attains its end only when every knee bows willingly to sway, because it is morally irresistible. The conception of revelation which is one of mere power, cannot easily be ha monized with the true idea of Christ's power, which is ever t redeeming and perfecting power of grace; neither can it harmonized with the primary article of the Christian faith, believe in God, the Father, Almighty;' for the Fatherly pow is really the power of love, which by a series of attracting i fluences leads on creation willingly to its goal." If we seek increase the number of the saved by adding to those mentione infants dying in infancy and such heathen as may be true t the light of nature, on the ground that at death they are a once made full partakers of the righteousness of Christ, a many Protestant divines of our own times are disposed to do the objections urged against the view will still retain thei force, while at the same time new difficulties will present themselves for solution. For such theory implies either that men can be saved without a knowledge of the Gospel, or that the Gospel may be made known to them in some other way than through the Church of Christ; both of which suppositions are, to say the least, contrary to the letter, if not the spirit of Apostolic teaching.

Another view which has been prevalent in the Church from a very early period in her history, but which has never found such general acceptance as the one just considered, is that of the universal redemption and restoration of all moral beings, so that God may be, in the fullest and widest sense, "all in all." According to this view the intermediate state, like the present state, is a state of training and discipline. Its privations and sufferings are all designed to lead those who are subject to them to see the error of their ways and to turn away from it, and they will finally succeed in inducing them to do so. This view, as is evident from what has already been said in regard to the objections which attach themselves to the preceding view, is not without some foundation and sanction in the language of Scripture. Not only does it seem to be implied in the words of

The Intermediate State in its Relation to Salvation.

103

Paul already quoted, but also in the sermon of St. Peter as en in the Acts of the Apostles, in which he speaks of mes of restitution of all things;" and in other Scripture sages which will readily suggest themselves to every careful der of the Word of God. It is also favored by speculation Teleology and divine love. "If we reason from this prinole," says Dr. Martensen, "we cannot conceive of the destiny the world as being other than a kingdom of blessedness of hich no human soul shall come short. The supposition that e destiny of the world, the realization of the kingdom of od will be equally attained if some, yea many, souls be lost, y easily be maintained from a pantheistic point of view, which mands nothing more than the attainment of the end in genal and as a whole, and which concerns the kingdom only and t individuals, but from a Christian standpoint it is beset with any and great difficulties. It is very difficult for example, to rmonize the idea of the damnation of particular souls with rconception of the decree of divine love which embraces ery single human soul; it is very difficult, to harmonize it th the principle of a special providence, which repeats in ery single soul the teleology of the entire kingdom." But vertheless it is not possible to explain away successfully and isfactorily those passages of Scripture which unmistakably ch the doctrine of the eternal condemnation of the wicked. r that this is taught in Scripture, the best exegetes of every ool are compelled to admit. Moreover, the doctrine of unisal restoration meets with insuperable speculative difficulties en considered from the anthropological, psychological and ical standpoints. "For," to quote once more from Dr. rtensen, "if man can by no means be made blessed by a >cess of nature, must it not be possible for the will to retain obduracy, and forever to reject grace, and in this manner to ect its own damnation? If it be replied that this possibility a progressive obduracy implies also a continual possibility of onversion-this is a rash inference. For our earthly life already bears witness to that awful and yet necessary law

according to which evil ever assumes a more unchang character in the individual who chooses it." It is in i moreover, a fact "of no small significance," as Dr. Van terzee well observes, "that the Christian Church of all has decidedly rejected the doctrine of the Apokatastasis, when it was presented to her in the most charming colors.'

The theory of Conditional Immortality, by which it has sought to obviate some of the difficulties to which attention been called, and according to which only those who are m new creatures in Christ Jesus will live forever, and all ot finally pass entirely out of existence, has no special bearing the intermediate state. It calls therefore for no particu consideration in this paper. It may not be out of place h however, to state that according to our judgment this the has no real sanction whatever in the teachings of God's wo but rests on a misinterpretation of Scripture terms, a especially on the confounding of life and death, with exister and non-existence; and that it leaves just as many difficult unsolved as the other theories which have claimed our att tion.

