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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 
THROUGH THE SHADOWS 
 
 <j 
 
 & BY 
 
 REV. I: C. KNOWLTON. 
 
 "In Thy light shall we see light." 
 
 Psalm xxxvi. 9. 
 
 J> 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
 1885. 
 

 Copyright, 1885, 
 By Universalist Publishing House. 
 
 Slmbcrsilg Jlrcss: 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
1 
 
 IP 
 
 2Co tfje mang JFrfentos, 
 
 WHOSE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE ENABLED ME TO DEVOTE A 
 
 LIFE-TIME TO THE STUDY OF THE SACRED 
 
 SCRIPTURES, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 HHHIS book is not published to enlighten learned 
 theologians. It contains no fact, no line 
 of argument, with which they are not familiar. 
 Instead, it is intended to assist that large and 
 respectable class of intelligent men and women 
 who have not an opportunity to study the Bible 
 critically, but who would like to know the real 
 meaning of those ominous passages of Scripture 
 that are supposed by some people to indicate the 
 destiny of impenitent sinners in the future life. 
 It is not a controversial treatise, but a candid, 
 careful attempt to ascertain, if possible, the exact 
 import of the Word of God. 
 
 Several years ago, the writer of these pages 
 became dissatisfied with that kind of Scriptural 
 comment which consists in attempts to show 
 what certain controverted texts do not mean. 
 He wanted to know what they do mean. He 
 was aware of the impressive fact that a great 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 many devout Christians believe the Bible clearly 
 teaches a hopeless doom for the finally impeni- 
 tent. These Christians did not make or choose 
 their creed. It came to them through the writ- 
 ings and preaching of eminent divines in every 
 century since the days of Saint Augustine, and 
 they could hardly avoid accepting it as truth. 
 Again and again the thought arose in the au- 
 thor's mind : " Perhaps these many good and wise 
 men are right, and you are holding an error. 
 Would it not be well for you to examine again 
 all the supposed proof -texts ? If in error, you are 
 not only a 'blind leader of the blind,' but you 
 perhaps are in imminent danger of being lost." 
 Moved by these considerations, he began afresh 
 to study the Bible, to weigh the meaning of 
 words, to notice contexts, to look up the history 
 of the ideas expressed by the sacred writers of 
 all the books from Genesis to Revelation. At 
 times he even tried to " twist the texts," to make 
 them, if possible, disprove Universalism. The 
 work was not done in a hurry; the investigation 
 occupied years ; and the chapters in this volume 
 are the result. They may contain erroneous state- 
 ments and lame logic, — no human work is per- 
 fect, — but they are the honest convictions of a 
 candid searcher after truth. 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 In these pages there are only a few references 
 to other books than the Bible, and for three 
 reasons : First, because an array of names and 
 opinions on one side can often be cancelled by an 
 equal array on the other side ; second, because 
 very few readers ever try to find and verify a 
 quotation ; and third, because the author has not, 
 at present, ready access to a large library. But 
 the reading and reasoning of fifty years are here 
 condensed and embodied in statements so defi- 
 nite and credible as not to admit a doubt of the 
 writer's honesty and sincerity. The use of Greek 
 and Hebrew type is excluded, because, though 
 giving an air of erudition, it is an annoyance to 
 persons unacquainted with these ancient alpha- 
 bets ; and most of those who will read this book 
 belong to that large class. 
 
 With this brief preface, go forth, little book, 
 and kindly greet the many dear friends of the 
 author. Some of them you may find far away ; 
 some of them he may not again see in this world. 
 But the old friendship is still warm, and the old 
 wish is still earnest, that all may hear the " glad 
 tidings of great joy," and find the path that leads 
 through the shadows. 
 
 I. C. K. 
 
 Acton, Mass., July, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. An Alarming Fact 9 
 
 II. Proof-texts 12 
 
 III. First Warning 16 
 
 IV. Forsaken of God 27 
 
 V. The Angry God 38 
 
 VI. The Hopeless . . . . . ... . 46 
 
 VII. Siieol 57 
 
 VIII. Hades 68 
 
 IX. Gehenna 83 
 
 X. Annihilation 103 
 
 XI. Unforgiven 113 
 
 XII. The Fearful Hands of God . . . 122 
 
 XIII. Not Born Again 130 
 
 XIV. Resurrection of Damnation . . . 140 
 XV. The General Judgment 151 
 
 XVI. The Second Death 162 
 
 XVII. Spirits in Prison 174 
 
 XVIII. Everlasting Punishment 182 
 
 XIX. Endless Misery 192 
 
 XX. Into the Light 203 
 
THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 AN ALARMING FACT. 
 
 " Flee from the wrath to come" — Matt. iii. 7. 
 
 TT is an alarming fact that during the past fifteen 
 hundred years, or more, a large majority of the 
 people called Christian have believed that the Bible 
 plainly teaches that many millions of human souls, 
 as keenly sensitive to pain and pleasure as we are, 
 will, as a punishment for their sins, be extremely un- 
 happy forever. And to-day this is not only the be- 
 lief of the ignorant and superstitious, but the firm 
 conviction of a great many educated, tender-hearted, 
 and truly pious church-members. This belief is 
 taught as a Bible doctrine, in religious creeds and 
 professions of faith, in the pulpit and Sunda} T -school, 
 in newspapers, magazines, and books, throughout 
 Christendom. Moreover, it is asserted by many 
 that not only vile sinners, but all the unconverted, 
 though they are honest and respectable, — even the 
 writer and the reader of these lines, — are in danger 
 
10 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of this awful, unending doom. The mere statement 
 of this gloom}' doctrine is alarming ; and the thought 
 that perhaps some of our own dear friends are now 
 in the realm of woe, and that others — even ourselves 
 -^may also " suffer the vengeance of eternal fire," is 
 severely painful, even to the best Christians. It 
 drives some souls to doubt the goodness of God, 
 some to hate religion, and some to sink into despair 
 and become insane. A dispensation of Providence 
 so dreadful would indeed be " dark, dark, dark;" 
 and those who believe in it must ever feel the chill of 
 horror and the shadow of doubt. 
 
 This alarming doctrine comes to all the children 
 born in Christian lands, and clouds their minds with 
 doubt ; and the first and greatest question for them 
 and every human being to ponder, and if possible 
 answer, is this, — Is this dogma true or false? If 
 true, we ought to hasten to "flee from the wrath to 
 come ; " if false, all men, and especially the young, 
 ought to be relieved of the gloom with which it shad- 
 ows the mind. This being evident, a lively discus- 
 sion of the question is going on, and will go on until 
 a correct conclusion is reached by all. At present 
 we can only say that although some Christians in 
 ever}' century of our era have believed in the final 
 holiness and happiness of all souls, a large majority 
 of church-members believe — and in the Dark Ages, 
 from a. d. 500 to a. d. 1500, nearly all believed — in 
 the endless misery of all who die in their sins. If 
 
AN ALARMING FACT. 11 
 
 the question was to be decided by vote, Universalism 
 would be overwhelmed ; but it is a noteworthy fact 
 that the majority is not always in the right. 
 
 It is admitted by all candid people that neither 
 Nature nor unaided human reason can solve this mo- 
 mentous problem. This world has a vast amount of 
 apparent w r rong and real suffering, but Nature does 
 not intimate anything but peace after death. Reason 
 can push analogy into the spirit realm, but analogy 
 is not reliable. Revelation alone is authoritative ; 
 and to it we must all go for light and truth on this 
 subject. What the Bible distinctly asserts, all Chris- 
 tians are willing to accept as truth. But it is a large 
 and ancient book, originally written in Greek and 
 Hebrew ; and it therefore requires much careful study 
 to get its exact meaning. Hence, before attempting 
 to " flee from the wrath to come," it is every person's 
 dut}^ to consult the Law and the Prophets, the words 
 of Jesus and his Apostles, and thus try to ascertain 
 in what the wrath consists, and how to flee from its 
 woe. One must know in what direction to flee, or be 
 in danger of running into trouble instead of away 
 from it. Sometimes the ignorant as well as the 
 wicked "flee when no man pursueth," and some- 
 times the wise do not flee as they should. Let us 
 investigate. 
 
12 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 II 
 
 PROOF-TEXTS. 
 
 " Search the Scriptures." — John v. 39. 
 
 TF the ultimate salvation of all mankind is a Bible 
 doctrine, we have good reason to expect that so 
 great and glorious a truth is clearly and frequently 
 stated in the Good Book, and that nothing denying 
 it or rendering it doubtful can be found in a single 
 chapter or verse. All other important doctrines are 
 set forth distinctly and unequivocally. For exam- 
 ple, the Scriptures plainly teach the existence of a 
 Supreme Being, our relation to Him, our duty, the 
 evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, the certain t} T of 
 retribution, and the immortality of man ; and not 
 one passage asserts or hints anything to the con- 
 trary. The atheist never quotes Scripture to prove 
 atheism, nor does the sinner cite the Bible as his 
 authority for doing wrong. 
 
 That eminent defender of the faith, the late Rev. 
 Dr. Thomas Whittemore, in his " Plain Guide to Uni- 
 versalism," admits that there are one hundred and 
 twenty-five passages — thirty in the Old Testament, 
 and ninety-five in the New — that are sometimes 
 quoted to disprove Universalism. And in addition to 
 
PROOF-TEXTS. 13 
 
 this formidable array of proof- texts, it is claimed by 
 some that there are many other passages that favor 
 the doctrine of endless misery. This is a cloud 
 of witnesses ; and if their evidence is understood, 
 and if a large majority of the Christian Church for 
 centuries has not misunderstood its meaning, Uni- 
 versalists should either give up their doctrine or 
 renounce and denounce the Bible. But every edu- 
 cated student of the Scriptures knows, and every 
 honest theologian is willing to admit, that some of 
 these proof-texts are not positive and conclusive 
 evidence of interminable woe, and that the force 
 and weight of the others depend on the mean- 
 ing attached to about a dozen different words and 
 phrases. Give them the usual definition, and they 
 clearly disprove Universalism. Invalidate this time- 
 honored interpretation, and the doctrine of eternal 
 punishment loses its Scriptural foothold. Over these 
 few words and phrases the last theological battle is 
 to be fought, and the final victory won ; and in a 
 matter of so great interest to all mankind, nothing 
 should be overlooked, and nothing assumed that is 
 not in accord with philosophy, histoiy, and the usus 
 loquendi of the people in the land and age in which 
 the Scriptures were written. When, if ever, we 
 ascertain exactly what the inspired penmen wrote 
 (for emendation of the Greek and Hebrew text is 
 still going on), and exactly what they meant by 
 the language employed, then, and not till then, will 
 
14 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 controversy cease. But that time has not yet come. 
 A person who takes the common version of the Bible 
 to be the precise Word of God, and proceeds to in- 
 terpret it by the help of an English dictionary, is 
 sure to fall into grave mistakes. An}' one who care- 
 fully studies the revised version of the New Tes- 
 tament, and compares it with the common version, 
 will be convinced that a perfect knowledge of the 
 Scriptures is not easily attained. We know that 
 some blunders have been made in explaining the 
 Word of God, and this leads us to suspect that 
 others have also been made. It is admitted that 
 there are thousands of various readings, and some 
 interpolations; for example (1 John v. 7), "There 
 are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, 
 the Word, and the Holy Spirit ; and these three are 
 one." All divines of the present day agree in the 
 opinion that Saint John did not write these words. 
 The passage is not in the revised version. Other 
 proof-texts may yet vanish. The exact meaning of 
 Azazel and Selah, in the Old Testament, is not cer- 
 tainly known ; and there may be many other words 
 in the Bible whose import is not yet decided. Edu- 
 cated men differ in opinion respecting those words ; 
 and persons not acquainted with Greek and Hebrew 
 are not qualified to decide the controversy which 
 hinges on the meaning of the original words ren- 
 dered hell, damnation, and eternal. This being the 
 case, we must either pin our faith on the opinion 
 
PROOF-TEXTS. 15 
 
 of others, or, time and again, with the best helps 
 and lights within reach, go over the entire field in 
 dispute, and decide for ourselves what the Bible 
 teaches. This seems to us the wisest and best 
 course. 
 
16 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 III. 
 
 FIRST WARNING. 
 
 " Of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not 
 eat; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
 die." — Gen. ii. 17. 
 
 TN the olden time, " eastward in Eden," there was 
 a beautiful garden, in which grew man}' kinds of 
 fruit trees, all planted by the Lord. It was an earthly 
 Paradise; and in it dwelt our ancestors, — the first 
 human pair, young, innocent, and happy, but frail, 
 ignorant, and mortal. Their Father was ever near 
 them, and they were very dear to Him, because they 
 were His children and in His image and likeness. In 
 the midst of the garden there stood a tree whose fruit 
 was not wholesome for man to eat. It contained 
 poison ; and God kindly warned Adam and Eve not 
 to meddle with it, and gave this reason for His warn- 
 ing : "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 [or wilt] surely die," or, as it is rendered in the 
 margin, "In the day that eating thou eatest, dying 
 thou shalt die." 
 
 This is the first warning in the history of the hu- 
 man race. What did it mean, and what happened? 
 The heedless and perhaps forgetful pair, unmindful 
 of their Father's words, possibly not realizing the ter- 
 
FIRST WARNING. 17 
 
 ribleness of the assured result of eating, tempted and 
 misled by the words or actions of an animal called by 
 our translators a serpent, plucked and ate the forbid- 
 den fruit ; and the result, the penalty, came upon 
 them. That penalty was death ; and we are some- 
 times told that it was "death physical, spiritual, and 
 eternal." Is this true? Did this threefold death 
 take place on the clay they ate ? As this event was 
 the beginning of sin and retribution, a correct idea 
 of it is essential to a right understanding of God's 
 policy, and His subsequent dealings with sinners. 
 
 The warning is in the form of a command, and is 
 the enunciation of a law. " Of the tree of the knowl- 
 edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat." This was a 
 law that existed in the nature and relations of things. 
 There were other similar laws ; for example, Thou 
 shalt not abstain from eating wholesome food, drink- 
 ing pure water, and breathing fresh air, — for if thou 
 do, thou shalt surely die ; Thou shalt not attempt to 
 live under water or in the midst of fire, — for if thou 
 do, death will be the result ; Ye shall live in peace and 
 love, or war, misery, and death will be your portion. 
 Then, as now, the human body w r as frail and mortal, 
 and life could not be prolonged without obedience to 
 the sanitary laws of our nature. May it not be that 
 the "forbidden fruit" was poisonous, and the warn- 
 ing was given on that account ? The law, Thou shalt 
 not eat the fruit of this or that tree, is certainly much 
 like other sanitary laws ; and the penalty, in justice, 
 
 2 
 
18 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 ought to be the same. Inebriety, gluttony, intem- 
 perance in gratifying appetites and passions, are vio- 
 lations of the commandments of our Creator ; and 
 disobedience now and here, as in Eden, has the same 
 penalty, — sickness, suffering, and ultimate death. 
 
 We are not to forget that the penalty for wrong- 
 doing is disciplinary, and has a tendency to lead or 
 drive the sinner back to right-doing. The nausea 
 that results from the use of alcohol or tobacco, and 
 the headache and languor that follow gluttony, are 
 warnings not thus to sin again. When a traveller 
 gets out of the smooth and pleasant highway of right, 
 the obstacles he meets, and the discomforts he finds, 
 soon urge him to go back to the easy path of virtue. 
 In every instance the amount and bitterness of the 
 penalty are in exact proportion to the magnitude of 
 the transgression and the frequenc}' of its repetition. 
 This is just, and beneficial to the doer of evil. 
 
 The first pair of human beings, unskilled in the use 
 of reason, and estimating the nature and value of 
 everything by its outward appearance, soon after the 
 beginning of their lives, probably did something 
 wrong. This cannot be doubted. Nothing short of 
 a miracle, nothing but the constant intervention of 
 Divine Providence, could have prevented it. Imme- 
 diately after this first sin, by the eternal laws of cause 
 and effect, came the penalty, the result. What was 
 it? Can it be possible that for this one apparently 
 slight offence their Father doomed them, and all their 
 
FIRST WARNING. 19 
 
 posterity, to " death physical, spiritual, and eter- 
 nal " ? Can any possible stretch of imagination in 
 any one enable him to see in such a penalt} T for such 
 an offence anything just or good? Do not the love 
 and mercy of God, and the sense of honor and right 
 in man, repudiate the idea? 
 
 Furthermore, if such was to be the terrible penalty, 
 humanity suggests that it should have been stated 
 to our innocent, inexperienced, unsuspecting ances- 
 tors with unmistakable clearness, and impressed on 
 their minds by frequent repetitions. If an average 
 man of our culture had been present, and foreknown 
 the dire results of disobedience, he would have said 
 to Adam and Eve, in earnest, pleading tones: U I 
 beseech you, do not eat, do not touch, the forbidden 
 fruit, — for if you do, }'ou will not only die, but }'ou 
 and all 3-011 r posterity, awhile after death, will come 
 to life again, and be thrust down into a horrible place 
 prepared for torture ; and there millions of them will 
 be tormented, clay and night, for ever and ever. Do 
 not go near that terrible tree." Their Father, the 
 merciful God, was present, and knew all the results 
 of transgression ; yet He only said, and so far as we 
 know said only once, " In the day thou eatest of it, 
 thou shalt surery die." No hint was given of a life 
 after death, or of an} 7 lengthy misery, or of any effect 
 the act might have on posterity. The only conclu- 
 sion possible to a candid mind is, that God meant 
 just what He said, — no more, no less ; and the sup- 
 
20 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 position that the penalty was to be endless agony is an 
 awful mistake. Bat if God did mean eternal misery, 
 it is almost certain that Adam and Eve could not 
 have comprehended His meaning. The}' had no con- 
 ception of eternity, no distinct idea of acute suffer- 
 ing, no belief in a burning hell ; and the warning did 
 not imply anything of the kind. Evidently the}' 
 sinned without anticipating any very bitter or lasting 
 evil. But what their Father did say, they could and 
 did understand. Death had been a common event 
 long before the creation of man. They had seen 
 many a leaf, insect, bird, and animal die and return 
 to dust ; and the dissolution seemed pitiful and aw- 
 ful. Instinctively they desired to live and enjoy the 
 pleasures of life. No immediate dissolution seemed 
 pending (the warning, in Hebrew, signifies only a 
 beginning to die), the ultimate end seemed far away, 
 and in a moment of excited emotion they yielded. 
 These are the plain facts in the case. 
 
 The pair in Eden disobeyed, just as people now 
 sin, because they were strongly tempted, and at the 
 moment lacked the moral courage and will to resist. 
 The tree was handsome, and its fruit inviting. Its 
 significant name, " knowledge of good and evil," 
 drew them to its cool shade. They saw an animal 
 feeding on its fruit with impunity. It did not harm 
 the serpent ; why should it injure them ? Its panto- 
 mimic expression was persuasive and forcible : and, 
 either forgetting the warning or willing to take the 
 
FIRST WARNING. 21 
 
 risk of disobedience, they plucked and ate. Pres- 
 ently the unwholesome juice gave them new sensa- 
 tions ; new thoughts came ; they saw in a new light ; 
 and either from cold or a new perception of modesty, 
 realized that they were naked. The result soon 
 began to be manifest. They were inoculated with 
 disease from which they never fully recovered. In 
 the day they began to eat, the}' began to die ; and 
 after a few hundred years of suffering, their bodies 
 returned to dust. The taint of disease was be- 
 queathed to all their posterity, and " in Adam all 
 die." This is the simple story of the first trans- 
 gression, as recorded in Genesis ; and it contains no 
 hint of endless perdition. 
 
 But, a very long time after the Eden affair, a new 
 meaning was given to, or seen in, the word death, — 
 namely, moral degradation with its inevitable evils. 
 All these evils are involved in sin. Hence it is writ- 
 ten : (Ezek. xviii. 4) " The soul that sinneth, it shall 
 die ; " (Rom. vi. 23) " The wages of sin is death ; " 
 (Rom. viii. 6) " To be carnally minded is death;" 
 (Eph. ii. 1) " You hath he quickened, who were dead 
 in trespasses and sins ; " (1 John iii. 14) "We know 
 that we have passed from death unto life, because 
 we love the brethren : he that loveth not his brother, 
 abide th in death." This kind of death was one of 
 the results of the first transgression, and it occurred 
 on the very day they ate the forbidden fruit. By 
 eating, they disobeyed God, ceased to be innocent, 
 
22 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 and morally died. But we are not compelled to 
 infer that this moral change was the beginning of 
 a never-ending curse. The truth is, man was 
 designedly created frail, ignorant, and liable to 
 3'ielcl to temptations. He was surrounded by mys- 
 teries and dangers : mistakes, transgressions of law, 
 were inevitable. There was not the shadow of a 
 probability that he would not sin. It was merely 
 a question of time ; and the theor}- that for this 
 one little misdeed Adam and all his posteritj- were 
 doomed to unending suffering seems unreasonable, 
 an outrage of justice, fiendish, false. We cannot 
 believe that God set such a horrible trap, and baited 
 it with fruit so tempting. 
 
 Some critics incline to the opinion that the story 
 of Eden is a myth or an allegory ; and it may be 
 admitted that some of its details have a mystical 
 complexion, but it is evident that the account has a 
 fact foundation. There must have been a first hu- 
 man pair ; they must have been destitute of raiment, 
 and must have dwelt in a grove of fruit trees from 
 which they could obtain food. The fruit of some 
 plants was not wholesome, was poisonous. By 
 chance there grew in the midst of the grove a deadly 
 Japan Upas ; and the new pair must have been 
 entirely ignorant of its nature, and the effect of its 
 fruit on the human system. But something that the 
 scientist might call instinct, that a Christian might 
 call the Holy Spirit, and that Moses called (and 
 
FIRST WARNING. 23 
 
 rightly called) God, forbade their eating its baneful 
 fruit. The language of the Hebrew text does not 
 require us to believe there was any audible voice. 
 Some kind of animal or insect feeds on each tree and 
 plant ; for what is poison to one is wholesome to an- 
 other. On or by the Upas Adam and Eve saw an 
 animal eating its fruit with impunity. The actions of 
 the animal seemed to prove that the fruit was good ; 
 and thus enticed and deceived, unmindful of their 
 instinctive repugnance, they also ate of its fruit. 
 But it made them sick, and opened their mental 
 eyes to the fact that some things were good and 
 some evil. In their distress, God, in the awful 
 majesty of their awakened consciences, reproved 
 them, and hinted other evils that might ensue. A 
 sense of responsibility and duty began to be felt ; 
 and then and there commenced man's sad yet sub- 
 lime career as a moral agent. Eden vanished, 
 and the} r found themselves in a world of labor and 
 care. 
 
 But this first disobedience, misstep, mistake, was 
 not wholly a disaster ; for good came as well as evil. 
 It was as a fountain from which flowed many a pure 
 river of life. It aroused the noble spirit of inquiry, 
 investigation, research, and prompted the constant 
 questions, What is this, that, and the other? What 
 is the nature, use, and power of each? How are 
 they related to man and man's interests? These 
 inquiries have led to all the splendid achievements 
 
o 
 
 4 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of science, and to an intimate acquaintance with 
 Nature in all her moods, from the generation of 
 mosses and insects up to the evolution of planets, 
 and the laws that govern the stars. The seemingly 
 terrible lapse from innocence suggested watchful- 
 ness, invention, industry, and economy. Xoxious 
 plants were to be destroj'ed ; food-bearing vegetables 
 cultivated, storehouses built, garments made ; and 
 busy thrift was to displace primitive idleness. Our 
 wheat-fields, cloth-factories, ships, railways, are the 
 outgrowth of making leaf aprons in Eden, and 
 seeking good food. It also brought into play a 
 sj'mpathy, a tenderness, that otherwise would have 
 remained dormant. Adam and Eve never realized 
 how much each was to the other — how each loved 
 the other — until each saw tears in the other's eyes. 
 Then began the culture of the finer feelings and the 
 nobler nature of man and woman, and that heroic 
 self-denial and self-sacrifice that culminated in the 
 death of Jesus, and made the cross the symbol of all 
 that is truly great and good. In that hour, also, 
 hope came in the thought that though Eve was weak 
 and did wrong, her posterity, taught and warned 
 by her misfortune, would do better and better, until 
 "the seed of the woman should bruise [crush] the 
 serpent's head," — a hope that has grown so large 
 and bright that many a brave and loving soul in our 
 day dares to believe in "the final restitution of all 
 things." In fact, we can call to mind scarcely a 
 
FIRST WARNING. 25 
 
 single blessing now enjoyed on earth, that has not 
 directly or indirectly come from that ominous hour 
 of temptation, sin, shame, penitence, promise, and 
 right resolution. Man, not God, made a mistake ; 
 and He has overruled it for good. 
 
