The Great Commission Part 14

"If there had been a law given which could have given life, then verily, righteousness should have been by the law." But no; the law was a ministration of death and condemnation. (See 2 Cor. iii.) The only effect of the law, to anyone who is under it, is the pressure of death upon the soul, and of guilt and condemnation upon the conscience. It cannot possibly be otherwise with an honest soul under the law.

What, then, is needed? Simply this, the knowledge of the love of G.o.d, and of the precious gift which that love has bestowed. This is the eternal groundwork of all. Love, and the gift of love. For, be it observed and ever remembered, that G.o.d's love could never have reached us save through the medium of that gift. G.o.d is holy, and we are sinful. How could we come near Him? How could we dwell in His holy presence? How could sin and holiness ever abide in company?

Impossible. Justice demands the condemnation of sin; and if love will save the sinner, it must do so at no less a cost than the gift of the only-begotten Son. Darius loved Daniel, and labored hard to save him from the lions' den; but his love was powerless because of the unbending law of the Medes and Persians. He spent the night in sorrow and fasting. He could weep at the mouth of the den; but he could not save his friend. His love was not mighty to save. If he had offered himself to the lions instead of his friend, it would have been morally glorious; but he did not. His love told itself forth in unavailing tears and lamentations. The law of the Persian kingdom was more powerful than the love of the Persian king. The law, in its stern majesty, triumphed over an impotent love which had nothing but fruitless tears to bestow upon its object.

But the love of G.o.d is not like this--eternal and universal praise to His name! His love is mighty to save. It _reigns_ through righteousness. How is this? Because "G.o.d _so_ loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." The law had declared in words of awful solemnity, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Was this law less stern, less majestic, less stringent, than the law of the Medes and Persians? Surely not. How then, was it to be disposed of? It was to be magnified and made honorable, vindicated and established. Not one jot or t.i.ttle of the law could ever be set aside. How, then, was the difficulty to be solved? Three things had to be done: the law had to be magnified; sin condemned; the sinner saved. How could these grand results be reached? We have the answer in two bold and vivid lines from one of our own poets--

"On Jesus' cross this record's graved, Let sin be d.a.m.ned, and sinners saved."

Precious record! May many an anxious sinner read and believe it! Such was the amazing love of G.o.d, that He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. His love cost Him nothing less than the Son of His bosom. When it was a question of creating worlds, it cost Him but the word of His mouth: but when it was a question of loving a world of sinners, it cost His only-begotten Son. The love of G.o.d is a holy love, a righteous love, a love acting in harmony with all the attributes of His nature, and the claims of His throne. "Grace _reigns_, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Christ Jesus our Lord." The soul can never be set at liberty till this truth be fully laid hold of. There may be certain vague hopes in the mercy of G.o.d, and a measure of confidence in the atoning work of Jesus, all true and real so far as it goes; but true liberty of heart cannot possibly be enjoyed until it is seen and understood that G.o.d has glorified Himself in the manner of His love toward us. Conscience could never be tranquilized, nor Satan silenced, if sin had not been perfectly judged and put away. But "G.o.d _so_ loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." What depth and power in the little word "so"!

It may here be needful to meet a difficulty which often occurs to anxious souls, in reference to the question of appropriation.

Thousands have been hara.s.sed and perplexed by this question, at some stage or other of their spiritual history; and it is not improbable that many who shall read these pages may be glad of a few words on the subject. Many may feel disposed to ask, "How am I to know that this love, and the gift of love, are intended for _me_? What warrant have _I_ for believing that 'everlasting life' is for _me_? I know the plan of salvation; I believe in the all-sufficiency of the atonement of Christ for the forgiveness and justification of all who truly believe.

I am convinced of the truth of all that the Bible declares. I believe we are all sinners, and moreover, that we can do nothing to save ourselves--that we need to be washed in the blood of Jesus, and to be taught and led by the Holy Ghost, ere we can please G.o.d here, and dwell with Him hereafter. All this I fully believe, and yet I have no a.s.surance that I am saved, and I want to know on what authority I am to believe that my sins are forgiven and that I have everlasting life."

If the foregoing be, in any measure, the language of the reader--if it be, at all, the expression of his difficulty, we would, in the first place, call his attention to two words which occur in our precious text (John iii. 16), namely, "_world_" and "_whosoever_." It seems utterly impossible for anyone to refuse the application of these two words. For what, let us ask, is the meaning of the term "_world_"?

