Bible Standard October 1881

8/3/2019 Bible Standard October 1881

1/22

r/iy RECEIVED rHEWORDWITH ALL RAOI --IVESS OF NINOANOSE ARCHED THE SCR IP -~/{JRJ' OAILYWHETf /ER17I0SE THIJ lGS WEIIE SOTHEREFORE MANYO F THEN BEL lEVEf }_" "lt._ ACr~

EDITED BY OYRUS E. BROOKS.cc The Wages of Sin is Death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

No. 1. Vol. V. DOUBLE NUMBER, TWOPENCE_CTOBER, 1881.BRADFORD CONFERENCE REPORT.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.Conference Sermon-" The Old Faith" ... 1Conditional Immortality ... 4A Challenge to Orthodoxy 6Un-Conditional Immortality 7The Silence of Scripture on Natural Immortality _.. 10What is the Soul? Is it Mortal or-Immortal? 12The Gospel in E .ze1c iel 15The Church of Christ: Its Present Mission andFuture Destiny ..; 16, The Pre-Millenial Advent: Its Nature, Necessity,

and Nearness 18Witnessing... 21Conference Report 22Special Notes 24

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.Communications and Orders should be addressed to the Secretary,

CYRUSE. BROOKS,Malvern Link, WOI'. Booksellers and News-agentssupplied by F. SOUTHWELL,19, Paternoster-row, London, E.C. Ad-vertising Charges, for Members' Advertisements only, Is. 6d. per inch orfraction thereof. Monthly Circulation near Three Thousand Copies.Rates of Subscription for twelve months (from any date) post-free. TheUnited Kingdom, Canada, and the United States: One copy, Is. 6d. ;two copies, 2s. 6d.; four copies, 4s. Australia., New Zealand, and SouthAfrica: One copy, 2s.; two copies, 4s.; foul' copies, 7s. India: Onecopy, 2s. 6d.; two copies, 3s. 6d.; foul' copies, 6s. Special ratesfor quantities for sale or distribution. Show bills supplied. List ofpublications post-free to any address.The Association assumes no responsibility for the views expressed by its literarycontributors. Of necessity its members differ widely on minor points, and are heldpersonally responsible tor their communications. 'I'he same is true of the workspublished by the Association. -

PAGETHE OLD FAITH.

OPENING SERMON AT BRADFORD CONFERENOE,By REV. W. LEASK, D.D.

DR. LEASK selected his text from St. Jude's epistle, Brd verse -"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the commonsalvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort youthat ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once deliveredunto the saints." He said :-Let me read this somewhat differently tobring out more clearly its meaning" Beloved, when I gave all diligenceto write unto you of the common salvation, it became necessary for meto write forthwith, and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contendfor the faith once for all delivered to the saints." Tbat is the meaningof it; that is the fuller interpretation of this Scripture, and gives ustwo 01 three stronger ideas than we get from the authorised version. Iam quite sure from your appearance that you feel the importance ofthe subject, and believe that we are messengers of truth, not hereticstrying to draw away men from the faith. Let me earnestly inviteyou, brethren, to look at this. You see there are just two things iJithe text-I don't intend to be systematic-that may guide our lines ofthought. There is first a great doctrine, namely, that a faith or asystem of Divine truth was at one time given-that is delivered byGod.The idea is this. "I and my brother apostles are not teachingthings which we have conjured out of our own imaginations." A systemof truth called the faith has been delivered to certain persons aboutwhom we shall speak presently. The second thing is the practicalpart, the duty which springs out of the privilege, which is this-youare to contend earnestly for this faith (whatever it was) which was oncefor all delivered to the saints.Well, now, this once for all is a judgment word, it condemns before

hand all subsequent systems that pretend to be from the Divine source.It sets its foot upon even-thing which cannot trace its parentage andorigin to the word of the living God; it claims for Christianity a Divinesource exclusively. It was once for all delivered to certain persons forreasons which we shall presently trace. If this be true, and it is true,all additions through ecclesiastical systems, through "theology, through


2/22

2 THE BIBLE STANDARD .teachers of any class or kind, every addition to the faith delivered once forall, is a mistake, an error, an addition which has no Divine authority.Now if you can find things in Christendom, in the vast system ofChurches which covers Europe and many other places of the world,if you can find in them things which do not trace their origin to theHoly Spirit , from whom the Scriptures came, you must set them aside.If there are things repugnant to our humanity, for when our humanityis allowed to speak it speaks truly; if there are things which appearto us to bring a stain on the revealed character of the Maker of thiswonderful universe, and the Source of this wonderful revelation, you.may be sure that spot or stain has no relationship to God and Histruth, Where it came from we ask not at present, but if it is there, ifyou see something which appears to repel you from the faith of theGospel, something which jars upon the heart, which seems to requirean elaborate system of explanation hefore you can fit it in with what isacknowledged to be Divine, then your suspicion ought to be awakened-the honour of God is at stake in relation to His holy truth. It is nota patchwork of human and Divine manufacture, but a thing brilliantin its Divine light as it came from God, and was once for all delivered toHis saints. Well now, just go back with me a moment to the historyof the ecclesiastical world. We are finding no fault with any man orany number of men, we are dealing with doctrine, with Divine truth,and with the error which has crept into the system of Divine truth.Go back with me and you will see in a moment that the great Apostacywhich was predicted has arisen and ridden rough-shod over nations formany ages. You will find that ecclesiastical tinkering has so battered andmarred the holy vessels of the sanctuary that it requires a theologicalexpert to tell you which was the shape of the original vessel. Theo-logy has darkened the pages of inspiration, and we require a keenanalysis to get at what is God's and what is man's. Age after ageecclesiastical councils have been called to do-what? To add tothe articles of faith. But nu class of men whatever has the slightestpower to add anything as an article of faith to be believed by us.Councils have been called for that purpose, and terrible penalties havebeen inflicted on those who would not accept blindfold the whole of thedoctrines taught by their popes and their councils, and their cardinalsand other men in authority. The faith once delivered to the saints isbeautiful in its simplicity. It is worthy of God, from whom it came.~t appeals at once to the heart, it goes direct to one's fondest affec-tions, and you look at it and say it is worthy of the God of heaven, sosimple and so sublime is it. But in the lapse of ages hierarchies haverisen up in imposing grandeur, and have triumphed over kings in thename of the lowly Man of Nazareth. Things have been done in thename of Jesus which make the blood curdle to read of in these days.Men invented fearful engines of oppression to crush the . life out ofthose who dared to doubt the infallibility and supremacy of thosehierarchies. All this is so utterly incompatible with the faith deliveredto the saints once for all, that you see there must be usurpation some-where; there must be pretence, hypocrisy, and arrogance. And notonly. did they thus create these ecclesiastical hierarchies, but theyinvaded heaven, and canonised men who had been dead for ages, andplaced them in heaven to be worshipped, Ahd they brought down thesemen and set before you their names as help ers of your faith, men towhom you were to pray, added to the one that this book speaks about-Christ, the only Saviour, the only name under heaven given tomankind whereby we can be saved. But these men have risen up andspoken perverse things, and have told you about the saints they havecanonised, and that you are to pray to them; and the angels of Godhave been brought in to be worshipped, and throughout ages Maryhas been worshipped as the Blessed Virgin. There are men at thismoment telling their fellow-men to put their prayers into the handsof Mary, to be presented to her Son.1 Where doyou find that in the systemof faith here? There is not a particle of it. Everything here is a protestagainst the impudent assumption that men in heaven can thus presentyour prayers to God. There is one Mediator, and we need no other. Hecame to be our Mediator, and we know that He is alive, whether saintsbe alive or asleep, and we can send up to Him our prayers. But, theiniquities of this great system! not content with invading heavenand placing their canonised men there, they have dug up for us in somemysterious region a purgatory-thus adding also to the system of faith-that place where it is said men are purged by fire, as. if the blood ofJesus Christ did not cleanse from all sin. And as a sort of pathway tothat fearful dungeon of fire, they build their own dungeons, theirinquisitions, and spill the blood of saints to make a Roman holiday.They Lave done all this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Lord andSaviour. It is that that arouses one's holy indignation. The insultto the Saviour is too palpable to escape notice, and too terrible for usto keep quiet under. The Scripture here speaks about a system offaith that God once gave to the saints. There is one God and oneMediator between God and man,-the man, Christ Jesus. That ispart of the Divine system given from above. The blood of Jesus Christ.eleanseth from all sin. What is the use of purgatory? The use of itwas to lavish gold into the coffers of the priests, to enable them to riderough-shod over the nations of the earth, to bring the conscience' of)humanity under the heel of tyrannical power. You all know that that

