in evil will inherit a bitter to-morrow.
He who will not be salted with the good flame of self-denial
here, must be salted with the penal flame of retribution here
after. Perdition is the state into which the soul falls that
persists in evil until it has brought upon itself a fearful condi
tion of weakness and misery, despair and hopelessness, out of
which it will be impossible for the great Physican to deliver
it, except by long and weary ways of pain and fire. In
Browning's Ring and the Book, the Pope expresses the earnest
prayer that the criminal Guido may see the truth and repent
one instant ere his death, and so escape the awful process by
which God redeems the soul that passes hence impenitent.

" So may the truth be flashed out by one blow,
And Guido see, one instant, and be saved.
Else I avert my face, nor follow him
Into that sad, obscure, sequestered state
Where God unmakes but to remake the soul
He else made first in vain ; which must not be." 1

Uriiversalism can go as far as this in its thought of
future doom. It says that the soul must ultimately be
redeemed, since God can make nothing in vain. But it may
well ask men to turn their eyes in awe and reverence from
the contemplation of the sad, obscure, sequestered state

1 Ritigand tJie Book, x. lines 2127-2132 ; cf. Origen, De Principiis, Lib. II.
c. z. 5.

288 THE WORLD TO COME

where the impenitent dwell, and to bow in dread before the
thought of those methods whereby God brings a soul to
nothingness and uttermost destruction, in order that He may
make it again according to His will. Even as this earth,
according to old tradition, is to be destroyed by fire that a
new earth may appear in purity and peace, so the obstinate
soul has to be unmade by the fearful hand of God, broken
down and resolved as in flame, that it may appear at last in the
white garment of the redeemed. This is Universalist doctrine ;
and it is full enough of terror and judgment, weighty enough
in awe and menace. Nothing can exceed the severity of the
teaching that the world to come is for the obstinate evil-doer
a place wherein " God unmakes but to remake the soul."

It may, however, still be said that Universalism does
imply that there is no ultimate risk in the moral life, no
capital penalty, no final doom. It sees a morning beyond the
darkest night, recovery at the end of the direst disease, peace
as the issue of the weariest pain, and home as the goal of the
wandering feet. There is thus no limitless peril for the soul.
Evil cannot inflict a final doom. It cannot make good its
direst threats, or bring upon us the worst that we fear. The
moral universe is like a country which does not inflict on the
criminal either death or penal servitude for life. In the moral
adventure of this mortal state, men are like mountain climbers
with a life-line round their waist ; they may fall far and deep,
but they cannot crash to destruction at the foot of the preci
pice, and they are sure to be brought to safety again. They
are like gamblers who cannot stake, or lose, their all, or like
swimmers in shallow water who know that they cannot drown.

Universalist teaching does certainly lend itself to such
a construction. Its assertion, that all men will attain to the
fulness of beatitude, may be understood to mean not only that
sin and suffering will cease, but that there is no such thing
as the danger of permanent spiritual loss. And when Chris
tian optimism goes so far as this it does seem to fail of
complete harmony with the witness of the conscience, the
forebodings of the soul. We do feel that, in the fight with
evil, we face a foe who means the very worst. We do have

UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 289

the conviction that the conflict with besetting sin is a conflict
to the end. We set no limits to the danger that encompasses
our life. We have the stern sense which belongs to the
soldier when he marches into real battle — the sense that our
risk is not only pain, disablement, defeat, but incurable wounds,
ultimate disaster. There can be little doubt that this is the
testimony, not only of the common conscience, but of the
great moral fighters, the saints and the heroes of the spiritual
life. Is it not the meaning of St. Paul's cry — " 0 wretched
man that I am ; who shall deliver me from the body of this
death"? Is it not implied in the saying of Jesus — "What
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul " ?

This is the element in the witness of the moral sense
that is emphasised by the doctrine of eternal punishment, and
it is the fact that gives us pause when we are asked to believe
that there is no such thing as final penalty. We may go a
long way with optimism, and yet may dissent from it here.
We may agree that all sin and suffering and all alienation from
God and opposition to His will must finally cease, and yet may
not be persuaded that every soul, no matter how long or how
terribly it may have sinned, must attain at last to an equal
blessedness with all the saints. We may hope that the dis
cords will pass from the music of humanity, and yet may
believe that the minor chords will remain — regret, impoverish
ment, irreparable loss. No soul may be lost, and yet many
souls may lose. If, indeed, no final penalty can be incurred,
and if it will be all the same at last for the worst and for the
best of men, it is hard to explain the warnings of conscience,
the urgency of the voice of Christ, or the pathos of the Chris
tian appeal through all the bygone years. It may surely be
that a man may persist so long in evil ways as to inflict
incurable injury upon his nature. It may be that even after
all the mysterious discipline of the judgment, all the
terrors of spiritual death, all the patient efforts of the divine
grace, he shall find himself, at last, for ever incapable of the
highest and best, with something lost that might have been
saved, and something dead that might have been alive.

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Conclusion.

I have thus endeavoured to sketch the course of Univer-
salist speculation and to give an account of its theoretic and
practical aspects, with an examination of the arguments
commonly used against it. Our discussion has served to show
that this view of the End of things has its source in an
element of New Testament teaching ; and that it is entitled to
a hearing within the Church, being, in fact, only the applica
tion to eschatology of that optimistic type of thought which
has never ceased to be a part of the catholic tradition. We
have seen that Universalism is able to present a strong case
for itself on speculative grounds ; also, that the ethical objec
tions which are urged against it are not all of much force;
and, finally, that its main weakness lies in its failure to affirm
that there is an ultimate peril in the spiritual life — that this
is the point at which it parts most distinctly from the general
Christian tradition, and seems to present the greatest difficulty
when regarded in the light of moral experience.

But whatever we may think of Universalist teaching, in
the rigour of its dogmatic form, we must gladly admit that it
stands for a priceless element in our religion — for the assurance
that truth is stronger than error, good than evil, light than
darkness ; and that God has a purpose of redemption in His
Son which exceeds in sweep and depth and beauty all that we
have ever dreamed. Christian faith in all ages has cherished
a secret hope richer and more tender than it has been able to
express, and has always been the prophet of the victory of
God. The things that finally abide in the light of the face of
Christ are not fear and pain and death, but faith and hope and
love. And God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we are able either to ask or to think.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER

KEVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION.

INTRODUCTORY.

(a) 4-N enlightened perception of one's own ignorance is a
desirable possession ; and it is a thing which the student of
eschatology is likely to acquire. It is, indeed, difficult to
imagine any subject of research better fitted than this to dis
courage confidence and to chasten the spirit of assurance. It
is little wonder, perhaps, that many scholars have given up
this branch of theology in a kind of intellectual despair, and
have betaken themselves to fields of inquiry where the ground
is more secure and the prospects of a harvest less remote.
And yet, however highly we may estimate the value of a
lesson in humility, we are loath to admit that nothing better
than this is to be obtained from the study of so great a theme.
Still less are we able to agree that a general uncertainty of
mind as to the Last Things can be the permanent mood of
Christian thought. It is u somewhat dangerous thing to say
that our religion has not, and never can have, a positive
eschatology. The different branches of theological science are
so closely related to each other that to paralyse any one of
them is to weaken all the rest. If religious thought surrenders
any of its ancient territories it may have to go on withdrawing
itself from one position after another, until it is left with no
dominion to defend, and without any place among the powers
that rule the world. Moreover, it is especially perilous for
theology to proclaim itself defeated and impotent in that
region of thought with which we are here concerned. If men
be told that the Christian religion has no definite message
regarding the things of the world to come they will be apt to
distrust its assurance in more immediate matters; they will

293

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suspect a prophet that professes to lead them on their path of
life, and yet is in doubt about the end of the journey ; they
will say — You know not whither we go, and how can you
know the way ?

(6) But apprehensions of this kind are really without
foundation, since the Christian view of immortality is never
likely to be governed by agnostic influences. It may be that
the present mood of religious thought, in this as in some other
departments of theology, is one of discouragement; but this
mood will pass. It may be that the hope of the endless life
burns to-day with a chastened light ; but it will . brighten
again. It may be that we have tended of late towards a
position that really denies the rationality of faith, and towards
a temper of mind which shrinks from the greater adventures
and shuns the ultimate problems ; but this is so foreign to the
genius of Christianity that it is certain to yield ere long to a
braver and a more believing spirit. It is characteristic of our
religion that it never despairs of knowledge, nor is willing to
be divorced from form or separated from dogma. It has never
been content to be " unclothed," but has always sought to be
" clothed upon " with a better and more enduring garment of
thought. If it is sometimes a pilgrim, it is always a stranger
in the land of doubt. It is responsive to the intellectual
demands of each succeeding age; and it always aspires to
clearness of vision. It has never sought to evade the problems
of faith, and least of all those that relate to belief in a life to
come. We have seen how the great thinkers of the Church,
like Origen and Augustine, Erigena and Aquinas, with so
many later philosophers, mystics, and poets, have accepted the
challenge of the future, and sought to meet its questions with
a clear reply. And we cannot doubt that these have repre
sented the true genius of our faith and the tradition which is
likely to prevail. Christianity has always been a religion of
the endless life and the resurrection from the dead ; its
treasure has always been stored, and its hope has ever been fixed,
in that which is within the veil; and it cannot abate its
testimony regarding these transcendent things, or its interest
in the problems they create, without departing from its tradi-

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295

tion, forgetting the Easter light in which it began, and ceasing
to be the witness to the Conqueror of death.

(c) We may claim, indeed, that the line of historical study
which has been indicated in these lectures does not encourage
the notion that eschatological thought has reached its term
and climax of development. It has enabled us to trace certain
lines of movement in Christian speculation, which are seen to
be advancing towards some point of agreement that is still,
perhaps, a long way off. Their evolution is not complete ; and
if they were to be arrested at their present stage they would
resemble streams which had been suddenly frozen in the midst
of their career. If such an arrest in the process of thought
were possible, history would have neither meaning nor purpose.

(d) But our discussion has done a little more than assure
us that eschatology will proceed upon its way; it has fore
shadowed the goal of its advance. It has shown us what are
the abiding elements in our doctrine of the future life, and
what the things in it that are doomed to pass away. If it has
not brought us to the point of definite assertion as to the
ultimate problems, it has at least led us on the road. If it has
not enabled us to prophesy the form which the structure of
dogmatic eschatology is likely to assume, it has, nevertheless,
permitted us to discern the nature and outline of the founda
tion on which it must be built.

PERMANENT VALUE OF APOCALYPSE.

(a) In the first place, the history of eschatology shows us
that the apocalyptic element in our religion is a permanent thing,
belonging to its essential genius. It was not by accident, nor
merely by force of circumstance, that the forms of Jewish
" revelation " were taken over by Christianity. These things
were adopted by the new faith because they were congenial
to it, and because the substance of their meaning was a part
of its gospel. The Christian belief in immortality itself is

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rooted in those same convictions which underlay the ancient
hope of the age to come. If we strip apocalypse of all that is
extreme, violent, and accidental, and ask ourselves what the
source of its faith in immortality was, we find it to have been
the conviction that the present order of things was not one
that satisfied the instinct of justice and fitness, or one that
conformed to the hopes which religion inspires, and that, there
fore, men must look for the appearing of a better state. And
this remains essentially the Christian belief. Of course, our
religion has never been pessimistic in the Jewish sense. It
has never really held that this world was so given over to evil
that nothing remained for it but total and swift destruction.
It has never believed that God fulfils His highest ends by
violence and catastrophe, but has always put its trust mainly
in the slow and patient methods of grace whereby the Spirit
of life redeems and sanctifies the souls of men. It has always
been in a measure, as the Master was, at home in the world,
rejoicing in its glory and order, seeing in its august harmonies
a revelation of God's eternal power and Godhead, believing
that in some sense " earth is but the shadow of heaven, and
things therein each to the other like." It has shown, indeed,
how highly it values this material world by offering its
worship to God through sensuous forms — architecture, sound,
and colour. The faith that built the cathedrals and inspired
the painting of Da Vinci and Angelo and the sacred music of
Handel and Mozart, is not a faith that is a stranger in this
world, or longs to see it pass away. It is evident, also, that
the gospel, in requiring of us a spirit of generous and hopeful
service towards our fellow-men, implies an estimate of human
value and possibility which is as far as can be from apocalyptic
pessimism. How should we be asked to serve a race that was
worthless, or to labour hopefully in a world that was fit only
for the burning ?

(6) But, while Christianity thus departs from the extreme
pessimism of the Jewish " revelation "-books, it yet agrees
with them in that it declares the present world to be out of
harmony with its ideal, and even at enmity with its loftier
hopes. The evanescence of this life, its frustrations and

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 297

inequalities, its broken promises, its insoluble problems, its
inability to afford time and room for the self-fulfilment of the
soul — all these things have always been recognised by our
religion and been asserted with passionate conviction by its
prophets and saints. When the Christian mind has considered
this earthly existence in the light of the knowledge of God, it
has been unable to find in it a complete revelation of the
Father, or even to reconcile some of its aspects with that con
ception of the Divine character which it received from
Jesus Christ. It has been compelled to confess that if this
life were the best gift which God had to bestow, it would be
impossible to affirm His perfect justice, mercy, and love.
Hence, it has staked all its possessions on the belief that there
remains, beyond the horizon of our mortal sight, another world
which is the fulfilment of all the hopes of faith and the com
plete expression of the Father's will — a world wherein there
shall be found the vindication of Christ, and the establishment
of justice and mercy in perfect retribution and redress.

(c) This has certainly been the mood in which historical
Christianity has maintained its faith in the endless life. And
it represents essentially the apocalyptic view. That it is likely
to be the permanent attitude of our Religion may be inferred
from the example of Jesus, whose doctrine of the coming
Kingdom was always associated with the promise of retribu
tion, compensation, and reward. Also, it is reasonable to say
that the argument from the character of God, and especially
from His justice, will always remain the strongest defence of
faith in immortality. It is often said, of course, that this
argument is of little value, inasmuch as nothing that may
happen in a future state can possibly annul the inequality and
injustice of this present world. This is an assertion that is
made with assurance, as if it were self-evident, but it is difficult
to see its ground in reasoning. If it rests on the idea that it
is impossible to repair or retrieve evils that are past, we must
agree that this is not an opinion which Christian thought can
entertain. Our central doctrine of redemption, our whole gospel
of salvation, implies that the lost can be restored, that wrong
can be righted, and that things which are dark and hard and

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cruel can be made to subserve a greater good. Moreover, the
belief that reparation and redress are possible, is so universally
accepted by mankind, and so constantly assumed by us in our
dealings with each other, that it is quite unreasonable to
exclude it from our doctrine of the world that is to come.