What does it embrace? or, rather, what does it not embrace? When our Lord declares that "G.o.d so loved the world," on what ground can the reader exclude himself from the range, scope, and application of this divine love? On no other ground whatever, unless he can show that he alone belongs not to the world, but to some other sphere of being. If it were declared that "the world" is hopelessly condemned, could anyone making a part of that world avoid the application of the sentence! Could he exclude himself from it? Impossible. How then can he--why should he--exclude himself, when it is a question of G.o.d's free love, and of salvation by Christ Jesus?

But, further, we would ask, What is the meaning, what is the force of the familiar word, "_whosoever_"? a.s.suredly it means "_anybody_;" and if anybody, why not the reader? It is infinitely better, infinitely surer and more satisfactory to find the word "whosoever" in the gospel than to find my own name there, inasmuch as there may be a thousand persons in the world of the same name; but "whosoever"

applies to me as distinctly as though I were the only sinner on the face of the earth.

Thus, then, the very words of the gospel message--the very terms used to set forth the glad tidings, are such as leave no possible ground for a difficulty as to their application. If we listen to our Lord in the days of His flesh, we hear such words as these: "G.o.d so loved the _world_ that He gave His only-begotten Son, that _whosoever_ believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." Again, if we listen to Him after His resurrection, we hear these words, "Go ye into _all the world_, and preach the gospel to _every creature_" (Mark xvi.). And lastly, if we listen to the voice of the Holy Ghost sent from a risen, ascended, and glorified Lord, we hear such words as these: "The same Lord over all is rich unto _all_ that call upon Him.

For _whosoever_ shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved"

(Rom. x. 12, 13).

In all the above-cited pa.s.sages we have two terms used, one general, the other particular, and both together so presenting the message of salvation as to leave no room whatever for anyone to refuse its application. If "all the world" is the scope, and "every creature" is the object of the precious gospel of Christ, then, on what ground can anyone exclude himself? Where is there authority for any sinner out of h.e.l.l to say that the glad tidings of salvation are not for him?

There is none. Salvation is as free as the air we breathe--free as the dewdrops that refresh the earth--free as the sunbeams that shine upon our pathway; and if any attempt to limit its application, they are neither in harmony with the mind of Christ, nor in sympathy with the heart of G.o.d.

But it may be that some of our readers would, at this stage of the subject, feel disposed to ask us, "How do you dispose of the question of election?" We reply, "Very simply, by leaving it where G.o.d has placed it, namely, as a landmark in the inheritance of the spiritual Israel, and not as a stumbling-block in the pathway of the anxious inquirer." This we believe to be the true way of dealing with the deeply important doctrine of election. The more we ponder the subject, the more thoroughly are we convinced that it is a mistake on the part of the evangelist or preacher of the gospel to qualify his message, hamper his subject, or perplex his hearers, by the doctrine of election or predestination. He has to do with lost sinners in the discharge of his blessed ministry. He meets men where they are, on the broad ground of our common ruin our common guilt, our common condemnation. He meets them with a message of full, free, present, personal, and eternal salvation--a message which comes fresh, fervent, and glowing from the very bosom of G.o.d. His ministry is, as the Holy Ghost declares in 2 Cor. v., "a ministry of reconciliation," the glorious characteristics of which are these, "G.o.d in Christ" ...

"reconciling the world unto Himself" ... "not imputing their trespa.s.ses;" and the marvelous foundation of which is, that G.o.d has made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of G.o.d in Him.

Does this trench, in the smallest degree, upon the blessed and clearly established truth of election? By no means. It leaves it, in all its integrity and in its full value, as a grand fundamental truth of Holy Scripture, exactly where G.o.d has placed it; not as a preliminary question to be settled ere the sinner comes to Jesus, but as a most precious consolation and encouragement to him when he has come. This makes all the difference. If the sinner be called upon to settle beforehand the question of his election, how is he to set about it?

Whither is he to turn for a solution? Where shall he find a divine warrant for believing that he is one of the elect? Can he find a single line of Scripture on which to base his faith as to his election? He cannot. He can find scores of pa.s.sages declaring him to be lost, guilty and undone--scores of pa.s.sages to a.s.sure him of his total inability to do aught in the matter of his own salvation--hundreds of pa.s.sages unfolding the free love of G.o.d, the value and efficacy of the atonement of Christ, and a.s.suring him of a hearty welcome to come _just as he is_, and make G.o.d's blessed salvation his own. But if it be needed for him to settle the prior question of his predestination and election, then is his case hopeless, and he must, in so far as he is in earnest, be plunged in black despair.