 Taking this view of what is called the Fall of man, 
 we have no heart to denounce sweet mother Eve or 
 dear father Adam. True, they lost their delightful 
 Eden ; but better Edens are our inheritance. The 
 cultivated and beautified earth ; and our pleasant 
 and comfortable homes are superior to the ancient 
 forest garden ; and we are not unlike our first par- 
 ents in many respects. Each of us began life as 
 an Adam or Eve, innocent, but weak and ignorant. 
 For each of us there was in store duties and re- 
 sponsibilities, — dangers to shun, and good to gain. 
 In 3'outh we were advised, warned, threatened ; but 
 each one of us was tempted, and each in some sinis- 
 ter way yielded and did wrong, — ate or drank or 
 indulged in something pernicious, and began to die. 
 Many thousand people die every month because of 
 wrong eating or drinking. He who would attain 
 a long life, and be prosperous and happy, should 
 abstain from all forbidden fruits and deeds. Con- 
 forming to the eternal laws of right is equivalent to 
 both serving God and taking care of ourselves. In- 
 temperance in parents taints their offspring. Yet 
 in the darkest hour the penitent seeker may find 
 some hope of a better future, here or hereafter. 
 
26 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Taking all these things into consideration, we are 
 compelled to conclude that the first warning does 
 not refer to any after-death results, but only to the 
 vast earthly consequences of man's beginning to 
 learn good and evil. 
 
 And, finding in this first proof-text no threat or 
 intimation of eternal damnation, we are encouraged 
 to hope that the Bible does not reveal such a doom 
 for any sinner. One shadow has vanished. 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD. 27 
 
 IV. 
 
 FORSAKEN OF GOD. 
 
 "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man" 
 — Gen. vi. 3. 
 
 n^HESE words were spoken concerning the very 
 wicked people who lived before the Deluge, and 
 their import is ominous. The Divine Spirit had long 
 striven to reform and save these very wicked men. 
 Through conscience, by impression and intuition, by 
 appeals to their innate sense of honor and right, and 
 by temporal chastisements, it had endeavored to win 
 them to virtue, but in vain. Wrong was still the 
 rule. Noah had preached righteousness to them, 
 but his sermons were unavailing. Their wickedness 
 was so great that ; ' eveiy imagination of their hearts 
 was evil." Their reformation was hopeless, and a 
 crisis was inevitable. God saw it, and said, " My 
 spirit shall not always strive with man ; " in other 
 words, " The present condition of affairs — the plead- 
 ing of my pitying spirit with their rebellious spirits — 
 shall cease." This sounds like the solemn announce- 
 ment of a hopeless doom. Those from whom the 
 love and care of God are withdrawn must sink down 
 into the lowest state of sin and sorrow. Probably some 
 
28 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 people at the present day are as sinful and de- 
 graded as were the antediluvians, and hence their 
 fate must be as terrible. The cannibal savages of 
 Africa, as described by Stanley, seem to be as far 
 down in the scale of degradation as human beings 
 can go ; and, taking into the account the Gospel 
 light that shines in our country, some in our midst 
 are as guilty as the sooty sons of the " dark con- 
 tinent ; " and if God-forsaken, they must go down 
 with the ancient sinners with whom the Divine Spirit 
 ceased to strive. But before consigning them to 
 hopeless perdition, let us very carefully study what 
 God said, and the occasion on which it was spoken, 
 that, if possible, we may find some reason to hope 
 for their ultimate salvation. 
 
 The statement of the Lord was this : " My spirit 
 shall not always strive with man, for that he also is 
 flesh : yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty 
 years." This was said in an age when the average 
 length of human life was more than nine hundred 
 years. Some critics are of the opinion that the Lord 
 meant that He would not permit people to live and 
 sin so long, but would contract the average length 
 of human life to one hundred and twenty years. If 
 this opinion is correct, the passage does not refer to 
 anything beyond the grave, or to anybody since the 
 age of our long-living ancestors. 
 
 But it may be asked, Did the antediluvians 
 actually live nearly a thousand years? The Bible 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD, 29 
 
 affirms that they did, and the writer of Genesis 
 undoubtedly had a tradition or a revelation to that 
 effect. Yet in the minds of some men in our day 
 there are grave doubts on this subject. They say 
 that in those primitive times the people were liable to 
 err in dates and numbers. Their j-ear may not 
 have been of the same length as our year ; and what 
 they called a hundred may not have been what we 
 call a hundred. Besides, for a people ignorant of 
 writing, it must have been difficult to preserve in 
 memory the date of birth or the lapse of years. At 
 the present time, in our own land, there is man}' an 
 illiterate Indian and Negro who does not know his 
 own age ; and very likely many of the people before 
 the Flood did not know theirs. Further, learned 
 physiologists tell us that the average human body 
 will actually w r ear out in about two centuries, and 
 that then death must ensue. If this is true, the 
 stories of ancient extreme longevity are fictions. 
 Finally, it is not easy to imagine any need, use, or 
 benefit of a life protracted beyond a centur} 7 ; and 
 what is useless, God does not permit. 
 
 But in opposition to all this, it maj r be urged that 
 the first inhabitants of the earth were not tainted 
 with hereditary disease ; that they ate simple, 
 healthy food ; that they lived out-of-doors, and 
 breathed pure air ; that they did not exhaust them- 
 selves by excessive labor or anxiety ; and hence 
 they must have attained a great age. In our de- 
 
30 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 generate times there are quite a' number of cen- 
 tenarians, and in primitive times a longer lease 
 of life is certainly probable. In a book published 
 some thirty years ago, by Fowler & Wells, entitled 
 " Hydropathy for the People," there is (pp. 43-46) 
 a long list of persons remarkable for longevity. It 
 is there stated that Galen lived 140 years ; Thomas 
 Parr, 152 ; Petrarch Caston, 185 ; Thomas Cam, 
 207 ; and Numas de Cugna, 307. If these figures 
 are correct — and they seem well authenticated — the 
 extreme longevity of the people before the Flood is 
 not only possible but probable. Admit this, and a 
 literal interpretation of the passage under review is 
 easy and satisfactory. "And the Lord said, My 
 spirit shall not strive with man so long. He shall 
 not sin eight or nine centuries ; his average length 
 of life shall be cut down to an hundred and twent}' 
 years." In accordance with this decision, the aver- 
 age length of life began to diminish, and continued 
 to diminish until the time of King David, when it 
 w T as only about seventy years. The natural causes 
 of this shortening of life were intemperance, crime, 
 and the general degradation of the people. In this 
 view of the case the text does not refer to any 
 thing or condition after death ; the shortening of the 
 earth life is all that was intended. 
 
 This is one interpretation ; learned men have an- 
 other and perhaps a better theory. The Divine an- 
 nouncement was made a little more than a century 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD. 31 
 
 before the Flood. At that time the human race was 
 so desperately wicked as to be unfit to live. It mer- 
 ited destruction, and was ripe for doom. But the 
 Lord, in His great mercy, in effect said : u This can- 
 not be permitted to continue forever, but I will grant 
 man an hundred and twenty years more in which to 
 repent and reform." The allotted time elapsed ; the 
 people grew worse and worse ; and then the Flood 
 came and swept them all away. If this interpreta- 
 tion is correct, the Lord did not allude to a shorten- 
 ing of average human life, but to the number of years 
 that would elapse before the great Deluge. 
 
 But it may be asked, Do the facts warrant this 
 conclusion ? Was there in ancient time a world-wide, 
 destructive deluge ? It seems to us there are many 
 good reasons for answering these questions in the 
 affirmative : (1) The Bible says there was such a 
 flood ; and the Bible is an ancient and reliable book. 
 (2) The old but recently discovered Assyrian tablets, 
 written without any knowledge of Moses or Hebrew 
 tradition, give a full description of such a flood. (3) 
 All the great nations of antiquity had distinct tra- 
 ditions of such a flood, and these many apparently 
 independent traditions must have originated in some 
 actual occurrence. (4) A submersion of a large area 
 of territory, of perhaps all the then inhabited earth, 
 may be accounted for on geological principles, — the 
 depression of the land and the inrush of ocean wa- 
 ter. It is said there is positive proof that the island 
 
32 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of Great Britain has thus been depressed, flooded, 
 and then elevated, several times {vide Huxley's 
 lecture on " A Piece of Chalk "). (5) The marine 
 shells frequently found on the summits of lofty moun- 
 tains indicate that whole continents were once cov- 
 ered with salt water. (6) The testimony of the smooth 
 rounded rocks seen on every side is clear and conclu- 
 sive. God did not make the countless millions of 
 pebbles on the earth ; each one of them is a chip 
 from some old ledge, worn smooth and round in mov- 
 ing water. All land containing them was once and 
 for a long time under water. This is the affirmation 
 of all scientists. Where we now are, waves once 
 rolled, and fish once swam. (7) There have probably 
 been several floods ; but each one was a local affair, 
 because there is not water enough on earth to sub- 
 merge all the land at once. Noah's Flood was a local 
 affair ; but it was a real, terribly destructive deluge. 
 At the present time a large portion of the Sahara 
 and of the territory around the Dead Sea and the 
 Caspian Sea is below the ocean level ; and if a free 
 communication were opened by an earthquake or 
 otherwise, we should have a modern Flood. 
 
 The Noachian Deluge w r as real ; but there is no 
 necessit}' for our supposing that those who handed 
 down the story to Moses were thoroughly versed in 
 geology or natural history. Their all was not com- 
 mensurate with the all of modern scientists, but much 
 less, much smaller. Nothing is too hard or difficult 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD. 33 
 
 for the miracle-working power of God ; and it is cer- 
 tain that without superhuman assistance Noah and 
 his probablj* unskilled workmen could not have built 
 a vessel large enough and strong enough to accom- 
 modate all the land animals of earth, with food 
 enough to sustain them a year. Nor. supposing the 
 ark built and ready for her voyage, could Noah and 
 his three sons, without Divine aid, have gathered and 
 shipped all the beasts, birds, reptiles, and insects, 
 and for twelve months kept them from dying for want 
 of food, drink, pure air, and cleanliness. And after 
 the ark grounded on the cold peak of Mount Ara- 
 rat, nothing but a stupendous miracle could have got 
 them all safely down the steep slope of the mountain 
 and away to the homes adapted to their natures. 
 We are reluctant to believe in so mam' and so strange 
 miracles performed to avoid the simple re-creation of 
 animals. But if we adopt the theory that Noah's 
 Flood was a local affair, submerging only a few hun- 
 dred thousand square miles of territory, and drown- 
 ing only such animals as dwelt within this area, 
 all difficulties vanish ; we can accept the Mosaic 
 narrative as in the main correct, and believe that 
 about a hundred and twenty years after the an- 
 nouncement was made, the sustaining influence of 
 the Divine Spirit was withdrawn, and the sinful 
 race of men perished. Admit this interpretation, 
 and the passage contains no allusion to the realm 
 of the dead. 
 
 3 
 
Qi THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 There is still another theory which, ignoring all 
 controversy about the Flood and primitive longevity, 
 finds even in this text a gleam of hope for all sinners. 
 All men have sinned, and God would have them all 
 come to Him and be saved ; and, to secure the grati- 
 fication of His desire, His Spirit strives to reform 
 them. With God, to try is to succeed. Man can 
 convert and save some sinners ; the Almighty can 
 convert and save all. The inference is plausible that 
 He will overcome all opposition, and the striving of 
 His Spirit culminate in the holiness and happiness of 
 all souls. In fact, admit the premises, and no other 
 conclusion is possible. What He tries to do, He will 
 do ; for nothing can counteract the Almighty. 
 
 But the soundness of the premises is very doubt- 
 ful. God is infinite ; man is finite, small, and weak ; 
 and the idea of a strife, a struggle, between the two 
 is utterly absurd. Compared with Deit}-, man is a 
 mere infinitesimal mite that cannot present the least 
 resistance to the mighty current of the Divine will. 
 If God has the smallest desire to reform and save 
 a sinner, that sinner's reformation and salvation is 
 absolutely certain. He who by a word can create a 
 world, never strives with man or anything. But the 
 laws, tendencies, influences, ordained by the Creator 
 do strive to keep man in the right ; and these he can 
 resist, though in the long run they overpower him 
 and make him conform to their regulations. They 
 urge man to be temperate ; and if they cannot 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD. 35 
 
 conquer in an}- other way, they will sober him in 
 the grave. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Hedge, of Harvard College, thinks 
 the text should be rendered, "My spirit shall not 
 alwa}'s remain in man." If this is correct, the idea 
 of striving, struggling, vanishes. It is the Divine 
 Spirit, or influence, that sustains life. When that is 
 withdrawn, death ensues. This withdrawing may 
 take place in age, in sickness, or by violence, — 
 drowning, for example. " My spirit shall not al- 
 ways remain in man ; " the Flood shall come, and 
 the spirit in man shall return to God who gave it. 
 This seems to us a very reasonable and satisfac- 
 tory interpretation. 
 
 But admit as correct the theory that God's Spirit, 
 after striving with sinners long enough to find that 
 they are incorrigible and irreclaimable, retires and 
 leaves them to sink down in ruin and woe unending, 
 yet this theory has no support in the text, because 
 olam, the Hebrew word translated always, does not 
 necessarily indicate endless duration. It and its 
 Greek equivalent, aionios, are the only words in the 
 Bible that designate the length of retribution ; and 
 all good scholars are agreed that they may mean 
 a limited period of time, long or short; Scripture 
 usage also sustains this view. 
 
 The Aaronic priesthood and the Jewish possession 
 of Canaan were to be olam, everlasting ; but they 
 ended long ago. By a special statute of the Mosaic 
 
36 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Code (Exod. xxi. 6), it was ordained that under cer- 
 tain circumstances a servant should serve his master 
 olam, forever, — that is, dining the remainder of his 
 life. In speaking of his confinement in the whale, 
 Jonah (ii. 6) says, " The earth with her bars was 
 about me olam, forever ;" yet it was only three days. 
 In these and many other passages, olam clearly 
 means a period of limited duration. In more than 
 fifty places in the Pentateuch alone, the word is used 
 to describe things that long ago came to an end. 
 The Jews made use of the phrase " olam and be- 
 yond," though there can be nothing beyond eternity, 
 Olam is also found in the plural, olamin : but there 
 can be but one eternity. It is evident that olam 
 does not necessarily denote endlessness. In the 
 text under consideration, olam is very properly ren- 
 dered always: " My spirit shall not always (much 
 longer) strive with man. A deluge shall come, and 
 the striving end in the death of the race." 
 
 If the solemn announcement "My spirit shall not 
 always strive with man " does allude to the after- 
 death condition of sinful souls, we are at liberty to 
 suppose that it means annihilation instead of suffer- 
 ing. But there is not a hint of either ; the sole 
 thought expressed is that the Divine Spirit will 
 cease to strive with man. The passage does not 
 teach the ultimate loss of any soul, but it contains 
 a valuable moral lesson. To every human being 
 there comes at times the "still, small voice" of God, 
 
FORSAKEN OF GOD. 37 
 
 beseeching hini to do right. If he heeds it, bless- 
 ings come ; if he disregards it, a flood of afflictions 
 come. Only the wicked are drowned ; righteous 
 Noah is safe. The ark is made of truth, love, and 
 virtue ; it is large enough to accommodate all human 
 beings, and float them all to heaven. 
 
38 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Y. 
 
 THE ANGRY GOD. 
 
 " God is angry with the wicked every day." — Ps. vii. 11. 
 
 n^HIS, if literally true, is the most alarming state- 
 ment in the Bible, and the most awful fact in 
 the universe. We know what anger is, and how it 
 operates. We have felt its malign influence in our 
 own souls, and seen the manifestations of its pres- 
 ence in others. We know that it suggests revenge, 
 desires the punishment of an enemy, and enjoys the 
 agony of the guilty. It dethrones reason, forgets 
 mere}', and deals in hard blows. If, in this sense 
 of anger (and we can imagine no other), God is 
 realty angry with the wicked, their doom to the 
 worst possible fate seems inevitable ; and not only 
 they, but we and all men, — for all have sinned. 
 When a man is angry with us, we realize that we 
 are in danger ; if God is angry with us, the danger is 
 infinitely greater : man could only kill us ; God could 
 torment us after death and forever. Admit that lie 
 indulges in anger, and that His anger is like ours, 
 and there can be no hope for universal salvation ; 
 even the best of Christians would often have painful 
 doubts of their own safety. 
 
THE ANGRY GOD. 39 
 
 The Bible plainly and solemnly affirms that God 
 is angry every day, that sometimes His anger rises 
 or deepens into wrath, and that the wrath ultimates 
 in vengeance, 
 
 " Red, unrestrained, vindictive, final, fierce." 
 
 God says (Deut. xxxii. 22): "A fire is kindled 
 in mine anger, and it shall burn to the lowest hell." 
 The Scriptures speak of His anger as "fierce," 
 of His wrath as "hot," of His fury as "great," 
 and of His saying, " Vengeance is mine." In scores 
 of passages these alarming descriptions of Deity 
 are repeated. We accept and try to believe these 
 strange statements ; but meditating upon them brings 
 doubt, anxiety, and almost dislike of Gocl. Such a 
 being we may fear, but not very warmly love. 
 
 We find it difficult to imagine what has hap- 
 pened or can happen to cause an infinite being to 
 become angry. In frail, nervous man, anger springs 
 from anno3'ance. When any one wantonly injures 
 us, or a domestic animal will not obey us, or an in- 
 sect stings us, or a pebble causes us to stumble, or 
 the wind blows off our hats, or our cherished plans 
 fail, we are foolishly prone to be angry. It is be- 
 cause we are weak and our feelings not under con- 
 trol. But can the great, wise, unchangeable God be 
 annoyed? Do His worlds, works, or children get 
 out of order, do wrong, and disturb His serenity? 
 Do His wise plans ever come to nought? Do His 
 
40 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 earthly sons and daughters tease, worry, and pester 
 Him? Did He not know how things would work, 
 and what His children would do and become, before 
 He created them? Has He tried experiments and 
 failed to obtain the results desired? Has He ever 
 been surprised, disappointed, wronged, or abused? 
 If these questions are answered in the affirmative, 
 there is cause for His anger ; but He is not a Su- 
 preme Being, He is only a demi-god. But if they 
 are answered in the negative, as it seems to us they 
 must be, then what has excited His wrath we can- 
 not conjecture. 
 
 As;ain, in us annovance is the outcome of our lack 
 of foresight, sound judgment, and will-power. A 
 man builds a fence to protect his meadow ; hungry 
 cattle break through and spoil his growing corn, and 
 he is annoyed and angry. He erred in judgment ; 
 the fence was a failure. A man puts a curb-bit in 
 the mouth of his fiery horse, and goes to ride feeling 
 safe \ but a rein breaks, the horse shies and over- 
 turns the carriage. The rider is hurt, annoyed, 
 angered ; but the accident was the result of his neg- 
 lect to see that his harness was all right. The 
 State enacts stringent laws against criminals, and 
 provides severe penalties ; but crime continues, and 
 the public is annoyed and made angry. The truth 
 is, legislators have neither the wisdom nor the power 
 to prevent criminality. Is God similarly deficient in 
 strength and knowledge? Did He not foresee that 
 
THE ANGRY GOD. 41 
 
 the serpent would tempt, and the woman yield? 
 Did He not foreknow that the penal laws thundered 
 from Mount Sinai would not restrain from iniquity the 
 stiff-necked Jews, and keep them in the way of holi- 
 ness? If He did not foresee and foreknow these 
 things, we cannot call Him all- wise ; if He did fore- 
 see and foreknow how frail and weak the human 
 race would be, how easily tempted, how liable to 
 yield, why did He not fashion man more strong, or 
 leave fewer temptations, serpents, devils, in his 
 way? These thoughts and questions will come, and 
 they present us two alternatives, — either God is 
 short-sighted, not very wise, not veiy good, and 
 therefore angry when His poorly planned creation 
 does not work as He expected ; or we must modify 
 the meaning of the Divine anger. We prefer the 
 latter alternative. Let God be esteemed as per- 
 fect, though the esteem invalidate a few poor old 
 Hebrew words. 
 
 In man, anger is a species of insanhry. The an- 
 gry man's head is not level. He does not rightly 
 use his reason. He indulges in violence, regard- 
 less of consequences, and harms his enemies, his 
 friends, and himself. Is this God's stvle of anger? 
 Does He curse, smite, and burn without reason, and 
 regardless of results? We think not. It seems 
 clear to our mind, that, being all- wise, His every act 
 flows from pure reason and love, and is done for the 
 best good of all. If so, anger in Him is not what 
 
42 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 we call anger ; or, in other words, He is not angry 
 In any sense of that word known to us. 
 
 The Infinite One by necessity is unchangeable. 
 If angry at any one time, He always was and always 
 will be angry. He does not flare up with passion, 
 and then cool off, like a weak, passionate man, but 
 retains the same serenity yesterday, torday, and 
 forever. This is clearty taught by both revelation 
 and reason. An angry person is unhappy : if God 
 is angry every da}', He is unhappy every day ; if 
 angry all the time, He is unhappy all the time, and 
 deserves the sincere pity of all good beings, — though 
 this thought is almost downright blasphemy, and 
 we will try to banish it from our minds. 
 
 Taking all these things into consideration, a right- 
 minded man cannot possibly believe that God's an- 
 ger has any resemblance to human anger ; in other 
 words, we cannot believe He is ever angry in the 
 sense in which we use that word. Instead, we are 
 compelled to believe that the infinite and perfect 
 Supreme Being is ever calm, ever satisfied, ever 
 serenely happy. Evidently there is a monstrous 
 mistake somewhere, which all wise men should be 
 equally eager to discover and rectify ; and this we 
 will now attempt. 
 
 The writers of the Bible believed and taught that 
 God rules the world and regulates all its affairs, — 
 that He causes the earthquake, the lightning, and 
 the hurricane; that He sends the sword, the pesti* 
 
THE ANGRY GOD. 43 
 
 lence, the locusts, and the famine ; that He punishes 
 the guilty and blesses the righteous ; — and they were 
 right. The first cause inaugurates all results ; and 
 the great First Cause we call God. He, directly or 
 indirectly, causes all the events that transpire. But 
 in trying to make the ignorant and un spiritual peo- 
 ple of their times realize the Divine presence, su- 
 premacy, and providence, the sacred writers were 
 obliged to resort to anthropomorphism, to speak of 
 God as an immense man. Accordingly the}' allude 
 to His head, face, eyes, ears, mouth, and breath ; to 
 His sitting on a throne ; to His going hither and 
 thither, talking, laughing, mocking, and being angry, 
 like an immense man. These bold figures of speech, 
 not one of which is literally true, were employed to 
 impress a great moral lesson on the Jews, to cause 
 them to realize the presence of a Divine providence 
 and to trust and obej- God. The strange anthropo- 
 morphism was used to serve a good purpose. The 
 later Prophets, though sometimes indulging in the 
 old style, had higher and better views of Deity. 
 Isaiah says (lv. 8, 9) : " My ways are not your ways, 
 neither are your thoughts my thoughts, saith the 
 Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the 
 earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts, 
 and my ways than your ways." His anger, there- 
 fore, is unlike ours. His way with sinners may be 
 unlike our petulant, vindictive wa}\ Jesus said, 
 " God is a spirit ; " St. John said, " God is love ; " 
 
44 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 St. Je.mes said, " With whom is no variableness, nei- 
 ther shadow of turning." Scientific research confirms 
 these statements. The thunder-storm is not an indi- 
 cation of Divine wrath; it is a wholesome effort of 
 nature to restore an electrical equilibrium. The 
 terrible sword of the Civil War was not drawn b}' 
 an offended Deit}' ; it was the result of an " irrepres- 
 sible conflict " of opinion on the subject of slavery. 
 Even the names of God — the Eternal, the Almighty, 
 the Omniscient, the Omnipresent One — indicate an 
 entire absence of anything like human feeling or pas- 
 sion. In view of this fact we must interpret all the 
 figurative language of the Bible, or be in danger of 
 becoming infidels. In the light of this interpreta- 
 tion; we should shape our conduct, not to please or 
 displease the immovable Calm, but to conform to 
 the eternal law of right; because in keeping this 
 law "there is great reward." 
 