(d) A more definite objection to this argument for im
mortality is that which is stated by Hume.1 His contention
is that we must form our view of the Divine character entirely
from the facts of this present order, and that we are not
entitled to create out of our own imagination a certain belief
about God, and then insist that there must be a world in which
this belief shall be justified. " We must not assume," he says,
" that God has attributes beyond what He has exerted in this
universe, with which we are alone acquainted." " Whence,"
he asks, " do we infer the existence of such attributes ? " He
further says, " It is very safe for us to affirm that whatever
we know the Deity to have actually done is best ; but it is
very dangerous to affirm that He must always do what seems
to us best." Thus, Hume's argument is that our knowledge of
God must be drawn from His revelation of Himself in this
world, the only one of which we have experience, and that we
must mould our view of His mind and will on the knowledge
thus given us. It is not permitted us to say that God ought
to do what He has not done, or that in another state of being
He will reveal a righteousness or mercy which will be more
according to our ideals than that which He manifests here.
But this objection of Hume's overlooks the fact that our ideals
of love and equity are themselves the creation of God, and are
as much to be counted among His works as any of the stars.
Not only so, but these ideals are a surer guide to the knowledge
of God than any material thing can be. It is because the
Spirit of the Highest has Himself taught us to think about
Him in a way that is not encouraged by certain facts of present
experience, it is because He has Himself inspired us with
our discontent, that we have hope of a state to come which
shall be the fulfilment of the promises made to our souls — that
we look for a " new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth

1 Essay on Immortality (Green's edit.), vol. ii. pp. 400-406.

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 299

righteousness." We see everywhere promise but not fulfilment,
punishment but not a perfect judgment, recompense but not a
fulness of reward, many beginnings but no completeness. And
because we see all this, and yet believe in a God who is the
Father of Jesus Christ and the maker of perfect things, we
cannot but believe in immortality.

(e) But if Christianity retains essentially the apocalyptic
standpoint in its assertion of immortality, it also employs the
ancient Jewish symbols when it seeks to give definite content
to its doctrine of the future state and the things that are to
come. When we think about this matter we see that humanity
has a twofold destiny — an end towards which the race is
marching in this present world, and an end towards which the
individual life proceeds here and hereafter. These two are
separate and distinct, and yet they are related to each other
and must ultimately merge into one when the goal of earthly
history is reached. They are both apparent to every mind
that looks out upon the future with the eyes of faith and hope,
and they both contribute elements to the problem of eschat-
ology. Jewish prophecy solved the puzzle thus suggested, by
its doctrines of the Kingdom, Hades, Judgment, Resurrection,
Gehenna, and Eternal Life ; and Christianity has been content
to accept these forms, while endeavouring to purify and enrich
them and to render them increasingly fitted to express its
larger thoughts as to the "destiny alike of humanity and of the
individual, both here and hereafter.

Thus our historical Faith has been loyal to its origins,
and preaches immortality and retribution, fulfilment and re
dress, on the ancient grounds and under the ancient forms.
Christianity is not " a purely spiritual religion," in the commonly
accepted meaning of that much-abused phrase. It is not a
religion of bare ideas and principles, but of ideas and principles
embodied in concrete forms. It is a faith of symbol, sacra
ment, and sign. It does not speak of an abstract Word of God,
but of a Word made flesh and dwelling among us. It does
not witness to a process of redemption, but to a redemption
wrought in Jesus Christ. In like manner, it does not proclaim
immortality merely, but resurrection ; not resurrection only,

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but judgment. These are but forms, if you will, only the
coloured garments which spiritual realities assume in order
that we may be conscious of their presence* But they are
forms which have shown themselves to be in harmony with
the genius of our religion. They stand for something which,
without them, might be lost to Christian thought and life. No
doubt a man may not accept them and yet may truly believe
that there is a life to come, and that the eternal love of God
will work a perfect righteousness, for each soul and for all
souls, through everlasting years. But it may be doubted
whether the theology of the Church Catholic will ever leave
out of its message those pregnant words and picturesque teach
ings which were used by Jesus, and which bring home to the
imaginations and hearts and consciences of men, truths that
are not capable of being expressed in the rigid terms of the
understanding. We cannot express the Christian doctrine of
immortality without the symbol of resurrection. We cannot
enforce the lesson of responsibility better than by the Parable
of the Judgment. Nor can we hope to give vividness of mean
ing to the thought of the everlasting future, if we cease to use
those symbols which speak of the intermediate state, the
dreadful forces of retribution, the manifold blessing of eternal
life, and the beauty and order of the City of God. Wisely,
then, may all who hold the historic faith adhere to these
ancient forms of sound words, which are so simple and concrete
and yet so capable of varied and free interpretation. It is well
to say, " I believe in righteous retribution here and hereafter " ;
but it is better to say, " I believe in the Judgment, and in the
Kingdom of God." It is well to assert the immortality of the
soul ; but it is better to adhere to the old confession, " I believe
in the resurrection of the body, and in the life everlasting."

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II.

DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL DESTINY.

This, then, is one positive result that is yielded by the
study of eschatology from the historical standpoint — the
assurance that the apocalyptic element in religious faith is of
permanent meaning and value. But, in the second place, this
method of inquiry does cast some light on the Christian
doctrine of ultimate destiny, inasmuch as it enables us to trace
certain speculative tendencies which have been at work in the
Church from the beginning, have always modified the teaching
of theologians on this subject, and are seen to be constantly
moving through conflict and opposition towards an harmonious
issue.

In the discussion of this problem of the End we enter into
a region of thought which reaches beyond the sphere of ancient
prophecy and symbol. No doubt, the three great theories of
final destiny can all be stated in terms of the Kingdom of God ;
no doubt, they all find suggestions in apocalyptic predictions,
and have all been coloured in their expression by old concep
tions of future pain and blessedness. Nevertheless, it remains
true that religious reflection has not been dominated by Jewish
influences in its endeavours to forecast the issue of things.
The problem of the End, as it has presented itself to the
Christian mind, has been created by the spirit of the Gospel,
has been complicated by many historical forces, and has
increased in weight and urgency as advancing knowledge and
experience have revealed the immensity of the universe, the
vastness of the evolutionary process, and the complexity of
human life.

1. Meaning of Church doctrine. — Looking back on the course
of history, one sees that it would be unfair to blame the Church
for having refused to formulate the hope of salvation beyond
the grave, or to proclaim the message of a final blessedness for
all. Jesus, perhaps, set it an example in this sense when He

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limited His prophecies to the coming of the Kingdom and the
day of Judgment. The Church might thus claim to have His
sanction when it declared the decisive importance of this life
and the permanence of its issues. Also, in doing this, it may be
said to have confined itself within the limits of its commission.
The Church's cure of souls is a matter of this present world.
The gospel which it proclaims declares a redemption that was
accomplished under terrestrial conditions, through a Life in the
flesh and the suffering of death. All its sacraments and
ordinances are designed to sustain men amid the trials of their
present existence, to enable them to achieve a moral victory
now, and to prepare them for the judgment of God hereafter.
Also, the morality it enforces presupposes the circumstances of
this mortal state — its complicated social relations, its desires
and needs, its conflict of flesh and spirit, its change and decay,
its perpetual pilgrimage towards death. Hence, if the Church
fails to save men in this life it fails finally. It has no further
opportunity of extending to them its help and service. It sees
them pass in a state of loss into a region which is beyond its
reach, where the things that constitute moral probation here
may not repeat themselves, nor the sacred opportunities of this
world any more return. This is the inner meaning of the
Church's doctrine of Eternal Punishment. Perdition signifies
failure to achieve a peace with God during the life that is lived
in the flesh, the only life with which the Church is concerned
and in which the moral battle, as we know it, can be either
lost or won.

2. Theological perplexities. — But while we may thus have
a sympathetic understanding of the traditional doctrine, and
may recognise its practical truth and force, we must admit
that it creates many perplexities for the theologian, whose
business it is to show that the Gospel is a reasonable thing.
These perplexities religious thinkers have had to face; and
they have felt the burden of them in all ages. We have seen
that they have always been of divided opinion on the subject
of ultimate destiny, and that even those who have defended
the same doctrine have differed widely in their interpretation
of it. Indeed, this feature of Christian thought has been so

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marked as to create a certain degree of wonder and distrust.
We may well marvel to find that our authorities have not been
able to agree in their answer to the question whether all men
are immortal, or in assuring us that evil will have an end, or
even in declaring that God really intends the salvation of
every man. Christianity believes in a future state of retribu
tion and redress, and yet its teachers are not certain that moral
history extends beyond the grave ; it is a religion of redemption,
and yet its interpreters are in doubt as to the scope of that
redemption ; it is a prophet of the Kingdom, and yet they
cannot tell us whether or no that Kingdom is appointed to a
perfect triumph.

This is certainly a perplexing state of things, and it affords
opportunity for unsympathetic criticism. We may fairly urge,
however, that it has its origin in certain features of New
Testament teaching, and in the contradictory nature of the
evidence that is supplied by reason and conscience and the
facts of life. The differences of eschatological theory are, no
doubt, due in large measure to the faithfulness with which
theologians have endeavoured to interpret Revelation, and to
their steadfast courage in facing all the aspects of a great and
baffling problem. But, however this may be, the important
thing to be noted here is that this conflict of theological
opinion does show a tendency to pass away. Indeed, one of the
best rewards of historical study in this field of doctrine is the
perception that forms of thought which seem most utterly
opposed, exhibit signs of underlying harmony and afford the
promise of reconciliation.

3. Harmonising tendencies. — (a) When, for instance, we
consider the different theories of destiny we see that, while
they contradict each other as intellectual statements, they each
assert an aspect of religious truth, and together bear witness
to certain convictions which are not opposed but are comple
mentary and harmonious. Also, it is to be remembered that
they are at one in maintaining a very stern and searching
doctrine of retribution. It is quite unfair to say that the
theory of Conditional Immortality or of Universal Restoration
attenuates in any degree the terror of judgment to come. The

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mere denial that sin and pain are everlasting takes nothing
from the prophecy of punishment. Indeed, those who make
this denial often assert the doctrine of penalty with greater
rigour than do those who maintain the eternity of evil.
Conditionalists, while they take away the element of dread
which lies in the belief that pain will never end, substitute
for it the terrpr of annihilation. And Universalist teachers
commonly affirm with peculiar emphasis that every man must
reap as he has sown. They do not, as a rule, admit that death
or any other creature can separate sin from its consequences,
or that any sudden crisis of repentance can destroy the results
of a misspent life. They offer no hope to any one of escaping
the entail of evil years, or of attaining to final peace until he
has paid the debt he has incurred. And so it is true that all
theories of destiny are agreed in practical effect. If any one
of them take from the prophecy of judgment in one respect, it
adds to it in another ; and whichever of them be accepted, the
terror of the Lord remains.

(&) It is evident, also, that each of these theories is at some
point in intellectual agreement with one or other of its rivals.
Thus the orthodox doctrine is at one with Universalism in
asserting the unending existence of every soul. On the other
hand, Conditionalism, while it is opposed on this point to both
of these, agrees with orthodoxy in teaching that there is such
a thing as final perdition, and with Universalism in asserting
that evil will pass away and that the universe will reach a
state of perfect moral harmony. Again, if one considers the
doctrine of Eternal Punishment, as it is stated by many writers,
one sees that it comes very close to Conditionalism in its view
of perdition. The state of final loss, as depicted by these
teachers, is one in which there is no freedom of choice, no
sensibility to moral distinctions, no hope, no movement, no
variety of experience. It is a state in which existence is
emptied of everything that is positive — of everything except
weakness, darkness, and misery. Now, it is evident that
creatures who were reduced to such a condition as this would
really have suffered destruction. They would have no place
in the moral or intelligent universe, would retain no real like-

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ness to humanity, would be only ghosts and phantoms and
empty masks. Theologians who believe in such a destiny for
men might as well affirm annihilation. They are separated
from Couditionalists by a mere metaphysical opinion as to
the indestructibility of the soul. This is at the best a weak
partition, and it is wearing very thin.

(c) On the other hand, the great exponents of the orthodox
dogma have shown a tendency to approach at one point or
another to the position of the Optimists. When Augustine,
for instance, maintained that all souls must remain essentially
good, that perdition must be conceived in such a way as to
have a place in the harmony of the universe, and that the
purpose of God would suffer no defeat, he made assertions that
are hardly to be reconciled with the doctrine of eternal evil.
Similarly, Aquinas, in affirming that positive suffering would
have an end and only the penalty of spiritual loss remain, not
only departed from the popular view, but opened the door to
hopeful speculation. And these great teachers have set the
example to many later theorists who have modified in different
ways the notion of everlasting punishment ; some denying the
eternity of pain, some the unending duration of sin; others
rejecting the idea that perdition will be a state of unmingled
misery, and others suggesting either that very few will suffer
the ultimate doom, or that the only penalty that will endure
may be of such a kind as can be accepted with reverent and
willing submission by those to whom it is appointed. In all
this there is a distinct approach to the conception of an
universal salvation. It is evident, also, that those evangelical
theologians who affirm that repentance unto life will always
remain possible, or who hold that all punishment is meant for
the good of the sinner, or who say that God really purposes
the redemption of the whole world — it is evident that none of
these is able to deny that every man may finally be saved.
If effectual repentance be for ever possible, it may take place
at last in every life ; if punishment be always remedial, it may
in the end work a cure in all to whom it is applied ; and if
God has taken in hand the salvation of all mankind, it is
conceivable that He may succeed.

306 THE WORLD TO COME

(d) Thus the traditional doctrine of destiny has always
shown signs of unstable equilibrium — inclining either, on the
one hand, to the idea of ultimate death, or, on the other, to
that of final restoration. Nor can we wonder at this. Acute
pain lasting for ever with unchanging intensity, and issuing in
nothing, is not within our power to imagine and is contrary to
all experience. In like manner, we cannot imagine any moral
life going on and on without movement in one direction or
another. Every moral being grows better or worse as the days
and years go by ; indeed, it is of the essence of the matter that
this should be so. Hence orthodox thinkers, whether they
have thought of perdition chieHy as a state of punishment or
as a state of sin, have generally come to recognise that there
must be progress in the life of the lost, either downwards,
through increasing weakness to complete futility or even death,
or else gradually upwards towards some higher level of being.
It may thus be said with confidence that very few theologians
of the first rank have defended the traditional belief without
compromise, without showing signs of embarrassment, and
without suggesting alleviations of their doctrine, more or less
subtle, more or less important in their logical effect.

4. Historical construction. — But what is the fruit of this
analysis ? Has it anything more than an academic interest ?
Does it yield any constructive results by enabling us to indicate
the type of doctrine which is likely to be developed in the
future ? Surely it does. It shows that certain elements of
belief bear the aspect of permanence, have kept asserting their
vitality, and have always been affirmed again after every period
of neglect. And in doing this, it certainly supplies grounds
for rational prediction, since prophecy of the future is nothing
else than an intelligent interpretation of the past and of
the present. When history testifies that some beliefs have
survived throughout the Christian ages, and that some specula
tions have appeared again and again in the thought of the
Church, and have manifested in later times increasing life and
force, it is reasonable to expect that these beliefs and specula
tions will be found to have a place in the final statement of
the faith. Adopting this view, then, it will be fitting to close

HE VIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 307

this discussion with an endeavour to indicate the more im
portant of those eschatological opinions which have been so
persistent that they may be counted among the things that
the theology of the future will recognise. If we believe that
there is a Spirit of revelation at work in the Christian society,
we are compelled to admit that the dominant tendencies of
Christian thought are possessed of authority, and are guides
which, if we can only understand them aright, will lead us
towards the truth. Of course, a statement that seeks, from
this standpoint, to interpret the historic witness of the Church
is not quite the same in character as a declaration of personal
opinion, nor can it be an account of things presently believed
among us. It is one thing to write down what we would like
to think, or what contemporary theologians think, but quite
another matter to study the tendencies that have prevailed
throughout the centuries and to conjecture the goal towards
which they are moving.