system was the worst that ever cursed the world. Tbe religiothe Son of God, thus defaced and defamed, became obnoxious tonations, and Popery is accountable for the infidelity of the contineEurope at this day. There is no doubt of it. The thing came iname of the Holy One,-the name of the Redeemer of men,-andwonder that men revolted. The common intelligence of .men revagainst it, yet the thing has continued to this day.But you say the great Reformation came. It did,-I blessfor it,--I know all [about it. Did it succeed, however, in gerid of these evils? It did a great deal. It set the Book free, andnations read. Multitudes commenced to read who had been impupon by the elaborate systems of covetous priesthoods. Andpaid for their principles as we now pay for ours, I havefor them myself, and am prepared to pay Ior them more, Theyfor their Protestantism; they gave up the practice of praying to sabut they retained the unscriptural dogma that saints fly up to hewhen they die. They gave up purgatory, but they retained a hohell, and teach it yet. There is not a particle of it in this BIt is not given by God. They send men to heaven or to hellthey die,-ali ve and conscious,- the one in ecstatic bliss, the othefearful torments, and multitudes have delighted to preachtorments, leaving the impression on the minds of men that the GodFather of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is a fearful tytriumphing needlessly over poor naked souls; and they have brougarmies of devils to help God to torture and torment these beings, tus that they are immortal, that they cannot die, that God imerciful enough to put them out of being. This IS not in thedelivered to the saints. There is nothing of the kind here. Givany proof that it is here, and I bow, but with trembling andwonder and astonishment. Prove it, and I accept it, althI shall not be able to reconcile it with the fact that God so lovedthat He gave His only begotten Son that I should not perish,have everlasting life, Neitber can I reconcile it with the great Scriptruth that "the wages of sin is death."You ask me how came this corruption of theology? I will tellIt is very simple. The way to corrupt theology is to corrupt wTake the word" death," and say it means "life," and the wthing is corrupted at once. I will tell you how this corrupof words took place. During the first century or two of Chrlstiathe new religion made marvellous progress. It was such a delivefor people who had been hoodwinked by the Pagan priesthoodsthey embraced it in great multitudes, until the Pagan tembecame deserted. By-and-bye Constantiue tLe Great was econverted 01 said to be-it does not much matter which-the Pagan priests found they were losing their incomes,many of them became Christians and Christian teachers.they brought in the doctrines of Plato, that man has an immortalby nature, and they incorporated that with Christian theology,with various other things of the same kind. Sowith the doctrineimmortal soul, it became a logical necessity that the soul shouldits deserts, either in bliss for its piety, or in woe for its impiety.down the doctrine that you and I can live for ever, despite ofwhatever be our character, and it follows clearly that either happor misery must be our lot. I can trace every corrupt doctrine tsimple fact of changing the natural meaning of words, and givingunderstand that though our newspapers mean what they say, anbooks, written by men of common understanding, mean what theyyet this book, the Bible, must be read in an entirely unnastyle, and thus you can make it teach anything or nothing undesun. I can teach any doctrine if you allow me to givemeaning I choose to words. We are bound to be consistent, anaccept words as they are meant. Revelation is not revelabut a riddle, if it is left to men's imagination to put what methey like upon the words. It is not uncovering, but concealing, ifallowed to say tbat "death" means" life." A number of wordsbeen in this manner turned from their proper meaning, and compellteach what God never taught. Everlasting life means everlahappiness. Of course it does; but without ignoring that fact youunderstand that the doctrine of the Bible is that Christ came toimmortality to mortals, to give immortal life to such as acceptGod only hath immortality, and He has given it to His Son to gus, and that immortality we shall have when the Lord shall comraise His sleeping, and change His living, saints. Our life is hidChrist in God, and that is its security, its certainty. Mwould become bankrupt to-morrow, but it cannot if it is hid inHe breathes His spirit upon us to quicken us from the blindof sin, and retains the eternal life for us, to give it to us in the moof resurrection, when neither spot nor stain shall be left. He givnow pardon, for He put away sin and brought in everlasting righteousHe gives us now peace, and He is our peace. He is God's pHe is God's sabbath of rest, and He becomes that to us,hereafter He will give us full-toned redemption,-redemptionthe body,-and we shall be like Him. Oh! it is a prospect fittmake us exceedingly jealous for His glory, whilst we set our hethe great adversary's lie, " Ye shall not surely die," as it was preach


3/22

THE BIBLE STANDARD. 3our first parents by the enemy of God and man. Take the words ofChrist, and set them beside them-" He is a liar and the father of lies; "" I have come that you may have life;" "This is life eternal, to knowThee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent;" "Hethat hath the Son hath life,"-the life which is emphatic, and the onlything worth calling life; and "He that hath not the Son of Godhath not life." Do you think we are awful heretics? Are theseawful doctrines? Are we to be scowled upon, and cast out of society,for teaching God's truth? This is the faith once for all delivered tothe saints. Jude-says," I thought of writing to you about the commonsalvation, but it became necessary for me to write forthwith." Whatis the meaning of it? It is the impulse of the Holy Spirit. He wasinspired to do it in view of the fact that there were certain menspoken of as having crept in unawares, bringing in the apostacy. Hefelt he was called upon to write forthwith, to urge believers tocontend earnestly for the faith delivered to them.I come now, therefore, secondly, to the practical part of the subject.

I ask, who are the persons to whom the defence of God's truth is given?The Lord did not leave His truth to the patronage of kings, or emperors,or councils. He did not ask the schools of philosophy to stand up forHis philosophy, which is the finest in the universe. He sat not in thecompany of the learned that he might get the advantage of their culturein sustaining His truth, end enabling it to make its way through ahosti le world. No; the truth was given to the saints. Who are they?Persons upon whom this truth has acted so as to sanctify them. Yebelievers, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying inthe Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for thecoming of our Lord Jesus Christ; The glorious tone that rings itsmelody over the sorrows and discipline of human life breathes in the faithdelivered to the saints. You believing men and women are the personsinto whose hands God has placed His legacy of life, to protect it fromharm. What a privilege! What an honour! What are we that weshould come forth to say theology has been terribly corrupted, andthere are things taught every Sunday in many of our churches whichcannot be justified by an appeal to Scripture? Weak are we? Why,God in His Christ has made us followers of His own, and forthwith wefind that it is our privilege and duty to contend earnestly for the pure,simple faith of the Gospel. That is all. We do not expect to makeecclesiastical preferment out of this; to enrich ourselves. I for onehave found that I have proceeded upon an entirely wrong course if thathad been my object. What is it? Necessity is laid upon us. Woe isunto us if we preach not this Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is all. Ihave no choice in the matter. I have had to do it. As soon as my eyeswere opened to see that a great many dark clouds of tradition hungover the brightness of the Book, and obscured its grandeur, I had nochoice. I had to take my stand forthwith, because I am accountableto the Master, not to any human being. I have no priests but one, andI believe in auricular confession to Him alone. No master but One." Be ye not called Rabbi." "Call no man father upon earth." Somuch for the Pope, you see. He is universally called" Father." "Callno man master." I know all this is too simple for the world, thatlikes its ecclesiastical grandeurs and noble piles of buildings. Butthe simplicity accords witl. Him who chose fishermen for His associates,and sent out the poor, saying, "I will teach you what to say when youarebrought before kings and emperors for My sake." Now, brethren, I donot speak about sects or parties. I know nothing about them. Wehave' had too many of them. Christians are the persons into whosehands God has placed this Book. The Lord Jesus Christ has left Hischaracter in our keeping, that is it. Oh, dare we doubt this, or dare wetrifle with this, when He has .put it into our hands? And I observehere that Christians are the only persons who appreciate the system offaith, and therefore they are the only persons who are capable of con-tending earnestly for the faith committed to the saints. The vast massof worldly men do not understand this thing. They may be verybenevolent, very good, very moral; I do not say they are not.Many of them are very excellent men, but it is those whomGod calls saints, sanctified ones, men set apart for Him asChrist's inheritance, Christ's redeemed property-those are the personswhom He expects to bear witness for Him. They alone are qualified,because they know the value of the truth themselves. I come to you,my dear friends, and say that I know that sin is a moral disease of themost inveterate kind. It blinds the heart, stupifies it; it shuts men'seyes to the grandeur and glory of God's universe, and hinders them fromseeing that God in Christ Jesus is reconciling the world to Himself. Iknow this, but I know the way of deliverance from it. I know JesusChrist as the Anointed, my Saviour. What follows? Am I thereforejust to sit still and not open my lips to those great things the LordJesus Christ has laid upon us? "Ye are My witnesses," and every newconvert to the faith of Christ is a new witness added to those who oughtto contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. I knowperfectly well, without any harsh judgment or want. of charity, thatthere are Christian teachers who believe that we are right, but it re-quires a great deal of courage to stand up before a congregation andsay, " I have been teaching what is wrong for the last fifteen or twentyyears." It requires moral heroism to do that. A Christian minister