 It may be asked, Why is not this interpreta- 
 tion general^ adopted? Why do so many people 
 still believe in an angry God? The answer is, 
 that some people believe what the} T are taught, and 
 neither dare nor care to question its correctness. 
 Catholic laymen are taught to do this ; many Protes- 
 tant laymen do it without being taught. Others 
 believe God is literally angry, because they look at 
 Him through sinful eyes. A criminal, it is said, 
 fancies he hears the footfall of the pursuer in every 
 unexpected sound, and catches sight of the avenger 
 
THE ANGRY GOD. 45 
 
 in every unusual appearance. Our feelings are pro- 
 jected upon everything around us. " Unto the pure 
 all things are pure : but unto them that are defiled 
 and unbelieving is nothing pure." On this principle, 
 to the wicked God must seem to be angry. Hence 
 millions on millions of the ungodly believe, and must 
 believe, that His anger is literal and real ; and of 
 them it may be said, " They believe a lie, that they 
 may be damned." But the guilty, blind and fearful, 
 are not competent rightly to interpret the dark say- 
 ings in the Bible. We reject their fear-inspired 
 notions, and are compelled to believe the testimony 
 of the best thinkers and clearest seers. God is not, 
 never was, never will be, angry as a petulant man is 
 angry. His opposition to evil is not a temporary 
 flash of passion, but the natural antagonism of 
 right to wrong. In this antagonism we rejoice, and 
 for it feel truly grateful. We love God all the more 
 because He is hostile to sin, and, in figurative lan- 
 guage, is angry with the wicked every clay. His 
 anger is pure and good, and it must eventually 
 subdue all evil. Let Thine anger, Thy hostility, 
 continue, O Lord, until there is an entirely holy 
 universe. 
 
46 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE HOPELESS. 
 
 " The wicked is driven away in his wickedness : but the righteous 
 hath hope in his death." — Prov. xiv. 32. 
 
 TN other words, the righteous, feeling at peace 
 with God, are cheered by a hope of future safety, 
 that ever comforts and sustains them. The wicked, 
 b} T a sense of un worthiness and a fear of retribution, 
 are deprived of hope, and rendered wretched. This 
 absence of hope is alluded to in other passages 
 of Scripture. The very sinful are " without God 
 and without hope." If a small, weak hope should 
 remain in their dark souls, it is frail "as a 
 spider's web;" it shall be u broken, taken away, 
 perish/* To the wicked, life has little joy, and 
 death seems either a leap in the dark or a gateway 
 to misery. This is the evident meaning of the 
 proverb, and it suggests several serious and impor- 
 tant considerations. 
 
 The text is a specimen of the almost invariable 
 manner in which the Bible classifies mankind. It 
 often alludes to two opposite classes of people, not as 
 the converted and the unconverted, nor as profes- 
 
THE HOPELESS. 47 
 
 sors and non-professors, nor as church-members and 
 worldlings, nor as evangelical and unev angelical, 
 but as the righteous and the wicked, the doers of 
 good and the doers of evil, the holy and the unholy, 
 saints and sinners. The discrimination is not made 
 between creeds, but deeds. In the great judgment 
 described by the Master in Matt. xxv. 31-46, it is 
 those w^ho have not done good that go away into 
 everlasting punishment, while those who have done 
 good enter into life eternal. We like this Bible 
 fashion of putting things. It seems to us the right 
 doctrine to preach to men, and the right way to 
 teach children. " Do right, and it will be well with 
 you ; do wrong, and evil will surely come. No 
 escape is possible." 
 
 The statement is but one of many in which 
 the conditions and portions of the righteous and 
 the wicked are set in sharp contrast. Invariably the 
 righteous are praised, and promised the best things ; 
 and the wicked are condemned, and threatened the 
 worst things. Unless they repent, there are no 
 precious promises for sinners ; and unless they fall 
 from grace, no threatenings made to saints. And 
 this way of contrasting the condition and fortunes 
 of men is in accord with justice and the nature of 
 the soul. Ages of human experience testify that 
 "the wa}- of the transgressor is hard;" and that 
 " indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," 
 are upon and in ' ; every soul of man that doeth evil." 
 
48 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 True, the wicked may acquire wealth, obtain office 
 and high position, and indulge in sensuous luxuries ; 
 but their capacity for pure and solid happiness is 
 gone, and if they were to speak their real feel- 
 ings they would say, "Vanity, vanity; all is van- 
 ity and vexation of spirit." It is true also that 
 the virtuous are liable to suffer losses and curses, 
 injury and pain ; but they can still retain their self- 
 respect, and rejoice in the hope of an end to ill, and 
 an eternity of good. Anywhere and at any time it 
 is safe to repeat the ancient advice: " Say ye to 
 the righteous, that it shall be well with him ; . . . 
 woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him." 
 
 The passage under consideration contains no allu- 
 sion to a life after death. It is almost certain that 
 its author had no idea of the immortality revealed by 
 Jesus. The reference is entirely to affairs in this 
 life. The predicates are in the present tense. The 
 wicked is driven away ; the righteous hath hope. 
 Whatever may be hereafter, the text limits our re- 
 flections at this time to the here and now ; and this 
 is always the main thing to be thought of and cared 
 for. Make the present right, and the future may 
 be safely intrusted to Him who liveth forever and 
 doeth all things well. 
 
 The wicked are driven away by whom or what? 
 It may be of no consequence to them, but we cannot 
 avoid the inquiry. Driving implies forcible com- 
 pulsion ; what is the force, and what the instrument 
 
THE HOPELESS. 49 
 
 or means employed? Is it muscular or mental, or 
 both ? Is God the driver, or Christ, or who ? We 
 would rather not think of the great God as concerned 
 in any such petty business ; and the translation of 
 Professor Noyes entirely relieves us of the thought : 
 " By wickedness the wicked is thrust down, but the 
 righteous hath hope even in death." Deity has no 
 hand in the affair, and no driving is done. Wicked- 
 ness is a weight; sin is a load, and Ht thrusts the 
 sinner down. The sinking is not caused by the 
 hand or will or wrath of any one ; it is the working 
 of a law as old, as universal, and as unchanging as 
 the law of gravity. It cannot be repealed or dodged. 
 Down the wicked must go ; and every added sin 
 sinks them lower. A hundred passages tell the same 
 stor}\ " A guilty conscience needs no accuser ; " it 
 decides its own case and condemns without a hear- 
 ing. " Murder will out." The criminal feels that 
 his crime is known at least to God, and he expects 
 retribution. u The wicked flee when no man pur- 
 sueth ; " but he cannot flee into safety, because he 
 carries the avenger with him. By his wickedness 
 he is driven away and thrust down. 
 
 The special thing mentioned in the text is hope. 
 This the righteous have ; from this the wicked are 
 driven away. But the nature and power of hope are 
 neither understood nor appreciated by the many. 
 Hope is desire and expectation combined ; it is a 
 pleasure and an influence united. For example, a 
 
 4 
 
50 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 j T oung person desires love, a home, and prosperity; 
 and if he or she is doing right, is kind, honest, in- 
 dustrious, economical, there is good reason to expect 
 that the desire will be satisfied. Thus is hope both 
 the joy and the stimulus of all righteous young peo- 
 ple. It inclines them to self-respect, prudence, and 
 " patient continuance in well-doing." In clue time 
 the sweet hope ripens into fruition ; and love, home, 
 and competency are attained by them, and by no 
 others. Then other hopes come to cheer and en- 
 courage them, — hope for beautiful children, hope to 
 win the respect and confidence of the community, to 
 be useful in society, to help make the world better, 
 to continue in prosperity, to grow old gracefully, 
 and at last to depart in peace and rise to a higher 
 realm. For the righteous, and the}' only, have hope 
 even in death ; and to them_ alone are the eloquent 
 lines of Campbell 1 applicable, — 
 
 " Unfading hope, when life's last embers burn, 
 And soul to soul and dust to dust return, 
 Heaven to thy charge resigns the awful hour ; 
 Oh, then thy kingdom comes, immortal power! 
 What though each spark of earth-born rapture fly 
 The quivering lip, pale cheek, and closing eye, 
 Bright to the soul, thy seraph hands convey 
 The morning beams of life's eternal day. 
 Then, then, the triumph and the trance begin, 
 And all the phoenix spirit burns within. 
 
 1 Pleasures of Hope. 
 
THE HOPELESS. 51 
 
 Oh, deep, enchanting prelude to repose ; 
 The dawn of bliss, the twilight of our woes ! 
 We almost hear the parting spirit sigh, 
 It is a dread but glorious boon to die." 
 
 To a person entirely destitute of hope, the future 
 is all dark and gloomy. Such a person, having no 
 desire or expectation of any good time coming, 
 either in this world or the next, is in clanger of los- 
 ing self-respect, becoming indifferent to the welfare 
 of society, and sinking down into despair ; and this 
 is as low as any soul can go. Ma}' the good Lord 
 save us from hopelessness ! 
 
 But, thanks to a kind Providence, the world 
 abounds in hope. The glittering air-castles of the 
 young and the dream}' are built by hope. The 
 man}' millions of men and women who are patiently 
 working, watching, waiting, and bearing the heavy 
 burdens of poverty, disappointment, grief, or sick- 
 ness, are sustained and cheered by hope. . In fact, 
 the hope of attaining some good thing — a pleasant 
 home, the fruition of love, recovery from illness, go- 
 ing at last to heaven or Nirvana — is at times cher- 
 ished and enjoyed by almost every human being. 
 How can this be accounted for? Is righteousness 
 abundant, or do the wdcked indulge in hope ? Some 
 explanation is necessary. 
 
 It is said in the Old Testament, and repeated in 
 the New, that "there is none righteous; no, not 
 one." If by the righteous are meant absolutely holy 
 
52 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 and perfect people, the statement is correct. Xo 
 such saints, except perhaps Enoch and Elijah, exist, 
 or ever existed, on the earth. Even the best of 
 Christians, like Moses the man of God, sometimes 
 get out of the right wa}' ; and in all probability 
 there is no person that has not some good quality. 
 The obvious inference is, therefore, that the words 
 righteous and wicked, as used in Scripture, generally 
 have a comparative meaning, and denote the better 
 and the worse. Admit this, and all is clear. There 
 are degrees in hope. The more righteous, the 
 larger hope ; the more wicked, the less hope. Xo 
 one is entirelv virtuous, and hence no one is free 
 from anxiety ; no one is entirely vicious, and hence 
 no one is entirelv destitute of hope. Xo one has 
 more, no one less, than his moral condition merits. 
 What the world, what each person, needs, is not 
 more hope, but more righteousness. Attain the 
 virtue, and the hope will come as a result. 
 
 And the cheering fact should not be forgotten, 
 that no person, however good or bad, is crystallized 
 and incapable of change. It is possible for saints, 
 and, according to Milton, even angels, to fall from 
 grace, become sinners, and lose hope ; and for sin- 
 ners, by their own efforts and Divine aid, to reform, 
 become righteous, and attain a glorious hope. This 
 is conversion ; and instances of it are not uncommon. 
 Even the malefactor on the cross became so penitent 
 that Jesus gave him hope by saying, " This day 
 
THE HOPELESS. 53 
 
 shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Possibly some 
 sinners are so vile and weak that unaided the}' can- 
 not reform. Before the advent of Christ and the 
 'promulgation of the Gospel, nearly all mankind were 
 in this impotent condition, and multitudes still are. 
 But "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath 
 appeared to all men ; " and it is not a mere gor- 
 geous rainbow arching the sky, but a saving power. 
 The goodness of God leadeth sinners to repentance ; 
 and by this blessed means reformation is going on, 
 little by little, everywhere, all the time ; and hence 
 hope, the consequent of virtue, illumes the entire 
 world. Truth, manifest goodness, and faith give 
 birth to hope. 
 
 During the Sepoy rebellion in India, some twent}'- 
 five years ago, a detachment of the British army, led 
 by General Havelock, forced its wa} T into the be- 
 sieged city of Lucknow. The object was to relieve 
 the imprisoned English garrison ; but instead, the 
 enemy in countless numbers, commanded by the fero- 
 cious Nana Sahib, whom Jules Verne rightly styles 
 the " Demon of Cawnpore," closed in around the 
 town, and shut off all communication with the out- 
 side world. The new state of affairs was worse than 
 the old, because there were more to feed and more 
 to surfer. Escape was impossible, and to remain 
 there long was to die of starvation. The siege 
 continued through dreary weeks and months ; pro- 
 visions grew fearfully scarce ; to escape the missiles 
 
54 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of the foe, the garrison, was obliged to occupy un- 
 derground apartments ; disease set in, deaths were 
 frequent, and the situation was appalling. One 
 slender hope remained. The} T kn£w that a true sol- 
 dier never deserts or forgets his comrades, — knew 
 that the noble Sir Colin Campbell, then Commander- 
 in-Chief in India, would think of them, guess their 
 condition, and if possible, hasten to their relief. But 
 they also knew that he was far, far away, and that 
 he might not be able to fight his way to Lueknow. 
 Day after day, week after week, and month after 
 month wearily wore away, and the close-pent suffer- 
 ers sank deeper and deeper into despondency. 
 
 At last, after man} T had died, and all the living 
 were feeble, on the eighty-third day of the besiege- 
 ment, a sharp-eared young Scotchwoman suddenly 
 shouted, " They're coming; I can hear the slogan." 
 The slogan is the battle-cry, the war-whoop, of 
 Scotch soldiers, and General Campbell always had 
 with him a detachment of Highlanders. Her com- 
 panions sprang up and listened with bated breath, 
 but not hearing anything, sank again into the silence 
 of despair. They deemed her insane. But a minute 
 after, with greater animation, she cried out again, 
 " The Campbells are coming ; dinna ye hear the slo- 
 gan?" The sounds were nearer; and soon others, 
 and presently all, heard the joyous sounds of .shout- 
 ing thousands, and the roar of battle. Their friends 
 had indeed arrived ; and hope came like a flood of 
 
THE HOPELESS. 55 
 
 glory. Weak as the}' were, the}- sprang op, em- 
 braced each other, wept, laughed, and shouted. 
 General Campbell, with a large arm}', was near them, 
 was fighting for them, and they would soon be res- 
 cued. The hope ended in fruition. In a few hours 
 the siege was raised, and they were safe within the 
 British lines. 
 
 The entire human race was— and to a large extent 
 still is — imprisoned in ignorance, " under chains of 
 darkness," and perishing in the bondage of iniquity. 
 Escape by self-effort was impossible. Long, dreary, 
 painful, and hopeless was the inthralment. At 
 length, forty centuries after this desperate state of 
 affairs began, some listening Juchean shepherds in 
 the pastures near Bethlehem heard the slogan of 
 heaven, — the joyful shout of angels, — "Unto you 
 is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 
 which is Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. 11). It was 
 true ; redemption was at hand. The Captain of our 
 salvation had arrived with a force sufficient to van- 
 quish the foes of mankind and save the world. 
 Yes, the Deliverer had come. He taught, wrought, 
 suffered, died, rose, ascended to heaven. But this 
 was not all ; his mission was not an episode in his- 
 tory that soon ended. It was to be world-wide, and 
 to last till the end of time. He vanished from mortal 
 sight, but he left with his disciples a Gospel that 
 is the " power of God unto salvation." For nearly 
 nineteen hundred years this irresistible Gospel has 
 
56 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 been singing, shouting, glad tidings of great J03- 
 to all people. It makes known Divine love and 
 immortal life. It argues, pleads, and implores ; 
 and it bends a bright bow of hope over every one 
 that believeth. It assures sinners that the}' can 
 become righteous, and be " delivered from the bon- 
 dage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the 
 sons of God." But what of the people who thronged 
 the earth for four thousand years before the birth of 
 Christ, and the millions and millions who have since 
 lived and died in sin, without ever hearing a syllable 
 of the Gospel? Sir Colin Campbell saved all he 
 could, — saved all that were alive inLucknow; the 
 dead w-ere beyond his reach. We suppose God will 
 also save all He can. Are the dead beyond the 
 reach of His mercy ? This is the question we are 
 trying to answer ; and on it the passage under 
 review throws no light. It was written long before 
 the birth of the Saviour. 
 
SHEOL. 57 
 
 VII. 
 
 SHEOL. 
 
 " The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that 
 forget God:' — Ps. ix. 17. 
 
 'HP WO things are manifest : first, there is a hell ; 
 second, the wicked, and all the nations that for- 
 get God, are turned (thrust down) into it. It has 
 long been generally believed that hell is a place, 
 and the most awful place in the universe ; and that 
 being thrust into hell is the Divine punishment for 
 sin, and the most horrible punishment that even God 
 can inflict. We shudder at the bare thought of 
 an} 7 soul being doomed to this realm of woe ; and 
 in fear for ourselves and pity for others, we can- 
 not refrain from asking, Is the common belief cor- 
 rect? Is there no mistake about it? What and 
 where is hell? It is certain that the space-pene- 
 trating telescope has not brought it to view, and the 
 miner's shaft has not reached it : and neither reason 
 nor science can tell us anything about it. But we 
 are not left in utter ignorance on the subject. The 
 Bible contains reliable information concerning hell ; 
 and if we study its sacred pages in a candid and 
 scholarly manner, we may learn all we need to know 
 
58 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 respecting this terrible realm. The learned and 
 orthodox Dr. Campbell said, "When we speak as 
 Christians, we express by the word hell the place of 
 punishment of the wicked after the general judg- 
 ment." This definition of hell is quoted in Worces- 
 ter's Quarto Dictionary ; and without doubt it is 
 substantially correct. Now, what does the Bible 
 say about this fearful place, how many times is it 
 mentioned, and what was its Hebrew name? To 
 these questions we can find explicit answers, and 
 thus obtain a correct idea of the Bible doctrine 
 of hell. 
 
 The Old Testament was originally written in the 
 Hebrew language ; and the only word in it that is, 
 or can be, translated hell is Sheol. This word oc- 
 curs sixty-five times : in thirty-one instances it is 
 rendered hell ; in thirty-one, grave ; in three, pit. If 
 this word actually does designate "the place of 
 punishment of the wicked after the general judg- 
 ment," it is very strange that King James's transla- 
 tors, in a majority of texts, did not render it JtelL 
 It shows that the}' had pretty strong doubts about 
 its real meaning. As a matter of fact, the word 
 has several shades of significance, and is used to 
 denote different though related things as a careful 
 investigation will show. 
 
 In Gesenius's Hebrew Lexicon the primary mean- 
 ing of SJieol is said to be "the under- world ; " but 
 to realize the import of this definition, we must call 
 
SHEOL. 59 
 
 to mind the ancient idea of the universe. Accord- 
 ing to the Ptolemaic theor} T , the earth was the grand, 
 immovable centre, and around it the sun, moon, and 
 stars revolved. The flat surface of the earth divided 
 all space into two parts or realms, the upper and the 
 lower ; and by this division there were three locali- 
 ties, — the region above, the surface of the earth, 
 and the region below. The upper region, realm, or 
 world was heaven, or the heavens. In the opinion 
 of some people there were three heavens, one above 
 another. The lowest heaven was the atmosphere in 
 which the birds fly and the clouds float. Above 
 this, and resting upon it, was the second heaven, — 
 the pure blue sky in which the stellar spheres moved 
 on in their lofty courses. Above the crystal arch of 
 the sky, and resting on its transparent ceiling, was 
 the third heaven, — the heaven of heavens ; the high 
 and holy place, in which was the home, the throne, the 
 court of God, and the abodes of the blessed immor- 
 tals. Of course no one had a very definite idea of 
 the heavens ; but something like this must have been 
 the imaginary outline of the upper regions. It was 
 this third heaven to which Saint Paul knew a man 
 caught up, and in which he saw things that human 
 language is not adequate to describe. It was this 
 heaven that Stephen, the first martyr, saw opened, 
 revealing Christ standing at the right hand of God. 
 It was to this heaven that the angels went, after 
 making known to the shepherds the birth of Jesus. 
 
60 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 And it was up to this heaven that dreaming Jacob 
 saw the ladder reach, on which the angels descended 
 and ascended. It was a pure, beautiful, glorious 
 abode for God and His spiritual family to dwell in, 
 but not for man. We can recall no passage in the 
 Old Testament that intimates that any man ever 
 prayed or expected to go up to this high heaven after 
 death. The ancient Jews do not seem to have been 
 cheered by even the faintest hope of a blessed 
 immortality. If at death, as Solomon said, the 
 spirit returns to God from whom it came, it was 
 not as a person, but as an impersonal life or divine 
 essence. 
 
 In the under-world, the immense realm below the 
 surface of the earth, the ancient Hebrews full}' be- 
 lieved, though their idea of it was vague and indefi- 
 nite. No human eye could see it, and no person 
 had ever come from it to give a description of its 
 characteristics. It seemed to be a vast, dark, silent, 
 shadowy, lifeless realm, undescribecl because inde- 
 scribable. This gloomy region the writers of the Old 
 Testament called Sheol, a word signifying "the under- 
 world ; " and Sheol appears to have been the only- 
 suitable name which their language afforded. It 
 was into Sheol that the wicked were turned, with 
 all the nations that forget God. 
 
 Sheol, however, like most substantives in all lan- 
 guages, had a secondary meaning, — w ' the grave, the 
 state or realm of the dead." And it very naturally 
 
SHEOL. 61 
 
 attained this secondaiy sense. In Palestine, as in 
 most other countries, the bodies of deceased persons 
 were either buried or placed in natural or artificial 
 caves, caverns, tombs. In either case the corpse, 
 the dead person, was below the surface of the 
 earth, and therefore in Sheol, the under- world. In 
 itself, Sheol does not mean "grave;" but as the 
 grave is in Sheol, it sometimes significantly took 
 the name, — a part expressed by the whole. All the 
 dead were, and all the living were soon to be, in 
 the same lower realm, in Sheol. In thirt} T -one in- 
 stances in the Old Testament the word is very 
 properly rendered grave; and a similar rendering in 
 other passages might give us a better idea of the 
 original. 
 
 All the dead were in Sheol, but none of them 
 experienced pain or pleasure. Like shadows, they 
 saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing, thought, 
 did nothing. Solomon said (Eccl. ix. 10) : u What- 
 soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy 
 might ; for there is no work or device or wisdom or 
 knowledge in Sheol, whither thou goest." Perfect 
 quiet, silence, and indifference reign supreme. Yet 
 in one passage of Scripture, in the figurative lan- 
 guage of poetry, a momentary shiver of animation 
 is excited in the dead. When a mighty king of 
 Babylon died and entered Sheol, the event was of 
 such thrilling interest that it was reported (Isa. xiv. 
 9, 10) : - 
 
62 THR UGH THE SHADO WS. 
 
 " Sheol is in commotion on account of thee, 
 
 To meet thee at thy coming; 
 
 It stirreth up before thee the shades, all the mighty of 
 the earth. 
 
 It arouseth from their thrones all the kings of the 
 nations. 
 
 They all accost thee, and say, 
 
 Art thou become weak as we ? 
 
 Art thou become like us ? 
 
 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, 
 
 And the sound of thy harps. 
 
 Vermin have become thy couch, 
 
 And earth-worms thy covering. 
 
 How art thou fallen from heaven ! 
 
 O Lucifer, son of the morning! 
 
 How art thou cast down to the ground, 
 
 Thou that didst trample on the nations! " * 
 
 Of course this is not to be taken as a literal de- 
 scription ; but it contains a glimpse of the ancient 
 notions of Sheol. A great event stirs its weak and 
 quiet ghosts into commotion, to sink again into 
 their usual stupor, from which only a poet's pen can 
 arouse them. 
 