(1) In the first place, then, we may attribute permanent
value to the belief that underlies the ancient threefold doctrine
of immediate destiny. This doctrine is stated in a very definite
form by the Roman and the Greek Churches, though the latter
does not formulate it in the terms of the Western theology.
The Protestant communions do not, of course, accept it, nor
are likely to do so, in a strict dogmatic sense. The Eoman
idea that the redeemed will suffer retributive pain hereafter is
foreign to our habits of thought, and seems to us out of
harmony with the spirit of the Gospel. Nevertheless, later
Protestant opinion does often tend to assert the substance of
the old belief. It admits that there are many who pass from
this life, repentant and reconciled to God, but yet in a low
state of spiritual attainment. And for these it anticipates an
experience of gradual education, training, and enlightenment,
leading upwards to the fulness of beatitude. It thus inclines
to surrender the opinion that a miracle takes place at death
which suddenly effects the complete sanctification of all who
are saved. Also, it very commonly accepts the idea of future
probation or opportunity, and so affirms the existence of an
intermediate state. And in all this it shows a recognition of

308 THE WORLD TO COME

those things that have given vitality to the Koman dogma,
though it displays not the least sign of assenting to that dogma
in its historical form.

Thus, we may say that Christian theology as a whole l has
certainly tended to teach or imply that the souls of men when
they leave this world may be divided into three classes, (a)
There are those who may be described as saints of God, learned
in the mysteries of Christ, graduates in the school of the eternal
light, lovers of love and of all good things ; and for such the
eternal day will break in a revelation of unspeakable glory.
(5) Again, there are multitudes for whom this immediate
perfection of blessedness cannot confidently be predicted.
These are in a state of peace with God, inasmuch as, whether
consciously or no, they are possessed of saving faith, and
their lives as a whole move towards righteousness and
truth. Nevertheless, they are not prepared to enter forth
with into the full inheritance of the saints in light. There
are others, also, who come to repentance only towards the
end of their selfish and evil years, and never attain in this
world to any elevation of spiritual or moral tone. Further,
there are very many who have never had opportunity on earth
to make the great decision, as well as great numbers whose
responsibility has been limited by inheritance, evil surround
ings, and physical defect. These all enter at death into a state
which is, in varying degrees, one of education, development,
and discipline. They do not experience retributive penalty or
any of the evils of mortal life ; they are in a condition of
salvation and of peace with God. But their spiritual powers
must be strengthened, and their vision enlarged, before they
can appreciate the harmonies, and discern the splendours, that
God has reserved for them that love Him.

(c) But, finally, there are those who have definitely made
the supreme refusal, have identified their lives more or less
completely with the principle of evil, and who pass impenitent
and unconverted into the awful spaces of eternity. These
experience the full weight of the forces of retribution which

1 I.e. Greek and Roman, plus an increasing weight of Anglican, Lutheran,
and Reformed opinion (c.y. Pusey, Domer, Salinond).

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 309

dwell in the moral order and are its safeguards and avengers.
This is the eternal fire ; the self-fulfilment of evil, the
revelation of its true character, the full manifestation of its
power to work misery and confusion. It is that horror of
great darkness of which men have occasional glimpses in this
world. It is that dreary sea of penal sorrow whose ominous
voice is heard far up the stream of the evil life which moves
toward it continually through all the windings of its course.
This state of perdition may be described as " eternal," since it
belongs to eternity, and since the moral history which leads to
it remains a part of the indelible record of the soul.

(2) But, in the second place, Christian thought inclines to
assert that the history of the moral universe will end in a state
of peace and harmony. This was the direct teaching of St.
Paul ; it is involved in those predictions of the perfect triumph
of Christ which the Church has never ceased to utter in all the
ages ; it is the conviction which has produced the theories of
universal salvation and of conditional immortality; and it
has influenced, as we have seen, many of the greatest orthodox
teachers, who have sought to state the traditional view in
such a way as not to contradict belief in a final harmony of
things. This belief, therefore, may be counted among those
elements of religious thought which have shown persistent
vitality, have tended to express themselves with increasing
definiteness and force, and" so may be reckoned to possess the
power of enduring life.

(a) But, if this be so, theology has to face the problem of
reconciling the doctrine of perdition with faith in an ultimate
reconciliation of all things to God. And it seems evident that
this task cannot be accomplished without some modification of
the traditional belief in everlasting evil. Indeed, we have
seen that the latter belief has been profoundly affected already
by the pressure of various rational and moral forces. The
idea that future punishment means an everlasting state of
fixed and measureless misery, " an eternal petrifaction " of
grief, with no movement in it for better or worse, may be
said to have passed out of the sphere of scientific theology.
The arguments against it are overwhelming. Apart from

3io THE WORLD TO COME

considerations which have been already stated, it is clear that
perdition cannot be a final state. The condition of heavenly
blessedness is final because it is the goal of redemption,
the end of the moral process, the manifestation of reality.
But perdition is contrary to the issue which is purposed of
God, and is the fulfilment of all unreal and negative things.
Therefore it cannot be ultimate, but must merge in something
beyond. Only if this be so can its existence be justified as
part of the rational universe. In such an universe nothing can
remain which is not of itself a good, or does not serve a purpose
of good. But a state of mere penalty cannot be said to be a
good in itself ; nor can it serve a beneficent end if it endures
for ever. The intention of punishment is to work righteous
retribution, and to show the nature of sin in its final issues.
But this is not an intention that requires endless time for its
fulfilment. Finite sin does not demand an eternity for its
self-revelation, nor can it merit perpetual pain. The purpose
of perdition must sometime be achieved, and when this is
accomplished it must cease, in so far at least as it is a state of
positive suffering. The argument of Aquinas on this point is
quite conclusive.

(&) But, if this view be accepted, we have to ask what is
likely to be the character of that state which lies beyond
perdition ? If retributive suffering is to pass away, in what is it
to issue ? Many, as we have seen, suppose that it will result
either in the dissolution of personal life or else in the destruc
tion of the moral nature ; and it may be admitted that either
of these alternatives would, in some fashion, achieve the
harmony of the spiritual universe. But both of these possi
bilities are excluded for those who hold, in agreement with
general Christian tradition, that the soul of man can neither
be destroyed nor sink beneath the level of moral life. And so
these are constrained to believe that perdition must resolve
itself at last in some form of betterment, of reconciliation with
God, of submission to His holy will declared in Jesus Christ.
Those who accept this solution assert, or at least hope, that
whensoever any soul has reached the state of submission ami
repentance, penalty will cease to bear the aspect of mere

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 311

retribution and become an agent of good, to discipline and
develop, and lead upwards towards that abode of peace,
without sin and without pain, which is called the City of God.
(c) Of course, this view is open to the objection that it
limits the freedom of the human will, inasmuch as it professes
to be confident that all men will finally submit themselves to
God. This is a difficulty which has been considered already
in the chapter on Universal Restoration. But one may add
here that we do not offend against the doctrine of moral
liberty by affirming that every soul will come to repentance,
any more than we do by the contrary statement that some
men will always continue to sin. Indeed, this latter belief
rests on the conviction that evil will go on always increasing
its hold upon the will, and binding it with heavier and heavier
chains, until the power of choosing good has been for ever lost.
And it is difficult to see how those who maintain such a
doctrine can plume themselves on being the champions of
freedom. What they really contend for is not the power of
the will to determine its own destiny, but the power of evil to
make an end of liberty. Do we indeed infringe the prerogative
of the spiritual creature by saying that it will conform at last
to the nature of things, that experience of evil will teach it
that good is best, and that the patience of God will bring it
to repentance ? And do we exalt the attribute of freedom by
affirming that, spite of the utter unreason of sin, spite of its
bitter fruit, spite of the divine grace and the perseverance of
Christ, sin will be able to establish a complete dominion over
the soul and bind it to itself for ever ? Surely it is clear, also,
that if God has any purpose at all for the human race, He
must have kept the end of things in His own hands. There is
no meaning in speaking of a purpose that does not reveal itself
in the end that is attained. However wide the freedom of the
will, and however much its action may achieve that is evil and
contrary to the will of God, it cannot possess the power to
compass moral anarchy or to prevent the consummation which
eternal wisdom has in view. The divine intention which
underlies the whole process of history goes on its way through
all confusion and conflict, through all contingent and lawless

312 THE WORLD TO COME

things, towards an appointed End. That End is good ; and it
will be attained not by the enslavement of the soul to any out
ward law, but by such means of judgment and mercy as shall
lead it to that willing obedience in which alone is freedom.

(3) But, in the third place, Christian thought does
persistently affirm belief in everlasting penalty, and is there
fore likely to maintain the doctrine, that while perdition,
in the fulness of its meaning, must pass away, something of it
may remain — spiritual privation, loss of the highest good.
The idea that theology will come to adopt a perfectly
optimistic view of ultimate destiny is one that has small
sanction in the facts of history. It cannot be said that St.
Paul's prophecies of an universal Kingdom of God require the
conclusion that every trace of the results of sin shall utterly
vanish away. Even Origen and Erigena admitted, in differing
forms of thought, that some degree of penalty might remain.
Also, the doctrine of Eternal Punishment has shown such power
to survive the strongest attacks, as proves it the guardian of
moral truth. A belief so unattractive to the heart and mind,
and so beset with speculative difficulties, could never have
maintained itself had it not expressed a premonition of the
soul. There can be no doubt that the theory of Conditional
Immortality owes its influence to the fact that it recognises
this, and seeks to combine the hope of a final reconciliation
with the assertion of everlasting penalty. Also, writers of the
Universalist school tend to admit, with increasing frankness,
that the Church has not been altogether wrong in refusing to
adopt an unqualified form of optimism. No doubt there is a
logical completeness in the assertion that " all the wounds of
the spirit shall be healed, leaving not a scar behind"; no
doubt it may be urged that if the soul cannot be destroyed
neither can it suffer any permanent injury ; no doubt, also,
belief in a final reconciliation of all things seems to involve the
entire disappearance of every shadow of sin and every memory
of regret. But Christian thought has never been, and never
can be, under the sole dominion of logic. All its speculations
are limited by the value which it attaches to the testimony of
conscience ; and conscience does affirm the existence of an

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 313

ultimate moral danger, does assert that there is such a thing as
the irreparable and the too late. It is mainly this testimony
which compels many to accompany the hope of a final state of
universal peace with the admission that if the soul goes beyond
a certain point in evil it renders itself subject to some measure
of eternal disability and loss.

This is, indeed, an admission that can only be made with
the reserve that befits our ignorance, and with profound sorrow ;

" For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these : It might have been."

Yet, how can we escape it ? Not to have known the life
eternal under the conditions of mortal existence must surely
mean that there will always be something wanting to the
complete experience of the soul. Also, if any man becomes
an heir of perdition, the memory of perdition will remain.
Such an one, further, earns for himself separation at death
from the fellowship of the faithful ; and this must be a matter
of enduring regret. It is reasonable to suppose, also, that he
may bring upon himself permanent inability to attain the
higher forms of knowledge and of service. Dante, as you
remember, describes the lower level of Paradise as a condition
very like the outpost of the Inferno. And if we borrow his
imagery, we may say that the soul that passes through the
dark region of retributive "punishment, and through the fires
of the place of cleansing, and attains at last to a state of
reconciliation, may yet never pass beyond the lower degrees of
blessedness. Such a destiny would not involve any positive
defect of being, or any alienation from God. The soul would
possess the secret of eternal peace, would reverently accept
the limitations of knowledge and life which it had imposed
upon itself under the immutable laws of the Almighty, and
would be satisfied that there was room and place for it,
however humble, in the Kingdom of a redeemed humanity.
Though much might have been lost to it, there would remain

" A sympathy august and pure,
Ennobled by a vast regret,
And by contrition sealed thrice sure,"

314 THE WORLD TO COME

(a) Now, no one who might hold this doctrine of destiny
could be accused of taking an easy view of the nature and
consequences of sin. To say that he did would be to forget the
burden of terror that lies in the thought of perdition. We
know what dreadful possibilities of torment are latent in our
physical frame, and we cannot doubt that similar capacity for
suffering is hidden in the nature of the soul. Nor can we
think lightly of the penalty that is called spiritual privation
when we remember the pathos that was in the voice of Jesus
when He spoke of " that which was lost."

(b) But it may be said, on the other hand, that if we affirm
anything in perdition to be everlasting we really assert the
eternity of evil ; inasmuch as failure to attain the best is a form
of evil, and its perpetual existence would mean the triumph
of sin. And the formal force of this argument may be
admitted. In effect, however, privation of the highest good
is not so much evil as what Erigena called the " phantasm " of
it. It is not sin ; it is not pain ; it is nothing that is able to
render life less than a good and precious gift ; it involves no
opposition to the will of God. Certainly, it is the result of
moral disorder ; it is a subdued colour in the pattern of life,
a minor note in its music ; and it would not have existed if
man had never fallen, if evil had never been. This may be
admitted. But then it is not possible on any theory to say
that the final consummation will show no trace of the sin that
was once in the world. If we say that the lost will suffer
annihilation, we affirm that evil will have for its perpetual
memorial a multitude of the slain, will leave its record in a
graveyard of souls. Even if we assert absolute Universalism
we must still admit that the nature of the End shall bear
witness to the struggle and tragedy through which it has been
reached. Nay, the very conception of heaven itself, as held
by Christian faith, is the vision of a beatitude that bears the
mark of the conflict that is past. The joy of Paradise is the
joy of those who have known many sorrows ; its victory is
that of soldiers who have suffered many defeats ; its purity is
that of sinners who have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of Christ. Thus there will be even in

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 315

perfect blessedness a memorial of evil; the walls of the
heavenly City will witness to the travail which has built
them ; and in the midst of the throne there will be a Lamb
that has been slain. Unless the Cross passes utterly out of
the memory of the soul, there will always remain a testimony
in the universe to the power and the .curse of sin. And so it
should not be urged against any theory that it admits the
permanence of evil in the marks it leaves behind. Such
admission, in some form, is a necessity of the case.

(c) But, however this may be, one cannot allow that the
view I have indicated would involve the defeat of the purpose of
God in the creation of mankind. We may be sure that He
cannot intend anything less than the destruction of sin and
pain. Since He is good, He must be determined to destroy
evil ; and since He is Love, He cannot have given to any
creature an existence which He knew would prove a curse;
nor can He be satisfied until He has reconciled all souls to
Himself. Of this we may be confident. But there is no
reason whatever for saying that God must have decreed that
every one of His creatures shall attain to the highest good. It
is altogether likely that He has granted to human freedom the
utmost possible scope that is consistent with the nature of
things and the essential goodness of life. And it is reasonable
to believe that such a measure of freedom involves liability to
surfer great and permanent loss. The moral life, as we know
it, is fraught with adventure and compassed with peril ; it has
wonderful depths and heights ; and the risks it presents are
limited only by the purpose of God to redeem His creatures
and to subdue all things unto Himself. Our knowledge of the
universe does not encourage the thought that the Creator is
unwilling to permit the existence of many different grades and
orders of being. The Cosmos is one great system of rank and
gradation, rising in level above level from the lowest form of
life to the multitude of the heavenly host. God has not
granted to us all an equal measure of gift or an equal wealth
of understanding, and there are as many degrees of attainment
and power in the moral as in the intellectual world. It is,
therefore, without ground in reason or experience that we

316 THE WORLD TO COME

affirm the purpose of God to forbid the existence of many
different levels of glory and power in His Kingdom of recon
ciliation. Men may be found to have appointed themselves
to varying degrees of spiritual rank and service, each finding
his own place according to the fitness he has achieved. And
it may be that this variety and inequality of attainment,
though it be in a measure the result of sin, shall be so
ordered by divine grace as to conduce to the harmony and
beauty of things. We cannot tell how low some of the
grades of life may be, any more than we can forecast the
heights to which some may rise; but all will be found
within the walls of redemption and within the bounds of
the peace of God.