said to me not long since, " Dr. Leask, I quite believe your doctrines."" I am glad to hear it," I replied; "Do you teach them 1-" He said hedid not. I said, " Why?" and the reply was, " I cannot afford it." Isaid, " Your salary is four times mine, and I can afford it." I mentionthis anecdote for this reason. I said to him, " My dear brotber, if youhold down God's truth in unrigbteousness, He will find some means ofpunishing you. 'To him that hath shall be given,' but he who concealsneed not expect any more. God puts in trust to certain men Hissecrets, His great principles; opens their eyes to see it, and their busi-ness is then not to put it under a bushel, but on a table that all maysee the light." What did the Lord Jesus Christ say about Paul?" He is a chosen witness to Me, to bear My name before the Gentilesand the kings of the earth." And let me add one more remark.Christians are the only persons who feel their obligation- to stand upfor the truth of God. The consciousness of much received, prompts theconvert to go and bestow. The way to conserve Christian truth is toproclaim it upon the housetops. The way to make it grow in our ownhearts and intellects is to love it and speak about it to other men. Theway to become rich in the wisdom from above is to tell others aboutthat wisdom and what it can accomplish for men by what it hasaccomplished for you. A third point is this. Jude, servant of JesusChrist, wrote forthwith; for he was anxious that they shouldcontend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints,because he saw its exceeding value. Men whose eyes are openedsee the exceeding value of the gospel of the grace of our Lord JesusChrist. What could man do without it? What would be our employ-meut to-night but for the wonderful unfoldings of God's character, andredeeming love in this Book? We would be worshipping idols, callingout to stocks and stones to pacify our troubled consciences' smartingunder a disease tbe nature of which we did not understand. Jude sawthat this was so exceedingly valuable that he urged upon Christiansto preserve it. Let no admixture of error get in. Let not the wilyteachers who are profiting from professed godliness and destroying thepurity and the beauty of truth succeed. Contend earnestly. How?Passionately? No. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteous-ness of God." How? Vehemently; but in the spirit of the Gospel.The Gospel must be proclaimed in its own beautiful spirit and inno other.This leads me to one or two practical remarks on this subject.

I should like to enlist you all in thegreat work in which we areengaged. I should like to enlist you all as members of our Society.Union is Strength. I have been engaged for a great number ofyears in publishing a magazine, the Rainbow, on the first day ofevery month, containing arguments in connection with this-theknowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and other matters of essentialimportance in connection with Christian theology, and greatmultitudes have been benefited, they tell me. I have receivedletters which have been to me a great reward. Men have written tome: "We were infidels; now we are Christians, because you havetaken away that frightful doctrine of everlasting torment." Men say tous, "You deny everlasting punishment." I do not. I teach thescripture doctrine of everlasting punishment, which is' destruction. Thepenalty of sin is death. I deny nothing that is in this book. I acceptits teachings with all my heart, and I am prepared to do what in melies to diffuse those teachings. If we only had the means, we couldthrough our publishing society distribute a great deal more light uponthis vast and most important subject. We have to contend earnestly,and there is one way in which we can all contend earnestly, for thefaith. Let men see that we who hold this doctrine of life only inChrist are living godly and holy lives. Men are watching us verynarrowly. They are calling us sceptics and infidels, and we are so faras false doctrines are concerned. But we are not so far as God's truthis concerned. We can appeal to our hearts with holy confidence. Letthe world see that we are not the worse but the better for believing thatour life is hid with Christ in God; for believing that the theological hellis a frightful fiction; in doing .what we can to redeem our Father'scharacter from the stains which have been brought upon it. Icould tell you how I was agonized and exercised in mind for years onthis subject. I thought it out thus :- Why did God make me if that isto be my destiny? The devil replied, " 0, but you are a Christian."Who made me that? What difference is there between me and anvother man? Are. we not all alike by nature? Take me and give meblessedness whilst my brother must be an eternal sufferer! I could notbelieve it, and one day whilst deeply thinking upon this subject, a greatmany years ago, this thought flashed like lightning across my mind-Is Man Immortal? I leaped with joy. I saw it all in IIn instant.I felt that that was the [question, and I went to the Scriptures,and not a word :about it could I find. Not a particle of intelligenceupon it.This is the way to clear the Father's character, A lady said to me,

" Oh, sir, how exceedingly I am obliged to you. I can now love Godwith all my heart. I could not do it before. It is a black cloud removed. Itseemed to me that His government was so contradictory." And so they-all said who have felt this. Brethren, Iife and death are set before us-life in Christ, death the penalty of sin. Ye search the Scriptures, for in


4/22

4 THE BIBLE S T A N DA R D .them ye think ye have eternal life, yet you will not come to Me. I havethe eternal life. I give it to you. One word more. It is needless to~lab?rate, to extend these remarks. Here we have a picture of aninspired man, prompted by the Holy Spirit to write, at onoe, to believersin Jesus Christ, to contend earnestly for the faith onoe for all delivered,to see that no-addition from any quarter should be made to the Book,but th~t in its entirety and beauty it might go down through thegenerations to bless all who should receive it. Here is an earnestappeal to those who bave thus been blessed by these truths to sendtbese truths to others, and to keep them sacred for the honour of theLord Jesus Christ. And here is a great faot--and I would repeat it be-cause of its vast importanoe-that we are not at liberty to sustain anddefend truth by proxy, but must do it ourselves. Contend earnestly forthe. fa!th onoe ~elivered ~o the saints; clearly, habitually, oonsistently,behevmgly, lovingly. GIve to every man a reason for the hope that isin you, but with meekness towards man and fear, or reverence, towardsGod. Paul says, speaking to the Corinthians on the subjeot: Some ofyou call me mad. If I am mad, it is to God. If sober, it is for yourcause. The love of Christ constrains me, and so forth. Knowing,therefore, the terror of the Lord we persuade men. There, you cannotmeet that-the terror of the Lord! Yes, I can meet it . All the terrorof the Lord in the text is the fear of God in Paul's own mind-feel-ing the fear of God upon me, I cannot hold my tongue. Knowing,therefore, tbe fear of God, we beseeoh you. We are ambassadorsof Christ; therefore beseeoh men to be reoonoiled to God. Now, let tbefear of God prompt our minds and hearts, and we too shall speak as wehave opportunity, giving men to understand that we feel that we areresponsible for what God has told us, and that we are determined theLord helping us, to do what we can to make known these great truths-that God is in Christ giving life to believers; that Christ God'sAnointed, is coming to rule over His own world, His' nativeworld, and that Yle, if His, shall receive eternal life at Hiscoming, and shall be for ever with the Lord. And when welo.ok back from tha~ state of splendour and glory, how smallwill appeal' all the trials that try us, and how trifling will appearthe little servioe we render to such a Master! My dear friendsponder tbese things; examine tbe Book for yourselves, and you willfind that God's great dootrine is, life in His dear Son, and that He andHis people are one. I hope you will not only examine these things foryourselves, but do what you can to make it known, that men may bedelivered from tbe frightful burden which has hung over the nations solong, and tbat God's truth shall shine out clear as the sun. The vindi-cation of the Majesty of Heaven is no small honour to poor creaturessuch as we are, engaged in this honourable task, and He shall have theglory.The meeting terminated with singing and prayer.

Public Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 7th.Chairman: ROBERT J. HAMMOND, ESQ ., Treasurer.

A Meeting was held on Wednesday evening, at which there was alarge attendance. Mr. Robert J. Hammond, of London, Treasurer oftbe Association, presided.The CHAiRMANsaid: He was very pleased to oocupy the post he didthat evening. They had, he trusted, a very important and profitable

meeting before them. After some few remarks as to length of time tobe devoted to eaoh address, he introduoed the first speaker.-CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY.

By Mr. WILLIAM LAING.Mr. WILLIAMLUNG [Edinburgh.) read a paper on "Conditional Im-

mortality." He said:Mr. Chairman and Friends,-The motto I bave chosen for the presentaddress is-this: "The wages of sin is death; the gift of God is eternallife through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom: vi. 23.Immortality is the theme of this Conferenoe: the grand cause of our

coming together. Not immortality of name or fame, but a personal im-mortality; an immortality which we hope, consciously, to enjoy, andwhioh we believe the All-Merciful Jehovah has put within the reach ofus all, and lovingly desires we should enjoy.This sublime subject is also the ground of our contention with thegreat bulk of professing Christians, including the church of Rome and

the multitudinous sects of Protestants. All these, or almost all, holdand teach, as a neoessary truth, that every man is an immortal being:that whatever be his character, or conduct, in this life, he sball live forever; that-lost or saved he can never cease to have a conscious,personal existence. Our contention is tbat while God has providedimmortality for every man, it can only be possessed in a certain way.The oourt of appeal is the Bible. There and there only can a satis-

factory deoision be had. Tbis is admitted on both sides. To thatcourt we now repair for its deliverance on the question: Is man, by