 Sheol being the home of the dead, dying was 
 sometimes called " going down to Sheol." This, to 
 an aged person burdened wdth decrepitude and un- 
 able to enjoy the activities of life, was rather a 
 pleasant prospect. It seemed like lying down in 
 peace and lapsing into perfect repose. But to the 
 
 1 Noyes's Translation. 
 
SHEOL. ' 63 
 
 young, just beginning to taste the sweet joys of 
 earth, to the middle-aged with life's work only half 
 done, and even to the elderly whose minds were 
 harassed by recollections of their evil deeds, dying — 
 going to Sheol — appeared to be the worst of all 
 calamities, the very king of terrors. The patri- 
 arch Jacob, believing his clear son Joseph had been 
 slain by ferocious beasts, said (Gen. xxxvii. 35), 
 "I shall go down to Sheol, to my son, mourning." 
 The idea is, the darling son is in Sheol, and grief 
 for his earl}' death will bring the father down to the 
 same joyless realm. In itself death was not an evil, 
 but the circumstances attending death were, in this 
 and man}' another case, very melancholy. This is 
 the first passage in the Bible in which Sheol is men- 
 tioned ; and it certainty does not here mean " the 
 place of punishment of the wicked after the final judg- 
 ment." Instead, it means, as it is rendered, "the 
 grave." Similar language is employed in speaking 
 of the possible death of Benjamin, the other son of 
 beloved Eachel. When his other sons insisted on 
 taking Benjamin with them to Egypt, Jacob said to 
 them (Gen. xlii. 38), " If any mischief befall him 
 by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring my 
 gra\' hairs with sorrow to Sheol ! " In other words, 
 the death of the son would be a fatal blow to the 
 father ; he would die of grief. Not death, but an 
 untimely death, is the sad event anticipated. And 
 this thought throws light on the statement of the 
 
64 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Psalmist: " The wicked shall be turned into Sheol, 
 and all the nations that forget God." The sinful 
 shall not live to ripe longevity, and depart in peace ; 
 he shall die untimely and perhaps by violence. The 
 same destiny awaits ungody nations ; they are swept 
 into the gulf of ruin, and disappear. It is the law of 
 God and the order of nature, that sin should shorten 
 life. 
 
 Sheol appears to have had still another meaning. 
 In the sense of " grave," Sheol being a realm of 
 darkness, joylessness, and foul corruption, the word 
 was sometimes and very naturally used to designate 
 a miserable condition. Hence Jonah (ii. 2) calls 
 the stomach of the fish in which he was so miserably 
 imprisoned, u the belly of Sheol." On one occasion, 
 when in great affliction, King David said (Ps. cxvi. 
 3), " The sorrows of death compassed me, and the 
 pains of Sheol gat hold upon me : I found sorrow 
 and trouble." He felt as badly as a dying man. 
 Again, alluding probably to the same depressed con- 
 dition, he says (Ps. lxxxvi. 13), " Thou hast de- 
 livered my soul from the lowest Sheol," and this, too, 
 before his death. It was not a place, but a condition, 
 from which he was delivered. In speaking of the 
 debasing influence of the "strange woman," it is 
 said (Prov. ix. 18), " Her guests are in the depths 
 of Sheol," — as low as men can be. 
 
 These are the three meanings of the word Sheol : 
 (1) The under-world ; (2) The grave or realm of the 
 
SHEOL. 65 
 
 dead ; (3) The miserable condition of a wicked per- 
 son in the present life. The name may have had 
 some other shade of figurative sense ; but as the 
 writers of the Old Testament had apparently no 
 faith in human immortality, they could not and did 
 not speak of Sheol as " the place of punishment of 
 the wicked after the general judgment." They 
 knew of no such place, and hence they had no name 
 for such a place. The general opinion, or rather 
 feeling of the ancient Jews w r as without doubt 
 accurately expressed in Job vii. 9 : " As the cloud 
 is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth 
 down to Sheol shall come up no more." Death was 
 the finality ; there was nothing beyond. But what- 
 ever Sheol was, it was or is to be put out of exist- 
 ence. God is reported to have said through the 
 pen of Hosea (xiii. 14), "O Sheol, I will be thy 
 destruction." This ends the thing, and exhausts the 
 subject. There is no word in the Hebrew Old 
 Testament that means hell as a place of torment 
 after the general judgment. It is true the word 
 hell occurs thirteen times in the revised Old 
 Testament. The reason given by the revisers for 
 retaining the ugly word is that its meaning is so 
 obvious that it can lead to no misunderstanding. 
 For example, (Jonah ii. 2) " Out of the belly of hell, 
 cried I." No one can suppose that this means any- 
 thing but the belly of the u great fish." So in Isa. 
 xiv. 9, " Hell from beneath is moved to meet thee 
 
 5 
 
66 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 at thy coming," the language is so manifestly figur- 
 ative that no one can be misled. The truth is, the 
 ripest scholarship of the nineteenth century blots 
 from the Old Testament the idea of hell as a place 
 of torment. 
 
 In God's dealings with the chosen people in an- 
 cient times, the policy of retribution was in full 
 operation. Great and precious promises were made 
 to the righteous, and terrible punishments were 
 threatened for the wicked ; but both the rewards 
 and the chastisements were earthly and temporal. 
 The blessings for virtue were peace and prosperity, 
 health and longevity, a good name and true friends, 
 and in time of trouble, the presence and assistance 
 of the Lord. The penalties for persistent sin were 
 the withdrawal of these favors, and the infliction of 
 famine, pestilence, war, defeat, captivity ^ and bond- 
 age in a foreign land. All these are mentioned many 
 times in the Old Testament ; but it does not contain 
 a single distinct enunciation of joj's or sorrows after 
 death, for the righteous or the wicked. The results 
 of this policy are related in the melancholy pages of 
 Jewish history ; and that this was the stern policy 
 of the Jewish dispensation, no candid reader of the 
 Bible can doubt. No Sheol punishment is hinted at, 
 except, if at all, as an affair of the present life. 
 
 This is a significant, a remarkable, fact ; and in 
 view of it an honest man can hardly refrain from 
 inquiring : If there is a place for the punishment of 
 
SHEOL. 67 
 
 the wicked after the general judgment, from which 
 there is no escape possible, and if the large majority 
 of mankind — the wicked and all the nations that for- 
 get God — were ever in imminent danger of being 
 thrust into the fearful place, and if any amount of 
 warning to flee from the wrath to come could have 
 availed to iiiduce some, even though a few, to repent 
 and escape, why were not the Hebrew prophets in- 
 spired frequently to mention the awful place, and 
 plainly depict its eternal anguish? Why did our 
 Father maintain entire reticence on this all-important 
 subject for four thousand years, and thus permit 
 hundreds of millions of His children, whom a timely 
 warning might have frightened into obedience, to 
 sin away the last day of grace and sink to ever- 
 lasting woe? Only one plausible answer can be 
 given : There is no place for the punishment of the 
 wicked after their death, and there is no endless 
 perdition in store for any soul. We distinctly warn 
 our children of eveiy danger to which the}- are ex- 
 posed ; and God is better than we. He has, even in 
 the Old Testament. 
 
68 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 VIII 
 
 HADES. 
 
 " In hell [Hades] he lifted up his eyes, being in torment" — 
 Luke xvi. 23. 
 
 TRAILING to find in the Old Testament any name 
 for the place "of punishment of the wicked 
 after the general judgment," we turn to the New. 
 As has already been shown, Sheol, the only Hebrew 
 word ever rendered hell, signifies (1) the under- 
 world, all the space below the surface of the earth ; 
 (2) the grave, — the quiet, silent, painless, joyless 
 resting-place of the dead ; and (3) a miserable con- 
 dition of the body or mind. Finding, further, that 
 no inspired writer, from Moses to Malachi, gives an}' 
 assurance that any person will go to heaven after 
 death, and that the only inference to be deduced 
 from the Prophets is that all persons must at last 
 descend into the peace and rest of Sheol, — we go to 
 the New Testament for more light. 
 
 In the interval of time between the age of Mala- 
 chi and the age of Matthew, the Jewish nation ex- 
 perienced sad reverses and great changes. It had 
 been ruled by Persia, Greece, and Home, and had 
 
HADES. 69 
 
 learned something of the religion, theology, mythol- 
 ogy, and philosophy of each of these nations. It 
 had felt the thrill of that awaking age that gave to 
 the world Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, Plato, and 
 Aristotle ; and its people had learned to read, speak, 
 and write the copious and beautiful Greek language ; 
 above all, it had been blessed hy the advent of the 
 world's Eecleemer. Of course, we may expect to find 
 in the Christian Scriptures some things not taught 
 in the Jewish. What, then, is the New Testament 
 doctrine of hell? What is its name in Greek, where 
 is it located, and what are its characteristics ? 
 
 The New Testament was originally written in the 
 Greek language, and in its text there are three words 
 translated hell in our English version, — Gehenna, 
 occurring twelve times ; Hades, eleven times ; and 
 Tartarus, once : in all, twenty-four times. These 
 are the only words in the Greek New Testament 
 that are or can be rendered hell. Three different 
 names are certainly enough to designate any one 
 place ; but it is passing strange that in a book 
 written expressly, as some suppose, to tell us how 
 Jesus came, taught, and died to save people from 
 going to hell, the name of the awful place should be 
 mentioned only two dozen times ! Many a faithful 
 clergyman has repeated the word more times in 
 one sermon than it is found in all the writings of 
 the Apostles. But the ominous words are in the 
 Bible, and our chief concern at present is to ascertain 
 
70 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 their import. What is, or was, Hades, the place in 
 which the dead rich man in the parable was in 
 torments ? 
 
 In most of the printed Greek New Testaments 
 the word Hades occurs in 1 Cor. xv. 55 ; but in 
 the opinion of the best modern critics, the word 
 which Saint Paul wrote was not Hades, but thanate, 
 death ; and believing this, the learned authors of the 
 Ke vised Version translate the passage, fci death, 
 where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" 
 Probably this is correct; and if so, Hades is men- 
 tioned but ten times in the New Testament. 
 
 In his speech on the memorable clay of Pentecost, 
 Saint Peter (Acts ii. 27, 31) twice quotes Ps. xvi. 
 10: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither 
 wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption." 
 In the psalm the word rendered hell is Shecl;"m 
 Saint Peter's Greek translation it is Hades. In the 
 mind of the Apostle, SJteol and Hades were one and 
 the same. As already shown, Sheol never signifies 
 hell, and of course Hades in these two instances does 
 not mean hell ; evidently it signifies grave. Saint 
 Peter quotes the passage as a prophecy of the res- 
 urrection of Christ: " Thou wilt not leave my soul 
 [i. e., me] in the grave, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy 
 Holy One to see [undergo the] corruption" incident 
 to a buried corpse. From this Peter infers the resur- 
 rection of Jesus, and nothing more. Omitting these 
 two instances as not hinting a hell, there remain 
 
HADES. 71 
 
 only nine passages in the New Testament in which 
 Hades is rendered hell. What does it mean in these 
 passages? 
 
 About b. c. 280 some seventy learned Jewish 
 rabbis translated the Hebrew Old Testament into 
 Greek. We have this translation. It is called the 
 Septuagint. In this version, in sixty-one of the 
 sixty-five places in which Sheol occurs, it is ren- 
 dered Hades. This fact shows that the learned men 
 of that age supposed the two words had one and the 
 same meaning. This Greek version of the Old Tes- 
 tament was in common use among the Jews in the 
 days of Jesus, and was quoted by him and his Apos- 
 tles, and thus approved as correct. Bearing in mind 
 the fact that Hades, like Sheol, never has the mean- 
 ing of the English word hell, we are prepared to 
 examine and understand the eight other passages in 
 which it occurs : — 
 
 Matt. xi. 23: " And thou, Capernaum, which 
 art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to 
 Hades." When these words were spoken, Caper- 
 naum was a wealth}* and flourishing city ; but it had 
 not literally been u exalted unto heaven." It was a 
 wicked town, and hence destined to become small 
 and miserable, but not literally to be '-brought 
 down to Hades." The manifest meaning is that the 
 city was to be brought down from great prosperity 
 to poverty and wretchedness. The terms heaven and 
 Hades are used metaphorically ; and there is not 
 
72 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 the remotest allusion to the after-cleath location or 
 condition of any human soul. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 18: "Thou art Peter [a rock], and 
 upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates 
 of Hades shall not prevail against it." The language 
 is still figurative, and the allusion is to Hades as the 
 grave, the realm of the dead. Death is the gate — 
 all deaths are gates, entrances to the grave — to 
 Hades. " Gates of Hades," therefore, means death. 
 Death is represented as the enemy and destroyer of 
 men and human institutions. It has swept away 
 and consigned to oblivion man}' a religious sect, 
 many a theory, church, chyv, and nation. But the 
 Church of Christ was not to perish, not to be over- 
 thrown, but to live and flourish forever. This is 
 evidently what Jesus meant, and all he meant. 
 Hence this verse does not contain even an allusion 
 to " the place of punishment of the wicked after the 
 general judgment." 
 
 Luke x. 15: "And thou, Capernaum, which art 
 exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to Hades." 
 This statement is the same as that in Matt. xi. 23, 
 which has already been quoted and explained. 
 
 "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither 
 wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." 
 Acts ii. 27, 31. 
 
 "He [King David] spake of the resurrection of 
 Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, neither 
 his flesh did see corruption." Vide Ps. xvi. 10. 
 
HADES. 73 
 
 These two passages have been commented upon 
 already ; but the exact fulfilment of the prophecy is 
 wortlry of notice. Jesus died on Friday, and was 
 immediately placed in a tomb. But early on the 
 following Sunday morning, without any taint of dis- 
 solution, he arose, and left the tomb, to live forever- 
 more. This is the historical fact. The Apostle was 
 trying to persuade the Jews that the crucified and 
 risen Jesus was their promised Messiah ; and his 
 explanation of the words of King David must have 
 convinced his candid hearers. Whatever word the 
 Apostle used, it is quite evident that he was not 
 thinking of hell in the orthodox sense of perdition. 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 55: u O death, where is thy sting? 
 grave, where is thy victory?" As stated before, 
 the revisers of the New Testament substituted death 
 for grave; but as some may still believe that the 
 original word was Hades, a few words of explanation 
 ma} T be needful. Having stated and elucidated the 
 doctrine of the resurrection of all mankind from the 
 grave, he closes with the triumphant exclamation, 
 " O grave, or realm of death, where is thy victory? 
 Thy prisoners are all gone, and thy dark domain is 
 empty," There is no allusion to hell. In fact, Saint 
 Paul never uses the word Hades in any of his epistles. 
 Possibly he did not believe in hell. 
 
 Rev. i. 18 : " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; 
 and, behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the 
 ke} T s of Hades and of death." We humbly confess 
 
74 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 that as a whole we do not understand Saint John's 
 Revelation ; and we are inclined to believe that no 
 one in modern times fully grasps all its deep mean- 
 ing. To us the book seems like a grand panorama, 
 in which the scenes are all striking, and some very 
 beautiful ; but not all are intelligible. Perhaps a 
 person can be a real Christian and not comprehend 
 all the mysterious visions seen in the isle of Pat- 
 mos. It is clear, however, that in the passage above 
 quoted, the speaker is our risen Lord. In his glori- 
 fied state he has at least two ke}s, — that is, instru- 
 mentalities by which to unlock and open. One is 
 the key of death, by which he has opened the solemn 
 mystery of death, and shown to us its nature and 
 operation. He came to abolish death, and bring 
 to light life immortal. He said, " Whosoever liveth 
 and believe th in me shall never die." Death is the 
 sloughing off of the animal body ; the spirit never 
 dies. It has a spiritual body, and lives on forever. 
 This is the revealment of Christ. The other opening 
 instrumentality is the key of Hades. What does that 
 mean? To our mind, the supposition that Hades is 
 a close-walled prison, that its doors or gates are 
 locked, that Christ is the janitor and has the key 
 to unlock its " adamantine portals," is a theory that 
 seems too unreasonable, materialistic, and absurd 
 to be worthy of comment or serious thought. But 
 the supposition that Hades is the realm of the dead, 
 and that Christ by his resurrection opened the 
 
HADES. 75 
 
 imaginary Hadean world and left it open, — that he 
 has, lie is, the key, and that his going out of the 
 tomb broke the bolt, " burst the bars," and disclosed 
 the reality of a continuous and spiritual life for 
 all the human race, — seems to us Scriptural, rea- 
 sonable, and satisfactory ; and we adopt it without 
 further investigation. 
 
 Rev. vi. 8 : u I looked, and behold a pale horse ; 
 and his name that sat on him was Death ; and 
 Hades followed with him." This, of course, is figur- 
 ative language. The pale horse, its rider, and 
 their follower were not real things, but symbolical 
 representations of future events. It is easy to sup- 
 pose that they meant the pale disease, death that 
 accompanies disease, and the grave or under- world 
 that closes over the dead. That this is the mean- 
 ing is evident from the context : " And power was 
 given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to 
 kill with sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the 
 earth." There is no allusion to anything in a future 
 life. 
 
 Rev. xx. 13, 14: "And the sea gave up the 
 dead that was in it, and death and Hades deliv- 
 ered up the dead that were in them. And death 
 and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." In the 
 chapter on the " Second Death," we shall give this 
 startling dramatic scene a careful examination ; but 
 our present task is to find the meaning of Hades. 
 It is however worthy of notice, that this is the last 
 
76 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 passage in the Bible in which the word occurs, and 
 it describes the last end of Hades. It is not, as some 
 have supposed, a lake of fire, but a something out- 
 side of the lake and distinct from it, — a something 
 that is to be cast into the lake of fire, and there lose 
 its identity and cease to exist. It and its precur- 
 sor, death, are to share the same fate, — extinction. 
 This is a Scriptural doctrine. Death and the grave, 
 the state of the dead, are transient. There was a 
 time, before the earth was peopled, when neither 
 existed ; and there is a time coming when both 
 will again cease to exist. Saint Paul asserts that 
 " death, the last enem} T , shall be destroyed," and all 
 the dead be raised. There will then be no realm of 
 the dead, no peopled under-world, no Hades. This 
 is the promise of the Gospel and the hope of the 
 Church. 
 
 In the ten passages quoted, it seems to us that no 
 candid person can find even a hint that Hades is 
 the name of the place for the endless punishment of 
 the wicked after the final Judgment. But there is 
 one passage more in which the word occurs ; and 
 in that solitar\ T passage we must find, if at all, the 
 proof that Hades is the Greek equivalent of hell, as 
 hell is defined in our best dictionary. It is in the 
 parable, or story, of the rich man and Lazarus. 
 
 Luke xvi. 23 : " In Hades he lifted up his eyes, 
 being in torments." Here perhaps the ct missing 
 link," the needful proof, may be found. The state- 
 
HADES. 77 
 
 ment is certainly very clear and concise. A rich 
 man dies and is buried, bat presently finds himself 
 alive in Hades. Other living people are there, 
 and with one of them he converses. He is in tor- 
 ment in a flame of fire. His tongue is parched and 
 painful. He wants water, but there is no water 
 within his reach. There is a canon, or gulf, that 
 bisects the place, and all the water is on the side 
 opposite to him. He begs Abraham to send him 
 some water — a drop, if no more — to cool his 
 tongue ; but the Patriarch says that such a thing 
 should not and cannot be done. The curtain falls, 
 and the burning victim is left there to suffer — " O 
 Lord, how long?" In his Commentary, Dr. Adam 
 Clarke says : u This is either a true story or a parable. 
 If a true story, it tells w T hat has been ; if a parable, 
 what may be." If this learned Methodist divine 
 was right, the point is settled : Hades is the place 
 of punishment of the wicked by fire. But before 
 giving up the controversy, several facts should be 
 considered. 
 
 1. This is the only, passage in the Bible that 
 speaks of Hades or Sheol as a place of punishment. 
 These names occur more than seventy times ; yet in 
 no instance except this, is there any allusion to tor- 
 ment. If Hades is a penal realm, it can be proved 
 only by this solitary passage. This is getting the 
 subject down to a pretty fine point. If the usus 
 loquendi of a word is worth considering, if there is 
 
78 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 any force in numbers, the chances are seventy to one 
 that Plades does not mean a place for punishment, 
 and that the passage under consideration is not to 
 be taken literally, but figuratively. 
 
 2. Even in this passage Hades indicates the 
 under- world, the realm of the dead. u The rich 
 man died and was buried ; and in Hades he lifted 
 up his eyes " and spake. There had been no resur- 
 rection and no general judgment. Alike he and 
 Lazarus and Abraham were in Hades, and within 
 speaking distance of each other. They were in the 
 same realm, though separated b}' a deep chasm. 
 This fact, is not in accordance with Evangelical 
 theology, but opposed to it. 
 
 3. Taken as a literal statement of what has been 
 or may be, no moral can be deduced from the stoiw, 
 except perhaps that it is dangerous to be rich and 
 indulge in luxuries, and that those who are poor, 
 sick, and " full of sores " ma}' hope to be carried to 
 Abraham's bosom ! There is no intimation that the 
 poor man had, or the rich man had not, believed and 
 been baptized, repented, prayed, been converted, 
 born again, forgiven, or washed in the atoning blood 
 of the Lamb. In neither of these ways does it urge 
 us to u escape from hell and fly to heaven." Ap- 
 plied to individuals, it has no practical value, and 
 is therefore, in this light, unworthy the lips of the 
 great Teacher. 
 
 4. The idea that Hades is a place in which there 
 
HADES. 79 
 
 is torment was not known by the ancient Hebrew 
 prophets, nor was it revealed by Christ. It was, 
 however, believed before his birth, and appears to 
 have been of pagan origin. It was a theory of the 
 ancient Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. 
 It is distinctly stated in the writings of Homer and 
 Virgil, and alluded to in other ancient books. The 
 size and shape of Hades are not definitely given by 
 any author ; but by collecting the statements of the 
 poets and mythologists of the olden time, a tolerably 
 distinct outline may be obtained. Hades, the realm 
 of the dead, — not their bodies, but their ghosts or 
 shadows, — is below the dark realms of Gimme ria and 
 Erebus, in the cavernous bowels of the earth. It is 
 a sloping plain, divided into two parts, the higher 
 and the lower. The upper portion is Elysium, the 
 Elysian fields, Paradise, — a beautiful and pleasant 
 region, wherein dwell the worthy dead. The lower 
 part is Tartarus, — a horrible region encircled by the 
 black Cocytus, a river formed by the salt tears of 
 the unwortlry dead. Through this infernal region 
 rolls flaming Phlegethon, a river of fire, in which are 
 tormented the ghosts of the damned. This mon- 
 strous myth, it is said, originated in Egypt before 
 the age of Moses ; but as it was borne to other lands 
 it was modified to suit the imaginations of the people 
 by whom it was repeated. As tales of horror and 
 woe are quite sure to be told far and near, to receive 
 a patient if not an eager hearing, and to be regarded 
 
80 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 as true by the ignorant, it is quite probable that, in 
 common with other nations, many of the Jews in 
 the first century of our era held this or a somewhat 
 similar idea of Hades to be genuine truth. At the 
 present time, however, very few intelligent Christians 
 believe in such a place or such a doom for the 
 " finally impenitent." 
 
 5. This, Hades, is the word, and the signification 
 of the word, rendered hell in the passage under con- 
 sideration. It is true that Jesus used this word ; 
 but the supposition that he believed the heathen 
 myth to be a reality — believed that a certain dead 
 man found himself in a flame of fire, and begged 
 Abraham to send another dead man with water for 
 his burning tongue — is not only utterly absurd, 
 but disgusting. We cannot think that the Son of 
 God believed in a pagan myth. We are obliged to 
 suppose that he used a common word and a com- 
 mon notion, not to indorse the notion, but rather 
 to express and emphasize an important truth, — the 
 truth, perhaps, that the rich, proud, bigoted Jewish 
 hierarchy was doomed to an awful and final fate, and 
 that the Gentiles, poor in faith and hope, and sore 
 with the evils of heathenism, were to be raised to 
 the felicit} r of the Abrahamic faith. Evidently the 
 ston T of the rich man and Lazarus is not an account 
 of anything that has been or may be, but is a par- 
 able woven from the then current notions of the 
 mythical Hades. 
 