Such, then, is a general statement of the type of doctrine
which may be expected to result from the development of
eschatological thought. No particular importance is to be
attached to the terms in which it is expressed ;. nor is it, as I
have said, to be mistaken for a purely speculative construction,
or the mere utterance of an individual opinion. It is simply an
endeavour to interpret the testimony of the New Testament
and of the Christian Church in such a way as to exclude
nothing in it that has shown abiding power, and to harmonise
in some fashion its apparent contradictions. In other words,
it is an attempt to indicate the nature of the problem which
the theology of the future will be required to solve. No
rational theory which claims to be a development of Christian
thought can altogether reject any one of the great elements in
the witness of the Church throughout the ages. It must
accept these, in a broad catholic understanding of them, and
seek to show that they are in their substance reasonable, and
capable of being harmonised in the unity of faith. I have
tried to indicate the main features of eschatological belief
which may thus claim to be accepted as part of the historic
witness — the threefold doctrine of immediate destiny; the
foreboding of judgment and perdition : and the hope of the
final triumph of Christ in an universal Kingdom of peace.
These are persistent and assured features of traditional doctrine ;

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 317

and the theology of the future will have to recognise them as
essentially true, in their substance as distinguished from their
varying forms. But, having done this, it will have to consider
how these things are all to be justified as elements in a
reasonable belief, and shown to be parts of one harmonious
whole. And, in fulfilling this portion of its task, it will be
compelled to take for its guide that great assertion which is
the distinctive glory of the Gospel, the assertion of God's
redeeming purpose for all mankind through Jesus Christ His
Son. It will have to prove that the doctrine of future retribu
tion can be so conceived as not to contradict the sovereignty
of grace. It will be constrained to vindicate the witness of
conscience and of Scripture to the reality of perdition ; and
yet to interpret that witness in such a way as not to weaken
or attenuate tbe supreme message of Revelation, which is that
it is the good purpose of the Father to reconcile all things to
Himself, through the ministries of the Spirit, through the
terrors of the Judgment, through the blood of the Cross.

III.

ETERNAL LIFE.

1. Two types of thought. — When we turn^to the positive
aspect of the Christian belief in Immortality — the doctrine of
heavenly blessedness — we find ourselves in a region of general
agreement. Also, we return to a sphere of thought which has
been coloured always by the old imaginative forms, and has
owed its concrete imagery to the ancient presentations of the
Kingdom of God. The common type of Christian faith has
generally conceived the life to come as an endless existence in
time, an everlasting succession of blessed experiences. But
there has existed, along with this, a form of belief which has
thought of eternal life as a spiritual quality of being, a state
of mind so elevated, so possessed with devout emotion, as to
be independent of time, above the ttux of temporal things,
enjoying even in this present world the peace and joy of

3i8 THE WORLD TO COME

abiding communion with God. This latter is the mystical
type of the Christian hope. It is not to be sharply dis
tinguished from the more general form of belief ; since its
influence is manifest in all profoundly religious minds. But it
has sometimes been developed so far as to deny that there will
be any movement or change in the heavenly life, and even to
approach the idea of absorption in the infinite.

Both of these types of thought are found in the New
Testament, though some of its books emphasise the one and
some the other. The teaching of Jesus, of St. Paul, and of St.
John, combine the imaginative and mystical forms of faith in
life eternal. Even the Book of Revelation shows the same
characteristic. It expresses the substance of the mystical
doctrine in the decree that " there should be time no longer " ; l
but its conception as a whole is concrete, and takes its colour
from the things of this temporal world. And so it is through
out the sacred writings. The thought of the life to come
is expressed in terms of the Kingdom of God; and thus
it is mainly presented in the form of a shining hope,
although it is recognised that the substance and secret of
eternal blessedness is already the possession of all believers.
Also, it is prefigured in such symbolism as belongs to the
vision of a terrestrial state, freed from all that is cor
ruptible and defiled, and containing the fulfilment of every
earthly good.

2. The Apocalyptic tradition. — And later Christian thought
has remained faithful to the New Testament tradition.
It has not been unmindful of St. John's teaching, nor ever
ceased to believe that eternal life is attainable in this present
world ; but it has dwelt mainly on the idea of a world blessed
and everlasting which we hope to attain beyond the gates of
death. It has cherished the promise of something that is to
come, " afar from the sphere of our sorrow." It has believed
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,
and that this mortal must put on immortality before it
can attain to the heart's desire. And it has continued to
invest the thought of the future State with a garment of

1 Rev. 106.

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 319

glory that is coloured with the hues of ancient prophetic
symbol.1

Now this symbolic imagery of the Christian tradition, as
embodied, for instance, in the Book of Revelation, has been
made the subject of much derisive comment. A recent writer
speaks of the " bric-a-brac heaven of St. John " ; and many
modern authors seem to object to the idea of the angels and
the archangels and all the heavenly host. A good deal of
contempt, also, is expressed for the old pictures of the New
Jerusalem — the white robes, the palms of victory, the choirs
of everlasting praise, the golden streets and the gates of pearl,
the tree of life and the fountains of living waters. But all
this criticism is external and unsympathetic, the foolishness of
the wise, the unintelligence of intellectuality. St. John and
the other prophets of his kind were no such childish literalists
as their censors suppose them to have been. A writer capable
of such profound sayings as " the Lamb slain from the founda
tion of the world " was quite able to distinguish form from
substance, and to perceive the spiritual meanings of his own
symbolism. These pictures of St. John signify victory, peace,
consolation, worship, knowledge, and the fulness of perfect
being. And no modern writer has ever been able to suggest
imagery that can take their place — to offer us anything in
their stead but barren abstractions, and chilly assertions of
ignorance, which do nothing but empty the future of all
reality and all attraction for wistful human souls. The
apocalyptic imagery of future blessedness, like the apocalyptic
forms of belief, is consecrated by immemorial tradition ; it is
the fruit of history ; and it has a message for the simplest
mind as well as for the wise and understanding. It is vivid ;
it is fraught with plain spiritual meanings ; it appeals to
tender human emotions; and it is the symbol of a high
romance. For all these reasons it has endured, and is likely
to endure unto the end.

3. The mystical form of belief. — (a) We do not, however,
attain to a full conception of the Christian hope unless we

1 Cf. Dante, Paradiso ; Augustine, City of God, xxii. 29, 30 ; ii Kempis,
Imitation of Christ.

320 THE WORLD TO COME

recognise, not only this concrete pictorial form of belief, but
also that mystical type of thought which likewise has its
origin in the New Testament witness. The mystical mind has
always tended to dwell on the vision of God as a thing attain
able in this present state, to minimise the opposition between
time and eternity, and the contrast between this life and that
which is to come. Thus Jacob Boehme wrote in the album of
a friend the famous and characteristic lines :

"When time is as eternity,
Eternity as time to thee,
From strife of all kinds thou art free."

Or, as they are quaintly rendered by the original translator of
Boehme's great work into English :

"Unto that man whose Time and Ever
Is all the same and all together ;
His battle's done, his strife is ended,
His soul is safe, his life amended." 1

This saying is a memorable expression of the type of piety
which Boehme represents. It always dislikes any insistence
on the temporal side of religious experience. Faith is com
munion with the Eternal One, and according to the measure of
its perfection raises the soul above time, and secures it in the
possession of a state of peace to which all change, even death
itself, is indifferent or irrelevant. This is an idea that is
familiar to the students of Frederick Denison Maurice, and it
is illustrated for us by the passage in Newman's Grammar of
Assent, in which he speaks of the monk who, " going out into
the wood to meditate, was detained there by the song of a bird
for three hundred years, which to his consciousness passed as
only one hour." " The song of the bird that the monk heard,
without taking note of the passage of time, might have been,
' And they shall reign for ever and ever ' ; though of the many
thousand times of the bird's repeating the words, they sounded
in the monk's ear but one song, once sung." Mystical religion
makes much of this timeless strain in our experience — these
hours when, under the influence of high emotion or access of

1 Mysterium Magnum, Eng. edit. 1654.

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 321

thought, lapsing moments are forgotten, cease to be, are lost in
the tide of the soul's intenser life. And it finds in these lofty
experiences " sweet forewarnings " of the state of final blessed
ness, wherein men shall enjoy an existence in which time is
brought to nothingness by the supreme emotion and enraptured
vision of eternal life.

This thought, that future blessedness is a timeless state
of being, has been expressed by poets and bhinkers of every
age. It was implicit in Plato's understanding of the term
" eternal," which generally signifies, in his writings, not so
much endless duration as a quality of life. We have seen that
St. John embodies it in the saying, " there should be time no
longer." And the author of the Secrets of Enoch says, in like
manner, "There all time shall perish, and the years, and
thenceforward there shall be neither days nor months nor
hours." But the classical literary expression of this thought is
found in the closing lines of Spenser's Faerie Queen : l

"Then gin I thinke on that which Nature sayd
Of that same time when no more Change shall be,
But stedfast rest of all things, firmely stayd
Upon the pillours of eternity,
That is con tray r to Mutabilitie ;
For all that moveth doth in Change delight :
But thenceforth all shall rest eternally
With Him that is the Gad of Sabaoth hight :
Oh ! that great Sabaoth God, grant me that Sabaoth's sight."

Now, one can have no doubt as to the truth of this mystical
doctrine of eternal life as a religious affirmation. It rests on
realities of experience and intuitions of the soul, and it
expresses that longing to be free of the change and instability
and insecurity of things, and the wearying succession of " the
slow, sad hours," which is an enduring instinct of faith. But
when it is translated from terms of religion into forms of
philosophy, when it becomes the assertion that the soul will
actually pass into a mode of existence that is above time, that
has no past arid no future and no movement, it goes beyond
the limits of Christian thought and approaches perilously near

1 Globe edition, p. 436.

322 THE WORLD TO COME

to the idea that personal life will be utterly merged in the
ocean of absolute Being. Indeed, some writers go so far as to
assert that the consummation of heavenly experience will be
the loss of individual consciousness ; companion souls who
have attained together the supreme height of beatitude will
clasp hands on the mountain top and say, " Farewell, we lose
ourselves in light." l

When we speak in this way, however, we are not only
exceeding the limits of Christian faith, we are also deceiving
ourselves with imaginative terms which correspond to no
experience of ours, and express nothing that has definite
meaning for our minds. The notion of being " absorbed in the
Infinite," of attaining some supra-personal state of being, is
not an idea that can appear reasonable to any one who holds
the Christian doctrine of God. How can we attain imperson
ality by union with a personal Spirit ? Is it not evident that
the closer our fellowship with such an One becomes, the more
shall we fulfil the conception of personality ? We may ask,
also, how a moral life that tends to ever fuller self-realisation
can end in the loss of self ? Has not our Lord said that who
soever will lose his life shall keep it unto life eternal ? How
is it possible to conceive of a time when the soul that has
followed after the ideal good shall say, " I have completed my
last moral action ; henceforth I become nothing." How can
we even picture the future of the child of God as ending
suddenly, like a road that drops into a gulf ? Nay, the very
thought of a timeless state of existence is the symbol of some
thing lower, and not higher, than our present life. Succession,
a before and an after, is an essential characteristic of spiritual
being. Without it there can be no progress, no service, no
fellowship with kindred souls, no hope and no memory. To
think of the future state as without these things is to deny
that it has any attribute of life, as life is known to us here.
It is really to assert that existence, such as we have experi
enced or can imagine, ends at death.2

1 Tennyson, In Memoriam ; see, also, Shelley's Adowiis.
3 For full discussion of this subject see von Huge], Eternal Life ; Maurice,
Theological Essayt ; Mellone, Eternal Life Here and Hereafter, p. 250 ff.

REVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION 323

But why should we revolt against the thought of living
for ever under temporal conditions ? Why should we count it
desirable to escape from the realm of change ? There is no
evil in succession, if it be a succession of blessed hours. It is
only in moods of fatigue and weakness that we long for release
from the world of the rising and setting suns. It is only to
the wearied eyes that the monotone is dear. For the normal
heart and mind, it is a pleasant thing to believe that good will
ever give place to good, and knowledge to knowledge, and
service to service. What we really seek, in our thoughts of
everlasting life, is a timeless emotion and rest of soul, not a
timeless existence. What the spirit of man truly desires is
conformity, within its own measure, to that law which dwells
in the being of God. We know that He is the Eternal One,
transcending all mutability and all the things that come and
go, and yet is within the realm of the temporal and fleeting, in
so far as He shares in the life of the universe. We believe
that He rests for ever, self-centred and alone, yet continually
fulfils Himself in His manifold creation and His ministries of
grace. And so we hold it true that the immortals who reflect
His glory and bear His image inhabit eternity, and remain in
time. Theirs is a state which, in the inmost heart and secret
of it, is above all flux, all evanescence and decay ; but, also,
it is a state wherein they remember and hope, and labour
harmoniously in the tireless" service of their brethren and of
God.

Thus there remain two elements in the Christian hope of
life everlasting, the one resting on the mystical side of faith,
the other derived from the ancient belief in the Kingdom of
God. These present the appearance of a logical opposition,
but they are really only different aspects of one transcendent
truth. Immortal blessedness is the beatific vision of God,
direct, immediate, perfect ; but it is also a continuous growth
in the understanding of things both human and divine — it is
" to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." It is
rest and peace beyond what we are able to ask or to think ;
and it is the constant doing of the holy will of God. It is

324 THE WORLD TO COME

final and complete; nevertheless it is unceasing movement
towards an end which, when it is reached, is seen to be only a
beginning. It dwells with the Father of lights, with whom is
no variableness nor shadow of turning, but it is more changeful
than the passing years, and of a richer variety than the light
and colour and form of this our manifold world. In it men
see face to face and know even as also they are known ; none
the less, there abide in it faith and hope and love. The com
pany of the redeemed, as Dante tells us, shines like a great
white rose unfolding itself petal upon petal in the presence of
the glory of God ; and this unfolding of the splendours of the
soul is accomplished through obedience to that perfect law of
love which is the law of life eternal.

"But, as moved evenly a wheel appears,
So ray desire, and will, now swayed aright
The Love, that moves the sun and other stars."

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33i

JEWISH DOCTRINE.

I.
MESSIAH.

" The Anointed of the Lord "— " The Son of Man "— " The King "
—"He shall open the gates of Paradise"— "Priest," "Prophet,"
"Judge"— "Mediator" — "Destroyer" — "Sinless, and Holy One"1

O.T. references— Isa. 96- 7 321- 2 421'3 5213 5312 etc.