And is it not thus with thousands at this moment through the misapplication of the doctrine of election? We fully believe it is, and hence our anxiety to help our readers by setting the matter in what we judge to be the true light before their minds. We believe it to be of the utmost importance for the anxious inquirer to know that the standpoint from which he is called to view the cross of Christ is not the standpoint of election, but of conscious ruin. The grace of G.o.d meets him as a lost, dead, guilty sinner; not as an elect one.

This is an unspeakable mercy, inasmuch as he knows he is the former, but cannot know that he is the latter until the gospel has come to him in power. "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of G.o.d." How did he know it? "Because our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much a.s.surance" (1 Thess.

i. 4, 5). Paul preached to the Thessalonians as lost sinners; and when the gospel had laid hold of them as lost, he could write to them as elect.

This puts election in its right place. If the reader will turn for a moment to Acts xvii., he will there see how Paul discharged his business as an evangelist amongst the Thessalonians: "Now when they had pa.s.sed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ." So, also, in that pa.s.sage at the opening of 1 Cor. xv.: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures" (verses 1-4).

From this pa.s.sage, and many others which might be quoted, we learn that the apostle preached not merely a doctrine, but a person. He did not preach election. He taught it to saints, but never preached it to sinners. This should be the evangelist's model at all times. We never once find the apostles preaching election. They preached Christ--they unfolded the goodness of G.o.d--His loving-kindness--His tender mercy--His pardoning love--His gracious readiness to receive all who come in their true character and condition as lost sinners. Such was their mode of preaching, or, rather, such was the mode of the Holy Ghost in them; and such, too, was the mode of the blessed Master Himself. "_Come unto Me_, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and _I will give_ you rest." "If _any man_ thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." "Him that cometh to Me I will _in no wise_ cast out"

(Matt. xi.; John vi., vii.).

Here are no stumbling-blocks in the way of anxious inquirers--no preliminary questions to be settled--no conditions to be fulfilled--no theological difficulties to be solved. No, the sinner is met on his own ground--met as he is--met just now. There is rest for the weary, drink for the thirsty, life for the dead, pardon for the guilty, salvation for the lost. Do these free invitations touch the doctrine of election? a.s.suredly not. And what is more, the doctrine of election does not touch them. In other words, a full and free gospel leaves perfectly untouched the grand and all-important truth of election; and the truth of election, in its proper place, leaves the gospel of the grace of G.o.d on its own broad and blessed base, and in all its divine length, breadth, and fulness. The gospel meets us as lost, and saves us; and then, when we know ourselves as saved, the precious doctrine of election comes in to establish us in the fact that we can never be lost. It never was the purpose of G.o.d that poor anxious souls should be hara.s.sed with theological questions or points of doctrine. No; blessed forever be His name, it is His gracious desire that the healing balm of His pardoning love, and the cleansing efficacy of the atoning blood of Jesus, should be applied to the spiritual wounds of every sin-sick soul. And as to the doctrines of predestination and election, He has unfolded them in His Word to comfort His saints, not to perplex poor sinners. They shine like precious gems on the page of inspiration, but they were never intended to lie as stumbling-blocks in the way of earnest seekers after life and peace. They are deposited in the hand of the teacher to be unfolded in the bosom of the family of G.o.d; but they are not intended for the evangelist, whose blessed mission is to the highways and hedges of a lost world. They are designed to feed and comfort the children, not to scare and stumble the sinner. We would say, and that with real earnestness, to all evangelists, Do not hamper your preaching with theological questions of any sort or description. Preach Christ. Unfold the deep and everlasting love of a Saviour-G.o.d. Seek to bring the guilty, conscience-smitten sinner into the very presence of a pardoning G.o.d.

Thunder, if you please, if so led, at the conscience--thunder loud at sin--thunder forth the dread realities of the great white throne, the lake of fire, and everlasting torment; but see that you aim at bringing the guilt-stricken conscience to rest in the atoning virtues of the blood of Christ. Then you can hand over the fruits of your ministry to the divinely qualified, to be instructed in the deeper mysteries of the faith of Christ. You may rest a.s.sured that the faithful discharge of your duty as an evangelist will never lead you to trespa.s.s on the domain of sound theology.

And to the anxious inquirer we would say with equal earnestness, Let nothing stand in your way in coming this moment to Jesus. Let theology speak as it may, you are to listen to the voice of Jesus, who says, "_Come unto Me_." Be a.s.sured there is no hindrance, no difficulty, no hitch, no question, no condition. You are a lost sinner, and Jesus is a full Saviour. Put your trust in Him, and you are saved forever.