constitution, an immortal creature possessed of a life that candie? Or, is immortal life a boon to be enjoyed by man on oconditions specified in Scripture?Before proceeding to the oitation of Scripture, let me call yourtion to its SILENCEas to the immortality of the human soul. Ifwere really destined by his Creator to live for ever, we naturally sexpeot to find that faot often asserted and referred to in the Bible.then are we to acoount for its utter silence on this matter? Nowin the Bible, is immortality, eternal life, or deathlessness, affirmeman, as man. While OU1' religious literature teems with such term"immortal soul," "never-dying soul," "deathless spirit," these, orequivalents, are nowhere found in any part of the Bible. Is notremarkable, oonsidering the importance of the subject? Thosebelieve the doctrine are ever bringing it to the front; and no wondHow is it, then, that the only written revelation of the purposes oregarding man is absolutely silent about the essentially deathless nof the sons of men? Leaving our friends to answer that questionme now call your attention to the voice of Soripture in responseenquiry-" WHO SHALLLIVE FOIt EVER?"I might cite Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and from Geto Malachi, show that the uniform teaching throughout is thateternal life, is a privilege to be gained or lost; but I pass on at othe teaohing of Him, who "brought life and incorruptibility to ligthe gospel." Turn then to John iii. 16. "God so loved the worldHe gave His only begotten Son that wbosoever believeth in Himnot perish but have everlasting life." The term life in this and kipassages is commonly interpreted to mean not life in its commoceptation of existence-but happiness. But as we are referring todoouments for information as to what they teach, we are, in all faibound to understand their terms in the ordinary and naturalcommonly attached to them. Now it is a fact well known thatlanguage does the term life express the idea of happiness; for itlawful to speak of a miserable life as of a happy one. Tbat the etlife wbich believers are to enjoy is a happy one we may well beyet it is life not happiness which is spoken of in the passage beforHappiness and life are not synonymous terms; and had tbe Lord mto express the idea of happiness simply, He would have used the pterm. There is nothing in the context forbidding us to understhe terms" perish" and" everlasting life" in their ordinary aooeptayea, rather we should say, the oontext demands that tbese termunderstood to have their oommon and primary meaning (see ver15). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even sothe Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him snot perisb, but have eternal life." The analogy or comparison empclearly establishes that the sense we are contending for is the trueA reference to Num. xxi. 4-9 will show this. "The Lord sentserpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much pof Israel died" (vel'. 6). "And Moses made a serpent of brass,put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, if a serpent had bitten anywhen he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (ver. 9). The Israwere perishing because of their sin; to save them from dying, a seof brass, by the command of Jehovah, is elevated on a pole, anappointment made that whosoever of the dying Israelites lookedbrazen serpent, should live." And" as Moses lifted up the sein the wilderness, even so must tbe Son of man be lifted up, thatsoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."comparison is so simple and expressive that he who runs may readWhat our Lord meant by the word perish, is very clearly seenHis use of it, as recorded in Luke xiii. 1-5. On one ocoasiontold Him of .the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled withsacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, "Suppose ye,these men were sinners above all the Galileans, because they susuch things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent ye shall allwise 'perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Sfell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners abovmen that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but exceptpent, ye shall all likewise perish." Those persons uponthe tower of Siloam fell were "slain,"-killed. The pewhose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were alsoto death. It was their own blood that Pilate mingled withsacrifices. Very likely, Pilate or his officers, suddenly laid hold ofmen while they were saorificing in the Temple at Jerusalem, andthem with the sword, so tl;1atthe blood of the offerers became mwith the blood of their offerings. The men were put to death.else than the loss of life, could our Lord mean by perish, wbesaid: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish?" Yetlogians maintain that these sinners were deathless.That the privilege of living for ever can only be enjoyed by sinnethe human race, through Jesus Christ our Lord, is very clearly setby Him in that discourse where He speaks of Himself as "Theof Life." John vi. 51, "I am the living bread which came downheaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; andbread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life oworld." The parties to whom our Lord thus addressed Himselfdesired from Him some miraculous display of divine vowel'


5/22

THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D .evidence that He was sent by God; and they supported their demandby referring to the circumstance that their fathers had been miracu-lously fed in the wilderness by the hand of Moses. "Our fathers dideat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread fromheaven to eat ;" Jesus replied by asserting that God had given them ablessing of far superior value, and that He Himself was that gift," MyFather giveth you the true bread from heaven; Iam the living breadwhich came down from heaven; if a man eat of this bread he shall livefor ever."Jesus, in representing Himself as "bread," plainly intimates that one

grand end of His mission was to give life. The only use of bread is tosustain life; and the only proper mark of analogy hetween Christ andbread consists in His being the source of life to all who believe on Him.The property of bread is not to communicate happiness; for how manyat this hour have abundance of bread and continue unhappy!That it is as the Giver of life that Jesus represents Himself as bread

is still further evident from His language in verse 50, " Your fathers dideat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread of God,which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and notdie." Where is the ~rce of the antithesis, on the supposition that theLord meant, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and aredead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a manmay eat thereof and not be unhappv, or not live in misery for ever IThe true antithesis is this. The manna which fell in the desert only ,

sustained life for a while; it did not prevent their fathers from dying;but the bread which God had now sent down to them gave everlastingbeing; God had sent it that a man might eat of it and" not die.""But," it may be urged, "believers do die." True, indeed, but they

shall live again, at" tberesurrection of life;" and, as the" dead know notanything," the continuity of life'shall, in the experience of the saved,he unbroken.The sense in which the Lord used the terms life and death as con-sequences of fidelity or infidelity to Himself, is clearly defined in His lan-

guage recorded in Matt. xvi. 25, 26-" Whosoever will save his life forMy sake shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shallfind it; for what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and losehis own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"We are at no loss to understand what sort of life it is which the unfaithfuldisciple seeks to save. It is the same kind of life which he shall lose.No one hesitates about the kind of life which the faithful martyr losesfor Cbrist's sake. Well the Lord affirms that he who loses his LIFE forHis sake 'shallfind IT: surely that life which he lost.It is of importance to notice that the word rendered so'id twice in verse

26 is the identical Greek term twice translated life in verse 25; andshould have been rendered life in these four occurences, and so it is inthe Revised New Testament. "What shall a man be profited if he gainthe whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in ex-change for his life." "It is this life of man," said the late DeanAlford, "which carries his practical will, with all those motions of intellectand feeling which set it at work; it is the life which is' mysteriouslybound up with the body, which is reft from it at death; it is this life,which if a man spend upon God and upon good, he shall save to lifeeternal." (Good Words, January, 1868,)That the Lord Jesus Christ came to give life in its primary sense, is

also very clearly taught in the beautiful language of John x. 10-18." The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I amcome that they might have life, and that they might have it moreabundantly. I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth Hislife for the sheep." . . . "I lay down My life for the sheep." "Noman taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to layit down, and I have power to take it again." Did Jesus lay down Hisspiritual life, or did He lay down mere happiness? Nay, it was Hisown life He laid down and took up again; and he likens Himself to ashepherd who, to save the life of His sheep, lays down His own life.unlike the hireling who, to save his life flees in the time of danger, andallows the wolves to devonr the flock. If such language does notexpress the idea that life, in its ordinary sense, is the boon which Jesuslaid down His own life to confer upon His own flock, then it is im-possible to find language to express that idea.The beauty and force of the comparison wonld appear all the more

lively to a pastoral people in the East, where the attachment betwixt ashepherd and his flock seems much stronger than in our Western clime." Thy servant," said the son of Jesse to King Saul, ,. Thy servant kepthis father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lambout of the flock, and I went after him and smote him and slew him."" The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and ont of thepaw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine,"1 Sam. xvii, 34-37. David's love for this lamb of his little flock wasgreat indeed; but how unspeakably greater is the love of Christ for ussinners, since He not only risked His life but" laid it down." He threwHimself into the lion's month that His sheep might escape. He "pouredout His soul unto death," "that whosoever believeth in Him might notperish, but bave everlasting life." Herein, indeed, is love! Contemplateit calmly and gratefully till tears of joy and adoration flow from youreyes. To save us from the destiny of the brnte-" abhorred annihil-

ation "-and make us partakers of His own eternal life, the blessed Gosent His only begotten Son into the world to live a mortal's life and da mortal's death. He, with the benignity of God, gave up freely nhappiness alone, but life itself, that we through faith in Him, the riseand immortal Christ, might, at His appearing, enter into life that knowno end, no sinning, and no sorrow!It is now time that we should refer to the testimony of the Apostles

Christ on the important question before us. The limits of our timdemand that the review be brief. And first let me point you to thlanguage of the Apostle Peter, where he charges his countrymen witkilling "The Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead." Acts ii15. In the margin both of the Authorized and the" Revised" translation,' the word "Author" is given instead of "Prince." And iRobinson's Greek Lexicon, the first meaning assigned to the word iThe author, SOU1'ce, cause, of anything.' According to the commonnsage and import of the term, Peter here claims for his Lord that Hwas the author, i.e., the intelligent, active source of life-that everlasting life which He shall confer on His faithful ones, when He appearsthe second time, unto salvation.Well might Peter do so, for he had heard it from the Lord's own lips

"That as the living Father had life in. Himself, so had He given to thSon to have life in Himself." John v. 26. To change the words" livingFather" into" happy Father," &c" is to destroy the force and beautyof the language. "As the Father has life in Himself, underived, independent being, so has He giwn to the Son to have life in Himself;Bot merely as a personal possession, but also as a source of life to othersAnd that the life here referred to is eternal, or post-resurrectional lifeis plain from the context, see vers, 20, 21. " For the Father loveth theSon, and hath sbowed Him all things that Himself doeth; and He wishow Him greater things than these that ye may marvel; for as thFather raiseth the dead, and maketh them alive, even so the Son makethalive whom He will." Again," The hour is coming, and now is, whenthe dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that heashall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath Hgiven to the Son to have life in Himself." For this reason Petercharges the men of Israel with having killed the Prince, or author of lifeAgain. When the Jews at Antioch, who were filled with envy against