The view formally maintained by the Thnetopsychitæ, a which still finds advocates, that the soul at death becom wholly unconscious and continues to be so until the resurre tion of the last day, and the opinion held by still others th the resurrection takes place immediately after death, also r quire but a mere passing notice. For the first of these vie makes the intermediate state a condition of utter oblivion an consequently a state in which no ethical or spiritual moveme of any kind can take place; and the latter does away with a intermediate state altogether. Neither view has in our opinio any real foundation in Scripture. On the contrary, we believ both, like the preceding view of conditional immortality, to b irreconcilable with some of the most explicit teachings of ou blessed Lord and His inspired Apostles. In reality thes views are rather the product of philosophical speculation tha of a careful, reverent and thorough study of God's word.

The Intermediate State in its Relation to Salvation. 105 There is, however, still another theory which is becoming ore and more generally accepted, which demands our conderation, as it bears directly on the subject with which this per is concerned. This theory has been styled by Archeacon Farrar "Eternal Hope," and by others has been desigated "Future Probation."According to it the Gospel of Christ ill be presented to all men before the final judgment, if ot in this world then in the intermediate state, and upon the onscious and free acceptance or rejection of Christ, as thus resented, will depend the eternal condition of every child of man. Just in what particular way Christ will be presented in he intermediate state is not claimed to be known, but it is aimed that it will be in such a way as will enable all to choose or themselves between life and death. This it is maintained necessary that the ways of God with men may be equal and is dealings with them be properly justified. It is also mainined that this view is in fullest harmony with the Scriptures hich proclaim the fullness and freeness of salvation and God's eadiness to forgive sin, set forth unbelief, or rejection of Christ the only ground of human condemnation, imply the forgiveess of sin in the world to come (Matt. 12: 32) and reveal the ct that the Gospel was proclaimed by Christ Himself to the ead. (1 Peter 3: 19, 4:6.)

Though this view has the merit of very strongly emphasizing
e necessity of faith in the incarnate Son of God in order to
Ivation, and is possessed of other very important elements of
uth, yet it has met with violent opposition on the part of
any, and has been pronounced both unscriptural and
angerously misleading. Especially has it been charged with
tendency to paralyze the great and important work of
issions among the heathen, and to make men in this life in-
ifferent to the means of grace. This charge we, however,
believe to be groundless. Only when the whole conception of
religion is a false one, in that it makes the salvation and happi-
ness of the soul in the world to come its entire object, could
this possibly be the case.
And even with such a wrong concep-

tion of the nature and purpose of religion, we cannot see H it could interfere more with the work of missions than the v advocated by its opponents, according to which the salvation the heathen is really possible without any knowledge of historical Christ. This latter view we for our part would disposed to consider under the circumstances the m mischievous of the two. When, however, it is properly alized, as it ever should be, that the chief object of the religi of Christ is to glorify God, and that it is designed to advan and promote the interests of men in this world as well as in t world to come, we think neither view will be likely to interfe with either the work of missions or the development of i dividual piety. For we are convinced that the false idea th religion does not in any real way benefit men in this world bu will do so only in the world beyond the grave, is the chief caus of their indifference to its claims on their immediate atten tion.

A more serious objection to the doctrine we find in its rob bing death of all real significance as a crisis in human exist ence, and in its making the intermediate state too much a mere continuation of the present state. Death, according to the Scriptures, is certainly something more than a mere change from one sphere of existence into another in all essential respects like that which preceded it. Were this all that it is, St. James would hardly have written, "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death," or the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." The latter words, especially when considered in the connection in which they occur, imply that death is a decisive crisis in the existence of men. Moreover, it is also contrary to experience and analogy that the same power of determining life and character which belongs to one state of existence should pertain also to a quite different state. The physical and mental changes possible in the earlier stages of development we find always impossible in the later stages.

As regards the ethical considerations on which the doctrine