HADES. 81 
 
 Thus it appears that not one of the ten passages 
 of Scripture in which Hades occurs, was intended 
 to reveal a place or condition of punishment for the 
 wicked after the general judgment. In the Revised 
 Version of the New Testament the word hell is not 
 found in one of these passages, Hades being left 
 unchanged. This is honest and fair. There may be 
 a hell, a place of endless misery ; but neither Sheol 
 nor Hades is its Bible name. This is the decision 
 of the ripest Christian scholarship of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 A brief notice of one more passage properly be- 
 longs to this chapter: (2 Peter ii. 4) "God spared 
 not the angels that sinned, but cast them down 
 to Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of 
 darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." This 
 statement has not much bearing upon the subject 
 we are considering. It is found in an epistle re- 
 specting whose authenticity there has long been no 
 small doubt. It treats of sinning augels, a class of 
 beings never alluded to by the Master, — persons 
 in wiiose history we are not particularly interested. 
 This is the only place in the Bible in which Tartarus 
 is mentioned ; and no argument of much weight can 
 be sustained hy a single and difficult text. Peter 
 does not seem to regard Tartarus as a place of pun- 
 ishment, but rather as a prison in which certain an- 
 gels are kept, not in fire but in darkness, until the 
 time of judgment. If, as shown above, Hades is 
 
 6 
 
82 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 a fictitious place, then Tartarus, the lower part of 
 Hades, is also a fictitious and not a real locality. 
 Finally, Tartarus is not relied upon as the Greek 
 name of hell by anybody. The terrible Bible name 
 of the realm of woe must be Gehenna, if it has a 
 name ; but the examination of that fearful appellative 
 is reserved for the next chapter. 
 
GEHENNA. 83 
 
 IX. 
 
 GEHENNA. 
 
 An evil tongue " defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the 
 course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [Gehenna]." — James 
 iii. 6. 
 
 AS we commence the examination of the only other 
 word in the Bible that is or can be rendered 
 helU our sense of responsibility' becomes oppressive 
 and almost appalling. If there is a place of inter- 
 minable woe to which sinners are in clanger of going, 
 and if belief in such a realm lessens the danger of 
 going thither, and we frame a plausible argument 
 disproving the existence of such a world and doom, 
 and even one soul is so misled by our logic as to 
 be forever lost, we commit an unpardonable sin, — a 
 crime that we shall never cease to regret. We are 
 unwilling to perpetrate so great a wrong. Would it 
 not be better for us to stop here and barn our manu- 
 script, than to go on and so mislead or confuse un- 
 wary souls that the}' may blunder down to everlasting 
 woe? Yes, certainly. We pause. But on reflection 
 we perceive another aspect to this momentous sub- 
 ject. If the doctrine of unending sin and suffering 
 is false ; if it is but the hideous dream of supersti- 
 
84 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 tion ; if no soul ever was in danger of a destin}' so 
 terrible ; if the Infinite Love is eventually to instruct, 
 reform, purify, and save all mankind, — the glorious 
 fact should be made known to every human being, 
 that the Divine goodness niay no longer be doubted, 
 and that timid people may not sink down in despair 
 and become insane through fear of such a wrath to 
 come. Bearing in mind both of these considerations, 
 let us reverently proceed. 
 
 "We have already shown that, as used in the Bible, 
 neither Sheol, Hades, nor that part of Hades called 
 Tartarus, signifies hell. Onlv one other word in the 
 Scriptures is or can be translated hell, and that word 
 is Gehenna. It is not in the Old Testament, but it 
 occurs twelve times in the New Testament ; and in 
 every instance it is rendered hell, even in the Revised 
 Version. Here then is a name respecting whose 
 meaning evangelical divines seem to have no doubt. 
 But all Christendom has believed in some things that 
 are now generally doubted, — ghosts and witches, for 
 example ; and it is not certain that even wise and 
 pious men have yet arrived at a full knowledge of ail 
 truth. We cannot avoid asking, Who coined the 
 ominous word Gehenna ? What was at first meant 
 by it? And what change in significance, if any, has 
 it undergone? But before trying to answer these 
 questions, let us notice a few facts : — 
 
 1. It is a remarkable fact that Gehenna occurs 
 only twelve times in the entire Greek New Testa- 
 
GEHENNA. 85 
 
 ment. This book has as much reading matter as a 
 dozen long sermons; it contains the "gospel, the 
 power of God unto salvation ;" it is our light, guide, 
 and standard ; and it reveals all man needs to know 
 about his duty and destiny. If Jesus and his first 
 disciples believed in a place for everlasting punish- 
 ment called Gehenna, and if they deemed a belief in 
 such a place essential to salvation, it is very strange 
 the name does not more frequently appear In the 
 writings of the Apostles. Believers in this doctrine 
 are not often so reticent. Few other religious books 
 of its size, written by Evangelical Christians in mod- 
 ern times, are so nearly destitute of a name for the 
 realm of unending woe. To a candid mind this fact 
 brings a doubt that Orthodoxy cannot remove : ' ' Per- 
 haps the inspired writers did not know that Gehenna 
 meant hell! " 
 
 2. The New Testament contains twent} T -seven 
 books ; and it is a remarkable fact that Gehenna 
 is found in only four of them, — namel}', Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and James. Neither Jude in his brief 
 letter, nor Peter in his two epistles, nor John the be- 
 loved disciple in his Gospel, his Revelation, or his 
 three epistles, nor Paul the Rabbi in his thirteen, 
 penned the word even ofrce. Luke wrote an extended 
 account of the Acts — tjiat is, the sayings and doings 
 — of the Apostles, yet found no occasion to use the 
 fearful name. Paul affirms that he " shunned not 
 to declare all the counsel of God," yet he did not 
 
86 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 mention Gehenna. What does this mean ? What can 
 it mean, except that in the estimation of the apostolic 
 writers it was not a word of any great importance in 
 the Christian religion, and was not the name of a 
 place to which sinners were in danger of going after 
 death ? 
 
 3. So far as we know, Jesus in his three years' 
 ministry uttered the word only eleven times, — on an 
 average, less than once in three months. If his mis- 
 sion was to save sinners from a place called hell, and 
 if he understood Gehenna to be the proper name of 
 that place, it is passing strange that he did not speak 
 of it more frequently. Is not his reticence a mani- 
 fest intimation that he regarded it as a word of no 
 special importance? But what is still more remark- 
 able, Jesus used the word on only four occasions : 
 once, in saying that he who called his brother a fool 
 was in danger of Gehenna; again, in saying that it 
 is better to part with an offending (diseased) eye, 
 hand, or foot, than to retain it and be cast into 
 Gehenna; again, in exhorting his disciples to fear 
 Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in 
 Gehenna ; and again, in rebuking the malicious 
 scribes and Pharisees. On two of these four occa- 
 sions he was addressing the chosen Twelve, and 
 only once did he mention the damnation of Gehenna. 
 This reduces the matter to a point so fine that we are 
 tempted to infer that the Gospel of Christ is not a 
 Gehenna religion, and the New Testament not a 
 
GEHENNA. 87 
 
 Gehenna book, but that it is a Gospel and a book 
 minus hell. 
 
 4. In several passages of Scripture, Gehenna is 
 alluded to as a place or condition whose prominent 
 characteristic is fire. From a. d. 500 to a. d. 1500 
 — a thousand dreary years — almost the entire 
 Christian Church believed it to be literal fire ; but 
 this, nearly all educated Protestants of the present age 
 discredit. The fire has gone out, and a great change 
 in .public opinion has come about; yet there is just 
 as strong Scripture proof that the fire is literal as 
 that the place is literal. The two are inseparable, 
 and each must share the fate of the other. Either 
 both are real, or both are fictions. We must go back 
 to literal fire, or give up the idea that Gehenna is a 
 local habitation. 
 
 5. The history of the word is worthy of considera- 
 tion. Gehenna is the Greek way of spelling and 
 pronouncing two Hebrew words that signif3 r the 
 " Valle}^ of Hinnom." This phrase occurs thirteen 
 times in the Old Testament ; but it is never trans- 
 lated hell. It was a pleasant valley near Jerusalem, 
 and probably received its name from one of its an- 
 cient owners or occupants, — a man by the name of 
 Hinnom. It is mentioned four times in the book of 
 Joshua, as a part of the boundary line between the 
 territories of Judah and Benjamin, — namely, Josh, 
 xv. 8, and xviii. 16 ; and no one then dreamed that 
 the peaceful and beautiful valley would eventually 
 
88 THROUGH THE SHADOWS, 
 
 lend its name to hell. But strange changes took 
 place. In the eastern part of this valley, in a place 
 called Topheth or Tophet, — a name that probably 
 means ct music grove," — King Solomon, contrary to 
 the Mosaic law, consecrated a shrine to Moloch, an 
 imaginary heathen god. During the reign of the 
 idolatrous kings that succeeded Solomon, the horrid 
 orgies of pagan worship were here celebrated. Hu- 
 man sacrifices were made, and two wicked kings, — 
 Ahaz and Manasseh, — and probably many other 
 persons caused their own children to " pass through 
 fire to Moloch ; " that is, to be burned alive to ap- 
 pease or propitiate the cruel god. In a later age, the 
 pious King Josiah abolished these horrid rites ; and, 
 to prevent their recurrence, he desecrated the Valley 
 of Hinnom by causing the filth and garbage of Jeru- 
 salem to be carted into it. Thus the pleasant place 
 was defiled and rendered unfit for public gatherings. 
 In addition to this desecration, and to prevent the 
 rotting carcasses of dead animals and the wormy 
 heaps of filth from breeding pestilence, they were set 
 on fire, and for ages the fire was kept burning. 
 Speaking of this fire, which in a calm day only smoul- 
 dered, Isaiah (xxx. 33) says: " The breath of the 
 Lord [the wind], like a stream of brimstone, doth 
 kindle it ; " and then it burned fiercely. Thus the 
 Valkyv of Hinnom became as foul and loathsome, and 
 its associations as revolting, as anything that can be 
 imagined. 
 
GEHENNA. 89 
 
 This is all the information about the place that 
 can be gleaned from the Old Testament ; but in all 
 probabilit}', its name, hy the laws of mental associa- 
 tion and linguistic change, gradually became the 
 synonyme or descriptive appellation of whatever was 
 repulsive and horrible, — such as, for example, the 
 awful punishment of sinners by war, pestilence, fam- 
 ine, and conflagration. And after the Jews had 
 been taught by the heathen to believe in a place of 
 future punishment, the} T very naturally and properly 
 gave it the worst name they could think of; and 
 there being in pure Hebrew no word suitable for such 
 a realm, by the aid of a little Greek they coined a 
 new one, and christened the dismal abode Ge Henna. 
 
 Now, in what sense did our Saviour use this new 
 word? We shudder, as we call to mind the disgust- 
 ing credulity and utter heartlessness of the degraded 
 idolaters, who burned alive their helpless children in 
 the Valley of Hinnom ; we detest and loathe the 
 barbarous spirit and principles that would tolerate 
 such fiendish atrocity ; must we believe that Jesus 
 in using the word meant to teach us that God will 
 forever burn millions of His helpless children in Ge- 
 henna? Is there no way to escape a conclusion so 
 horrible? Is it not possible honestly to believe 
 that in the mouth of Jesus the word had a figurative, 
 a secondary, and less harsh meaning? To us this 
 question is of special interest. We want to respect 
 and love God with our whole heart ; but bow can we. 
 
90 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 if He causes millions of His children, our brothers 
 and sisters, to agonize forever in the fire of Gehenna, 
 which His breath, like a stream of brimstone kindles 
 into a flaming storm ? When we think of their tor- 
 ment, and call to mind the many devout men who 
 have believed in it, and feel a twinge of fear that it 
 may be true, we are driven to the desperate verge of 
 either doubting God's existence or denying His 
 goodness. If the doctrine is true, we can fear and 
 tremble, but cannot love Him and be glad. What 
 shall we do? Father, forgive us, and help us to un- 
 derstand Thy word. With this prayer in our hearts, 
 and the facts in our mind as above stated, let us 
 carefully and critically study the twelve passages 
 of Scripture in which Gehenna is mentioned. 
 
 Matt. v. 29, 30: " If thy right eye offend thee, 
 pluck it out and cast it from thee : for it is profit- 
 able for thee that one of thy members should perish, 
 and not that thy whole body should be cast into Ge- 
 henna. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it 
 off and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee 
 that one of thy members should perish, and not that 
 thy whole body should be cast into Gehenna." 
 
 Matt, xviii. 9 : " If thine eye offend thee, pluck it 
 out and cast it from thee : it is better for thee to 
 enter into life with one eye, rather than having two 
 eyes to be cast into Gehenna fire." 
 
 Mark ix. 43-48 : "If thy hand offend thee, cut it 
 off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, 
 
GEHENNA. 91 
 
 than having two hands to go into Gehenna, — into the 
 fire that never shall be quenched ; where their worm 
 dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy 
 foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to 
 enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast 
 into Gehenna, into the fire that never shall be 
 quenched ; where their worm dieth not, and the fire 
 is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck 
 it out : it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom 
 of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be 
 cast into Gehenna fire ; where their worm dieth not, 
 and the fire is not quenched." 
 
 It should be noticed that these are parallel pas- 
 sages, — Matthew and Mark quoting the same say- 
 ings of the Master ; Luke and John either forgetting 
 them, or deeming other matters of more impor- 
 tance, — and that these six, or rather three, state- 
 ments are mere variations of one idea, one truth ; 
 namely, it is better to part with an offending eye, 
 hand, or foot, than by retaining it to be cast into 
 Gehenna. Thus six of the twelve times in which 
 Gehenna occurs in the New Testament melt down 
 into one ; and this one expression is not so much a 
 solemn warning to great sinners of imminent dan- 
 ger, as it is friendly advice to his dear disciples. 
 The literal meaning is obvious, — it is better for a 
 person having a badly diseased eye, hand, or foot, 
 to suffer its amputation, and thus regain health, 
 than to retain it, suffer by it, let it poison the whole 
 
92 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 body and ultimate in a painful death. The moral 
 instruction is equally apparent, — it is better sud- 
 denly and entirely to break away from demoralizing 
 companions, habits, usages, opinions, however pleas- 
 ant, than to retain them and by them be dragged 
 down to rain. This is a valuable lesson, and worthy 
 of being taught bj* the Saviour. It was then and 
 there needed bj T his Jewish disciples, to whom the 
 Mosaic religion was dear as the apple of the eye ; 
 but from which they must break away, or not be 
 Christians, and not escape the fieiy trials about to 
 consume their nation. And not only the Twelve, 
 but we also, before we can enter that kingdom of 
 God which is " righteousness, peace, and joy in 
 the Holy Spirit," must put from us all things that 
 offend. 
 
 Was this what Jesus meant? Did he indulge in 
 figurative language, or are his statements to be 
 taken literally? If they are, then Gehenna is a 
 literal place, and in it are literal dead human 
 bodies, burned by literal fire, and gnawed by literal 
 worms. This is a materialism so gross and ghastly, 
 that very few educated men at the present day be- 
 lieve in it. Practically, the worms have died, the 
 fire gone out, the place vanished, and the theory of 
 the resurrection and immortality of human corpses 
 been abandoned. Scarcely anybody tries to believe 
 in the literal interpretation. 
 
 There are other difficulties. One might guess that 
 
GEHENNA. 93 
 
 impenitent sinners are cast, soul and body, into 
 Gehenna, to be burned up, annihilated. Such a fate 
 would be infinitely better than endless agon}' ; but 
 the texts furnish not even a hint of conditional 
 immortality. Or, one might surmise that the unfor- 
 tunates are cast into Gehenna fire to be burned and 
 wormed for ever ; but the duration of their stay 
 is not mentioned. The fire will not, cannot, be 
 quenched ; the worm does not die ; but for aught 
 we are told to the contrary, the victims may be 
 taken out the next second after they are cast in. 
 Possibly too, the baptism in fire may so purify the 
 doomed that they will immediately become fit to be 
 raised to a higher life. In every respect, these 
 statements of Jesus fail to support the doctrine of 
 endless misery. Our reason compels us to adopt 
 the figurative interpretation given above ; and thus, 
 six of the passages containing the sinister word 
 slip away without giving an intimation that Ge- 
 henna is a place of punishment for the wicked after 
 the final judgment. 
 
 . Matt. x. 28: ^ Fear not them which kill the 
 body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather 
 fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and bod}' 
 in Gehenna." 
 
 Luke xii. 4, 5 : " My friends, be not afraid of them 
 that kill the bed}', and after that have no more that 
 they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall 
 fear ; fear Him, which after he hath killed hath power 
 
94 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 to cast into Gehenna." Theologians are not agreed 
 respecting the meaning of these words. Much 
 criticism has been lavished upon them, and still, to 
 man}' minds, their import is not clear. If Jesus 
 intended to teach the doctrine of eternal punishment, 
 on this occasion, it is strange he did not enunciate 
 it more distinctly. On a subject so momentous, 
 great plainness of speech is to be expected. This 
 much however is patent: Jesus told his disciples, his 
 friends, not to be afraid of those who could only kill 
 the mortal bod}', but to fear, revere, a power that 
 could do more ; that could destroy both soul and 
 body in Gehenna. Some commentators think he 
 meant, fear not the Jewish hierarchy, but the Roman 
 government. The Jews might commit murder, but 
 the Roman government reserved to itself alone the 
 right to execute criminals, and an occasional homi- 
 cide was not so much to be dreaded, as the pitiless 
 persecution of the imperial power. A hundred 
 years later, such a warning would have been timely, 
 but when the remark was made, the Jews were 
 the most bitter and dangerous enemies of the 
 Christians. Other critics affirm, and with better 
 reason, that the meaning is, fear God rather than 
 man; or as Paul puts it, "w r e ought to obey God 
 rather than man." This advice is in accord with 
 all the teachings of Christ ; and it appears to have 
 been the rule of the Apostles as they went forth to 
 ct preach the Gospel to every creature." lie who 
 
GEHENNA. 95 
 
 shrinks from this rule has not the spirit of Christ, 
 and is not worthy the name of Christian. 
 
 If we were asked wlw we should revere and obey 
 God rather than man, our hearts would reply, "be- 
 cause He is better, wiser, and stronger than we are." 
 Jesus gave another reason ; — God can inflict more 
 severe punishments. Man can only murder us ; 
 God can cause us to endure greater evils ; war, 
 famine, pestilence, bondage, and being destroyed 
 body and soul in Gehenna. This is what Jesus said, 
 and this is true. No one can doubt the ability of 
 the Almighty to destroy a dead body or a soul, when 
 and where He pleases ; but it is difficult to find any 
 reason for taking a corpse to Gehenna to destroy 
 it. Chemical decomposition very rapidly destroys, 
 chancres into other forms, the bodies of all that die. 
 Besides, a dead body is entirely devoid of sensation, 
 and it is of very small consequence when, where, or 
 how it " returns to the dust as it was." We are un- 
 willing to suppose that Jesus made a remark so vapid 
 as to say that God is able to take a lifeless human 
 form to a spiritual Gehenna, and there destroy it! 
 There must be a meaning more profound than this. 
 
 The destruction of the soul is a weightier matter. 
 In the six passages respecting the offending eye, 
 hand, and foot, nothing is said about punishment, 
 and the fair inference is, that the wicked were cast 
 into Gehenna to be burned up, — that is, annihilated. 
 In the passage under consideration, this inference 
 
96 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 ripens into a certainty. Gehenna is a place for 
 destruction; and in it God is able to destroy both 
 the body and the soul of a sinner. When a body 
 is destroyed, it ceases to be a bod}', and when a 
 soul is destroyed, it ceases to be a soul ; each is 
 extinct, annihilate. But annihilation is not painful ; 
 it is the end of pain and woe. Of course God does 
 not indulge in the cruelty of tormenting or per- 
 mitting to be tormented, those whom He is about to 
 destroy. In this view of the case, Gehenna is the 
 place for putting an end to punishment. It ma}' be 
 said that God does not do all that He is able to do ; 
 but if He never has destroyed, and never will de- 
 stroy a sinner, then the advice, " fear God because 
 He is able to destroy both bod}' and soul," is utterly 
 destitute of force or point. Jesus must have meant 
 that God actually does do what is indicated by the 
 words he uttered. Did he really teach the unphilo- 
 sophical doctrine of the annihilation of the finally 
 impenitent? Very few Christians believe this doc- 
 trine. We cannot. Then what did he mean? It is 
 evident that the more we try to give his words, in 
 this instance, a literal interpretation, the more we 
 get into doubt and darkness. We are obliged to go 
 back to first principles ; — to believe that our Lord 
 teaches us to fear, revere, obey the mighty God, 
 rather than weak and often wicked man ; and to 
 suppose that the reason assigned is stated in figura- 
 tive language which possibly, at this late day, we 
 
GEHENNA, 97 
 
 may not fully understand. One thing is certain; 
 he did not affirm or intimate that Gehenna is a realm 
 of endless punishment. This is enough for our pres- 
 ent purpose. These two passages fail to sustain the 
 evangelical notion of hell. 
 
 Matt. v. 22: " Whosoever is angry with his 
 brother without a cause shall be in clanger of the 
 judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, 
 Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but whoso- 
 ever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of 
 Gehenna fire." There seems to be but little differ- 
 ence in the magnitude of these three misdemeanors. 
 The first is anger, the second is contempt, the third 
 is vituperation. Neither is a crime nor a great sin. 
 If the three are nearly alike in turpitude, the danger 
 in each case must be about the same. It is unrea- 
 sonable to suppose, that a person guilt}' of the first or 
 second is in danger of an earthly, temporal penalty 
 only, while he who is guilt}' of the third is in danger 
 of endless punishment in hell fire. The passage, 
 however, contains not even a hint of the duration of 
 either of the penalties. For aught said to the con- 
 trary, the penalty by Gehenna fire may be instanta- 
 neous destruction. There must be reason in religion. 
 It may be that by Judgment, Jesus meant a lower 
 Jewish court of justice ; by Council, the higher court, 
 the Sanhedrim ; and by Gehenna fire, the greatest 
 punishment that Jews or Romans could inflict ; but 
 the point is of little practical importance. To our 
 
 7 
 
98 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 mind, the passage resembles the parallelism of 
 Hebrew poetiy, — it has one idea expressed in three 
 ways with a kind of crescendo emphasis. The les- 
 son for us is manifest and impressive : — Every 
 person who indulges in either of these three faults, 
 or in an}' other offence against good morals or 
 manners, has entered the broad road that leads to 
 destruction, and is in danger of becoming a great 
 sinner, and of suffering a severe penalty. Shun the 
 beginning of wrong ; indulge not in any, even the 
 least, misdemeanor. Our Lord does not intimate that 
 the lire is in the spirit world, or that it will burn the 
 sinner after death ; and we are at libertj T to infer that 
 all three of the dangers are of penalties inflicted in 
 the present stage of existence. Thus another proof- 
 text fails to support the theory that Gehenna is the 
 place of punishment for those who die in their sins. 
 
 James iii. 5, 6: " Behold how great a matter 
 a little fire kindleth ! And the tongue is a fire, a 
 world of iniquity : so is the tongue among our mem- 
 bers, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on 
 fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of 
 Gehenna. " The Greek text of this passage is some- 
 what obscure, and the translation is faulty ; but it 
 is clear that in the mind of its author Gehenna fire 
 is not literal fire, but a something that burns in this 
 world, sets on fire the fleshly tongue, sets on fire the 
 course or wheel of nature, and damages, — puts out 
 of order, — the sinner before his death. Whether 
 
GEHENNA. 99 
 
 St. James did or did not believe in a literal lake of 
 fire in the spirit realm is not apparent. He merely 
 employs the then current superstitious notions of 
 Gehenna, to emphasize the vileness and pernicious 
 influence of a foul, unbridled tongue. As he does not 
 again allude to Gehenna, it is fair to infer that he 
 did not deem it the name of a real realm of woe. 
 
 Matt, xxiii. 15 : " Woe unto you, scribes and 
 Pharisees, lrypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land 
 to make one proselyte ; and when he is made, ye 
 make him twofold more the child of Gehenna than 
 yourselves." This allusion to Gehenna is so mani- 
 festly figurative that little comment is needed. If it 
 is a parent and has children, it is not a place but a 
 person. But in the Scriptures, the words, u son of, 
 children of," etc., often indicate, not relationship, but 
 resemblance. James and John were called " Boan- 
 erges," — that is, sons of thunder. Jesus said, the 
 malicious Jews were " of their father the devil." The 
 phrase " sons of Belial" is not an affirmation that 
 a person of that name ever existed, but only that 
 the men so stigmatized were worthless fellows. So 
 the phrase " child of Gehenna" is not equivalent to 
 an assertion that there is a lake of fire and brim- 
 stone ; it simply -means that the proselyte alluded to, 
 was like the Valley of Hinnom, foul, defiled, corrupt. 
 Whether Gehenna is an imaginary or real place, the 
 statement made by Jesus has the same point and 
 force. 
 