Paul and Barnabas, because of the multitudes that thronged to hear theWord of God, "Spake gainst the things which were spoken of by Paulcontradicting and blaspheming; then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold andsaid: It was necessary that the word of God should first have beenspoken unto you; but seeing that ye put it from you, and judge your-selves unwortby of everlasting hfe, 10, we turn to the Gentiles; for shath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light tthe Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of thearth." And, adds the historian, "when the Gentiles heard this, theywere glad and glorified the Word of the Lord : and as many as werordained (or disposed) to eternal life believed." Acts. xiii. 44-48.The apostolic testimony to the truth that the possession of eternal lif

by men is dependent on their union with Christ is more manifest fromthe epistles to the churches. Thus in the letter to the saints at Romwe find the following statements :-" To those who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour and immortality [God wirender] eternal life," Rom, ii. 7. Here it is broadly stated that irnm01tality, as well as glory and honour is a blessing to be sought for, anthat God will bestow eternal life on those who seek for these blessingsby a patient continuance in well doing."Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath

reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousnessunto eternal life, through Jesns Christ, our Lord," Rom, v. 20,21."What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now

ashamed? for the end of these things is death: But now being madefree from sin, and become servants of God, ye have your fruit untoholiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord."Rom. vi. 21-23. "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye throughthe Spirit do mortify the deeds of tbe body, ye shall LIVE," R01n. viii. 13Here it may be well to notice the mode by which those who believe

that all men shall live for ever, explain such passages as those justcited. They assert that the terms death and life, die and live, in theseinstances, are used in a metaphorical sense; and in support of thisexplanation certain passages are cited in which these terms are usedwith a metaphorical signification; such as, " Thou hast a name tbatthou livest and art dead," Rev. iii. 1; "Dead to sin,"" Alive untorighteousness," "Dead to the law," "Dead in trespasses and sins," &cBut how does it follow that because the terms in question have anundoubted metaphorical import in the latter class of passage, they havealso a metaphorical import in those just cited? The sense of the passage demands it in the one case, not in the other; as has already beenpointed out.But even in those instances where life and death, die, dead

&c., are used in a metaphorical sense, the metaphor derives all its forcf~om the prima.ry and proper meaning of these terms. Nay, more, realife and death, III the sense of non-existence, is affirmed of the personin relation to the matter specified. Thus:" dead to the law" mean~


6/22

6 THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D .non-existence in relation to the law. Having a name to live, while dead,implies that the person described was really dead in relation to thematter in which he professed to be alive. There is no dubiety as to themeaning of the language: "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but ifye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. "Rom. viii. 13. Here it is evident that it is the persons who are to live ordie, according to their conduct. The ultimate destiny of the one classis everlasting destruction, that of the other everlasting life.I shall call in only one more witness, the Apostle John. these are hiswords: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because

that.He sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might livethrough Him." 1 John iv. 9. This is the record, God hath given tons eternal life ; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hathlife; he that hath not the Son of God hatb not life." 1 John v. 10, 11.When the Apostle says that, He that hath the Son hath life," he isnot to be understood as affirming that the believer has this life withinhimself at present; for he has just before said that this eternal life isin God's Son; in like manner as Paul affirms that it is" Hid withChrist in God." The believer has it safely deposited in Christ, like adeed of inheritance, to be possessed at a certain day.Throughout the whole of the teachings of the Lord and His apostleswe find the terms+ life," eternal life," everlasting life," used as theequivalents of Salvation; while death," destruction," " everlastingdestruction," "perdition," and similar terms, are used to describe the'fate of those who remain unsaved. And in the sight of such testimoniesit seems passing strange that anyone having faith in these Holy Scrip-tures should fail to perceive that man is not an immortal being by birth;but contrariwise, by inheritance from Adam, mortal; and, in consequenceof personal transgression, condemned to die" the second death"; andthat it is only through union with Christ that any child of Adam canlive for ever.This truth is to be further illustrated by other speakers; but before

closing my remarks, allow me a word or two regarding the phrase" Con-ditional Immortality." Some have objected to its use because theythink it militates against the truth that we are saved by grace. Theobjection is founded on a mistake. We rejoice in the truth expressedin the motto of this address: " The wages of sin is death; the gift ofGod is eternal life," more emphasized in the Revised New Testament,The free gift of God is eternal life." The conditions alluded to arenot connected with the giving; but with the possession of the gift. Themanna on which Israel' fed in the desert was sent freely, copiously, andready for use, yet unless they had eaten of it, they would have died ofstarvation. In like manner, our gracious God, out of the fulness of Hismercy, sent down from heaven, the Bread of Life-Jesus, the Son ofHis love, Who laid down His life for the life of the world; the graciousboon is freely given; and lovingly and earnestly pressed on the accept-ance of perishing sinners; but it must be received in order to be pos-sessed. In other words, God hath given-gifted-to us eternal life;but this .life is in His Son "; and in order to be partakers of thateternal life we need to be united to God's Son by a living, active faith,that works by love and purifies the heart; otherwise, in spite uf theabundant provision, perish we must, and that for ever. The great feastof salvation has been provided, without money and without price. Allthings are ready; but in order to enjoy the bounty we must COME tothe feast. Come! Yes, come! "The Spirit and the Bride say Come!Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely 1 "

A CHALLENGE TO ORTHODOXY.By GEN. H. GOODWYN.

General GOODWYNead a paper entitled" A Challenge to Orthodoxy."He said :-As an officer of the Queen of these realms I have fought manya battle, and won them (laughter and applause), but as a soldier of JesusChrist I never had such a hard battle to fight as that which we are nowcarrying on in defence of truth. Do you ask me once more what istruth? I give you one simple answer.-It is that which relegates to thedust human philosophy and human opinion, and has its source only inthe inspiration of the Word of God (applause). Agnosticism, or a pecu-liar attitude of Infidelity, has made its appearance in this latter part ofthe nineteenth century 1 The root of this evil tree, that has been plantedby the same malicious hand that sowed the tares in the field, is a con-temptuous indifference to, and willing ignorance of God as Creator andLife-giver, of a Divinely moral government of the world, of the relationbetween God and man, and consequent moral and practical duties thatflow from a belief in the above. Leaving this root unnoticed just now,I will allude to one branch of the tree of evil that claims a Scientificindifference, a Laodicean neutrality between belief and un belief inmatters of Divine revelation.I. If religious truth were no more than a branch of science, such a posi-

tion might be barely tenable; but however desirable to the agnosticmind, such neutrality between truth and incredulity is simply impossible,because Scripture veri ties are not offshoots of science, but principles oflife that unveil the mysteries of God, of Christ, with the perfection of

Divinely righteous administration, embracing the whole fielexistence of man, his conscience, will, affections and future desis supposed, but it is not true, that the real doctrine of Scrregard to this latter point, is opposed either to reason orDifficulties are admitted, but, even here, no contradictionsfound between the authoritative teaching of Revelation and theances of moral sense.H. One of the questions with which this Association concernviz. "Conditional Immortality" and the doctrine of" eternalment," is one of momentous importance, but the acquisition

views regarding it is of more importance to some persons than tWhat I mean is, that there are some to whose minds the proposithe majority of the human race. are destined to writhe in tormblaspheme the 'Name of Him who made them' through endlepresents no peculiar difficulty. They are satisfied with what thbeen taught, and feel bound by no responsibility to test theirtenets. To such, and to their ministers, I have not a word to sthem alone.There is another. a large class, who have given but little hequestion at all. They profess a belief in "eternal punishmen

familiar with the expressions" hell," "eternity," "lake of fire,"ideas that such expressions convey are entirely wanting. They,former class are untroubled, but the source of their tranquillitdifferent thoughtlessness, agnosticism. But this baseless peaceto a sudden rude disturbance. One dearly loved is called wmoments preparation to die. Now then, words that before weonly are invested with tremendous meaning! whither is thegone? This must be answered, and it can only be answeredmourner beiug arrested to a sincerely careful considerationquestion, and becoming affiliated with those who have become cthat the awful doctrine of the eternity of the process of punishdirect contradiction both to the Word and the Attributes of thScripture. Nevertheless, having been taught that the Bible is coto the doctrine, they are driven by adverse winds, and are in deither rejecting revelation altogether, or the terrible alternadoubting the goodness and mercy of God! "I'is to this claswould speak in sober earnestnass ; for I am persuaded that notthis false doctrine driving thousands both openly, but oftener iinto infidelity, but that it is the great obstructive power whicothers altogether without the gate. I maintain then that thisought not to be evaded, and I mainly and emphatically protest agamanner in which Pastors and Ministers shuffle it on one sidwere a mere trifle, but a small speck in the great Gospel scheme.Ill. What are the practical results of Missionary labours? isfact that success is the exception, failure the rule? Missionaries

selves who have been working among the 150 millions in India.that nominal converts are barely one in two thousand. What theload of misery that a zealous preacher of the orthodox doctrbrought about? a load surely that ought to weigh heavy on hHas any recognized tyrant of the human race brought such an avof suffering on his species as must be ascribed to any missionaryfailed; for failure, as may statistically be proved, has beenascendant.IV. Again,-take any of the popular evangelical literature for c

which 'flows from the press in torrents, and which everywhereeternal fire. "I was naughty yesterday, and would not take my mand, only that Jesus died for my sin, I should have gone to live wDevil in flames for ever." Such words are put into the mouth osick child, perhaps on a death-bed! But admit the salvationchild,-is there a parent who can affirm that he or she is an excfavorite of God, and their offspring liable to exemption from tmon lot of humanity? Is it to be denied that some, or even saysuch children, may be supposed to perish, when, according toopinion, it will dwell with everlasting burnings. Now, endeavrealize what that means, and shut not your eyes to the consethat necessarily flow from it; look the ghastly contingency in tand say, if under such circumstances, you are justified in bringinginto the world, with the bare possibility of so hideous a doom?Once more. Take the case of a dear, though unregenerate, friehis decease after suffering, the verdict is, "What a merciful re