II.
MESSIANIC WOES AND PAROUSIA.

" Quakings of places ; tumults of people ; confusion of leaders ; the
foundations of the earth shall tremble and be shaken. The trumpet
shall sound. The earth shall be stricken with fear." " The Heavenly
One will arise from His royal throne, and come forth from His holy
habitation, with indignation and wrath for His sons. And earth will
tremble to its utmost bounds, and the high mountains be brought low
and the forests fall. The sun will not give light, and the horns of the
moon will become dark ; they will be broken, and it all will be turned
into blood, and the circle of the stars will be shattered. The seas will
sink into the abyss, the fountains of water will fail, and the rivers will
be afraid: for the Most High will arise, the Eternal God alone"
(4 Ezra 93-614-24, Ass. Moses 103'7).

" And behold ! He cometh with ten thousand of His holy ones "
(En. P).

"Now that lightning shone exceedingly so as to illuminate the
whole earth " (Apoc. Bar. 539).

O.T. references— Isa. 136'13, Joel 2 111 etc.

1 For references see preceding Table.
332

II.

JEWISH AND NEW TESTAMENT ESCHATOLOGY.

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE.

I.
MESSIAH.

"The Christ, the Son of the living God." "The Son of Man."
" The King." " I have the keys of death and of Hades." " The Son
of Man is come not to be ministered unto but to minister." " A priest
forever." " Without sin " (Matt. 1713'16 2534 2028, Rev. I18, Heb. 415
56).

II.

MESSIANIC WOES AND PAROUSIA.

" And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not
troubled : for such things nmst needs be ; but the end shall not be yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines
and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. . . . For in those
days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the
creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. ... But
take ye heed : behold, I have foretold you all things. . . . But in those
days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the
powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. . . . And then shall they
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect
from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the utter
most part of heaven. . . . For as the lightning cometh out of the east
and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man
be" (Mark 136'8- 19- »• 24-27, Matt. 2427).

333

334 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Continued.

.YOOJOTA

THE RESURRECTION.

1. OP BELIEVERS.

" Then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness." ..." They that fear
the Lord shall rise to life eternal." ..." All who have fallen asleep
in hope of Him shall rise again" (Test. Benj. 10r"8, Apoc. Bar. 302).

" The earth shall assuredly restore the dead. ... As it has received,
so shall it restore them. . . . For it will be necessary to show to the
living that the dead have come to life again. . . . Then shall the aspect
of those who are condemned be afterwards changed, and the glory of
those who are justified. . . . The glory of those who have been justified
in My law shall be glorified in changes . . . that they may be able to
acquire and receive the world which does not die " (Apoc. Bar. 502-513).

O.T. references— Ps. 169'11, Isa. 2619, Ezek. 371'14, Dan. 122 etc.

2. OP ALL MEN.

"Then also all men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto
shame." "And in those days shall the earth also give back that which
has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also shall give back that which it
had received" (Test. Benj. 108, En. 511).

APPENDIX II. 335

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

III.
THE RESURRECTION.

1. OP BELIEVERS.

"lam the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth on Me,
though he die, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in
Me shall never die " (John II25- 2C).

" Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold,
I show you a mystery ; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruption must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory." ..." For we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from
heaven : if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened : not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be
swallowed up of life" (1 Cor. 1651"54, 2 Cor. 51-4).

2. OF ALL MEN.

"The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall
hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur
rection of judgment " (John 528- 29).

" And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and Death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them " (Rev. 2013).

336 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Continued.

IV.
JUDGMENT.

1. PERSONAL.

" The judgment of the lofty One who has no respect of persons."
" He will judge the great according to his greatness, and the small
according to his smallness, and each according to his way" (Bar. 138,
Jub. 516).

O.T. references— Mai. 31'3 18-18, Isa. 2621, Ps. 9618 etc.

2. UNIVERSAL.

" The Lord of Spirits seated the Elect One on the throne of His
glory, and the spirit of righteousness was poured out before Him. . . .
And there will stand up in that day all the kings and the mighty and
the exalted and those who hold the earth, and they will see and
recognise Him how He sits on the throne of His glory and righteousness
is judged before Him and no lying word is spoken before Him . . . and
one portion of them will look on the other and they will be terrified,
and their countenance will fall and pain will seize them when they see
that Son of Man sitting on the throne of His glory, . . . and all the elect
will stand before Him on that day. And all the kings and the mighty
. . . will supplicate for mercy at His hand. Nevertheless . . . the
angels of punishment will take them in charge to execute vengeance
upon them, because they have oppressed His children and His elect.
And they will be a spectacle for the righteous and for His elect, . . .
and the righteous and the elect will be saved on that day . . . and the
Lord of Spirits will abide over them and with that Son of Man will
they eat and lie down and rise up for ever and ever."1

"And there is nothing in heaven or on earth, or in light or in
darkness, or in Sheol, that is not judged " (Jub. 514).

1 Burkitt's shortened version of Judgment scene in En. 62.

APPENDIX II. 337

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

IV.
JUDGMENT.

1. PERSONAL.

"But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (Matt. 1236).

" For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ "
(2 Cor. 510).

2. UNIVERSAL.

" And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God : and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is
the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works " (Rev. 2011- 12).

" When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory : and before Him
shall be gathered all the nations ; and He shall separate them as the
shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats : and He shall set the sheep
on His right hand and the goats on His left. Then shall the King say
unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : for I
was hungry, and ye gave Me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink ;
I was a stranger, and ye took Me in : naked, and ye clothed Me : sick and
ye visited me, in prison and ye came unto Me," etc. (Matt. 2531'46).

" There is nothing covered up that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known " (Mark 422).

338 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Continued.

IV.

JUDGMENT— Continued.

3. MORE DETAILED COMPARISON OF MATT. 2531*46 WITH
JEWISH APOCALYPSE.

" The Son of Man " ; " He cometh with ten thousand of His holy
ones," "The holy angels." "They shall see that Son of Man seated on
the throne of His glory."

" And then shall He judge all the Gentiles" (Test. Benj. 10»).

" And He shall choose the righteous and holy from among them "
(En. 512).

"Rising on the right hand in gladness" (Test. Benj. 106).

" The righteous shall all be blessed " (En. I8).

"Inherit eternal life"; "for each one there is a place prepared"
(En. 409, Sec. of En. 492).

" I was beset with hunger, and the Lord Himself nourished me.
I was alone, and God comforted me :
I was sick, and the Lord visited me :

I was in prison, and my God showed favour unto me" (Test.
Jos. I5- 6).

" The godless shall be driven from the presence of the righteous."

"Ye sinners shall be cursed for ever" (En. 383 1023).

" Eternal fire "— " prepared for the hosts of Azazel."

"Eternal punishment," "eternal life" (Test. Zeb. 10s, En. 54s).

Note. — References not given here are to be found in preceding
pages, or in Appendix I. In Test. Benj. 106 "the right hand," of
course, implies " the left."

APPENDIX II. 339

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

IV.

JUDGMENT— Continued.

3. MORE DETAILED COMPARISON OP MATT. 2531'46 WITH
JEWISH APOCALYPSE.

" When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy
angels with Him," etc.

" And before Him shall be gathered all nations."
" And He shall separate them," etc.

" On His right hand, ... on the left."

"Ye blessed of My Father."

" Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you."

" For I was an hungered," etc.

" Depart from Me, ye cursed. "

" Eternal lire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
" Eternal punishment," " eternal life."

340 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Con tinued.

V.
HADES.

1. A STATE OF SLEEP.

"Though the righteous sleep a long sleep, yet shall they have nought
to fear." "The righteous shall arise out of sleep" (En. 1005 9110).

O.T. references— Isa. H9"20, Job 317'19 1019'22 1713'16 etc.

2. A STATE OF PUNISHMENT.

" Here their spirits shall be . . . in great pain until the great day
of judgment " (En. 2211).

3. A STATE OF REWARD.

" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall receive us." " And Paradise is
between corruptibility and incorruptibility . . . and every place is
blessed. . . . This place is prepared for the righteous " (4 Mace. 1317,
Sec. ofEn.8*-V).

4. HELP FOR THOSE IN HADES.

" Wherefore Judas made a propitiation for the dead, that they
might be delivered from sin " (2 Mace. 1245).

" Then Seth saw the hand of God stretched out holding Adam, and
he handed him over to Michael, saying : Let him be in thy charge till
the day of judgment in punishment till the last years, when I will
convert his sorrow into joy. Then shall he sit on the throne of him
who hath been his supplanter" (Books of Adam and Eve (V.A.E.)
481'3).

5. HADES TO PASS AWAY.
" And death is hidden, Hades fled away " (4 Ezra 863).

For further references see preceding Table.

APPENDIX II. 341

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

HADES.

1. A STATE OP SLEEP.

"Sleep in Jesus" (1 Thess. 414). "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth "
(John II11).

2. A STATE OP PUNISHMENT.
"In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment" (Luke 1623).

3. A STATE OF REWARD.

"And the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into,
Abraham's bosom." " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.'
"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 1622, Rev. 1413.
Luke 234S).

4. HELP FOB THOSE IN HADES.

"Christ . . . being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the
spirit : in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.
. . . For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that
they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit" (1 Pet. 318- 19 46).

"What shall they do who are baptized for the dead?" (1 Cor. 1529).

"I have the keys of Deatb and of Hades" (Rev. I18).

5. HADES TO PASS AWAY.
" And death and Hades were cast into the lake of firo " (Rev. 2014).

342 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Continued.

VI.
GEHENNA.

" As straw in fire shall they burn before the face of the holy and no
trace of them shall any more be found " ..." in blazing flames burning
worse than fire shall you burn." . . . "Darkness and unillumined
gloom." . . . "The voice of crying and lamentation and weeping." . . .
" There shall be the spectacle of righteous judgement, in the presence of
the righteous for ever" (En. 489 1009, Sec. of En. 102, En. 1086-« 27s).

O.T. references— Ps. 917, Isa. 3083 348'10 6624, Dent. S222 etc.

VII.
KINGDOM AND HEAVENLY BLESSEDNESS.

1. To COMB GRADUALLY.

"And in those days the children shall begin ... to seek the
commandments. And their days shall begin to grow many . . . and
all their days shall they complete and live in peace and joy "
(Jul>. 2320-29).

2. AN EARTHLY STATE.

" And all the children of men shall become righteous and shall offer
adoration, and shall honour Me and shall worship Me. And the earth
shall be cleansed from all defilement and from all sin, and from all
punishment and from all torment" (En. 1016'2-, cf. also En. 25).

3. TEMPORARY KINGDOM.

" And it shall come to pass after all these things, when the time of
the advent of the Messiah is fulfilled, that He shall return in glory "
(Apoc. Bar. 301).

4. A NEW HEAVBN AND A NEW EARTH.

" And I will transform the heaven and make it an eternal blessing
and light; and I will transform the earth and make it a blessing"
(En. 455).

APPENDIX II. 343

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

VI.
GEHENNA.

" He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." "The eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels." " Where their worm dieth
not, and their lire is not quenched." "The outer darkness" . . .
" There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." " And he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of his torment
ascendeth up for ever and ever " (Matt. 312 2541, Mark 944, Matt. 2213,
Rev. 1410).

VII.
KINGDOM AND HEAVENLY BLESSEDNESS.

1. To COME GRADUALLY.

" The Kingdom of Heaven is as leaven which a woman took and hid
in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened " (Matt. 1 33S).
"The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation" (Luke 1720).

2. AN EARTHLY STATE.

" Then shall ye sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel." " Many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom." "Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 1928 811 610).

3. TEMPORARY KINGDOM.

"Then shall the Son also Himself be subjected to Him that did
subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all " (1 Cor. 1528).

4. A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.

"We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness " (2 Pet. 313),

344 THE WORLD TO COME

JEWISH DOCTRINE— Continued.
KINGDOM AND HEAVENLY BLESSEDNESS— Continued.

5. AN HBAVENLY STATE, AND ETERNAL LlFE.

" The world which does not die." " Then all time shall perish and
the years, and henceforward there shall be neither months nor days nor
hours." "Eternal life." "Ye shall have great joy as the angels"
(Apoc. Bar. 518, Sec. of En. 657, Test, of Asher 53, En. 1010 1045).

O.T. references— Zech. 98'12, Mic. 52'4, Isa. II1-™ 409'11 60-6517'25 etc.

6. POETIC DESCRIPTION.

" For you is opened Paradise, planted the Tree of life ; the future
Age prepared, plenteousness made ready ; a City builded, a Kest
appointed ; good works established, wisdom reconstituted ; the evil root
is sealed up from you, infirmity from your path extinguished ; And
Death is hidden, Hades fled away ; Corruption forgotten, sorrows past
away ; and in the end the treasures of immortality are made manifest"

" And I saw all the sweet-flowering trees. . . . And in the midst of
the trees that of life, in that place whereon the Lord rests when He
goes up into Paradise; and this tree is of ineffable goodness and
fragrance, and adorned more than every existing thing ; and on all sides
it is in form gold-looking and vermilion and fire-like and covers all, and
it has produce from all fruits. Its root is in the garden at the earth's
end. . . . And here there is no unfruitful tree, and every place is
blessed. And there are three hundred angels very bright, who keep the
garden, and with incessant sweet singing and never-silent voices serve
the Lord throughout all days and hours " (4 Ez. 52-54, 2 En. 8).
See also Apoc. Bar. 5110, En. 9028-48.

Note. — This statement is, of course, far from complete. It aims only
at giving one or two examples under each heading. The quotations
from the Jewish literature are, for the most part, taken from the
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, edited by
Dr. Charles.

On Jewish books, cf. also Charles, Book of Enoch, Apocalypse of
Baruch ; Volz, Judische Eschatologie ; Moffatt, Expos. Greek Test. — Reve
lation of St. John • Dean, Booh <>{ Revelation ; Burkitt, Jeunsh and
Christian Apocalypses, etc,

APPENDIX II. 345

NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE— Continued.

KINGDOM AND HEAVENLY BLESSEDNESS— Continued.

5. AN HEAVENLY STATE, AND ETERNAL LlPE.

" An inheritance . . . reserved in heaven," " the heavenly Jerusalem,"
"an heavenly country." "They that are accounted worthy to attain
unto that world . . . are equal unto the Angels." "There shall be
time no longer." " Eternal life " (1 Pet. I4, Heb. 122? 1 116, Luke 2035- 36,
Rev. 106, Matt. 2546 etc.).

6. POETIC DESCRIPTION.

" And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven
and the first earth are passed away ; and the sea is no more. And I
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a
great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is
with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples,
and God Himself shall be Avith them, and be their God : and He shall
wipe away every tear from their eyes ; and death shall be no more ;
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more : the
first things are passed away" (Rev. 2 11"4).

" They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall
the sun strike upon them, nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto
fountains of waters of life : and God shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes "(Rev. 716- 17).

APPENDIX III.

ON THE MEANING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
TERM "ETERNAL."

(cuomos, aionios.)

I.
OPINIONS OF SCHOLARS.

DOBNBR. — " By no means denotes everywhere endless duration."
Applied to punishment, it denotes " a duration of immeasurable length,
but not an eternity of duration" (Christian Doctrine, iv. p. 419). Also
ST ANTON (Jemsh and Christian Messiah, p. 342).