100 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Matt, xxiii. 33: " Ye serpents, ye generation 
 of vipers, how can }^e escape the damnation of 
 Gehenna?" This is certainly a terse and fearful 
 inquiry. At first sight, it seems to be in perfect 
 harmon} T with the theory that hell is a place of pun- 
 ishment for the finally impenitent, and the word 
 '•' damnation " is in itself alarming. But the strength 
 of the passage as a proof-text is weakened by 
 several considerations : — 
 
 1. This is the only verse in the Bible that contains 
 the phrase " damnation of Gehenna." If it signi- 
 fies endless perdition, it is very remarkable that 
 Jesus and his Apostles did not use it frequently. 
 One solitaiy sentence, and that one a question, is a 
 very small foundation on which to build a theory 
 so tremendous. Five hundred times would be none 
 too man}' to alarm and warn those in danger of 
 eternal woe. Possibly this is not the meaning of 
 the phrase. 
 
 2. Some learned Orthodox men do not indorse 
 the translation. Drs. Campbell and Noyes render 
 the phrase "the punishment of Gehenna." In the 
 Eevised New Testament it is rendered "the judg- 
 ment of Gehenna." If this does not change the 
 sense, it is certainly a relief to be rid of the frightful, 
 vulgar word " damnation." We are very glad to 
 learn that our Saviour never used it. We think it 
 would be a benefit to the Church and the world to 
 drop it out of our language. 
 
GEHENNA. 101 
 
 3. The passage contains no information respecting 
 the nature, intensity, or duration of the doom. It may 
 be very brief ; it may be instantaneous ; it may be 
 destruction ; and as Jesus once spoke of both body 
 and soul being destnyyed in Gehenna, the punishment 
 alluded to in all probability was destruction. This 
 thought is also a great relief to our mind, because 
 it abnegates the awful evangelical interpretation. 
 
 4. Anyhow, it is not certain that Jesus used the 
 word Gehenna as the name of a place of punishment 
 for the wicked after their death ; nor is it certain 
 that he believed in such a place. But it is certain 
 that he distinctly foresaw the calamities about to 
 fall on Jerusalem and the Jewish nation ; that he 
 foresaw the siege, the fighting factions in the city, 
 the famine, the fire, the destruction of the town and 
 temple, and the dispersion of the entire nation. 
 These awful scenes would be a Gehenna on a gigantic 
 scale. He also foresaw that the scribes, Pharisees, 
 and nearly all the people would go on in sin to the 
 bitter end. Hence it was natural for him to say to 
 them , " How can 3-e " — equivalent to " Ye cannot " — 
 14 escape the Gehenna judgment and punishment," — 
 the wrath about to come? We believe this was the 
 thought that suggested the words under considera- 
 tion, and that there is in the passage not even an 
 allusion to an after-death, spiritual Valley of Hin- 
 nom. And this, to our mind, is a candid and rea- 
 sonable conclusion. 
 
102 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Every one of the twelve passages that contain the 
 word Gehenna has now been quoted and critically 
 examined. We do not den}' that a person who be- 
 lieves and intends to believe in an endless hell, and 
 who desires to find Bible proof of his doctrine, may, 
 in some of these texts, discover the outlines of his 
 theory, and have his belief strengthened thereby. 
 His mental training and confirmed habits of thought 
 would lead to this result. But we do claim that a 
 fair, manly, and reasonable explanation of these 
 twelve texts can be made without admitting that 
 even in a single instance Gehenna denotes a realm 
 of eternal w r oe. There ma}' be such a realm, but if 
 our reasoning is correct, neither Sheol, Hades, 
 Tartarus, nor Gehenna is its Bible name; and the 
 fact that the sacred Scriptures contain no name for 
 such a place compels the conclusion that no such 
 place exists in the universe. There is no vast cavern 
 hot w r ith burning brimstone, and used as a prison for 
 lost souls, in the earth, sun, moon, or stars ; and the 
 thought of a place so horrid, so frightful to the weak- 
 minded, so dishonorable to the good Father, ought 
 to be eliminated from the human mind ; and unless 
 the signs of the times are deceptive, the process of 
 elimination is now rapidly going on. 
 
ANNIHILATION. 103 
 
 X. 
 
 ANNIHILATION. 
 
 " The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but all the wicked 
 will He destroy." — Ps. cxlv. 20. 
 
 T T ERE is the classification found in so many pas- 
 sages of Scripture ; but the fate of the wicked 
 is described by a word hitherto unnoticed in these 
 pages, — " all the wicked will He destroy? Those 
 who revere, love, and obey God are the righteous ; 
 and they are to be preserved, saved. All the rest 
 of mankind are the wicked ; and the}' are to be de- 
 stroyed, put out of existence, annihilated. 
 
 We may not be able to decide in every instance to 
 which class each of our acquaintances belongs ; but 
 we are quite sure the two classes exist, God is the 
 absolute Good ; and those who truly love goodness, 
 honest}', charity, justice, right, love God, and they 
 are to be preserved. Those who do not possess these 
 virtues are the wicked, and they are sooner or later 
 to be destroyed. If their destruction means their 
 annihilation, Universalism is not true. 
 
 "The Lord preserveth all them that love Him.'' 
 This is in harmony with His character, and with our 
 idea of right. They ought to be preserved to bless 
 
104 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 the world ; and the}' are. God is their Shepherd, 
 Guardian, Keeper, Helper, all the time. Their pres- 
 ervation is not miraculous, but natural, general, con- 
 tinuous. Their virtues are a charm that drives away 
 the evil and attracts the good. An inward impulse 
 leads them to seek and associate with the virtuous, 
 and there find safety and protection. Thus, by the 
 law and will of God, those who love Him are pre- 
 served. But there are some, we fear man}', who do 
 not love the Lord, — who knowingly, willingly, and 
 wilfully do wrong. These are the wicked, and all of 
 them God will destroy. This is the result of, and 
 the punishment for, their wickedness. Many inspired 
 men solemnly testify that this is their certain and 
 awful destiny. Job (xxi. 30) says : u The wicked is 
 reserved to the day of destruction." Solomon says 
 (Prov. xxix. 1) : "He that being often reproved 
 hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and 
 that without remedy." Malachi (iv. 1) says : " Be- 
 hold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven ; 
 and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be 
 stubble : and the day that cometh shall burn them 
 up, saith the Lord of hosts ; it shall leave neither 
 root nor branch." This seems an entire and final 
 end of them. Jesus said (Matt. vii. 18) : " Wide is 
 the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, 
 and many there be which go in thereat." Again, 
 Jesus said (Matt. x. 28) : " Fear not them which kill 
 the body but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather 
 
A NNIHILA TION. 105 
 
 fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body 
 in Gehenna." Saint Paul, speaking of those who do 
 not obey the Gospel (2 Thess. i. 9), says they ;c shall 
 be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord." As God is omnipresent, 
 banishment from Him must be annihilation. Both 
 body and soul must cease to exist. There are other 
 passages ; but these are sufficient to show that the 
 destruction of the wicked is a plain Bible doctrine. 
 We ma}' not deny or doubt it ; but what does their 
 destruction imply ? 
 
 To destroy means " to put out of existence'; " we can 
 scarcely imagine any other definition. When a thing 
 is destiwed, it ceases to exist. When a house is 
 destroyed by fire, it vanishes from existence. When 
 Sodom was destnryed by volcanic agency, both the 
 city and the site on which it stood disappeared. 
 When a soul is destined, it does not remain in the 
 realm of reality. Reasoning in this natural way some 
 candid Christians have been led to renounce both the 
 doctrine of endless misery and the doctrine of uni- 
 versal salvation, and to believe in conditional immor- 
 tality, — the righteous to live forever in heaven, the 
 finally impenitent to be annihilated. The people 
 called Adventists believe and openly advocate this 
 doctrine ; and destruction is so much more merciful 
 than immortal suffering that not a few tender-hearted 
 members of evangelical churches are said to be in- 
 clined to this belief. It is said the number of 
 
106 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Annihilationists is increasing ; and there are very 
 plausible reasons for this increase. 
 
 The best way to dispose of a thing utterly worth- 
 less and repulsive is to destroy it, — put it out of 
 existence. A soul utterly depraved — a soul that 
 neither man nor God can reform and render holy, 
 beautiful, and happy — is entirely worthless and re- 
 pulsive ; and both wisdom and goodness demand that 
 it be put out of existence. God is perfectly wise 
 and good ; and therefore all such souls, if there are 
 an}', will He destroy. As has already been shown, 
 the Bible distinctly, repeatedly, and emphatically 
 asserts that the wicked are to be destroyed ; and we 
 must believe this, or repudiate the Word of God. 
 Christians are not willing to throw away the sacred 
 Scriptures ; and hence some of them adopt the theory 
 of annihilation. Frequenth^ the punishment threat- 
 ened is of a destructive nature, — is by fire ; and fire 
 consumes and destro\'S. If a tree is burned up, 
 trunk, roots, and branches, no trace of it as a tree 
 remains. In like manner, if a person were burned 
 up, body and soul, no trace of his personality would 
 remain. And besides, so far as we can judge, if a 
 spiritual being w r ere subjected to ceaseless, hopeless, 
 and extreme agon}', as by fire, it would in the lapse 
 of ages gradually lose sensation and intelligence, and 
 finally become extinct. The bare thought of unend- 
 ing agony is painful. YTe are unable to perceive how 
 such a doom for the wicked could be any benefit to 
 
ANNIHILATION. 107 
 
 them or to the saved, or how it could redound to 
 God's gloiy. We can hardly refrain from feeling 
 that an eternal hell filled with ceaseless misery seems 
 like a foul stain, a hideous blotch, on creation, and 
 an awful reproach to the great Creator, — a dark 
 cloud without any silver lining, — a frightful, pain- 
 ful mysteiy whose cold shadow dims the light of 
 heaven itself. Hence good men are glad to find any 
 plausible theory through which to escape from believ- 
 ing in the doctrine of endless misery. Conditional 
 immortality is such a theory. The annihilation of a 
 sinner would be a great and eternal loss, but it would 
 be infinitely better than eternal pain. We can approve 
 and even applaud the destruction of an irreclaimable, 
 worthless soul. Admit this theory to be correct, and 
 all the fiery threatenings of the Bible would be liter- 
 ally true. Far off, perhaps, but surely, a time 
 would come when there would be no sin or sor- 
 row, but God would be all in all. Influenced by 
 these considerations, many worthy Christians are 
 verging toward a belief in the ultimate annihilation 
 of the " finally impenitent." 
 
 But is this doctrine true? Is it in accordance with 
 reason and revelation? Has God called into exist- 
 ence millions of intelligent, sensitive, spiritual beings 
 that under favorable circumstances might have been 
 fitted to " glorify and enjoy Him forever," only to 
 annihilate them? Is it certain that an}' human soul 
 is so debased that Infinite Grace cannot bring about 
 
108 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 its regeneration ? Has any one of us fathomed the 
 plans and purposes of the Eternal? Is it not more 
 wise and safe to doubt the meaning of words than to 
 doubt the Almighty Love ? We do not know that the 
 doctrine of annihilation is true ; we can have no faith 
 in a calamity so dreadful; and, for what seem good 
 reasons, we do not believe in conditional immortality. 
 1. The absolute annihilation of anything is unphil- 
 osophical and unthinkable. There is no proof that 
 any particle of matter has ever been put out of exist- 
 ence. Burn a piece of wood, for example, and still — 
 as ash, moisture, and gas — every ounce, every atom 
 of it remains. The form changes ; the elements 
 endure. Every grain of our bodies is as old as the 
 earth, and as indestructible as her solid rocks. Fur- 
 ther, science informs us that no force, power, or 
 agent is ever lost. The caloric that warms our 
 homes or drives our locomotives radiates and be- 
 comes latent, but still exists. The electricity that 
 flashes along the clouds with such terrible swiftness 
 is not hurrying into non-existence, but merely chang- 
 ing its location. The force that moves the world is 
 inexhaustible and enduring; and the fountain of life 
 is ever flowing and never exhausted. Everything 
 goes round and round in a circle. The dust returns 
 to the dust as it was ; and the spirit returns to God 
 who gave it, not to stop, but to begin a new journey. 
 Still further, the human soul seems to be a monad, 
 an indivisible point, an absolute unit. Thought, 
 
A NNIUILA TION. 109 
 
 feeling, will, memoiy, seem to spring from a common 
 centre ; and as that indivisible, central unit cannot be 
 diffused and lost, personal immortality must remain 
 intact and eternal. 
 
 2. The annihilation of an intelligent, spiritual be- 
 ing would be a waste, a loss, not in harmony with the 
 laws of nature or the economy of God. The soul 
 of an infant rightly trained can become a perfect 
 man, an angel, an archangel, an ornament to heaven, 
 a glory to God, forever ; what an immense and eter- 
 nal loss would be its extinction ! The same sublime 
 possibilities exist in every infant born into the world. 
 Each has a germ of goodness and greatness that can 
 be developed into Divine excellence. This was the 
 reason why God so loved the sinful world as to send 
 His Son to be its Saviour. It is not certain that any 
 person loses this germ so long as he draws breath. 
 It is sung and believed and taught by all Christians 
 
 that 
 
 " While the lamp holds out to burn, 
 
 The vilest sinner may return." 
 
 Saint Paul was once " the chief of sinners;" John 
 Bunyan was once a profane and godless wretch ; yet 
 they became stars of the first magnitude. And it is 
 not reasonable to suppose that God will permit any 
 slip of spiritual life, capable of being cultured into 
 such foliage and fruit, to perish. We are persuaded 
 that if He can, He will train all His sons and 
 daughters so as to make them diadems in His crown 
 
110 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of glory. We know not the length and strength of 
 God's saving power ; and we dare not affirm that He 
 cannot save even the lowest and worst of His chil- 
 dren. " Our God is a God of salvation, and unto 
 Him belong the issues of death." 
 
 3. Immortal means " not mortal, not liable to die." 
 An immortal being cannot die. Man is the offspring 
 of the immortal God, and by heredity partakes the 
 immortal nature of his Father. The essence of our 
 souls is divine, — is of God ; and hence it can no 
 more perish than He can perish. Moreover, all souls 
 ^are essentially alike. If some are mortal, all are ; if 
 some are immortal, all are. Hence not only saints 
 but sinners will certainly live forever. 
 
 4. The doctrine of conditional immortality cannot 
 therefore be true, or have an}' real support in the 
 Bible rightly understood. The Scriptures are mainly 
 devoted to affairs in this world ; and the destruction 
 of which it speaks is a thing of earth, a change of 
 material forms. For example, the wicked antedilu- 
 vians were destroyed by a deluge. Their destruction 
 as inhabitants of earth was complete and entire. No 
 one of them was ever seen again in human shape. 
 But the water did not drown their souls. There is 
 no proof, no hint, that their spirits were anni- 
 hilated. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. As 
 cities, they vanished from the face of the earth. So, 
 too, Babylon, Nineveh, and all the ancient nations 
 were destroyed ; but we are not, in a solitary text, 
 
A NNIH1LA TION. Ill 
 
 informed that the spirits of these wicked people were 
 or were to be annihilated. The writers of the Old 
 Testament did not realize that man is an immortal 
 being ; and hence to them the death and dissolution 
 of the material body seemed the final end, and they 
 sometimes called it destruction. In the Revised Ver- 
 sion, however, destruction is sometimes expressed by 
 a softer word. 1 The New Testament writers followed 
 the style of the Prophets, using the word destruction 
 in the sense of ruin, overthrow, or death. Jesus 
 and his Apostles believed in immortality ; but their 
 name for the undying part of man was spirit, an en- 
 tity tinlike the soul. The body was one thing, the 
 soul another, the spirit another. Hence Saint Paul 
 said (1 Thess. v. 23) : "I pray God your whole 
 spirit and soul and bod} T be preserved blameless ; " 
 (Heb. iv. 12) " The word of God is sharper than any 
 two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asun- 
 der of soul and spirit." The body and soul could 
 die, could be destro}'ed, but not the spirit. Spir- 
 itual beings existed without material bodies. The 
 spiritual man, raised to a higher sphere, and clothed 
 with a spiritual body, would live on forever. There 
 is no record that any spirit ever died or was de- 
 stroyed, or ever is to be destroj~ed. The bod} 7 and 
 soul ma} r peacefully pass away in a ripe old age, or 
 in youth or middle age be violently slain, or miserably 
 perish in some loathsome Gehenna. 
 
 1 " Calamity," —Job xxi. 30. 
 
112 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 The lesson taught in the text at the head of this 
 chanter is obvious. There is a right way to live, 
 love, eat, drink, and act ; and those who follow this 
 right way are the righteous, and they are compara- 
 tively safe, prosperous, and happy. This is the will 
 and law of God. Thus are they preserved. Those 
 who do not live in this right way are the wicked ; and 
 they are always in imminent danger of disease, of 
 accident, of violence, and of premature death ; in 
 other words, of being destroyed. The lesson is for 
 us and for all. " Let us take due notice, and govern 
 ourselves accordingly." He that would be preserved 
 from all evil must "fear God and keep His com- 
 mandments." 
 
UNFORGIVEN. 113 
 
 XI. 
 
 UNFOEGIVEN. 
 
 " Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be 
 forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." — 
 Matt. xii. 32. 
 
 T T is not our business to take care of God. To 
 feast Him with praise, to gratif}* Him with prayers, 
 to prevent Him from being grieved, to appease His 
 anger, to render Him happ % y, to add to His glory, — 
 is not our duty. He can and He does take care of 
 Himself. Being infinite, He is ever perfectly serene, 
 happy, and glorious. The conduct of man, good or 
 bad, no more affects Him than the movements of 
 animalculse in a drop of water affect the scientist 
 who looks at them through a microscope. Ancient 
 wise men ascribed all phenomena, both the pleasant 
 and the terrible, to God ; and they were right ; 
 but the manifestations of grief, anger, wrath, and 
 vengeance which they imagined came from Him, 
 were merely the result of their imperfect sight and 
 reason. He changes not. His laws and ways 
 change not. They adapt themselves to all con- 
 tingencies, — sometimes in gentleness, sometimes in 
 awful power. In talking of sin and forgiveness, we 
 
 8 
 
114 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 may therefore leave God, so far as any change in 
 His feelings and actions are concerned, entirely out 
 of consideration ; and as the text does not contain 
 His name, or refer to Him as an actor or factor in 
 the matter of forgiveness, we shall not attempt to 
 bring Him into the account. 
 
 Sin is a transgression of law ; a stepping over, a 
 going beyond, an act contrary to the eternal law of 
 right. Those who transgress the law unwittingly, 
 make a bad blunder ; those who knowingly and 
 wilfully disobey it, sin. It is said there is a vast 
 amount of sin committed every day ; and this is 
 without doubt true ; but we should not indulge in 
 morbid anxiety about our unknown sins. So far as 
 we can judge, there are many people, and among them 
 some who are not accounted pious, that commit very 
 little sin, — that pass days, and sometimes weeks, 
 without a stain of iniquit}'. The}' mean to be, and 
 are, honest, kind, useful members of society ; and 
 the}' have no reason to be anxious about their own 
 forgiveness or punishment. But sin is committed b} r 
 most people ; and the act is invariabl}' followed by a 
 result called punishment. It is as if a loaded wagon 
 were at once hitched to the sinner, which he is 
 compelled to draw with him wherever he goes. It is 
 a load of shame, fear, regret, remorse, and other 
 evils ; and every fresh sin adds to its magnitude and 
 weight. Great sinners are obliged to take with them 
 everv where an enormous burden of painful results. 
 
UNFORGIVEN. 115 
 
 Forgiveness by some is supposed to be unharness- 
 ing the sinner or cutting the traces, that he may be 
 freed from his burden ; but this is not a correct idea. 
 The traces are harder than steel, and nothing short 
 of a miracle can unfasten the harness. For example, 
 a person may sin by wasting his time in idleness 
 and folly ; and the precious da} T s and opportunities 
 thus gone, not even God can bring them back. 
 They are lost beyond recall ; and the memory of 
 their loss must ever be an unpleasant weight on 
 the mind. An early acquaintance of ours became 
 intemperate, and in a drunken frolic broke one of 
 his legs. His blood being poisoned by the fiery 
 beverage he drank, gangrene set in, and the limb 
 had to be amputated. This was the result of, the 
 punishment for, his sinful habit ; and no kind or 
 amount of forgiveness could restore that lost leg. 
 Another intemperate man in a drunken brawl lost 
 an eye. This was a part of his punishment. He 
 repented, reformed, became pious, and believed 
 himself forgiven ; but sight was not restored to his 
 blind e}'e. Nor does forgiveness restore to health 
 the man whose constitution has been broken clown 
 by his vices, nor cleanse the pages of memory that 
 are blackened by the record of his evil deeds. In 
 every Instance the traces hold, and the sinner is 
 obliged to drag the heavy load of bitter results on 
 through life, death, and perhaps beyond. 
 
 We can forgive, but not forget. We suppose 
 
116 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Paul remembers to this hour that he cruelly perse- 
 cuted the unoffending Christians. Is the remem- 
 brance pleasant to him? We suppose Cain can still 
 remember how he murdered Abel ; and when he 
 thinks of it, does not the old guilty mark still come 
 to his brow? Forgiveness does not change wrong 
 into right. In the parable, the good father forgave 
 his prodigal son ; but this did not bring back the 
 lost time and misspent money, did not neutralize 
 the encouragement his son had given to other sin- 
 ners, or prove that he had been a good bo}\ The 
 whole thing was still bad and black. When a man 
 speaks against the Holy Ghost, the speech and the 
 feeling that prompted it go into the book of the 
 Recording Angel, to be condemned as bad, for- 
 ever. 
 
 What then is forgiveness? Our answer is, — it is 
 reconciliation ; it is willingness to drag the load ; it 
 is the injured and the injurer meeting in friend- 
 ship ; it is the natural and inevitable result of repent- 
 ance and reformation. The process is simple: the 
 offender ceases to offend ; and the offended party, 
 if human, begins to suspect that he himself may 
 have been too exacting and perhaps mistaken. The 
 feelings of each begin to soften. Gradually the 
 parties approach and wipe out the old score ; and 
 finally a reconciliation alike honorable and pleasant 
 to both takes place. And there is J03' in heaven 
 among the angels. If a person sins against his own 
 
UNFORGIVEN. 117 
 
 soul or better judgment, the path to forgiveness is 
 the same ; and when our hearts condemn us not, 
 then we are at peace with God. In this way all 
 kinds of sin and blasphemy, save one, may be for- 
 given. What is that one? Is it a sin that you or 
 I may have committed? Is it that blasphemous 
 oath, that harsh speech, that deception, fraud, or 
 crime, of which we may have been guilty? We hope 
 not ; for we do not want to grow old and die with 
 either an unforgiven or an unforgiving spirit. What 
 is the unpardonable sin? 
 
 There has been much speculation and many dif- 
 ferent opinions respecting this sin ; and now and then 
 a person imagines himself guilt}' of it and becomes 
 insane. It may be difficult to decide exactly what 
 Jesus meant, though his statement is very explicit. 
 In Mark's Gospel it is intimated that the Saviour 
 uttered these words because the Jews said he had an 
 unclean spirit ; and it is generally agreed by candid 
 students of the Bible that the particular sin alluded 
 to at the time was the blasphemous statement that 
 the Son of God c; cast out devils by [the aid of] 
 Beelzebub, the prince of devils." Those who said 
 this, knew better ; knew it was a malicious calumny 
 against the best man of the age. Hence the black- 
 ness of this sin. Those who were guilty of it were 
 base and vile enough for any crime. But that 
 bigoted age has passed away, and no one in our day 
 says or imagines that Jesus was aided by the prince 
 
118 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of devils. Either then the unpardonable sin is no 
 longer committed, or we must attach a broader 
 meaning to the language of the Master. We prefer 
 the latter alternative. Human nature has not 
 changed ; and the same feelings indulged by the 
 ancient enemies of Jesus are possible now. Hence 
 some, perhaps many, in our da}' may have the 
 guilt, though the}' do not utter the wicked words, of 
 the unpardonable sin. Further, the Holy Spirit was 
 not, and is not, a visible person to speak against. 
 Instead, it is a (or the) Divine spirit that communes 
 with man's spirit, and makes known unto him what 
 is true and right. It is, as an Apostle said, " the 
 Spirit witnessing with our spirit." It comes to all, 
 and teaches all to do right. Whenever, therefore, a 
 person acts contrary to the teaching of that Spirit, — 
 or, in other words, acts contrary to his own light and 
 knowledge, — he sins against the Holy Ghost. In this 
 view of the case, — and we believe it the true one, — 
 nearly all sins are sins against the Holy Ghost, and 
 are not to be forgiven. What then? Is the door of 
 mercy shut forever? Is there no hope for the 
 wicked? Are we to tell dying sinners that they have 
 committed the unpardonable sin, and that therefore 
 they cannot be happy in this world or the world to 
 come? For such persons, is repentance, prayer, 
 faith, of no avail? By no means. There are good 
 reasons for believing that there is a glorious future 
 possible for all. 
 