Here in flat contradiction to the orthodox Creed, it is assumedpain is over for him. Of course it is said that resignation to theGod absorbs all other feeling, that therefore there can be no griefpossible endless torments of a former friend. Now the valueresignation to the Divine will may be submitted to a very simpYou have only to suppose that, instead of your neighbour, it isfor whom the Divine will has decreed the fiery pit. How far wouresignation carry you? a very short way indeed. And yet, you amanded to love your neighbour as yourse!f.V. Such examples-and more might be added from a powerfby Mr. Barlow, of Dublin-palpably justify the advocates oof demanding, in the Name of the Lord, from our opponents, insthe personal odium, the social and ecclesiastical proscription, to

we have been long and unjustly subjected, a Scriptural substanof their opposition.-Not by such evasive generalities as they


7/22

THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D . 7advance, not by sophistical human assumption, nor by unwarrantableperversions and traditional allegorising of the plainest words and passagesofHoly Writ; but by such an evidence and pertinently demonstrative proofas may reduce the controversy within the limits of Christian courtesy andbrotherly love; such as may tend to quiet men's consciences and smooth~heway for the perception of Truth. I do not forget how I am supportedIn what I say by the highest Authority, for the Lord Jesus Himself saidto His J~dge, " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well,why smitest thou Me"?I speak thus, because the evidence on our side has been manifold andwith a single eye to the Glory of God, both oral and written. We do~ut repeat at Bradford what has been spoken elsewhere; it is time,tnerefore, that we advanced from our oft-defended, and hitherto impreg-nable position of our own camp, planted our standard, and threw downthe gauntlet on the field of illusory Orthodoxy!VI. Who of the champions of that field have ventured to impugn theof~.r~peated fact that man's Natural Immortality is not to be found~IthIn the pages of the Bible? Assumed, say they,-but the assump-tion .l~cks t.he one essential of proof I What was Adam's originalcondition P lifeless dust; i.e. "God formed man," not a part of manonly, ~)Ut the entire man, of the dust of the ground. An agnosticreasoning can find no place here; God has said it, the human mindmust accept it and orthodox theology be silent. Adam, body and soul,was thus made, till the breath of life gave motional existence to bothinterior organism arld outward members. Moreover Adam's conditionwas that of pure innoceney only (Gen. ii. 25), with responsibility to attainto Immortality, or by disobedience to forfeit it. Had God created himImmortal as Himself, He must have formed a second Deity; had Hemade him mortal at first, God might Have been called the Author ofdeath! And then the words after his fall indicate in the plainest man-ner that Adam had become possessed of a mortal nature. " Dust THOUart, and to dust shalt THOUreturn "; the entire being, or visible MAN,(see Job xxxiv. 15; Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4). Finally, remember this, " the soulthat sinneth, IT shall die." Let not Orthodoxy revere Plato anddethrone the Divine Creator!VII. Wielding by faith the sword of the Spirit, weagain advance; andwhilst recognising in Matt. xxv. 4~, that the original word for the per-petuity of the doom for the righteous and unrighteous is the same, wemaintain that the" punishment" of the latter, being eternal, is not aneternal process of punishing, or tormenting, and challenge orthodoxy tothe proof of its creed in view of the statement in Heb. ix. 12, where itis said that" Christ has obtained eternal redemption"; not a processof eternally redeeming, but, as in the other case, an eternal effect of oneact of redemption, as in the next chapter, " He had offered one sacrificefor sins for ever ... and by one offering He hath perfected for ever themthat are sanctified.'" The New Testament Revision gives an unquestion-able description of the character of the" punishment" of Matt. xxv, inthe 9th and 10th verses of 2 Thess, ii., being a record of the same event.Or perhaps our opponents in their zeal may fortify their position withundying worms and unquenchable fire? alluding to the words of

the Lord in M ar l ix. But the Lord, Who gave His Jewish followersunderstanding, gave them the Scripture from whence He quoted thosemuch perverted words, viz.; Isaiah lxvi. 24., where it will be found thatmouldering" carcases" are to be subjected to the worm and fire, which, asof old, will not cease their work till there are no more corpses to devour-"This is the second death," the dread sentence that will be pronouncedfrom the great white tbrone of inflexible righteousness. Life misusedduring the period of present probation, will be withdrawn for ever!VIII. The onus probandi of unending sin and torment rests un-questionably with the orthodox supporters of the hypothesis. One sampleof their explanatory theory-for argument it cannot be called-is a veryancient one, viz. that sin being an offence against an infinite being,cannot be atoned for by finite suffering; but demands an eternal in-fliction." To which the old retort is more than sufficient as areply-" Sinbeing committed by a finite creature, requires only finite infliction."Sin is not thus defined in Scripture. It is said to be a "transgression oflaw." The law therefore has to deal with it, and the sentence is plain," The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die;"and to attribute to death any other meaning than extinction of existence,would call, not only for a re-revision of the Word of God but of theEnglish language IIX. Finally, in reference to the question of sin. I indignantly resentthe charge often made, that our doctrine invalidates the Atonement!Hark! to the words of the Baptist as he saw Jesus walking by theJordan, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away (abolisheth bybearing) the sin of the world." Again, listen to the words of inspiration,"Christ hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself:"This, as an apostle has affirmed, the law could not do, Rom. viii. 3.; The

* This Scriptural reference a.ffordsan explanation ot the words used by the Revisersof the New Testament to express the 29th verse of Ma-rh Hi. where it is said that "bIasphemy against the Holy Spirit hath never forclvenesa, but is in danger of eternalJudgment." The revision gives" is guilty of ete'1'nal sin ." Now these expressions donot (unless by perversion of meaning) signify either an eternal perpetration of anact of judging, or of sinning; but a sin. that carries with it an. eternal'resu.lt, viz>


8/22

10 THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D .the part of God to preserve for ever any man who could neither glorifyhis Maker nor enjoy himself? You will at once say, No. You must; forinfinite wisdom cannot keep in eternal existence a being who can neverfulfil the purpose of his being. I have no narrow idea of the number~vhoshall enter into life eternal. Regarding the heathen, the partially-Informed, and the deceived, I entertain a large hope. The kingdom ofheaven shall be much more populous than many close-minded menwould calculate. In some way or other the Gospel must be preached toall. For the condemnation at the end, as at the beginning shall be,-"Ye will not come unto Me that ye may have life." But beyond this Idare not go. Depend upon it, if Shakespeare and Scott, and Byron andBurns, and Voltaire and Hume, and Plato and Paul are not renderedimmortal by Christ, the might of their intellect shall not immortalizethem. But supposing it did. If God in His wisdom spared the intel-lectual stars on account of the brightness of their shining, would that beunconditional immortality? Nay, does not the very suggestion showthat man's consciousness of what is just, and right, and good leads himto expect conditions in connection with such a wondrous boon as never-ending life. He says, The Wisdom 'of God shall grant it to the wiseamong men. But God says, " To this man will I look, even to him thatis poor and of a/contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." "He thathath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath notthe life," however great and intellectual he may be, "We are not content,therefore with the assumed immortality of the race, nor with the coldcomfort of the posthumous immortality of the famous and renowned."But now, turning to the metaphysical argument, we find it stated that manmust be immortal because he is a spirit tabernacling in the flesh. It is saidthat the spirit (or soul, for orthodoxy does not distinguish between thesecarefully,) is the real man, and though the body perishes the spiritsurvives eternally. Now the Bible declares, " There is a spirit in man,"but It nowhere states that man himself is a spirit. " God is a Spirit,"and the angels are" ministering spirits," but" God formed man of thedust of the ground," There is his nature! "Of the earth, earthy."And as for the spirit, it was "breathed into his nostrils," it abidesthere, (" The Spirit of God is in my nostrils," Job xxvii. 3;) andit is in the nostrils also of the animals around, "Yea, they have allone breath (or spirit); so that (in that matter,) a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." (Eccles. iii. 19.)But, it is argued, man must be a spirit, and therefore immortal,b.ecause he can think and reason. This is based upon the assump-tion that matter cannot produce .thought. Now we admit, of course,that inert matter produces no thought; a stick, or a stone, or a pieceof iron cannot think. But may not matter be organized so as toproduce thought, just as it produces feeling, and heat, and light,and perfume, and electricity? Besides, if matter does not think,ho.w do horses, dogs, and elephants think and reason? That they dothink as really as man does, though not to the same degree, isbeyond dispute. And if man is a spirit because he can produce thought,so also are the brutes beneath him, for they can do the same. But it issaid, 'It is the soul that thinks, and that is what is claimed to he im-mortal.' As it is put in Cruden's Concordance: "The soul is spiritualbecause it thinks, and immortal because it is spiritual." Now, whenman is laid upon his couch, and yields himself up to " Tired nature'ssweet restorer, balmy sleep," what is it that falls asleep? Is it the body,or the soul? Orthodoxy at once will say, "The body." How is it thenthat man is unconscious? Why does not" the soul" continue to think?The answer is evident: it is because thought depends as much upon" the body" as " the soul." And dreams prove nothing to the contraryof this, for they comeupon us when we are only partially asleep. Soundsleep is dreamless.It is however urged that as the personality is preserved, although thebody undergoes continual change, the soul must be the real man. This~ppears at first sight plausible, but a little consideration proves itsInsuffiCle~cy as an argument. We grant that the body is entirely changedIn a certa~n number of years, but the identity of the mind (or soul) is nomore retained than that of the body during the same period. Is mindunchangeable? If so, then the mind of the infant is just the same asthat of. the man. The fact that mental impressions are retained from