PLUMPTRE. — Its "received connotation" is "indefinite duration,"
" in every book of the New Testament, except the writing of St. John "
(Spirits in Prison, p. 366). So also SAIMOND (Christian Doctrine of
Immortality, pp. 516-517).

STEVENS.- — " Aeonios means pertaining to an age, age-long. It no
more means endless (necessarily) than aeon means eternity " (Christian
Doctrine of Salvation, p. 526). So also KINGSLBY (quoted by Cox,
Salvator Mundi, p. 122) ; FARRAR (Eternal Hope, p. 78).

Cox. — " Aeonial life means life in Christ, the spiritual life distinctive
of the Christian Aeons ; and aeonial punishment is the discipline, the
punishment, distinctive of the Christian Aeons " (Salvator Afundi,
p. 140).

CHEYNE. — " Eternal means in Synoptics and New Testament gener
ally — (1) endless, (2) Messianic." In St. John, " the life which is life

indeed " (Eneyc. Bib., art. Eternity and Eternal, sec. 4).

346

APPENDIX III. 347

CHARLES, in his Book of Enoch, repeatedly shows the variable and
uncertain meaning of the word aeonios (p. 72). But he evidently holds
that, as applied to punishment in the New Testament, it means " un
ending," since he says, " Punishment is generally conceived in the
Gospels as everlasting" (Encyc. Bib., art. Eschatology). So also GOTJL-
BURN (Everlasting Punishment, pp. 82-88); HAUSRATH (N.T. Times,
ii. 238) ; WENDT (Teaching of Jems, ii. 88).

BRUCE (Exp. Greek Test., vol. i. p. 396). — "Strict meaning is age
long, not everlasting."

JUKES. — " This word describes not the quantity or duration, but the
quality, of that of which it is predicated" (Restitution, etc., p. 129) ; cf.
also DE QUINCEY (in Theological Essays).

BLACKIE. — "Does not signify eternity absolutely and metaphysically,
but only popularly " (Nat. Hist, of Ath., p. 207).

TAYLER LEWIS. — " In Matt. 254C it would be in accordance with
etymological usage to give it the sense of olamic or aeonic, or to regard
it as denoting, like the Jewish olam hdbba, ' the world to come ' —
' These shall go away into the punishment of the world to come, and
these into the life of the world to come.' And so it is in the old Syriac
Version, where the rendering is still more unmistakably clear. These
shall go away to the pain of the olam and these to the life of the olam
(olam signifies age or world to come) " (Notes on Lange's Ecclesiastes, I3).

PUSEY. — " It means endless, within the sphere of its own existence"
(Everlasting Punishment, p. 38 IF.).

WESTCOTT. — " Eternal life is not an endless duration of being in
time, but being of which time is not a measure (Epistles of St. John,
p. 215). So also MAURICE (Theological Essays, pp. 447-450). Also
ERSKINE of Linlathen (Life and Letters, p. 425).

H. A. A. KENNEDY holds that " eternal," when applied to doom, in
the N.T. means " everlasting " — " The evidence . . . tells completely
against the modern hypothesis" (St. Paul's Conceptions, etc., p. 316).

H. R. MACKINTOSH. — " Attempts ... to evacuate the word
' eternal ' of its natural meaning have come to nothing " (Immortality
and the Future, p. 204).

348 THE WORLD TO COME

NOTE.

These quotations are only a few out of many that might be given.
But they may suffice for illustration. Where such difference of opinion
exists among competent scholars, there must be room for doubt. — If the
N.T. writers had used the word aTeAeimjros when they meant to signify
" without end," much trouble might have been spared. The Emperor
Justinian, in his declaration against Origen, added ateleutetos to aeonios,
to make it clear that he meant endless. — But vagueness and variety
of meaning attaches in all languages to this phraseology. Thus, in
English, we speak colloquially of " eternal worry," etc. ; in legal docu
ments property is assigned to a man " and to his heirs for ever " ;
Stevenson uses the phrase, " the endless song was ended at last " ; Carlyle,
"an everlasting barren simper"; Blake writes, "eternity in an hour";
Shakespeare speaks of " Brass eternal, prey to mortal rage " ; philosophers
mean by eternal, " without beginning or end " ; orthodox theologians
have in mind true eternity when they speak of the Eternal God, but
unending duration when they say " eternal punishment." Thus the
English use of this phraseology corresponds in variety to the Greek.

II.
PLATO'S USE OF TERM "ETERNAL."

Aeon (aiojv) in Ionic usage signified a " lifetime " or " time " ; but it
had acquired solemnity of meaning from poetic association. Hence,
Plato found it the most suitable word to express his idea of true eternity
— that which is without beginning or end or succession.

He probably coined the adjective cuwvios to correspond to the
particular sense he gave to the noun. Aeonios commonly means, in his
writings, not indefinite continuance of time, but that which is above
time or is its metaphysical opposite. A eonios occurs in three passages, all
in the later Dialogues.

1. Republic (ii. c. 6). Here we are told that certain poets deem
"eternal intoxication (iuQr)v alwvtov) to be the best reward of virtue" in
Hades. " Aeonian " here means " unending," but in a popular and
ironic sense.

2. Laws (x. c. 12) : "Both soul and body are a thing indestructible
(uvwAeflpov) yet not eternal (aiwVtoi/) like the g< ids, existing according to
law." Aeonian here cannot denote true eternity, since it is applied to
the gods as distinguished from the soul of man. Plato's doctrine is

APPENDIX III. 349

that the soul is a thing deathless and indestructible (aOa.va.rov «<u
avtaXeOpov) by nature — truly eternal, without beginning or end. The
gods, on the other hand, are created beings, not deathless by nature, but
secured against death by a special decree of their Maker. Aeonian thus
connotes " deathless existence according to law " — the life of mortal
beings secured from flux and change and decay by the direct exercise of
divine power. It describes a state or quality of being peculiar to the
gods — not endless life, uor life limited in duration, but one that is above
time, in so far as time means age and corruption. This use of the term
aeonian thus approximates intellectually to the Johannine.

3. But the classic passage is in the Timaeus (sec. x. in Greek
edition, Herrmann's ; sees, xiii., xiv., Bohn's trans.).

The universe, body and soul, is a created image of the eternal (dtSios)
gods. Having a body and soul, and thus being alive, it is called an
" eternal (auSios) animal." The nature (<£u<ris) of this living universe is
" eternal " (aiwi/tos), and therefore " could not be entirely adopted into
anything subject to generation " (ye'vecris). Hence God resolved to
create " a movable image of eternity " (aiwv). He " out of that eternity
which rests in unity formed an eternal (cuomos) image." This image, or
imitation of eternity is Time. Time, like the universe, is itself perishable :
for these " may together be dissolved." But it is formed on the model
of an eternal (auovtos) nature. This aeonian model on which Time is
formed "exists through all eternity." But the thing formed on it
"'exists through all time."

In this passage the term aeonios, as nearly as possible, connotes true
metaphysical eternity. Time is, indeed, called "an aeonian image."
But context shows that this means an image made on an aeonian model.
The whole reasoning throughout shows that the aeonian model belongs
to that eternity which " is the same and indivisible ; neither becomes at
any time older nor younger ; neither has been generated in the past nor
will be in the future."

Plato thus means by aeonian — (1) "everlasting," in a popular and
literary sense ; (2) the quality of life peculiar to the gods ; (3) true
eternity.

III.
PHILO'S USE OF TERM ETERNAL.

(1) Philo sometimes uses aeonios in the Platonic sense of true
eternity, for he likes to be as Platonic as possible. (2) But, so far as I
know, he never applies it to future punishment. (3) He often employs

350 THE WORLD TO COME

the phraseology in question to denote limited periods of time. Two
illustrations of this are given in the chapter on Gehenna. The passage
in which "eternal punishment" occurs is as follows :

" It is better not to promise than not to give prompt assistance ; for
no blame follows in the former case, but in the latter there is dissatisfac
tion from the weaker class, and a deep hatred and everlasting punishment
from such as are more powerful " (Fragmenta, tome ii. p. 667, Mangey's
edition).

This passage is to be found in Rendel Harris's Greek and Latin
edition of the Fragmenta of Philo, p. 10.

IV.

' FOR EVER" USED OF A LIMITED TIME IN APOCALYPTIC
AND OTHER JEWISH WRITINGS.

Book of Enoch.

937 " And after this, in the fifth week, at its close, will the house
of glory and dominion be built for ever." This is said of the temple
which was to pass away.

59. Righteous are to dwell in the earthly Paradise "in eternal
happiness " ; and yet they are to die.

105. Azazel is bound in the wilderness in darkness "for ever."
" For ever " here means for seventy generations.

10io "They hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them
will live five hundred years." "Eternal" here means "five hundred
years."

395. The angels are represented as interceding for men "for ever and
ever" after the judgment. Unless the writer means to indicate that
there is no end to the period during which intercession avails, lie is
using the words "for ever and ever" here to equal "continually."

The Mosaic law is called "the eternal law" (992). The writer of
this section cannot have meant that the law of Moses was everlasting.

Reference is also made to the "eternal heritage of their fathers"
(9914). Yet in this section of the Book of Enoch the whole earth is to
pass away.

Apocalypse of Baruch.

In Apocalypse of Baruch (later half of 1st century A.D.) the phrase
" for ever " (ets rov aliava) is twice used to equal " for the age," or " till the
end of the age " (403 731).

(See Charles, Esdiatolo'jy, p. 327.)

APPENDIX III. 351

V.
GREEK TERM "ETERNAL" IN THE N.T.

Dr. Pusey gives an analysis of the use of aeonios in the N.T. (Ever
lasting Punishment, pp. 38, 39), q.v.

It is used of Fire three times (Matt. 188 2541, Jude 7).

„ ,, Punishment once (Matt. 2546).

,, „ Judgment once or possibly twice (Mark 329(?), Heb. 62).

„ „ Sin possibly once (Mark 329).

„ „ Destruction once (2 Thess. I9).

The term is thus applied to future Retribution seven times in all.
Whereas it is applied to Life forty -four times. Dr. Pusey remarks that
" of the future it is nowhere used in the N.T. except of eternal life or
punishment " (Everlasting Punishment, p. 39).

Of these seven instances, the three in Matt, are not of high authority,
being peculiar to that Gospel. The one in Jude 7 refers to the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrha. The phrase " aeonian sin," in Mark 329, is with
out parallel in the N.T. Also, it is applied in Jewish literature to
national and temporal sins. "Eternal Judgment," in Heb. 62, means
final judgment. Also, some passages in Hebrews indicate the annihila
tion of the wicked (see Chapter on Gehenna). " Eternal destruction " in
2 Thess. I9 seems to me to signify annihilation.

(2) A eonian = unending duration in, e.g., 2 Tim. 210, Heb. 915,
2 Cor. 417.

(3) Aeonian = true eternity in, e.g., 1 Tim. I17, Heb. 914.

(4) Aeonian life in St. John = " life that is life indeed," "life of
which time is no measure." Plato foreshadowed this idea in the Laws.
But, whereas Plato's "eternal life" was an elevated, privileged state of
existence, John's is an elevated state of thought, feeling, and purpose.

(5) Aeonian = limited duration, e.g. Rom. 1625.

(6) In the Synoptics and N.T. generally, " eternal life" is " the life
of the Kingdom" (Matt. 1916, Mark 1017, Luke 1025 etc.). This is
the meaning of " eternal life " also in Jewish Apocalypse. The heirs of
the Kingdom are said to enjoy life eternal even when the Kingdom is
regarded as temporary. The Kingdom is eternal in the sense that it
issues from eternity and cannot be conquered by anything that is of
this world. Its citizens, therefore, enjoy a peculiar quality of life,
whatever its duration — triumphant, secure, part of the eternal order.

The Synoptic doctrine corresponds to this. No doubt, Jesus thought
of the Kingdom life as endless. Whether He believed that the Messianic

352 THE WORLD TO COME

State would be everlasting or temporary, He certainly believed that it
could only merge in something higher than itself, the Kingdom of the
Father in heaven. Hence, those who inherited the Kingdom inherited
final blessedness. But He thought more of the religious and moral
quality of the life of the Age to come than of its duration.

St. John's presentation of our Lord's teaching, in this respect, did
not differ essentially from that of the Synoptics. For him also eternal
life = the Kingdom (John 38- 5). The Kingdom is eternal life realised
in community.

(7) Of the phrases cited from St. Matt, aeonian punishment = " the
punishment of the Messianic Age," and includes the idea of finality :
aeonian fire — " unquenchable fire," " Gehenna."

APPENDIX IV.
FUTURE PUNISHMENT IN THE CREEDS.

I.
RULE OF FAITH— FINAL FORM; APOSTLES' CREED.

Statement by Ignatius : No doctrine. (Earty in 2nd century.)
„ Irenaeus (circ. 180 A.D.) : " Eternal Fire."

„ Tertullian (circ. 200 A.D.) : "Eternal Fire."

„ Cyril (350) : No doctrine.

Apostolic Constitutions (circ. 350) : No doctrine.

Marcellus' version of Creed (circ. 341) : No doctrine.

Rufinus' „ (400)

Apostles' Creed (8th century). ,,

II.
CHRISTOLOGICAL CREEDS.

No doctrine ; except Quicunque Vult, which teaches everlasting
perdition.

III.
GRECO-RUSSIAN.

Larger Catechism (1846) : " everlasting fire," " everlasting torment."

IV.

PROTESTANT CREEDS.
Augsburg (1530): "torments" (art. 17).

Anglican 39 Articles (1563) : No doctrine.
23

$$4 THE WORLD TO COME

Zwinglian 67 Articles of Zurich (1523): "The judgment of the
deceased is known to God alone " (58).

Westminster Confession (1646-47) : " Everlasting torments."

Racovian Confession of the Socinians (1605-9): Annihilation of
wicked.

Congregational Statement of Doctrine (1883) : " Everlasting punish
ment"^).

Salvation Army (19th century) : "Everlasting torments."
Christadelphian (19th century) : Annihilation of wicked.
Unitarian (19th century) : Universal salvation.

Moravian Confession (1911) : No doctrine.

•

Union Articles of Indian Presbyterian Churches (1904).

"The wicked . . . shall suffer the punishment due to their sins."

Cf . Curtis, History of Creeds^ etc. ; also Schaff , Creeds of Christendom.

INDICES.

I. SUBJECTS.

Acts of the Apostles, 75 n., 179 n.

Adam and Eve, Books of, 46, 72, 331,
340.

Advent, Second, Part I. Chap. u. :
Jesus' predictions of, 54-8.

Agnosticism in eschatology, 196-8,
293-4.

Akiba, 142-3.

Alexandrian School, eschatology of,
29-30, 134-40, 163-4. See also
' ' Philo " (Index II. ), Wisdom,Bookof.

Anabaptists, 193.

Annihilation, in Jewish eschatology,
15 f., 71, 105, 139, 142-3, 326-30;
in N.T., 107-8, 111, 113-4, 164-5,
171-2, 179 ; in Christian thought,
191, 193, 195, 205, 354, and Part
II. Chap. in. passim,.

Antinomianism, 261.

