Facts and Theories as to a Future State
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
(1889.)
A NEW edition being called for, I have sought to
make it as complete as possible; and the book having been stereotyped, the new
matter has been put in the shape of an appendix. This has had its advantage,
however, in allowing some systems of unbelief which have only lately obtained
prominence, and have received, so far as I am aware, little or no examination,
to be more thoroughly investigated - a thing demanded by the fact of their
doctrines being disseminated over the face of the country with a zeal worthy of
a better cause. May the Lord grant in mercy that the answers furnished to
these, though still brief, may be used of Him to preserve some from the flood
of error, ever rising higher. The testimony to this is decisive. The fact can
surprise no one who is intelligent as to the Scripture-witness to the apostasy
of the last days. Mr. Spurgeons "Down-grade" papers in The Sword and
Trowel are well known, and his withdrawal from the Baptist Union gives emphasis
to his statements as to the decline of orthodoxy upon the subject of eternal
punishment along with other fundamental truths.
Seven years before, a
lecture by Mr. Edward White traces the spread of the doctrine of Conditional
Immortality over the world, and names as its adherents many of the most noted
writers and thinkers in all the Protestant denominations. Among these appears
the name of Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple, London, who shortly after
Mr. Spurgeons letters, announced in Boston that "not one leading
Congregational minister in England, as far as he knew, preached now the eternal
retribution of sin in the world to come, but rather a gospel of hope." While
quite recently Dr. Hannay, secretary of the Congregational Union, is reported
as saying that "in England, the doctrine of Eternal Torment was practically
dead, the doctrine of Conditional Immortality stationary, and perhaps
declining, while that theory of the future life known as the larger
hope was being widely accepted."
This must be taken, of course, with
qualification. That such statements can be made, however, shows but too well
the drift. If here in America the same things cannot be yet said, the tendency
is still in the same direction. There is need, and urgent need, for that which
meets it. No argument known to me, of the least importance, has been omitted
from the present volume; while a full index of texts and another of subjects
will give any one who consults its pages the means of ready reference to the
whole contents. To the Lords grace and blessing it is now commended.
THE present work is the development of one published some years ago, and now
out of print, but which took up only a portion of the subject here considered,
and at much less length. The rapid spread of the views in question, their
variety and their importance, render a prolonged and patient examination of
them absolutely necessary. The question has become one of the leading questions
of the day, and nothing short of an extended appeal to Scripture will satisfy
the need of those entangled by the error, or of those who may be in danger of
becoming entangled. For others also, quite outside of these, the careful
examination of Scripture upon a subject of such deep interest will be found
very far from unprofitable. Truth as a whole is so connected in its various
parts, that we cannot apprehend any one of these more fully, without this
leading us to a fuller apprehension of many other points in which kindred
truths touch this. While the perfection and profundity of the word of God will
more and more be realized as its ability is proved to satisfy the real need of
the soul and meet the natural thoughts and questions of the mind. Scripture
thus proved will be its own best evidence as a Divine revelation.
No doubt
there is abundance of external witness to its truth; but the surest of all is
its own direct testimony to mans heart and conscience. Without Scripture
he is an enigma which his own wit cannot explain: he knows not from whence he
came or whither he is going; he knows neither himself nor God. With Scripture,
"light is come into the world;" and what makes all things manifest needs not,
although it everywhere finds, a testimony outside itself. Truth speaks for
itself -"commends itself to every mans conscience in time sight of God"-
although the true it is who alone will hear it.
In the following pages,
then, the doctrine of Scripture is what is first examined, not merely
negatively an answer sought to certain views. The statement of the truth is the
only proper answer to the error. This the writer has sought everywhere to keep
in mind, while yet endeavouring to meet whatever has been advanced on the other
side as fully as possible. Especial attention has naturally been given to
certain writers who are most prominently identified with the theory of
annihilation on the one hand, or of universal salvation in its various
modifications upon the other; and they are allowed to speak for the most part
in their own words, and at sufficient length to ensure that there shall be no
doubt or mistake as to the views they hold. Among these, Mr. Constable has
challenged criticism of his arguments, and to him I have naturally sought the
more fully to reply. To the arguments of Mr. Roberts also, the present leader
of the Christadelphian body, who has printed an extended examination of my
original volume, "Life and Immortality," I have necessarily devoted
considerable space. May the Lord in His pity and love to souls, for whom He has
died, be pleased to use these pages for the blessing of many, and to His own
glory!
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