UNFORGIVEN. 119 
 
 The frightful idea that any sinner can be beyond 
 the reach of mercy is contrary to the spirit of the 
 Bible and the Christian Church. Isaiah said, 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
 white as snow." John the Baptist said, "Behold the 
 Lamb of God that taketb away the sin of the world." 
 Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Clergy- 
 men of all denominations gloiy in saying, "Grace 
 is free and infinite. Whosoever will, may drink the 
 water of life freely." Christ gave himself, a ransom 
 for all. The invitation is given, the promise made 
 to all. All can repent, pray, and be blessed, how- 
 ever greatly the}' may have transgressed. 
 
 The writers of the New Testament sometimes ap- 
 pear to compare things by making positive opposite 
 statements ; for example, " Lay not up treasures on 
 earth, but in heaven. . . . Labor not for the meat that 
 perisheth, but for that which endure th unto eternal 
 life." This is generally understood to mean, Let 
 temporal affairs not be neglected, but made subor- 
 dinate to spiritual interests. Paul said, "lam not 
 sent to baptize, but to preach the Gospel," mean- 
 ing that in his ministry baptism was not so impor- 
 tant as preaching. Perhaps Jesus onh' meant to 
 affirm that the sin against the H0I3- Ghost was not 
 so easily and readily forgiven as other sins ; leaving 
 a hope that at last it too might be pardoned. It is 
 quite certain that the usus loqiiendi of that age and 
 
120 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 people does permit this interpretation. The anti- 
 Christian Jews are not 3-et forgiven. 
 
 It is not certain that the phrase ".world to come ,, 
 means the resurrection state. That is not coming to 
 us ; we are going to it. The Greek word aion, 
 translated toorld, literally and generally means age ; 
 and it is so rendered in the margin of the Revised 
 Version. Whether sin may or may not be forgiven 
 in the future life, to our mind Jesus simply said, The 
 sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, 
 "neither in this age," — the Jewish, — "neither in 
 the age to come," — the Christian. Neither the Law 
 nor the Gospel makes provision for its forgiveness. 
 There is no allusion to anything bej'ond this earth 
 life. Possibly, " over the river," the stains of earth 
 may all at last be washed away b\ T the infinite grace. 
 
 Saint Mark reports Jesus as saying, He that sins 
 against the Holy Ghost "hath never forgiveness, 
 but is in danger of eternal damnation." The phrase 
 "in danger of" does not imply certainty, but un- 
 certainty. He may escape. If one escapes, all 
 maj\ There is certainly some reason to hope. Be- 
 sides, the best scholars now generally agree in the 
 opinion that aionios* the Greek word here rendered 
 eternal, does not necessarily mean endless duration. 
 It may here indicate a long time, — time indefinite. 
 And this rendering is in accordance with both facts 
 and philosophy. He who sins against his highest 
 convictions of right, sins against his own light and 
 
UNFORGIVEN. 121 
 
 knowledge, is a hardened sinner, and is in danger 
 of going on in sin, of growing worse, and remaining 
 in condemnation. The Jews who crucified Jesus did 
 remain in sin until the}' were miserably destroyed in 
 the awful downfall of their nation. 
 
 No sinner's prospect is cheerful. Do what he 
 may, he must still drag on his wagon-load of misery, 
 because it is the result of his evil doing ; and God 
 will not, cannot, unharness him, or cut the traces 
 that unite cause and effect. One hope remains, — 
 the unforgiven sinner, by Divine assistance, may 
 ; ' cease to do evil and learn to do good ; " and the 
 happiness resulting from his good deeds ma}- more 
 than counterbalance the unhappiness caused by the 
 memory of past misdeeds ; and in the strength of a 
 virtuous life the yoke may become so easy, and the 
 burden so light, as not to be noticed. In the sunny 
 influences of eternal heaven, the sins and sorrows of 
 earth may dwindle to a point, and cease to annoy. 
 When we call to mind the sad facts that many peo- 
 ple are badly born and bred, that ignorance and temp- 
 tation abound, and that the longest earthly life is 
 comparatively short, we are inclined to pit}' rather 
 than to condemn the sinful ; and the sweet hope 
 will come, that some time in the long hereafter a 
 Divine voice will say to all who have been wicked : 
 "Neither do I condemn thee. Go, sin no more, 
 love much, and be forever happy." 
 
122 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE FEARFUL HANDS OF GOD. 
 
 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" 
 — Heb. x. 31. 
 
 TPHIS is a dark saying, and hard to be under- 
 stood. While reading it, one can hardly re- 
 frain from wishing either that the statement was 
 more definite or that he was endowed with more 
 wisdom. Let us first try not to misunderstand its 
 meaning. Why is it a fearful thing to fall into the 
 hands of God? Is it far to fall? Are His hands so 
 hard as to bruise, so hot as to burn, or so cold as 
 to freeze, those who fall into them? Is it better, 
 safer, more pleasant, less dangerous, to be out of 
 His hands than in them? How happen some to be 
 out of His hands, and some in them? In which 
 place are we ? What causes any one to have this 
 fearful fall? These and similar questions curiosity 
 will ask, and reason should try honestly to answer. 
 
 It would not be difficult for an unscrupulous man 
 of talents to elaborate from this text an alarming 
 and effective discourse. He might urge with much 
 apparent plausibilit}', and prove by fragments of 
 Scripture, that it is a fearful thing for the wicked 
 
THE FEARFUL HANDS OF GOD. 123 
 
 to fall into the hands of God : (1) Because He " is 
 angry with the wicked ; " and it is not pleasant or 
 safe to be in the hands of any angry person, human 
 or superhuman. Anger is a kind of mania; and a 
 maniac is alwaj's dangerous. (2) Because God's 
 anger, it is said, sometimes intensifies into hot, 
 fierce, terrible wrath against evil-doers ; and at such 
 times it would be fearfully dangerous to fall into 
 His hands. (3) Because He has threatened to pun- 
 ish with great severity all who persist in committing 
 sin ; and He always keeps His word, in the letter and 
 the spirit ; (4) Because He has prepared a great, 
 dark, bottomless pit, in which there is a frightful 
 lake of sulphurous fire, into which He will cast the 
 finally impenitent, and there cause them to be tor- 
 mented, day and night, forever and ever. (5) Be- 
 cause He is almighty, and therefore can do all this 
 with ease ; and much more in the same aw r ful line. 
 
 Taking the words and phrases of the Bible in their 
 literal sense, it is eas} T to preach in this way, and 
 thus terrify the ignorant and the sinful. Many ser- 
 mons of this kind have been delivered, and indirectly 
 have possibly clone some good ; but the} 7 are not in 
 harmony with reason or the spirit of revelation, and 
 their general effect cannot therefore be good. The 
 Bible is an Oriental book, and full of Oriental im- 
 agery ; and we must spiritualize the figurative lan- 
 guage, or fail to get its meaning. For example, 
 the phrase " in the hands of God " is not equiva- 
 
124 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 lent to an assertion that He has hands like ours ; 
 instead, it simply means under the control of God 
 and at His disposal. All men, good and bad, are 
 in this condition, and therefore in His hands. He 
 is omnipresent, all-wise, and alinightj' ; and hence 
 no one can get away from Him, or outwit Him, or 
 overmaster Him. Between us and Him there is 
 absolutely no barrier, no distance. He is above all, 
 through all, and in all. In Him we live, move, and 
 are. Each human being can truly say with the 
 Psalmist : " If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there : 
 if I make my bed in hell [Sheol], Thou art there. 
 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 
 uttermost parts of the sea ; even there shall Thj r 
 hand lead me, and Thy right hand hold me." He is 
 the omnipresent and absolute Ruler of the universe ; 
 and all beings and things are under His control and 
 at His disposal. Hence all talk about falling into 
 His hands, either as a lapse through space or a 
 change in potential relation, in a literal sense is 
 grossly absurd. 
 
 But were it possible in any way literallj T to be out 
 of God's hands, — that is, outside of Him and His 
 influence, — remaining out would be fearful, and 
 getting in exceedingly desirable. In His hands is 
 perfect security. So long as a person is there, no 
 foe can harm him, no evil befall him, without the 
 Divine permission ; and as the Almighty is perfectly 
 kind, even to those who have done wrong, the best 
 
THE FEARFUL HANDS OF GOD. 125 
 
 things possible will be meted out to all who are in 
 His paternal keeping. This is so manifest and so 
 generally believed, that the timid, the unfortunate, 
 and those in peril instinctively look and pray to 
 Him for deliverance and protection. Even the most 
 depraved, when, like the prodigal son in the parable, 
 they come to themselves and regain the use of right 
 reason, say : " Why do I stay here and starve, while 
 in my Father's house there is bread enough and to 
 spare ? I will arise and go home ; for there I shall 
 find shelter and protection, and possibly forgiveness 
 and affection." Millions of sinners have thus sought 
 God, though He was all the time with them. In 
 this view of the case, it is not fearful but blessed to 
 get into the conscious presence and keeping of the 
 living God. It is written, " The fool hath said in 
 his heart, There is no God ; " and he has good reason 
 to feel that it is a fearful thing to be in the cold, 
 hard hands of blind chance and pitiless law. But if 
 he had sense enough to be made to realize that 
 there is a living God whose nature is love, his first 
 wish would be, to be in and remain in His kind care 
 and keeping. 
 
 Some people may think it is a fearful thing to fall 
 into the hands of God to be punished, because He 
 can punish so long and so severely ; but this was 
 not the opinion of King David, the sweet singer of 
 Israel. When he had sinned in taking the census 
 of his nation, and was to be punished by a national 
 
126 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 calamity, and the choice was given him, either to fall 
 into the hands of hostile men and suffer repeated 
 defeat in battle, or to fall into the hands of Nature 
 and shrivel in the deadly presence of famine as a 
 result of scanty harvests, or to fall into the hands of 
 God and have the land smitten with the pestilence 
 that cuts down small and great, he at once said, 
 " Let me fall into the hands of God." His choice 
 was wise. God is ever calm, just, and merciful. 
 He knows exactly how much punishment is deserved 
 and needed, and He never inflicts more or less ; 
 hence it is safest to fall into His hands for correc- 
 tion. Moreover, at the time of its infliction, His 
 chastisement ma} T seem veiy grievous and hard to 
 endure; " nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the 
 peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which 
 are exercised thereby." 
 
 Thus far we have not attempted to show what is 
 meant by its being " a fearful thing to fall into the 
 hands of the living God ; " and we are not positive 
 that we know precisely what the writer did mean by 
 this strange statement. There are, however, two 
 considerations that seem to throw some light on this 
 dark subject : — 
 
 1. By a law that governs human nature, every- 
 thing that a person looks at is tinged with the hue of 
 his own mind, character, and feelings ; just as a col- 
 ored lens makes everything seen through it appear 
 colored. To the pure all things seem pure; while 
 
THE FEARFUL HANDS OF GOD. 127 
 
 to the defiled and disobedient nothing seems pure. 
 To the unhealthy, all nature seems wan and sickly ; 
 to the timid, danger seems lurking on every side ; to 
 the contentious, foes seem numerous ; to the inno- 
 cent and loving, the whole world is a paradise. 
 In accord with the working of this law, it is said 
 (Ps. xviii. 25, 26, Noyes's translation): " To the 
 merciful Thou showest Thyself merciful ; to the up- 
 right Thou showest Thyself upright ; to the pure 
 Thou showest Thyself pure ; and to the perverse 
 Thou show r est Thyself perverse." And there can be 
 no doubt that to the sinful God showeth Himself, or 
 seems distant, unloving, angry, and ready to punish 
 severely ; and this mental illusion is a part of their 
 punishment. The wicked feel that they are absent 
 from God, and that so long as He and the}' are sep- 
 arate the}' are comparatively safe. To their darkened 
 minds, going to Him would be going to be chastised 
 severely ; and that is a fearful thing to do and to 
 suffer. It is natural and right for the guilty to have 
 these fears and feelings ; and it was proper for the 
 author of the Epistle to the Hebrews to remind them 
 of this sad condition of all transgressors. The state- 
 ment might lead some men to be more circumspect, 
 and others to repentance. In this light, the text is 
 "founded on fact," and is worthy of an apostle's 
 pen. 
 
 2. The second consideration is suggested by the 
 context, which reads: "He that despised Moses' 
 
128 THROUGH THE SHADOWS, 
 
 law died without mercy," by being burned or stoned 
 to death. "Of how much sorer punishment, sup- 
 pose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trod- 
 den under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
 blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an 
 unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of 
 grace? For we know Him that hath said, I will rec- 
 ompense, saith the Lord. ... It is a fearful thing to 
 fall into the hands of the living God." The evident 
 meaning is : God can and does punish the guilty 
 more severely than man can. Man can burn, stone, 
 behead, a criminal ; God can inflict sorer punishment. 
 But what is more fearful than a violent death ? Tor- 
 ment by fire in hell might be worse ; but is there 
 nothing else ? We answer : The sting, the mental 
 agony, that sin gives to the dying hour is much more 
 fearful than death. A consciousness of guilt brings 
 a misery to which the material bodj' is a stranger. 
 The natural death of the aged, and all whose bod- 
 ies are wasted by disease or mangled b}' accident, 
 is not a punishment, but a relief, a blessing. To a 
 sinful soul, the sting of a guilty conscience, the bur- 
 den of regret and remorse, and the dread of the 
 future are fearful penalties ; and these God inflicts 
 on the wicked, even in the solemn hour of their 
 dissolution. 
 
 There are two things more fearful than falling into 
 the hands of God : one is, to be in the cruel, enslav- 
 ing; hands of sin ; and the other is, to be in the cold, 
 
THE FEARFUL HANDS OF GOD. 129 
 
 clammy hands of ignorance. The virtuous and well- 
 informed can face death with calm composure. Only 
 to the sinful, ignorant, and unbelieving is death the 
 king of terrors, or God an apparent enemy. God is 
 good ; let us not fear His tender hands. His rod of 
 correction is a healing wand ; may it touch us when 
 we err, and reach all the guilty ! And let us not for- 
 get the fundamental truth of revelation, that we 
 and all souls are and ever shall be in the hands, 
 in the kind, safe keeping, of the Infinite Love. 
 
 9 
 
130 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 : xiii. 
 
 NOT BORN AGAIN. 
 
 "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." — John iii. 3. 
 
 HP HIS is a plain statement of an important fact. 
 The kingdom of God must be the realm, and the 
 only realm, of divine purity, love, and blessedness ; 
 and no one can enter or even see this heavenly king- 
 dom unless he has been born again. All others 
 must remain outside and afar off. This seems to us 
 one of the greatest deprivations and misfortunes 
 imaginable. In view of these momentous facts, the 
 questions, Have we been born again ? If not, how can 
 we be born again? and is it probable that we ever 
 shall be ? arise and assume a thrilling interest. The 
 answers to these questions, where so much is at stake, 
 ought to be obvious to even the dullest comprehen- 
 sion ; but while looking for them we meet many 
 doubts and difficulties. 
 
 Nicodemus, the gentleman to whom Jesus was 
 speaking when he uttered these words, was, without 
 doubt, a learned, honest, candid, devout rabbi. He 
 firmly believed in God, and worshipped Him in the 
 
NOT BORN AGAIN. 131 
 
 way prescribed in the ritual of Moses. He recognized 
 in Christ 4i a teacher come from God," and believed in 
 him as far as he knew him. But he desired to know 
 more ; and hence, in the hush of the evening, after 
 most people had retired to rest, he went to Jesus to 
 have a quiet, serious talk. He was a very excellent 
 man ; yet Jesus told him, at the outset, that he, even 
 he, must be born again or he could not see the king- 
 dom of God. If so good and pious a man needed a 
 new birth, then no amount of virtue or grace in us is 
 any indication that we have been born again. Be- 
 lieve and hope as we may, a grave doubt whether 
 we have had the great change of regeneration and 
 rebirth must ever shadow the minds of even the best 
 of us. 
 
 Birth is a sudden and radical change in the con- 
 dition, feelings, opportunities, and activities of the 
 creature born. It is a rapid transition from a state 
 of comparative quiet, unconscious indifference, to a 
 state or condition exactly opposite, — to freedom, 
 activity, want, and new feelings. But since arriving 
 at the age of mature reflection, no one of us is con- 
 scious of having passed through such a new-birth 
 change. By the slow processes of growth and culture 
 our powers have increased, our opinions changed, our 
 views broadened, our feelings been modified; }'et in 
 every essential respect we have remained the same. 
 Our appetites, passions, conscience, heart, traits of char- 
 acter, peculiarities, idiosyncrasies, have not altered. 
 
132 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 We trust that with advancing years and the incoming 
 of more light we have slowly grown wiser and better ; 
 but we must candidly confess that so far as we can 
 remember, we have never experienced any change 
 that in any way resembled a new birth. We cannot 
 recall the time when we did not respect right and 
 despise wrong, love happiness and loathe misery, 
 feel at times weak and desire assistance, realize that 
 we had in some instances done wrong and long to be 
 forgiven. Each of us has swept the entire scale of 
 feeling from blue depression to jubilant joy ; but we 
 have no proof that we have been born again. What 
 ought we to do? 
 
 We suppose all Christians are agreed in the opin- 
 ion that the phrases u born again" and " born of 
 God " have one and the same meaning. He that is 
 born again is born of God ; and he that is born of 
 God is born again. It is written (1 John v. 18) : 
 " Whosoever is born of God sinneth not." We know 
 that we do occasionally sin ; hence we are compelled 
 to believe that we have not been born of God, — 
 have not been born again ; and we see no way to 
 avoid this humiliating conclusion. And it is an 
 aggravating bitterness in our cup of humiliation that 
 we cannot help ourselves in this matter, and that we 
 may never be born again. Birth is a change in which 
 the creature born is entirely passive. The unborn 
 move only when and as they are moved upon. They 
 are "brought forth." This fact is recognized in the 
 
NOT BORN AGAIN, 133 
 
 passive predicate " be born again." There is no 
 active voice of the verb born. We cannot born our- 
 selves. We may long and pray for the new birth, 
 but we can do nothing about it. When, if ever, the 
 time is ripe and God wills, parturition will take 
 place, and we shall enter the new stage of existence 
 and see the kingdom of God. Till then, all we can 
 do is to wait and hope. We have now made a frank 
 and full confession of our condition in regard to a 
 new birth, — we have not been born again ; and it 
 seems to us that even evangelical Christians must 
 admit that we have written "the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing but the truth." But this truth 
 has a wide application. All men, whether evangeli- 
 cal or unevangelical, are in the same embryonic con- 
 dition, — not born again. The evidence is conclusive. 
 Very few persons of culture, capable of comprehend- 
 ing mental phenomena, can call to mind any change 
 in themselves worthy the name of " born again ; " 
 and the testimon} T of the ignorant is of little value. 
 But more than this, it is an old and true statement 
 that "no man liveth and sinneth not." Judging 
 them hy their fruits and by their own public confes- 
 sions, nearly all professed Christians and church- 
 members are still sinners, and hence have not been 
 born of God, — not been born again; and although 
 the glorious privilege of seeing and entering the 
 Divine kingdom is contingent, they can do nothing 
 to bring about their new birth and secure the blessing. 
 
134 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 The truth is, we are all in the same boat, and have 
 no power to steer it through the birth-strait. 
 
 In this condition of affairs, it seems the duty of all 
 Christians to seek some explanation of the words of 
 Jesus that will free us from these difficulties and 
 open the door of hope, and at the same time be in 
 harmony with the Scriptures and the right use of 
 reason ; and it seems to us that this is not a hard 
 task. The light breaks on our mind in this way : 
 there are two meanings to the phrase "born again," 
 — a lower and a higher meaning. 
 
 First, the lower or common meaning, in the age of 
 Jesus and the Apostles. The Jews at that time 
 were animated by a missionary spirit. The} r desired 
 to convert the Gentiles to the Mosaic religion. In 
 Scripture language, they u compassed land and sea 
 to make proselytes." When, as occasionally hap- 
 pened, a Gentile was converted to Judaism, he was 
 baptized, symbolically to wash off his stains of sin 
 and error ; and was then said, in Oriental style, to 
 be born again, — that is, born into the Mosaic reli- 
 gion and church. In that age the expression was 
 in common use, and well understood b}- everybody. 
 Nicodemus had probably uttered the words hun- 
 dreds of times. What puzzled him was that Jesus 
 should say that he, a born and bred Jew, a devout 
 believer in the law and its ordinances, needed to 
 be born again. He was already- in the theocratic 
 kingdom, and was expecting that its rightful king, 
 
NOT BORN AGAIN 135 
 
 the promised Messiah, would soon come and as- 
 cend its throne. How could a man like him, full 
 grown in the true faith, have a new birth? He 
 needed, and we need, a different and higher defini- 
 tion of the phrase than mere conversion. A glance 
 at the opinions and feelings of the Jews at that time 
 will disclose this higher meaning. 
 
 Misled by the figurative language of the Old Tes- 
 tament, they believed that a man of divine nature 
 and ability was about to come, assume the office of 
 king, rouse the nation to arms, lead them to battle, 
 drive out the detested Romans, and establish a king- 
 dom that would rule and bless all mankind and 
 make Jerusalem the capital of the world. Nicocle- 
 mus without doubt had this cheering belief: and 
 having heard much of the miracles and wonderful 
 discourses of Jesus, he may have thought him to 
 be the Christ. To satisfy himself, he sought and 
 obtained a private interview. In answer to his first 
 questioning remark, Jesus said, " Except a man 
 [j'ourself, for example] be born again, he cannot see 
 the kingdom of God." The rabbi mused. " Why 
 not? Have I not eyes? Could I not see Israel's 
 glorious king in command of our army, the vic- 
 torious battles, the Roman cohorts driven from Pal- 
 estine, and the kingdom of David and Solomon 
 re-established in more than its ancient grandeur ? I, 
 a rabbi and a ruler in Israel?" Yes, if such a phe- 
 nomenon should occur ; but nothing of the kind was 
 
136 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 to take place. Jesus explained : " By l born again' 
 I mean ' born of the spirit, born from above, born 
 of God, entering into spiritual life.' The Christ is to 
 be a spiritual king ; the kingdom of God, a spiritual 
 kingdom ; and hence it can be seen only by the eyes 
 of a spiritual being. You, even you, Nicodemus, 
 must become more spiritually minded, or not perceive 
 the great religious regime about to be inaugurated." 
 
 This, without a shadow of doubt in our mind, was 
 the exact meaning of the Saviour ; and this meaning 
 is in harmony with the drift of the New Testament. 
 John the Baptist said, "The kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand." On one occasion Jesus said to those 
 around him, " The kingdom of God is within you," 
 in your midst, even now. Saint Paul said, u The 
 kingdom of God is not meat and drink [is not an 
 earthly realm], but righteousness, peace, and joy in 
 the Holy Spirit." Saint John says (1 John v. 1) : 
 " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born 
 of God," and of course sees the Divine kingdom. 
 Nicodemus did not believe this, and hence he had 
 not been born again. The kingdom of God, we 
 believe, is the Christian dispensation, — the regime 
 of grace on earth, which, though small at the outset, 
 is destined to increase and spread until it leavens 
 the entire human race, and all souls, from the great- 
 est to the least, know and love God. 
 