Apocalypse : literary characteristics of,
7-11 ; its roots in ancient religions,
8 ; a development of O.T. prophecy,
8 ; its problem and solution, 11-3;
its view of the universe compared
with medieval view, 13-4 ; its
optimism and pessimism, 13, 46-7,
144; undogmatic character of its
thought, 14-7, 24, 26, 33, 58-60,
78-9, 103-8, 128 ; its imaginative
freedom, 17-9 ; its importance,
19-26 ; its influence on literature of
Europe, 19-20 ; its influence on
N.T. language, 20-2 ; on teaching
of Jesus, 22-3, 34-62 ; its permanent
value, 295-300, 318-9.

Apocalypse of John. See Revelation,

Book of.

Apostles' Creed, 67, 92, 353.
Apostolic Constitutions, 353.
Assumption of Moses, 17, 42, 50, 329,

332.

Baptism for the dead, 89.
Barnabas, Epistle of, 190.
Baruch, Apocalypse of (2 Saruch), 11,

12, 16, 17, 47, 106, 330, 332, 334,

336, 342, 344, 350.
Battle Hymn of American Republic,

20.
Blasphemy against Holy Spirit, 149-

51, 154.

Carthage, Synod of, 260.

Christadelphians, 225, 354.

Christology, 195.

Church, in teaching of Jesus, 56-7, 66.

Clement, Recognitions of, 191 n.

Clement, Second Epistle of, 190.

Compensation, in teaching of Jesus,
157 ; as an argument for immor
tality, 297-8.

Conditional Immortality, Part II.
Chap. in. ; in Jewish thought, 71,
106, 134, 137-40 ; in Philo, 137-9 ;
in N.T. teaching, 164, 171, 183;
in Paul, 171, 179, 183; in John,
164-5, 171 ; in ancient (non-Jewish)
thought, 220 ; in the Christian
Fathers, 190, 221-4 ; in modern
thought, 205, 224-50 ; in Unitarian

356

INDICES

teaching, 224-5 ; the four modern
forms of the doctrine : evolutionary
form (Armand Sabatier, etc.). 209,
226-31 ; philosophical form (Rothe,
Ritschl, etc.), 231-5 ; undogmatic
form (Lotze, Matthew Arnold,
Tyrrell), 236-40; theological form
(Edw. White, Petavel, etc.), 240-50 ;
appreciation and criticism of theory,
229-31, 234-5, 238-40, 242-51,
303-4, 312.

Conscience, as ground for belief in
Future Judgment, 86.

Constantinople, Synod of (A.D. 544),
259.

Creeds of Christendom, on Future
Punishment, App. IV.

Crisis, element of, in human experi
ence, 86-8.

Daniel, Book of, 334.

Danton, 215.

Death, use of the term in N.T., 161 ;
by John, 162-7 ; by Paul, 168-73.

Descent into Hades (book), 92.

Destiny, threefold doctrine of : its
permanent value, 307-9.

Destiny, Final : Jewish doctrine,
Part I. passim (see "Gehenna,"
"Hades") ; Jewish opinion in N.T.
times, 133-45 ; N.T. teaching,
Part II. Chap. i. ; teaching of
Jesus, 149-60 ; apostolic teaching,
160-82 ; teaching of John, 161-7 ;
of Paul, 168-82.

Deuteronomy, 342.

Dionysius the Areopagite, 261.

Dualism, in Johannine thought, 161-5.

Egyptian religion, 220.

Enoch, Book of, 10, 15-6, 18, 24, 29,

45, 53, 54, 71, 72, 79, 89 n., 106,

109-10, 112, 113, 149, 186, 326,

334, 338, 340, 342, 350.
Enoch, Secrets of (2 Enoch), 17, 18,

72n., 139-40, 321, 329, 338, 340,

342, 344.
Eschatology : its importance and

necessity, 3-4, 147-8 ; its difficulties,

4-7 ; its conflict of authorities, 4 ;

symbolic nature of its language,
5-6 ; variety and confusion of its
forms, 6 ; — Jewish eschatology,
Part I. passim, 133-145, App. I. ;
compared with N.T., App. II. ;
place of eschatology in teaching of
Jesus, 39-43 ; agnosticism in eschat
ology, 196-8, 293-4 ; forecast of
future eschatology, 306-17.

Eschatological interpretation of the
Gospels (Weiss, Schweitzer), 38-43.

Essenes, 134.

"Eternal" in N.T. terminology, 112,
App. III. ; Plato's use of the term,
348-9 ; Philo's use, 112, 349-50.

Eternal Life, two ways of conceiv
ing it, 317-24 ; the apocalytic way,
318-9; the mystical way, 319-23;
teaching of N.T., 318, 345. See also
App. III.

Eucharist, 56, 67.

Evil conceived as unreal, 123, 207, 274.

Evil, Everlasting, dogma of, 103, 119,
138, 183, 186, Part II. Chap. II.,
254, 309-10 ; in early Church,
189-92 ; in teaching of Augustine,
121-5, 191 ; in medieval Church,
192-3 ; in Aquinas (denies eternal
torment, teaches only eternal loss),
200-3 ; in modern Church, 193-5 ;
in our own times, 195-9 ; three
main forms of the doctrine (Aquinas,
Swedenborg, Salmond), 199-205 ; its
speculative aspects, 207-11 ; its
moral and religious sanctions, 211-7,
302.

Evolution and immortality, 209,
226-31.

Extinction. See "Annihilation."

Ezekiel, 334.

Ezra, Fourth, 17, 106, 143-5, 231,
330, 332, 340.

Fendal versus Williams (Decision of
Privy Council, 1863-4), 253.

Fire as a N.T. symbol, 107-15, 170.
See also "Gehenna."

' ' For ever, " use of phrase in Jewish
writings, 350.

Francis of Assisi, 263.

INDICES

357

Freedom of the Will, 2S4-6, 311-2,

315.
Friends of God, 261.

Gehenna, Part I. Chap. iv. ; undog-
matic nature of the conception
(sometimes = annihilation, sometimes
= eternal torment), 103-4, and this
chapter, passim ; origin and develop
ment of conception, 103-4 ; older
than belief in personal immortality,
104-5 ; in Jewish thought, 15, 71,
72, 105-6, 133-45 passim, App. I. ;
in N.T. teaching, 107-15, 186, 352 ;
Jewish and N.T. teaching com
pared, 342-3 ; in teaching of Jesus,
108-15, 151, 153; absent from
teaching of Paul, 107-8, 170-1 ; in
early Church, 115-7 ; development
into dogmatic form (Tertullian,
Origen, Augustine) 117-25 ; in
popular thought of Christianity,
118-9 ; in modern thought (New
man, Pusey), 126-7 ; true value of
the conception, 129-30. See also
" Evil, Everlasting."
General Council, Fifth (A.D. 553), 259.

Hades, see Intermediate State ;

Descent of Christ into, 89, 90-3.
Heavenly blessedness, Jewish and

N.T. conceptions compared, 342-5.
Hebrews, Epistle to the : its "idea of

the Kingdom, 32, 59, 345 ; of the

Judgment, 80 ; its use of the term

"fire," 108.
Hegelianism, 261.
Hellenistic theology, 163-4.
ffermas, Shepherd of, 92.
Hillel, 105, 141-3.
Holy Grail, 65.
Holy Roman Empire, 65.
Holy Spirit, blasphemy against, 149-

51, 154.

Imitation of Christ, 67.
Indestructibility of the soul (as an

objection to Conditioualism), 245.
infancy, fate of those who die in,

96-8.

Intermediate State (Hades): Jewish
conception of, 69-73, App. I. ;
logically connected with idea of
Kingdom, 68, 69-70 ; origins of the
idea, 70-1 ; relation of Hades and
Gehenna in Jewish thought, 71,
72-3 ; N.T. doctrine, 74, 88-93 ;
Paul and Peter on Christ's descent
into Hades, 90-3 ; Jewish and N.T.
doctrines compared, 340-1 ; theo
logical developments of the idea,
93-5; in Greek Church, 93-4; in
Roman Church, 94 ; in Protestant
thought ( ' ' Future Probation ") , 94-9 ;
permanent value of belief in inter
mediate state, 101-2.

Isaiah, 9n., 29, 70 n., 104, 332, 334,
336, 340, 342, 344.

Jesus : His conception of the King
dom of God, 34-63, 156 ; His unique
religious consciousness, 44-5 ; His
Messianic consciousness, 45-6 ; His
"optimism, "46-51 ; His predictions
of the Parousia, 54-8 ; His teaching
on Final Destiny ; its negative side,
149-53 ; its positive side, 153-60 ;
His idea of God, 158.

Job, Book of, 340.

Jochanan ben Nuri, 142.

Joel, 332.

Johannine dualism and reconcilia
tion, 161-7 ; Johannine and Hellen
istic thought, 163-5.

Johannine teaching ; on Kingdom of
God, 32, 33, 352 ; on Second Advent,
32 ; on Resurrection, 75, 76, 77 ; on
Judgment, 80, 81 ; on Hades and
Gehenna, 89, 107 ; on Final Destiny,
161-7 ; suggests conditional immor
tality, 164-5, 171 ; universalism,
167 ; conception of Eternal Life,
318, 319, 345, 346, 351, 352.

John, Apocalypse of. See Revelation,
Book of.

Jubilees, Book of, 16, 18, 29, 150, 327,
336, 342.

Jude, Epistle of, 351.

Judgment : Jewish ideas of, 69, App.
I. ; logically involved in idea of

358

INDICES

Kingdom, 68, 69 : N.T. doctrine,
74, 80-4 ; its twofold aspect, uni
versal and personal, 81-4 ; Jewish
and N.T. doctrines compared, 336-9 :
theological interpretation of the
idea, 84-6 ; its rational basis, 86-8 ;
Christian modifications, 81, 88.

Kingdom of God, Part I. Chap. u. ;
the central thought of Apocalypse,
27 ; Jewish doctrine of, 27-31 ; its
conflicting elements (earthly paradise,
heavenly kingdom, etc.), 27-31,
App. I., 342-4 ; Rabbinic ideas of,
III ; N.T. doctrine of, 31-63 ; in
Hebrews, 32, 59, 345 ; in 1 Peter,
32, 345; in 2 Peter, 32, 343; in
Johannine writings, 32, 33, 352 ; in
Paul, 33, 174-8 ; in teaching of
Jesus, 34-63, 156 ; " eschatological "
interpretation of, 38-43 ; Jewish and
N.T. doctrine compared, 342-5 ;
the idea in Church Tradition, 63-7.

"Larger Hope, The," 265, 271. See

also ' ' Universal Restoration. "
Logos doctrine, 135, 137-8, 140, 163.
Lord's Supper, 56.

Maccabees, Second, 17, 72, 89 n., 328,
340.

Maccabees, Fourth, 89 n., 116, 139 n.,
329, 340.

Malachi, 336.

Messiah : fluctuations of the idea in
Jewish thought, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
29, 30, App. I., 332 ; Jewish and
N.T. ideas compared, 332-3 ; the
idea in N.T., 24, 31, 32, 74, 333;
in teaching and consciousness of
Jesus, 34-62 passim, esp. 45-6, 333.

Messianic Age, Reign, etc. See ' ' King
dom of God."

Messianic consciousness of Jesus, 45-6.

Messianic woes, 29, 36, 332-3.

Micah, 344.

Modernism, 195.

Mysticism, 261-3, 319-23.

Neo-Platonism, 122.

Nicodemus, Gospel of, 92.

Nirvana, 220.

Norse mythology, 220.

Optimism, Christian (on question of
Final Destiny) : see " Universal
Restoration."

"Optimism" of Jesus, 46-51. See
also 153-60.

Pantheism, 261.

Parousia. See "Advent, Second."

Paul : his teaching on the Kingdom,
33, 174-8, 343 ; on Resurrection, 74,
75, 76, 77, 78, 174-6, 335 ; on Judg
ment, 83-4, 337 ; suggests belief in
Hades, 89, 90 ; does not use Gehenna
idea, 107-8, 170-1 ; his teaching on
Final Destiny, 168-82 ; his doctrine
of "death," 168-73 ; his doctrine of
reconciliation, 173-8, 309 ; problem
of dogmatic interpretation, 178-82.

Personal and impersonal immortality,
322.

Pessimism in Jewish apocalypse, 13,
46-7, 144.

Peter, First Epistle of: on Kingdom
of God, 32, 345 ; on Judgment, 80,
83 ; on Christ's Descent into Hades
89, 90-3, 160, 341 ; use of symbol
"fire," 108.

Peter, Second Epistle of, 32, 343.

Pharisees, eschatology of, 133-4.

Platonism, 135, 163. See "Plato"
(Index II.).

Pragmatism, 279.

Prayer for the Dead : sanctioned in
Jewish thought, 72, 73, 340 ;
practised in early Church, 99 ;
among Protestants, 99 ; the practice
discussed, 100-1.

Prayer-book of the Jews, 73.

Predestination, in Augustine, 122 ; in
Paul, 180, 182.

Probation, Future, in Protestant
thought, 94-8, 196, 307 ; in Clemens
Alex., 255 ; as a feature of Con-
ditionalism, 244.

Proverbs, Book of, 173n.

Punishment, Future: see "Gehenna"

INDICES

359

and "Evil, Everlasting"; in the

Creeds, App. IV.
Punishment, remedial and retributive

views of, 212-5, 255, 258-9.
Purgatory, 94, 120-1, 205. See also

" Intermediate State."

Rabbinic doctrine: of the Kingdom
of God, 31 ; of Hades and Gehenna,
72-3, 140-3.

Racovian Catechism, 225, 354.

Reconciliation, Pauline doctrine of,
173-8.

Reincarnation : the idea criticised, 79 ;
in Jewish thought, 133-4, 136.

Resurrection: Jewish ideas of, 68-9,
134, 135, App. I., 334; determined
by the Kingdom idea, 68-9 ; Jewish
and N.T. ideas compared, 74-7,
334-5 ; N.T. doctrine, 74-8, 174-6 ;
dogmatic difficulties in the idea,
78-80.

Revelation, Book of, 21, 33, 80, 89,
107, 129, 318, 319, 333, 335, 337,
341, 343, 345. See also " Johannine
teaching."

"Revelation" Books, Jewish: per
manent value of their teaching, 25-6.
See also "Apocalypse."

Shammai, 105, 106, 141, 142.
Sheol, 70-1, 138, 327, 328.
Sirach, Book of, 70, 173 n.
Sleep, as a figure for death, 89-90, 340

341.

Socinians, 193, 225.
Solomon, Psalms of, 16-7, 42, 328.
Son of Man, 45 and note, 55, 57, 332

333.

Stoicism, 135, 163.
Sybillinc Oracles, 255.

Te Deum, 67.

'estamentsofthe Twelve Patriarchs, 16,

46,89,112, 171,175,327,334,338,

344.
'hirty-nine Articles of Anglican

Church, 193, 353.
Torment, Everlasting. See ' ' Gehenna "

and "Evil, Everlasting."

Unitarians, 224-5, 272, 354.

Unity of human race : underlying idea
of judgment and of intermediate
state, 84-6, 101-2 ; as an objection
to Conditionalism, 247-9 ; as recog
nised in Universalist doctrine, 277-8.