childhood to old age, is explained by the law of atomical succession,just as that explains the retention of scars, and other marks of thebody, during the same period.But now, supposing men are immaterial souls, or spirits, "cabin'd,cribbed, confined, bound in" bymaterial bodies, out of which they mount

at death. Does that prove they are immortal? It certainly does notappear to me to do so. On the contrary, the VeI'ystatement brings to one'smind more vividly the language of the Scripture: "Behold, all souls areMine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine : thesoul that sinneth it shall die." (Ezek .. xviii. 4.) "He which convertetha sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and shallhide a multitude of sins." (James v. 20.) "Fear Him which is able todestroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. x. 28.) The supposition,therefore, does not support the theory of unconditional immortality.Orthodoxy, however, in desperation, says, Nothing can be annihilated,therefore man must live for ever. This argument rests upon the scientificstatement that matter cannot be destroyed. If ground to powder, or burnt

with fire, or blown up into the air, or washed away with the floods,remains in existence: only its form has changed. Well, I amarguing against the eternity of matter; but against the naturamortality of man. The atoms of which he is composed may rin existence for ever, but as for the man himself, only "Hedoeth the will of God abideth for ever." A regiment may be annihithough the soldiers composing it may not be blown into thin air.the battle-field be strewn with their lifeless bodies, and the deed isA palace may be destroyed by inextinguishable fire, though the sand bricks, and mortar, and dust, and ashes may remain somewhexistence. And so with man, matter (and spirit), as such, maydestructible ; the atoms or particles may be eternal; "but the wshall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lthey shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." (Ps. x20.) But even though it were necessary to annihilate the materialto accomplish the destruction of a man, would that be impossibleGod? Would the Almighty not be" able to perform" such a scimiracle? "The things which are seen (even atoms) were not mthings which do appear." They were spoken into being by God, acould, if He so willed it, blot them out again. Considered eithethe argument as to the difficulty of annihilation does not holdBut now I must conclude. It has given me much pleasure to band to examine before you the principal arguments for the doctr

unconditional immortality. It is called the "orthodox" doctrincause it is commonly believed. But, with my hand upon God's Wdenounce it as heretical and false. Not a single text of Scriptureit, and not one upholds it when examined in the light. It is suppneither by reason, natural science, nor common-sense. On the conit contradicts the Word of the Eternal. When He forewarns the wsaying, " The soul that sinneth it shall die; " this doctrine dares t(with one of old,) "Ye shall not surely die." Thus men are deand led on to their own hurt. It is the basis of the eternal-tortheory, and of universalism. It is the foundation of faith in purgghosts, spiritualism, and other evil matters. It is also a cause obelief in resurrection and a day of judgment. For if men go toreward at death, why, it is asked, need there be a resurrection-morand a judgment-day? And it has made many Atheists; for througrepresentations of the Hell-fire-God of orthodoxy many have caBible utterly aside. This doctrine is God-dishonouring anddebasing; and I am glad of the opportunity to assist in its demment. Specially am I glad to do so here in Bradford, where I hmany warm.hearted friends. It rejoices my heart to know from ttime that the Church at whose birth, within these walls, I hahonour of assisting, over three years ago, is increasing" in wisdomstature and in favour with God and man." And I pray that thflinching (but withal kind and charitable) opposition of that Chuthe doctrine of unconditional immortality may result in the openthe eyes of many to the truth of immortality exclusively in Christ.

THE SILENCE OF SCRIPTURE ON NATURALIMMORTALITY.

By Mr. GEORGE ALDRIDGE.MR. GEORGEALDRIDGE,of Bradford, next addressed the meetin" The Silence of Scripture on Natural Immortality." He said :-1you very much Mr. Chairman, for the kind way in which you spome when you opened the meeting this evening, and perhaps a woapology is due to the audience here present with regard to my apance. It is not because I am learned that I am here, but sbecause I am a Bradfordian. It has come to a qnestion now,natural worth, but of the supreme honour which belongs to one'splace. The subject with which I have to deal to-night is NImmortality and the Silence of the Scriptures connected thereAllow me first of all to define what I mean by Natural Immortalitymean that which is believed to be an essential attribute of theThe man as we see him is mortal. We know it, but it is believedit is possible for a man to exist separately from his material orgaand the belief, in orthodox circles, resolves itself into a belief oimmortality. That is what I mean by Natural Immortality. Thoshave time and ability to search into these matters tell us thahistory of the past shows that there has been much speculation ingone by with reference to this question of natural immortality.same historical investigation has also shown that all those whoinquired into it did not believe in it, and there were some of theeminent reasoners of their day who disbelieved, and altogether rethe doctrine of natural immortality. Others, who rejected it, accand taught it on grounds of political expediency. That has beenaccording toArchbishop Whateley in his" Revelations of "Future SWe liye in times when Christians believe it universally. It is notquestl?ne~ at all. They everywhere believe it as the very truth of9uest,lOn It, and you are questioning the veracity of the ScripturesIS believed to be a fundamental truth. It is ingrained in the minmen as if sucked in with their mother's milk.; ,Question it an