Believe in Him, and you will know your place amongst the "elect of G.o.d" who are "predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son."

Bring your sins to Jesus and He will pardon them, cancel them by His blood, and clothe you in a spotless robe of divine righteousness. May G.o.d's Spirit lead you now to cast yourself simply and entirely upon that precious, all-sufficient Saviour!

We will now notice, very briefly, three distinct evils resulting from a wrong application of the doctrine of election, namely:

I. The discouragement of really earnest souls, who ought to be helped on in every possible way. If such persons are repulsed by the question of election, the result must be disastrous in the extreme. If they are told that the glad tidings of salvation are only for the elect--that Christ died only for such, and hence only such can be saved--that unless they are elect they have no right to apply to themselves the benefits of the death of Christ: if, in short, they are turned from Jesus to theology--from the heart of a loving, pardoning G.o.d to the cold and withering dogmas of systematic divinity, it is impossible to say where they may end; they may take refuge either in superst.i.tion on the one hand, or in infidelity on the other. They may end in high church, broad church, or no church at all. What they really want is Christ, the living, loving, precious, all-sufficient Christ of G.o.d. He is the true food for anxious souls.

II. But, in the second place, careless souls are rendered more careless still by a false application of the doctrine of election.

Such persons, when pressed as to their state and prospects, will fold their arms and say, "You know I cannot believe unless G.o.d give me the power. If I am one of the elect, I must be saved; if not, I cannot. I can do nothing, but must wait G.o.d's time." All this false and flimsy reasoning should be exposed and demolished. It will not stand for a moment in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ. Each one will learn there that election furnished no excuse whatever, inasmuch as it never was set up by G.o.d as a barrier to the sinner's salvation. The word is, "_Whosoever_ will, let him take the water of life _freely_."

The very same form of speech and style of language which removes the stumbling-block from the feet of the anxious inquirer s.n.a.t.c.hes the plea from the lips of the careless rejecter. No one is shut out. All are invited. There is neither barrier on the one hand, nor a plea on the other. All are made welcome; and all are responsible. Hence, if any one presumes to excuse himself for refusing G.o.d's salvation, which is as clear as a sunbeam, by urging G.o.d's decrees, which are entirely hidden, he will find himself fatally mistaken.

III. And now, in the third and last place, we have frequently seen with real sorrow of heart the earnest, loving, large-hearted evangelist damped and crippled by a false application of the truth of election. This should be most carefully avoided. We hold that it is not the business of the evangelist to preach election. If he is rightly instructed, he will _hold_ it; but if he is rightly directed, he will not _preach_ it.

In a word, then, the precious doctrine of election is not to be a stumbling-block to the anxious--a plea for the careless--a damper to the fervent evangelist. May G.o.d's Spirit give us to feel the adjusting power of truth!

Having thus briefly endeavored to clear away any difficulty arising from the misuse of the precious doctrine of election, and to show the reader, "whosoever" he be, that there is no hindrance whatever to his full and hearty acceptance of G.o.d's free gift, even the gift of His only-begotten Son, it now only remains for us to consider the result, in every case, of this acceptance, as set forth in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "G.o.d so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Here, then, we have the result in the case of every one who believes in Jesus. He shall never perish, but possesses everlasting life. But who can attempt to unfold all that is included in this word "perish"?

What mortal tongue can set forth the horrors of the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched"? We believe, a.s.suredly, that none but the One who used the word, in speaking to Nicodemus, can fully expound it to anyone; but we feel called upon to bear our decided and unequivocal testimony as to what He has taught on the solemn truth of eternal punishment. We have occasionally referred to this subject, but we believe it demands a formal notice; and inasmuch as the word "_perish_" occurs in the pa.s.sage which has been occupying our thoughts, we cannot do better than call the reader's attention to it.

It is a serious and melancholy fact that the enemy of souls and of the truth of G.o.d is leading thousands, both in Europe and America, to call in question the momentous fact of the everlasting punishment of the wicked. This he does on various grounds, and by various arguments, adapted to the habits of thought and moral condition and intellectual standpoint of individuals. Some he seeks to persuade that G.o.d is too kind to send anyone to a place of torment. It is contrary to His benevolent mind and His beneficent nature to inflict pain on any of His creatures.