Universal Restoration, doctrine of,
Part II. Chap. iv. ; in Book of
Wisdom, 139-40; in relation to
teaching of Jesus, 153-60 ; to teach
ing of John, 166-7 ; of Paul, 174-8,
179-81, 312; in N.T. generally,
160 ; in ancient Church before
Origen (Irenaeus, Clemens Alex.,
etc.), 253-5 ; in Origen, 255-8 ; in
Gregory of Nyssa, 258-9 ; in Medi
eval Church (Maximus, Erigena,
the Friends of God), 259-63; in
modern Church, 193, 197, 253, 263-
72, 354 ; its various forms in Vic
torian literature, 269-72; general
exposition of doctrine, 274-80 ;
ethical objections considered, 280-9 ;
significance of the doctrine, 290,
303-4, 305, 309.

Universalist Publishing House, publi
cations of, 277 n.

Wisdom, Book of, 139-40, 163, 172,
255, 329 ; its universalism, 139-40.
Wisdom literature, 140 n.
Westminster Confession, 354.

Zechariah, 344.
Zoroastrianism, 104, 113 n.
Zwinglian Confession, 193, 354.

INDICES

II. AUTHORS (NON- BIBLICAL).

(For ancient anonymous and pseudonymous works, see Index I.)

Abbott, Ezra, 264 n.

Abbott, Lyman, 226.

Acton, Lord, 82.

Alger, 119 n., 264 n., 277 n.

Aquinas, 200-3, 206 n., 216, 261, 305,

310.

Archer-Hind, 79 n.
Arnobius, 99, 117, 191, 223-4, 254.
Arnold, Matthew, 226, 236-7.
Athenagoras, 190.
Augustine, 64, 67, 121-5, 191, 206,

207, 224, 254, 282, 305, 319 n.

Bacon, Lord, 65.

Ballou, 255 n., 259 n., 277 n.

Beard, 265 n.

Beecher, H. W., 226.

Beet, Agar, 196.

Bengel, 265.

Bergson, 226.

Bernard of Cluny, 19, 67.

Beyschlag, 107 n., 175 n., 179 n.

Blackie, 347.

Blake, 20, 348.

Boehme, 267, 279, 320.

Borrow, George, 149-50.

Briggs, 91.

Brooke, Stopford, 277 n.

Browne, Sir Thos., 264.

Browning, E. B., 271.

Browning, R., 34, 239, 269, 272, 287.

Bruce, A. B., 108 n., 200, 347.

Burkitt, 14, 113, 336 n., 344 n.

Burnett, Thos., 268.

Bushnell, 226.

Butler, Bp., 212, 264.

Caird, Edward, 47.
Caird, John, 271.
Cairns, D. S., 66.
Calvin, 91.
Carlyle, 84, 215, 348.
Charles, R. H., 17 n., 45 n., 53 n.,
136 n., 175 n., 344 n., 347, 350.

Cheyne, 346.

Clarke, J. F., 277 n.

Clement of Alexandria, 91, 255.

Cobbe, F. P., 272.

Coleridge, 264.

Cox, 271, 346.

Crabbe, 266.

Craigie, Mrs., 195.

Curtis, 354.

Cyril, 353.

Dahle, 206 n.

Dale, 226, 242.

Dalraan, 45 n.

Dante, 14, 19, 65, 92, 97, 118, 193,

215, 313, 319n., 324.
Dean, 344 n.

Delitzsch, 95, 206 n., 281.
Denck, 265.
Denney, 138 n.
De Quincey, 347.
Deutsch, Em., 140-1.
Dorner, 95, 197, 206 n., 265, 284,

308 n., 346.

Drummond, Henry, 226, 231.
Drummond, James, 136 n.
Duff, 253.

Eckhart, Master, 261-3, 265.
Edersheim, 141-2.
Edwards, Jon., 199, 206 n.
Erigena, 192, 260-1, 312, 314.
Erskine, Thos., 265, 270, 281, 347.
Ewing, Bp., 270.

Fairbairn, 196-7.

Fairweather, 136 11.

Farrar, 141 n., 143 n., 277 n., 281, 346.

Foster, John, 266-7.

France, Anatole, 219.

Garvie, 197 n., 198 n.
Gibbon, 116.
Gieseler, 259 n.

INDICES

Gladstone, 193.

Godet, 95.

Goethe, 91, 215, 229.

Gordon, 179 n., 284.

Goulburn, 347.

Gregory of Nyssa, 97 n., 256, 257,

258-9, 261, 265.
Griffith Jones, 196, 258 n.

Haering, 226.
Hagenbach, 118n., 255 n.
Harnack, 221, 255.
Hausrath, 347.
Hawthorne, 278.
Hippolytus, 91.
Howells, W. D., 248.
Hume, 298.
Huntingdon, 226.

Ignatius, 91, 190, 353.

Irenaeus, 91, 117, 190, 222, 254, 353.

James, W., 279.

Jerome, 256 n.

Jewish Encyclopaedia, 106.

Johnson, Samuel, 99.

Josephus, 133-4.

Jukes, 271, 347.

Justin Martyr, 91, 117, 221-2.

Kant, 207.

Kennedy, H. A. A., 169 n., 175 n., 347.

Kingsley, 346.

Kuenen, 139.

Law, William, 257, 265, 267-8, 281.

Leibnitz, 206 n.

Lincoln, Abr., 278.

Longfellow, 272.

Lotze, 226, 236.

Luther, 65, 67, 91.

McConnell, 226 u.
Macdonald, George, 270-1.
Mackintosh, H. R., 101 n., 197, 253,

347.

Marcellus, 353.
Marcus Aurelius, 215.
Martensen, 197-8, 206 n. \ Bur:,..

65^2727 274,]279, 281.

Maurice, 260 n., 265, 269, 271, 281,

320, 322 n., 347.
Maximus, 260, 265.
Mellone, 322 n.
Menegoz, 226.
Mills, L. H., 104 n., 113n.
Milton, 20, 215, 229, 264.
Moehler, 94 n., 126.
Moffatt, 53 n., 177, 344 n.
More, Sir Thos., 65.
Morgan, 175 n., 179 n.
Miiller, 95, 200.

Neander, 256 n., 260 n., 265, 277 n.
Newman, 121, 126-7, 320.
Newton, Bp., 268 n.

Origen, 91, 117, 120-1, 191, 192,
253-8, 265, 279, 281, 287 n., 312,
348.

Orr, 197.

Oxenham, 259 n.

Palmer, F., 231.

Palmer, W., 93-4.

Parker, Joseph, 226.

Parker, Theodore, 272.

Pascal, 47.

Petavel, 226, 240.

Petersen, 264, 281.

Pfleiderer, 175n., 232, 266 n.

Philo, 9n., 30, 76, 107, 112, 134-9,

140, 163, 169, 172, 186, 190, 221,

261, 349-50.

Plato, 19, 79, 221, 260, 321, 348-9.
Plotinus, 122.
Plumptre, 222, 346.
Pollok, 119n.
Polycarp, 91.
Pope, 266.
Pusey, 116 n., 127, 141, 175 n., 206 n.,

257 n., 259 n., 281, 308 n., 347, 351.

Rendel Harris, 140 n., 350.
Ritschl, 197, 226, 231-2.
Robertson, F. W., 215 n.
Rothe, 226, 231-5.
Rufinus, 353.

Sabatier, Armand, 226-30.

362

INDICES

Salmond, S. D. F., 143 n., 199, 204 f.,

308 n., 346.
Schaff, 354.

Schechter, 31 n., 141 n.
Schelling, 265, 271.
Schleiermacher, 265, 270.
Schultz, 106 n.
Schweitzer, 39-42.
Scott, E. F., 45 n., 53 n., 57 n., 164 n.,

180 n.

Shaftesbury, 266.
Shakespeare, 215, 348.
Shelley, 119 n., 322 n.
Sophocles, 215.
Spenser, 321.
Stanley, Dean, 271.
Stanton, 143 u., 346.
Stevens, 346.
Stevenson, 348.
Suso, 118.
Swedenborg, 199, 203-4.

Tatian, 221.

Tauler, 158, 257, 261-3, 265.
Taylor, Jeremy, 225, 264.
Tayler Lewis, 347.
Tennyson, 20, 269, 271, 322.
Tertullian, 91, 117, 120, 255, 353.
Thorn, J. H., 277 n.
Thomas a Kempis, 263, 319 n.
Tillotson, 225, 264.
Tyrrell, 195, 226, 237-9.

Volz, 142, 175 n., 344 n.
Von Hvigel, 195, 322 n.

Weiss, Joh., 39-43, 44n.,49n., 53 n.,

59.

Welch, A. C., 8n.
Wendt, 347.
Westcott, 347

White, Edw., 226, 240-2, 281.
Whitman, 272.
Whittier, 248, 271.
Winchester, 277 n.

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VOLUMES I. -IX. ALREADY ISSUED.

Encyclopaedia of
Religion and Ethics

EDITED BY

Dr. JAMES HASTINGS.

THE purpose of this Encyclopaedia is to give a complete account of Religion
and Ethics so far as they are known. It contains articles on every
separate religious belief and practice, and on every ethical or philosophical idea and
custom. Persons and places that have contributed to the History of religion and
morals are also described.

The Encyclopaedia covers a distinct department of knowledge. It is the
department which has always exercised the greatest influence over men's lives,
and its interest at least, if not its influence, is probably greater at the present time
than ever. Within the scope of ' Religion and Ethics ' come all the questions that
are most keenly debated in PSYCHOLOGY and in SOCIALISM, while the title will
be used to embrace the whole of THEOLOGY and PHILOSOPHY. Ethics and Morality
will be handled as thoroughly as Religion.

It is estimated that the work will be completed in Twelve Volumes of about 900
pages each, size nj by 9.

PRICE—

In Cloth Binding . . 325. net per volume.
In Half-Morocco . . 405. net per volume.

A full Prospectus may be had on application.

A Clergyman who recently received a gift of this Encyclopaedia writes as
follows : —

4 1 really do not know how to express what I feel with regard to this simply magnificent gift.
It is a perfect treasure — an inexhaustible gold mine. I find it much wider in its scope and more
masterly than I bad expected. It is the most adequate thing which I have on my shelves, and it
ought really to have been there before now.'

'The general result of our examination enables us to say that the editor has risen to the height
of his great undertaking. The work deserves the fullest and best encouragement which the world
of readers and investigators can give it.'— Athenaum.

'The scope of this encyclopaedia is immense, and as for the quality of the articles, the list of the
contributors proves that it is in general very high. ... It will be one of the most reassuring and
encouraging signs of the times if this great and magnificent enterprise receives adequate encourage
ment and recognition. ' — British Weekly.

' No library could be better provided with what men have said and thought through the ages on
Religion and Ethics and all they imply than by this one library in itself. . . . Some of the articles
themselves summarise a whole literature.'— Public Opinion.

T. & T. CLARK'S PUBLICATIONS

1 Prayer1

By JAMES HASTINGS, D.D.
The first of a short series of volumes on the

GREAT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES

Edited by Dr. HASTINGS. The Doctrines to be dealt with, in addition
to Prayer, are The Atonement, Faith, The Holy Spirit,
Miracle, and The Person of Christ.

' Nothing could have been more appropriate than this volume on " Prayer " during
a world-crisis like the present. All the elements of prayer — adoration, confession,
petition, intercession, thanksgiving — are treated in turn, while the nature of prayer,
together with scientific and philosophic objections, is amply considered. Further,
there are chapters on encouragements, perplexities, answers, times, and manner of
prayer. ... As a text-book for Christian preachers, teachers, and workers, the book
will prove of the utmost service.' — London Quarterly Review.

In Demy 8vo, price 7s. 6d. net (postage 6d. extra).

'The Scholar as Preacher'

Series

In Post 8vo. Price 6s. net per Volume (postage 4d. extra).

These uolumes are carefully chosen. They are chosen because their authors
are scholars as well as preachers, for the suggestiueness of their thought, and
because they are saturated with the most promising ideas of the present day.

IN THE DAY OF THE ORDEAL. By Prof. W. P. PATERSON, D.D.
THE SACRIFICE OF THANKFULNESS. By the late Prof. H. M.

GWATKIN, D.D.

THE MASTER'S COMFORT AND HOPE. By Principal A. E. GARVIE,
D.D.

'SUB CORONA.' Sermons by Principals G. A. SMITH, DENNEY, IVERACH,
STEWART ; Professors W. P. PATERSON, STALKER, COOPER, CURTIS, CAIRNS,

MACEWEN, McFADYEN, MACKINTOSH, MlLLIGAN, SELBIE, REID, NlCOL,

KAY, GILROY, and the BISHOP OF ABERDEEN.

THE EYE FOR SPIRITUAL THINGS. Prof. H. M. GWATKIN, D.D.
THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS. JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D.
THE SEER'S HOUSE. JAMES RUTHERFORD, D.D.
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. Dean W. R. INGE, D.D.
CHRISTUS IN ECCLESIA. HASTINGS RASHDALL, D.C.L.
JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD. W. M. MACGREGOR, D.D.
SOME OF GOD'S MINISTRIES. W. M. MACGREGOR, D.D.
CHRIST AND CHRIST'S RELIGION. F. HOMES DDDDBN, D.D.
THE PROGRESS OF REVELATION. Canon G. A. COOKE, D.D.
AT THE TEMPLE CHURCH. H. G. WOODS, D.D.
A DISCIPLE'S RELIGION. Archdeacon W. H. HUTTON, B.D.
BREAD AND SALT FROM THE WORD OF GOD. Prof. TH. ZAHN.

T. & T. CLARK'S PUBLICATIONS

EDITED BY DR. JAMES HASTINGS.

A Dictionary of Christ and
the Gospels

In Two Vols. Price per Vol., in cloth binding, 25s. net ;
in half-morocco, gilt top, 32& net.

The purpose of this Dictionary is to give an account of everything thai
relates to CHRIST — His Person, Life, Work, and Teaching.

'A triumphant and unqualified success. Indispensable to ministers and Bible
students.' — Sir W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, LL.D.

' The preacher's purpose is better served than it has ever been before.' — Times.

' No more useful present could be made to a young clergyman than a copy of
this admirable work. The articles are by competent and scholarly writers, and are
full of information and suggestiveness.' — Guardian.

A Dictionary of

The Apostolic Church

In Two Volumes.

It has often been said that the ' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels ' is
of more practical value than a Dictionary of the Bible. And from all parts
of the world has come the request that what that Dictionary has done for
the Gospels another should do for the rest of the New Testament. The
'Dictionary of the Apostolic Church' is the answer. It carries the history
of the Church as far as the end of the first century. Together with the
' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels ' it forms a complete and independent
Dictionary of the New Testament.

Vol. I. now ready. Price 25s. net in cloth binding, and 32s. net in
half-morocco.

Dictionary of the Bible

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

Crown quarto, 1008 Pages, with Four Maps, price 21s. net ;
or in half-leather binding, 27 B. 6d. net.

This Dictionary is entirely distinct from the Five-Volume Dictionary.

1 A very fine achievement, worthy to stand beside his larger Dictionaries, and
by far the most scholarly yet produced in one volume in English-speaking countries,
perhaps it may be said in the world.' — Christian World.

' Thoroughly abreast of present-day knowledge. For presentation and library
purposes the book outstrips all its rivals, and its closely packed pages are a perfect
mine for teachers and ministers.' — Sunday School Chronicle.

Detailed Prospectus, with Specimen Pages, of the aboue Works free.

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