9/22

THE BIBLE ST A N D A R D . 1evoke bigotry on every hand. And yet if we as men and women,believing in that revelation from God, do not inquire into this matterwe are sadly to blame. Whatever bigotry may be evoked it is ourbusiness to search the Scriptures, to search in order to see whetherthese things are true. (Hear, hear.) If not true, reject them; if true,take them in as God's own truth. (Applause). It has been questionedin Bradford, by the few I grant; but then, doctrinal truth is not to betested by' the numbers who believe in it. Truth is truth, whetherbelieved in by the few or by the many. (Applause). The fact that ithas been questioned has called forth more than one defender of theorthodox doctrine in this town of ours. I remember some time ago aminister in this town came forward to prove to his congregation naturalimmortality, and he produced the old, stock, threadbare arguments inits favour which have been thrashed out times without number. Notlong ago we had here an eminent Transatlantic lecturer who came toprove the same thing. But we venture to affirm that neither the rev.gentleman who tried to save his flock from falling into the paths oferror by endeavouring to prove natural immortality from reason andhistory, nor the scientific gentleman who tried to prove natural immor-tality from science,-the same gentleman by the way, to whom we areindebted for the gratuitous insult that" Conditional Immortality is anexegetical lunaey v-c-eatablished his position. We still question thetruth of natural immortality, and demand proof from reason, science,or Scripture, that the thing is true. If proof is not forthcoming we, asmen and women of common sense, must reject it. (Applause). Myremarks to-night are to be confined to the relation which Scripturesustains to the doctrine of natural immortality. Allow me to make anaffirmation, and that affirmation is this, it has been made alreadyto-night, tbat Scripture is absolutely silent with reference to the doctrinein question. A strange thing this when references thereto are con-tained in the sermons, books, tracts, and pamphlets preached, andissued by the waggon load I We should think it a very strange thing if,in listening to an orthodox sermon, we did not hear of a never-dyingsoul to save; and a tract to the unconverted would scarcely be a suit-able appeal unless the precious immortal soul was spoken of as theobject of salvation from eternal woe. And yet, when we turn to thebook from which all this is supposed to be derived we find that it isgrandly silent upon this thing. I think we can very easily prove theScriptures do not mention it, to the common sense of Yorkshiremen,by the following argument. There has been before the public now fora great number of years an offer of 100 for the production of onepassage of Scripture affirming the doctrine. I believe when our worthyPresident was in Bradford last, he made an offer of 1,000 for such apassage. These offers I presume still hold good. But when somemention is made of an offer of money in regard to this question thewhole proceeding is commented upon gravely in orthodox circles. Thehands are lifted up in holy horror at the idea of money being offered.Of course the doctrine is there, but Christians are not mercenary.(Laughter). Strange to say that everywhere, the whole wide worldover, they are so impressed with the sacredness of this doctrine, soastounded at the audacity of the man who dared to offer money forproof of it, and so embittered against the filthy lucre, that they will notprove it for its sake. (Laughter and applause). At all events theymight do it for love, (applause), and thus win us back from the paths oferror into the good old ways of soul immortality, (renewed applause).Rest assured of this, that had the doctrine been there, or, any expressioncalculated to convey it, some one, Christian or unchristian, would havebeen forward before this to claim the money. We are not so well offthat we can do without 100 if we could get it easily.The words" soul" and "spirit" occur in the Hebrew and the GreekScriptures 1,600 times. The words" immortal soul," or "immortalspirit," occur in the Hebrew, Greek 01' English, not once. Seeing thatthis is the fact, we have a right, as working men and women,who desire to know the truth concerning God's revelation, todemand proof of the doctrine before we are asked to believe it.(Applause). Seeing then that the Scripture is silent with regardto this doctrine, I think it possible to draw lawful deductionsfrom that silence in favour of Conditional Immortality. And the firstdeduction which I would draw would be something like this :-That ifthere are circumstances recorded in God's Book when mention of thedoctrine of natural immortality appears to be specially called for, if nosuch mention is made, then we have at all events negative proof thatthe doctrine is untrue. Have we such circumstances? Yes. Genesis,ii, 7; "The Lord formed man of the dust of the ground." There isone man's name which was duly revered, which is attached to thefollowing statement--I refer to John Wesley-" I am an immortalspirit, strangely eo-mingled with a little portion of clay." "The LordGod formed man of the dust of the ground." Put these two proposi-tions side by side. Which is to have the truth, God's own word or JohnWesley's? The Lord God formed man, and such are earth-made,earth-formed. Was the man from God's own hand? "He formedman of the dust of the ground, He breathed into his nostrils the breathof life and the man became a living soul." Moses is inspired to write.the history of the creation. He does so, and he expends all his labourin giving us a description of the mere husk. Does he? No; he tells

us what man is, and every subsequent passage of Scripture which referto man's nature corroborates the first statements with reference to him(Applause). Further, bear in mind, not only is Moses inspired to writthis, but it is God's own statement of His own act. "He formed manof the dust of the ground." I deem Him as all supreme with regard tthis passage, His definition, rather, as supreme with regard theretoHe has said it, and until some one comes forward, and saythat he has a greater right to define man's nature, I must be contentwith the definition He has given. Another passage, and this timefrom the New Testament. You will remember that once in the historyof our Saviour it is recorded that there came to Him a party of menwho disbelieved altogether in man's immortality, present or future.They came to Him with a question with reference to the future existence of man. They denied immortality. When our modern divineshave brought before them persons who deny natural immortality, theyfeel specially called upon to affirm it. Now here the Saviour is in thepresence of men who absolutely denied it, and in His reply to them Hemakes no reference to the doctrine at all. He tells who may and wilattain immortality, but in regard to the future existence of all men Heis absolutely silent. I take these two passages, then, as instances othe propositions I laid down; that where there are circumstancesrecorded where we might expect some mention of the doctrine, andwhere there is no such mention, we have negative proof that thedoctrine is untrue. But further, when God's Word ignores any doctrinedeemed of high importance by men, such silence on His part is sufficiento throw discredit on the doctrine believed, and to occasion suspicion oits falsehood. Natural immortality is believed to be the grandest fact inhuman nature. Philosophers affirm it, our divines affirm it. Theydeem it their especial duty to affirm natural immortality when theyhave a chance. When we turn to God's book we find no reference aall to the doctrine. Herein are contained about 60 productions oflarge number of different authors, and strange to say, not one othem teaches it, not one of them makes reference to it. They lived aperiods of time remotely separated from each other; in places locallydistinct; and yet orthodoxy would make us believe that these men haveentered into a strange conspiracy to teach the doctrine of naturalimmortality and never mentioned it. (Laughter). Can you believe it?I cannot for one. Some of these authors might fail to mention it, buthat all of them, without exception, should believe it and fail to mentionit is to me absolutely past all credence. (Hear, hear). Comparing, awe can compare, the persistent affirmations of modern theologianswith the calm, grand silence of God's book, we say that the doctrine onatural immortality is untrue, because those who affirm it have to inventheir own terms to define it, and those terms cannot in any way bdrawn from God's book. But there are one or two objections, and thfirst is, if the doctrine is not taught directly it may be taught inferen-tially. Well, inferential reading may be the foundation error of anyfalse doctrine. It is a horse that is apt to take the bit in its own mouthand gallop away. It likes its own sweet will. It must be guided, andDr. Angus, in his" Handbook to the Bible," gives some valuable ruleto guide that inferential reading. One of them is this-that nothingmust be made a matter of faith which is not a matter orevelation. Is natural immortality a matter of revelation? Admittedlyno. Then why make it a matter of faith? Another rule that he giveis that in studying the Scriptures there must be unbiassed judgmentuntil the truth itself decides. Now, put aside your bias for a moment.Take up this Word of God, and read it for yourself, and as you read-Iam no prophet nor the son of a prophet-I venture to predict thabelief in natural immortality will become a vanishing quantity. Takeanother rule-that the same prominence must be given to aoy doctrinewhich is given to it in God's word. Very well. You have a system otheology. "I believe in God" is the backbone of theology, but beliein soul immortality is the spinal cord in that backbone. Take youBible, and see what prominence that gives to the doctrine of naturalimmortality. Give it the same prominence in your system of theology,Here is your doctrine of soul immortality up here. The Bible doctrineis away down there. Prune it down, brother, and I venture to predict, iyou read God's Word, you will not only prune it down so that ibecomes smaller by degrees and beautifully less, but you will not haveshred of the doctrine left. If you give it the same prominence which igiven to it in God's Book, you will have no natural immortality leftYou will be on our side and believe in " Life only in Christ." Time doenot permit of my going into some examples of inferential reading borthodoxy, but I will just conclude that portion of my subject by quotinga remark of Dr. Bridge's, to tbis effect: That inferences drawn from thScripture must be accepted with the greatest caution, or rather decidedlrejected, save as they are supported by those express declarationsScripture.But the Bible assumes natural immortality as it does the existencof God? Does it assume the existence of God? Are you quisure of that? I am not. 'I'he first verse in this Book says," In thbeginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Is that assuminHis existence? (Hear, hear.) I think not. But supposing formoment that we grant you that it does assume the existence of GoNow give your own comparison that it assumes natural immortality


10/22

12 THE BIBLE S r . v - A N D AltD ..it does the existence of God. Very well, then, I expect that the twothings should be treated in preciselythe same manner in the Scriptures.But I find the existence of God referred to on almost every page-soulimmortality not once. You can easily prove that. Take your pen,tum over the pages of your Bible, strike out all the passages that referto God's existence. You have doue it. Now take your pen again, andstrike out all those passages which refer to natural immortality. Youwill leave it where it was. In the' one case you will have a mutilated,unintelligible record; in the other case you leave it just where it wasbefore, with never a passage touched. In view.of the fact that Scriptureis altogether silent on natural immortality, I affirm that that silencestands as an absolute barrier to the truth of the doctrine, and that thosewho teach it do so against the express declarationsof Scripture itself;and, further, that the advocates of natural immortality are changingthe truth of God into a lie, (hear, hear) and are propagating thatSerpentine delusion which ruined Eden's fairest howers-" Ye shall notsurely die." (Applause.)The meeting was brought to a close with the pronouncing of theBenediction. -

Public Meeting, 'Thursday-Afternoon, Sep. 8.Chairman: HENRY J. WARD,. Bsq., President.

On Thursday afternoon a well attended meeting was held in theTemperance Hall, under the presidency of Capt. WARD, of Liverpool.

WHAT IS THE SOUL? IS IT MORTAL ORIMMORTAL?By Mr. ALBERT SMITH.

MR. ALBERTSMITH addressed the meeting on the above subject.He said: Scientific lecturers define the terms of their proposition beforelecturing. Theologians may well learn a lesson from them. We needclear ideas in theology as well as in science ; yea, more so. The terms," soul" and" spirit" are frequently used but seldom defined. When adefinition is attempted the soul is vaguely described rather than a defini-tion given. Let us then understand that our question refers to soulrather than spirit, though the latter is never said to be immortal. Ourquestion then is, what is soul; what is spirit? These two terms arevery often confounded. Even so great a person in the ecclesiastical worldas the Bishop of Manchester is not free from this confusion. He saysin his letter which he addressed to me about circulating papers whichdenied the immortality of the soul: "They seem to be based on the mostabsurd ignorance, and not

Documents

Bible Standard October 1881