Now, to all who stand, or affect to stand, upon this ground of argument, we would suggest the important inquiry, "What is to be done with the sins of those who die impenitent and unbelieving?" Whatever there may be in the idea that G.o.d is too kind to send sinners to h.e.l.l, it is certain that He is too holy to let sin into heaven. He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity" (Hab. i.

13). G.o.d and evil cannot dwell together. This is plain. How, then, is the case to be met? If G.o.d cannot let sin into heaven, what is to be done with the sinner who dies in his sins? He must perish! But what does this mean? Does it mean annihilation--that is, the utter extinction or blotting out of the very existence of body and soul?

Nay, reader, this cannot be. Many would like this, no doubt. "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," would, alas, suit many thousands of the sons and daughters of pleasure who think only of the present moment, and who roll sin as a sweet morsel under their tongue. There are millions on the surface of the globe who are bartering their eternal happiness for a few hours of guilty pleasure, and the crafty foe of mankind seeks to persuade such that there is no such place as h.e.l.l, no such thing as the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; and in order to obtain a footing for this fatal suggestion, he bases it upon the plausible and imposing notion of the kindness of G.o.d.

Reader, do not believe the arch-deceiver. Remember, G.o.d is holy. He cannot let sin into His presence. If you die in your sins you must perish, and this word "perish" involves, according to the clear testimony of Holy Scripture, eternal misery and torment in h.e.l.l. Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith, in His solemn description of the judgment of the nations: "Then shall the King say also to them on His left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into _everlasting_ fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. xxv. 41). And while you harken to these awfully solemn accents, remember that the word translated "everlasting" occurs seventy times in the New Testament, and is applied as follows: "Everlasting fire"--"eternal life"--"everlasting punishment"--"eternal d.a.m.nation"--"everlasting habitations"--"the everlasting G.o.d"--"eternal weight of glory"--"everlasting destruction"--"everlasting consolation"--"eternal glory"--"eternal salvation"--"eternal judgment"--"eternal redemption"--"the eternal Spirit"--"eternal inheritance"--"everlasting kingdom"--"eternal fire."

Now, we ask any candid, thoughtful person, upon what principle can a word be said to mean _eternal_ when applied to the Holy Ghost or to G.o.d, and only _temporary_ when applied to h.e.l.l-fire or the punishment of the wicked? If it means eternal in the one case, why not also in the other? We have just glanced at a Greek Concordance, and we should like to ask, Would it be right to mark off some half-dozen pa.s.sages in which the word "everlasting" occurs, and write opposite to each these words: "Everlasting here only means for a time"? The very thought is monstrous. It would be a daring and blasphemous insult offered to the volume of inspiration. No, reader, be a.s.sured of it, you cannot touch the word "everlasting" in one case without touching it also in all the seventy cases in which it occurs. It is a dangerous thing to tamper with the Word of the living G.o.d. It is infinitely better to bow down under its holy authority. It is worse than useless to seek to avoid the plain meaning and solemn force of that word "perish" as applied to the immortal soul of man. It involves, beyond all question, the awful, the ineffably awful reality of burning forever in the flames of h.e.l.l.

This is what Scripture means by "perishing." The votary of pleasure, or the lover of money, may seek to forget this. They may seek to drown all thought of it in the gla.s.s or in the busy mart. The sentimentalist may rave about the divine benevolence; the skeptic may reason about the possibility of eternal fire; but we are intensely anxious that the reader should rise from this paper with the firm and deeply wrought conclusion and hearty belief that the punishment of all who die in their sins will be eternal in h.e.l.l as surely as the blessedness of all who die in the faith of Christ will be eternal in the heavens. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost would most a.s.suredly have used a different word, when speaking of the former, from that which He applies to the latter. This, we conceive, is beyond all question.

But there is another objection urged against the doctrine of eternal punishment. It is frequently said, "How can we suppose that G.o.d would inflict eternal punishment as a penalty for a few short years of sin?"

We reply, It is beginning at the wrong end to argue in this way. It is not a question of time as viewed from man's standpoint, but of the gravity of sin itself as looked at from G.o.d's standpoint. And how is this question to be solved? Only by looking at the Cross. If you want to know what sin is in G.o.d's sight, you must look at what it cost Him to put it away. It is by the standard of Christ's infinite sacrifice, and by that alone, that you can rightly measure sin. Men may compare their few years with G.o.d's eternity; they may compare their short span of life with that boundless eternity that stretches beyond; they may seek to put a few years of sin into one scale, and an eternity of woe and torment into the other, and thus attempt to reach a just conclusion: but it will never do to argue thus. The question is, Did it require an infinite atonement to put away sin? If so, the punishment of sin must be eternal. If nothing short of an infinite sacrifice could deliver from the consequences of sin, those consequences must be eternal.

