similar usage pervades the Epistle, 278-282.- -The Apostle's affirmations respecting those who are finally impenitent, 282-284.- -The sin unto death and the sin not unto death, 284-286.-The Church and the world. The meaning attached to these terms in the Apostle's writings, 286-292.- -The contrast between those who are born of God, and those who are the children of the evil one, 292-294-Our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus: the nature of its affirmations examined and considered, 294–299. The sense which the expressions, born of God, children of God, and other kindred terms bear in the Epistle, 299-300.-—The children of the evil one, 300-302.-General The four groups of St. Paul's Epistles considered in the order of their composition, 304-- 305. Retribution in the Epistle to the Thessalonians viewed exclusively in connection with the Parousia, or coming of Christ, 305-308.-The judgments to be then executed on the enemies of Christ; the apostacy and the manifestation of the lawless one, 308— 311.-Allusions to retribution in the Epistles to the Corinthians, 311-315.-References to the same subject in the Epistle to the Galatians, 315-316.- -St. Paul's affirmations in the Epistle to the Romans respecting the judgments which await the finally impenitent and the principles on which God will judge the world, 316–319. His declarations respecting retribution in the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and in the pastoral Epistles, 319-322.--The apostates referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 322-324.- -Retribution as set forth in the Epistle of St. James, 324–326. -St. Peter's statements respecting Christ's preaching to the spirits of the ante- diluvians in Hades, 326.—The Second Epistle of St. Peter and the Epistle of St. Jude: the nature and value of their statements, 326-331.-The Apocalypse: The Epistles to the Churches, 331–333.- -Its imagery a mass of scenic symbolism, 333-334.—The beast, the second beast, the image of the beast, the harlot woman mounted on the first beast, and the lake of fire into which they and their adherents are represented as being cast, and the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, constitute portions of the scenic symbolism which was presented to the Seer's mind, and are not intended to depict objective realities, 334-343.- -The angelic proclamation and the explanatory vision, 343-345. The symbolism of this book not intended to be descriptive of realities beyond the grave, but of the ultimate triumph of Christ over all enemies in DOES HUMAN PROBATION TERMINATE AT DEATH? The silence of the New Testament on this subject no reason for believing that a probation under more favourable conditions will not be vouchsafed to those whose probation here has been passed under unfavourable ones, 348-351.-Our Lord's affirmations respect. ing the paternity of God considered in their bearing on this subject, 351-355.-The benevolence of Christ, 355-356.-His compassion for sufferers and sinners, 356-359. The patience, forbearance, and gentleness of Christ, 359-361.-The sterner aspects of our Lord's character, 361-362.-Jesus Christ the revelation of the Divine righteousness, 363-365.-Sanctification a gradual process, 365–367.-The pleas which vast numbers of those who, though they have lived in Christian countries, yet have never heard the Gospel, or only an imperfect version of it, may urge before the all-merciful Judge for a further opportunity of embracing it, 367-372.-The case of those whose probation has been cut short in early youth, 372-375.—St. Peter's affirmations respecting Christ's preaching to the antediluvians in Hades examined THE VALIDITY OF THE THEORIES OF UNIVERSALISM AND OF CONDITIONAL The grounds on which the theory of Universalism rests independently of a revelation, 381-383.-The affirmations of Scripture which are alleged in its support, 383-386. -Conclusions respecting it, 386-387.-The theory of Life in Christ, or Conditional Immortality: Mr. White's general positions, 387-392.-Observations on these posi- tions, 392-399.- -Questionable matter adduced in their support, 399-403.-The FUTURE RETRIBUTION. THE REASONS WHICH, IN CHAPTER I. THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THOUGHT, RENDER NECESSARY A CAREFUL INQUIRY INTO THE TRUTH OF THE COMMONLY ACCEPTED THEORIES RESPECTING FUTURE RETRIBUTION. IT is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance of the following questions : 1. Shall we continue to exist, as personal conscious beings, capable of happiness or misery, after the death of our bodies; or will death be a sleep from which there will be no awakening? 2. Assuming that we shall continue thus to exist, what are the conditions on which our happiness or misery will depend in the unseen world? To these questions, so profoundly interesting to each one of us as individuals, Christianity returns two answers, definite and distinct 1. That we shall thus continue to exist. 2. That our conduct here will exert an influence unspeakably important on our condition beyond the grave. So much is clear respecting the teaching of Christianity; yet there is no difficulty which, at the present day, presses so heavily on the minds of thoughtful men as the various doctrines respecting a future state of retribution, which a vast majority of those sections into which the Christian Church is divided, affirm to be its teaching on this subject. Although B the grounds on which these doctrines are alleged to rest differ widely from one another, the general conclusion which is deduced from them is for all practical purposes the same, viz. that Christianity affirms that the overwhelming majority of that innumerable multitude of men who have existed in the past and who exist in the present, will after this life is ended pass into a state of endless existence in never-ending misery; for this is the meaning which is popularly attached to the word "damnation." The idea that a single individual will continue to exist in a state of torment, which will never terminate nor be relieved by a single ray of hope, is sufficiently awful; but when this fate is assigned to that innumerable multitude which, according to these theories, will constitute the lost, words fail to express its awfulness. If it is true that Christianity affirms this, we may almost say, in the words in which our Lord denounced the sin of Judas, "Good were it for mankind if they had never been born.” I need hardly say that to the non-Christian such a doctrine constitutes the greatest of stumbling-blocks; that to the professed unbeliever it constitutes one of the strongholds from which he attacks Christianity; that to the thoughtful inquirer after truth it appears to ascribe to God a character which the conscience he has implanted in man pronounces to be unholy; and that the professed believer in it for the most part evades its difficulty, either by refusing to meditate on its awful import, or else by inventing some way of evading its application to himself or to those near and dear to him. Whatever may have been the case in the past, so strongly is this difficulty now felt that we seldom hear the doctrine of everlasting damnation proclaimed from the pulpit, and when it is referred to, it is usually in a very mild form compared with the awful reality which it involves. Yet surely, if the affirmations on this subject which are popularly attributed to Christianity are true, and if it affords any means of escaping from this awful fate, humanity itself suggests that this doctrine should be proclaimed on the housetops, as a warning to the wicked and the careless; nay, more, it ought to have been written plainly, definitely, and in a manner beyond the possibility of mistake, in the pages of the New Testament, if such was the belief of its various writers. The awfulness of the popularly accepted doctrines is so great, and the obstacles which they are interposing to the acceptance of Christianity are of so serious a character, that it is become a matter of the highest importance in the present aspects of thought to inquire whether they are rightly attributed to the Christian revelation. Before entering on this inquiry, however, it will be necessary to enumerate and describe the chief theories on this subject which have attained a wide acceptance among large sections of the Christian Church. I. THE ATHANASIAN CREED. The first of these theories in point of importance is that which is laid down in the Athanasian Creed. I say in point of importance, because it has been accepted as a correct statement of Christian truth by the entire Western Church. It affirms 1. "That whosoever will, i.e. willeth to, be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith, which faith, except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this." The writer then proceeds to set forth the true Catholic faith respecting the Trinity in twenty-five versicles, which contain no less than seventy-two propositions respecting the ontology of Deity. He concludes this portion of his subject in the |