In a word, then, we must look at sin from G.o.d's point of view, and measure it by His standard, else we shall never have a just sense of what it is or what it deserves. It is the height of folly for men to attempt to lay down a rule as to the amount or duration of the punishment due to sin. G.o.d alone can settle this. And, after all, what was it that produced all the misery and wretchedness, the sickness and sorrow, the death and desolation, of well-nigh six thousand years?

Just _one_ act of disobedience--the eating of a forbidden fruit. Can man explain this? Can human reason explain how one act produced such an overwhelming amount of misery? It cannot. Well, then, if it cannot do this, how can it be trusted when it attempts to decide the question as to what is due to sin? Woe be to all those who commit themselves to its guidance on this most momentous point!

Ah, reader, you must see that G.o.d alone can estimate sin and its just deserts, and He alone can tell us all about it. And has He not done so? Yes, verily, He has measured sin in the cross of His Son; and there, too, He has set forth in the most impressive manner what it deserves. What, think you, must that be that caused the bitter cry, "My G.o.d, My G.o.d, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" If G.o.d forsook His only-begotten Son when He was made sin, must He not also forsake all who are found in their sins? But how can they ever get rid of them? We believe the conclusion is unavoidable. We consider that the infinite nature of the atonement proves unanswerably the doctrine of eternal punishment. That peerless and precious sacrifice is at once the foundation of our eternal life and of our deliverance from eternal death. It delivers from eternal wrath and introduces to eternal glory.

It saves from the endless misery of h.e.l.l and procures for us the endless bliss of heaven. Thus, whatever side of the Cross we look at, or from whatever side we view it, we see eternity stamped upon it. If we view it from the gloomy depths of h.e.l.l or from the sunny heights of heaven, we see it to be the same infinite, eternal, divine reality.

It is by the Cross we must measure both the blessedness of heaven and the misery of h.e.l.l. Those who put their trust in that blessed One who died on the cross obtain everlasting life and felicity. Those who reject Him must sink into endless perdition.

We do not by any means pretend to handle this great question theologically, or to adduce all the arguments that might be advanced in defence of the doctrine of eternal punishment; but there is one further consideration which we must suggest to the reader as tending to lead him to a sound conclusion, and that is the immortality of the soul.[15] "G.o.d breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." The fall of man in nowise touched the question of the soul's immortality. If, therefore, the soul is immortal, annihilation is impossible. The soul must live forever.

Overwhelming thought! Forever! Forever! Forever! The whole moral being sinks under the awful magnitude of the thought. It surpa.s.ses all conception and baffles all mental calculation. Human arithmetic can only deal with the finite. It has no figures by which to represent a never-ending eternity. But the writer and the reader must live throughout eternity either in that bright and blessed world above or in that terrible place where hope can never come.

[15] For a full examination of this subject, the reader is referred to "Facts and Theories as to a future state,--the Scripture doctrine considered with reference to current denials of eternal punishment,"

by F. W. Grant, 640 pp., $1,50 (with full index of texts and subjects examined.)

May G.o.d's Spirit impress our hearts more and more with the solemnity of eternity, and of immortal souls going down into h.e.l.l. We are deplorably deficient in feeling as to these weighty realities. We are daily thrown in contact with people, we buy and sell and carry on intercourse in various ways with those who must live forever, and yet how rarely do we seek occasion to press upon them the awfulness of eternity and the appalling condition of all who die without a personal interest in the blood of Christ!

Reader, let us ask G.o.d to make us more earnest, more solemn, more faithful, more zealous in pleading with souls, in warning others to flee from the wrath to come. We want to live more in the light of eternity, and then we shall be better able to deal with others.

It only remains for us now to ponder the last clause of the fruitful pa.s.sage of Scripture which has been under consideration (John iii.

16). It sets forth the positive result, in every case, of simple faith in the Son of G.o.d. It declares, in the simplest and clearest way, the fact that every one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is a possessor of everlasting life. It is not merely that his sins are blotted out; that is blessedly true. Nor is it merely that he is saved from the consequences of his guilt, which is equally true. But there is more. The believer in Jesus has a new life, and that life is in the Son of G.o.d. He is placed upon a new footing altogether. He is no longer looked at in the old Adam condition, but in a risen Christ.