 Admitting this natural and Scriptural interpreta- 
 tion of what Jesus said, it is evident that he did not 
 
NOT BORN AGAIN. 137 
 
 allude to the after-death condition of souls, nor to a 
 change needful to prepare the rabbi to enter heaven 
 in the next stage of existence. Instead, he spoke 
 of affairs pertaining to earth only ; and he uttered 
 a truth as important and pertinent here and now 
 as there and then, — no selfish, sinful, unspiritual, 
 animal man can enter, see, or appreciate God's 
 pure, blessed Gospel kingdom, on earth or anywhere 
 else, until he is born of the Spirit and has opened 
 his spiritual eyes. Hence arises the great need of 
 preaching and teaching, of Christian culture, to open 
 men's soul-eyes, and thus "to turn them from dark- 
 ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God," that they may have righteousness, peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Although the text under review was not spoken 
 to inculcate, yet it forcibly suggests, a still higher 
 and grander thought. fci Born again " implies a first 
 and a second birth. B} T our first birth we entered 
 into this world ; by our second birth, through death 
 and the resurrection, we shall enter another world ; 
 and the details of the two births are very much 
 alike. In each case the person exists before he is 
 born. In every human being there is an immortal 
 embryo. The unborn possess all the organs and 
 faculties required in the next stage of existence. 
 Even now around our souls are folded the wings 
 of an angel, and in our hearts seraphic love is en- 
 shrined. Birth is entrance into a higher sphere ; 
 
138 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 and by the second birth man enters into the highest 
 sphere we can imagine. It is not a change of iden- 
 tity or personality, but entrance into a realm where 
 many and great changes are imminent and certain. 
 Especial^ will our second birth introduce us into 
 a realm of enlarged freedom and opportunity for 
 growth in grace and knowledge. We shall be freed 
 from the animal body, — the instigator and instru- 
 ment of sin ; freed from the needs and pains of our 
 mortal forms ; freed from the cares and anxieties 
 incident to our earthly life ; free to go where we 
 please, and to labor without being weaiy, to enjoy 
 without being satiated ; free to commune with angels 
 and glorified spirits ; and, with keener perceptions 
 and clearer intellect, free to learn, to improve, and 
 to go on to perfection. The fulness of all this will 
 not come at the instant of our second birth, for we 
 shall then be merely immortal babes ; but it will 
 come gradually, as the result of growth and evolu- 
 tion, in the realm where there is neither marrying nor 
 
 7 J O 
 
 sexual complications, no tears or fears, no death or 
 pain, but light, love, beauty, and harmony forever. 
 
 In this sublime view of the subject, no person is 
 really born again until the soul leaves the material 
 bod}\ But by faith in God, in Christ, in immor- 
 tality, we ma} T even here enter into a realizing con- 
 sciousness of our future destiny, and heaven begin 
 below. God and heaven are as near us now as they 
 ever will be ; but until the great day of revelation 
 
NOT BORN AGAIN. 139 
 
 consequent on our actual new birth, we are obliged 
 to ' ' walk by faith and not by sight." Yet we can 
 improve our spiritual condition. u Faith comes b}' 
 hearing " or reading the Word of God, by deep medi- 
 tation, and in answer to the prayer, " Lord, increase 
 our faith." In due time we shall all be born again, 
 and see and enter the kingdom of God. 
 
140 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 EESURRECTION OF DAMNATION. 
 
 " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall 
 hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, 
 unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the 
 resurrection of damnation." — John v. 28, 29. 
 
 ^PHESE words are by many supposed very clearly 
 to set forth the prevalent evangelical idea of 
 the final destiny of the human race. Christ is to 
 come again as a person, and summon the dead to 
 judgment ; a general resurrection of both the just and 
 the unjust will ensue ; a separation of the vast throng 
 into two dissimilar portions will take place, — one 
 portion, t4 the}' that have done good," will enter the 
 higher life, and the other portion, 4; they that have 
 done evil," will receive damnation, — and the drama 
 of earth and man will end. These solemn, startling 
 statements, it is said, came from the lips of Jesus, 
 the teacher sent from Heaven to give us instruction ; 
 and it becomes us to hear, believe, shudder, and try 
 to do good enough to secure eternal life. The Ian- 
 guage is apparent^ definite and explicit; but in a 
 matter of such tremendous importance, we want to 
 be sure, if possible, of the exact meaning of eveiy 
 
RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION, 141 
 
 word. Is the general view of the passage, as above 
 stated, correct ? Is the translation perfect ? Does the 
 context throw any light on the subject? What is 
 the exact meaning, in this statement, of the words 
 hour, voice, dead, graves, resurrection, life, and 
 damnation? Is the passage to be regarded as a 
 literal account of actual events that are to transpire? 
 Let us make a candid and thorough investigation. 
 
 " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in 
 the graves shall hear his voice." The earth is twenty- 
 five thousand miles in circumference, and there are 
 graves in eveiy land. Wherever Christ is to stand 
 on that great occasion, there will be graves all the 
 way from a mile to twelve thousand five hundred 
 miles distant ; and a voice that could reach all of 
 them would have to be a thousand times more pow- 
 erful than the loudest thunder. Is the gentle Jesus 
 to utter a shout so enormously loud? Could even 
 a blast from Gabriel's trumpet reach so far? At 
 twelve thousand miles' distance, could any vocal air- 
 wave be perceptible even to the living? It seems im- 
 possible. Besides, sound moves only about eleven 
 hundred feet in a second ; and it would require 
 several hours for a voice uttered in Palestine to reach 
 the graves in California and Australia. All in the 
 graves will not hear the voice in the same hour, 
 unless Christ rapidly visits every part of the earth in 
 sixty minutes, constantly shouting as he goes, — a 
 supposition that seems very absurd. From these 
 
142 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 considerations we are compelled to believe that 
 neither the voice nor the hour is to be understood 
 literally. The hour must be time indefinite ; and 
 the voice only a summons. 
 
 " All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
 and come forth." This cannot be taken literallv. 
 A very large number of the bodies of the dead have 
 not been buried in graves ; man}' have been burned, 
 many engulfed in the sea, mam' left to rot above 
 ground, and many devoured by wild beasts and 
 cannibals. If only those who have been buried or 
 entombed are to hear his voice, a very great mul- 
 titude of the dead will not hear it. But if the bodies 
 of all who have died during the past six thousand 
 years had been buried, very few of them would 
 now be in the graves. Unless the dead are em- 
 balmed as soon as life leaves the bod}', chemical 
 decomposition begins ; and it does not stop until the 
 "dust returns to the dust as it was," and the body, 
 as an organized form, ceases to exist. If, therefore, 
 only those bodies that are in the graves come forth, 
 the number will be comparatively small. But all 
 the dead are evidently intended ; and hence we are 
 obliged to suppose that the word (/raves is used fig- 
 uratively for the dead. If so, then the old, ghastly 
 notion that grass}' graves are to burst open, and 
 bodies long dead are to come up out of them, must be 
 abandoned. In fact, no item of the drama so long 
 held by many as a reality finds any support in this 
 
RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION. 143 
 
 passage of Scripture. The idea of the second com- 
 ing of Christ in a human form, of the mighty voice, 
 the graves, the dead bodies, the separation into two 
 classes, utterly vanishes. We must find a figurative 
 meaning, or the passage remains a mysteiy. 
 
 In addition to these erroneous ideas about the 
 passage, one word in it is made misleading by being 
 wrongly translated. It is the ominous word damna- 
 tion. In Worcester's Quarto Dictionary damnation 
 is defined to be " a sentence to the eternal torments 
 of hell ; " and this is, without doubt, its popular and 
 actual meaning. This is an alarming fact. If Jesus 
 uttered a w r ord of such awful import, we and all 
 sinners have reason to fea*r and tremble. But did 
 he ? We hasten to get the opinion of the wise and 
 learned. In Noyes's very excellent translation of 
 the New Testament, the phrase reads " resurrection 
 of condemnation." In the risen state those who 
 have done evil may feel or receive condemnation. 
 That is infinitely better than damnation. It is but a 
 natural and just retribution. How long the state of 
 condemnation will continue is not mentioned. But 
 Dr. Noyes, though a ripe scholar and an honest man, 
 was a Unitarian, and his belief may have biased his 
 judgment. We go therefore to the Revised Version 
 of the New Testament. This was made by learned 
 evangelical divines ; and it ought to be reliable. To 
 our surprise and gratification we find the phrase 
 reads "resurrection of judgment ; " and judgment 
 
144 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 does not mean u a sentence to eternal torments in 
 hell." On further investigation, we find that there is 
 other good orthodox testimony to the fact that there 
 is no word in the Greek New Testament that means 
 " damnation." The profane may continue to repeat 
 the awful word, and the timid and ignorant to be 
 afraid of a doom so frightful ; but it is a great relief 
 to us to learn that Jesus never uttered, and the in- 
 spired penmen never wrote, a word having this 
 meaning. A danger that neither Christ nor his 
 Apostles mentioned need not give us alarm. 
 
 Having thus disposed of erroneous interpretations 
 and crude notions, we come now to something more 
 important and practical*: What did Jesus in this 
 statement mean to teach his hearers and us? We 
 reply : — 
 
 1. He meant to reaffirm and emphasize the old doc- 
 trine that it shall be well with the righteous, " they 
 that have done good," and ill with the wicked, (i the}' 
 that have done evil." This is a law, a destiny, that 
 every person ought to understand. Not belief, or 
 profession, or religious rite, insures the blessing, but 
 the actual doing of good ; and neglecting to do 
 good, doing evil, brings the curse. The "good" 
 alluded to is fully set fortlrin the twenty-fifth chap- 
 ter of Matthew. It is feeding the hungry, clothing 
 the naked, sheltering the stranger, visiting the sick 
 and afflicted, — in a word, philanthropy. In earth 
 and heaven — by men, angels, and God — these 
 
RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION. 145 
 
 good works are approved, and the doer blessed with 
 true divine life. 
 
 2. This is the law, the rule, the result, not for 
 some Jews or some Christians, but for all, even u all 
 that are in the graves," — that is, the dead. All, 
 both the living and the dead, shall hear his voice and 
 come forth. But in the Bible " the dead" does not 
 always mean " corpses." Bad men are said to be 
 " dead in trespasses and sins." Saint John said of 
 himself and some other Christians, "We know we 
 have passed from death unto life," — not from dead 
 bodies to living men, but from unbelief and sin to 
 belief and love. Paul wrote to the Ephesians : "You 
 who were dead hath he quickened," — that is, raised 
 from sluggish indifference to the animating hope, 
 love, and joy of the Gospel. But if the word graces 
 has an ominous sound, read Ezek. xxxvii. 11-14: 
 " Prophesy unto them [the degraded and oppressed 
 Jews in captivity], Thus saith the Lord, Behold, 
 
 my people, I will open your graves, and cause 
 you to come up out of your graves, and bring 3-011 
 into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that 
 
 1 am the Lord." All commentators, so far as we 
 know, concur in the opinion that this is figurative 
 language. These people were not literal^ dead and 
 buried, but ignorant, sinful Hebrew captives in 
 Babylonia. And the dead of whom Jesus spoke, 
 possibl}', probably, were not coffined dead bodies, 
 but persons in the chill shadow of a moral death. 
 
 10 
 
146 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Even such were to hear the voice of the Son of God 
 in the Gospel, and come forth to a new life. 
 
 3. "The resurrection." As the body of a dead man 
 " returns to the dust as it was," and its reorganiza- 
 tion and reanimation is neither expected nor desired 
 by any candid thinker, the resurrection must be a 
 change of some other kind. If the spirit were dead, 
 its return to life might be called a resurrection ; but 
 man's spirit is immortal, and immortal spirits cannot 
 die. Ana-stasis, the Greek word for resurrection, 
 does not necessarily mean " revitalizing ; " but it does 
 mean "standing up, rising up from a sitting or re- 
 cumbent posture." It is a result of the volition of 
 the living. A resurrection then is a mental change, 
 a rising up of the soul from the torpor of evil to a 
 consciousness of moral responsibility and of an over- 
 ruling Providence and an eternal destiny- It is 
 being quickened, being born again, passing from 
 animal lethargy to spiritual life. This great change 
 may take place before the death of the body ; but if 
 not, it must occur at some time. We have the most 
 positive assurance that all shall hear his voice ; that 
 there is to be a resurrection "both of the just and 
 the unjust," and that, " as in Adam all die, even so 
 in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 
 4. " The voice of the Son of God." No intelligent 
 person now believes that the dead are to be awakened 
 into life b} r a mere noise emanating from either a 
 mouth or a trumpet. Christ's voice must therefore 
 
RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION. 147 
 
 be, not wavelets of sound, but the sense and spirit of 
 what he said or is to say, — in other words, the Gos- 
 pel that he preached. " The Gospel is the power of 
 God to salvation," • — a power adequate to change the 
 living and raise the dead. Christ was then preach- 
 ing the Gospel to the Jews ; and the Apostles were 
 commanded to go into all the world, and preach it 
 to every creature. It is also said that the Saviour 
 went and " preached to the spirits in prison," who- 
 ever or wherever they were. Eventually, therefore, 
 all mankind, the living and the dead, are to hear the 
 voice of Christ in the stirring truths of the Gospel, 
 and be aroused to a new life. 
 
 5. "The hour [in Greek, ora] is coming, in the 
 which." Hour does not always signify a period of 
 just sixty minutes ; but time, a space of time, a 
 season, time indefinite. Measured by the great 
 clock of eternity, whose pendulum is an apparently 
 fixed star, and on whose dial, in God's sight, " a 
 thousand years are as one day," an hour may be a 
 very long period of time. There is no proof that 
 by hour Jesus meant a very short space of time. 
 On the contrary, it is manifest to us that he referred 
 to a then future age of indefinite duration. In effect 
 ho said : "A new age, a Christian dispensation, is 
 coming, in the long duration of which all, the living 
 and the dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of God 
 in the thrilling strains of the Gospel, the glad tid- 
 ings of great joy which shall be to all people." This 
 
148 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 true view of the passage is sustained by the context 
 (John v. 25) : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, The 
 hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall 
 hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear 
 shall live." The resurrection age had alreadv begun. 
 The Divine voice was first heard by dead Jews ; 
 ultimately it will be heard by all the dead, both Jew 
 and Gentile. 
 
 6. " The resurrection," and its sequences. When a 
 good man, unacquainted with the Gospel, learns and 
 believes that he is the immortal son of the Infinite 
 Love, in whose kind care and keeping he is, and is 
 to be forever, he enters a new state of existence, 
 and partakes of eternal life ; in Scripture phrase, he 
 " passes from death to life," and is a new creature, 
 is alive in Christ. He feels at peace in God, and is 
 animated by love and a joj-ful hope. And these rich 
 blessings are not gifts or paj^ments, but the natural 
 and inevitable results of his Christian faith. This 
 interpretation is sanctioned by the explicit words of 
 Jesus (John v. 24) : " He that heareth my word, 
 and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting 
 life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is 
 passed from death to life." When a bad person 
 hears and believes the Gospel, he at once realizes 
 that he has been injuring himself and others ; that 
 he has not been enjoying the good within his reach, 
 but adding to the misery and degradation always ex- 
 isting in depraved society ; and that without holiness 
 
RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION. 149 
 
 lie cannot possess true love, hope, manliness, or hap- 
 piness ; and he thus awakes, u comes forth," into 
 a new life, — a condition of. shame, condemnation, 
 self-contempt. These evils are not punishments in- 
 flicted from without, but the natural and inevitable 
 results of wrong-doing. In fact, they are blessings 
 in disguise. Self-condemnation is the first step in 
 genuine repentance, and the first intimation of a 
 capacity for improvement. A totally depraved per- 
 son could feel no shame and condemn himself for 
 no guilt. Condemnation can be felt only by those 
 who have done wrong, yet approve of right. And so 
 long as shame, regret, and condemnation continue, 
 the soul cannot be perfectly happy. 
 
 At this point the passage under consideration 
 closes its testimony. How long this pitiable condi- 
 tion of the awakened sinner will last, and how, if at 
 all, he is delivered from it, are not shown in the text 
 or context. But we are not left to conjecture. Sin- 
 ners are sometimes saved, and the Gospel relates 
 the process. First, the sinner's spiritual eyes are 
 opened, and he perceives the beauty of holiness and 
 the haggard hatefulness of sin. Then comes the 
 sense, the feeling, of shame and condemnation. Then 
 come a desire and a determination to lead a better 
 life. Then comes a wish, a prayer, for Divine as- 
 sistance. Lastly, comes a consciousness of forgive- 
 ness. New ideas float into his mind ; the burden 
 of the past rolls off and slides away ; and a higher, 
 
150 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 happier frame of the soul ensues. Something seems 
 to say, and perhaps it is the voice of the Son of God : 
 " Well, let the past go f it cannot be changed. Your 
 Father in heaven still loves you. Hope ; hope on, 
 hope ever ! Eternity is before you ; and in all its 
 countless years you may be holy and happy. Christ 
 came to save such as you ; you are forgiven. Look 
 up, look ahead, and rejoice." Thus may those who 
 come forth to a resurrection of condemnation be 
 saved. 
 
TEE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 151 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 
 
 " We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" — 
 2 Cor. v. 10. 
 
 T 7t 7E suppose the word all in this passage means 
 every human being, — all who lived before the 
 birth of Jesus, all who have lived since, and all who 
 are yet to be born. Each one of us is included in the 
 number, and hence each one of us has a personal 
 interest in the affair ; and each one of us ought to 
 know what the Bible teaches respecting the great 
 and general judgment. A judgment seat is a seat, 
 bench, or throne for a judge to occupy. It implies a 
 court room or area large enough to accommodate the 
 judge and the persons on trial. Christ has or is to 
 have such a seat and such a court room ; and to it 
 all of us have been or shall be summoned for trial and 
 award according to our deeds. We are amenable to 
 law, and accountable for our conduct. All this is 
 clearly taught in the Scriptures and believed by all 
 Christians. 
 
 " We must all appear before the judgment seat of 
 Christ j " but where that judgment seat is or is to be, 
 when we are to u appear" there, whether all at once 
 or in divisions or separately, how long the trial will 
 
152 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 last, are questions on which there is not a general 
 agreement among religious people. Man}' Christians 
 have held the idea that the judgment would occupy 
 but an hour, and that hour be at the second coming 
 of Christ. Then, suddenly, the Judge will descend 
 from heaven, the dead be raised and assembled be- 
 fore him, the judgment transpire, and the world — 
 or at least its present sinful condition — terminate. 
 Others are of the opinion that no dramatic scene of 
 the kind is ever to take place ; that the second com- 
 ing of Christ was a purely spiritual affair which oc- 
 curred soon after his ascension ; that his seat is in 
 every man's conscience ; that the judgment has been 
 going on, everywhere, ail the time, ever since ; and 
 that it will go on until the end of time. There are 
 good reasons for believing the first-mentioned idea 
 wrong, and the second right. 
 
 1. A scenic display seems incompatible with the 
 dignity and glory of the world's Redeemer. Eastern 
 monarchs did sit on elegant thrones, and trembling 
 culprits were brought before them for condemnation ; 
 and the scene was well calculated to awe the weak 
 and ignorant, and to aggrandize the ambitious and 
 selfish king. But for Christ, who promised to be with 
 his disciples " alway, even unto the end of the world," 
 to come down from heaven to earth, and sit down 
 anywhere, even on " a great white throne," and play 
 the role of an Oriental tyrant, would not be in har- 
 mony with his gentle, saving spirit. The solemn 
 
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 153 
 
 spectacle on Calvary was needful and beneficial. It 
 sealed in blood the Saviour's mission in the flesh, 
 and touched the world's heart with pity, love, admira- 
 tion. The crucifixion of the man Jesus had to be at 
 a certain time and place ; but a spectacular judgment 
 in some special place at the end of the world is not 
 needful, and would do no good. It could not make 
 the saved any happier, the lost any more miserable, 
 or God and Christ any more glorious. No witnesses 
 need be heard, because the Judge knows all things, 
 even the secrets of all souls. No proximity is neces- 
 sary, because the Judge can as easilj- and quickly 
 communicate his decision to a person ten millions of 
 miles distant as to one only ten feet away. In the 
 Divine economy, what is not becoming, needful, or 
 beneficial will not be. Thus, in the light of reason, 
 the imagery of a general judgment dissolves and 
 vanishes ; and the judicial dispensation of Christ ex- 
 pands to all time, all lands, and all human beings. 
 
 2. The theory that the judgment is a future, far- 
 off, simultaneous affair may be in accordance with, 
 and essential to, the belief that the main awards for 
 human conduct are in the immortal world ; and it 
 may also seem merciful to give the sinner a whole 
 lifetime in any hour of which he may repent, believe, 
 beg for mercy, be forgiven, anfl thus escape deserved 
 retribution ; but what is apparently gained in consist- 
 ency and mercy is more than counterbalanced by a 
 loss of moral power. If the sinner is convinced that 
 
154 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 at any time, in old age or in his dying hour, he may 
 by proper effort secure full pardon from God, and go 
 to judgment with a clean breast, and thus escape 
 being rewarded according to his works, the inevitable 
 tendency of his conviction will be procrastination and 
 continuance in wrong-doing. Many an eloquent ser- 
 mon on the " danger and folly of procrastination ,: 
 has been preached ; but the many still prefer to run 
 the risk a little longer, — to continue in sin until 
 death stares them in the face. But the theory of a 
 continuous, universal court of justice in which every 
 person every day is judged and rewarded according 
 to his deeds, has an immense moral influence. Con- 
 vince a man that all sin results in misery, and that 
 each sin he commits increases the amount of his mis- 
 eiy ; that all virtue results in happiness, and that 
 each virtuous act he does increases the amount of his 
 happiness ; that the great Judge of all is constantly 
 weighing his conduct and working out these results, 
 and that there is no possibilitj' of losing the happi- 
 ness or escaping the misery ; and unless he is totally 
 depraved or wholly a fool, he will tiy with all his 
 energy to u cease to do evil and learn to do good." 
 We are aware that the fear of punishment and the 
 hope of blessings are not the o\\\y or the strongest 
 incentives to virtue (l<5Ve is far stronger) ; but when 
 they are absolutely certain and immediate, as under 
 the government of God in Christ they must be, they 
 exert a healthy moralizing power. 
 
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 155 
 
 3. The main reason for believing that the general 
 judgment is now going on, and that every person on 
 earth is now being judged, is that this doctrine is 
 clearly taught in the Bible. We see and know that 
 by natural laws some awards are made, both for 
 doing right and for doing wrong ; that, other things 
 being equal, the temperate are more healthy than the 
 intemperate, the good man happier and more hopeful 
 than the bad man ; but outside of Revelation there 
 is no assurance that every person is or is to be re- 
 warded fully, according to his works. In fact, appar- 
 ently the virtuous suffer, and the vicious are happy. 
 It is therefore a relief to search the Scriptures, and 
 find therein " more light." 
 
 Ps. lviii. 11 : "Verily He is a God that judgeth 
 in the earth." This cannot mean that He sometimes 
 judges some people, and at other times abstains from 
 judging. Instead, it is an announcement of the im- 
 portant fact that the omnipresent Gocl is at all times 
 judging all the people on the earth. It is a general, 
 universal, continuous judgment. Moreover, it is ab- 
 solutely just and right, and is going on every mo- 
 ment from birth to death. No case is " put over" 
 to a future session ; and an appeal from God's judg- 
 ment is not supposable. There is no need of an- 
 other judgment at the end of the world ; and what 
 is not needed, will not be. Essentially practical, all 
 Christians concur in this opinion. At the moment 
 of death every man's case and account is settled 
 
156 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 beyond any possibility of any change in the Divine 
 verdict. To the wicked who hope to escape retri- 
 bution, the certainty of immediate justice may be 
 alarming; but in reality, all that God does is good 
 and for the best good of all. Hence it is written 
 (Ps. xix. 9, 10) : " The judgments of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether. More to be desired 
 are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter 
 also than hone}' and the honeycomb." In other 
 words, the best thing in the world and for the 
 world is the superintendence and management of 
 the all-wise and all-good Judge. One feature of 
 the blessed results of Christ's judgeship is foretold 
 by the prophet Micah (iv. 3, 4) : "And He shall 
 judge among man}' people, and rebuke strong na- 
 tions afar off; and the}' shall beat their swords into 
 ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; 
 nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, 
 neither shall they learn war any more. But they 
 shall sit every man under his own vine and fig 
 tree ; and none shall make them afraid." In other 
 words, the result of the judging or administra- 
 tion of Christ will be the redemption of the human 
 race on earth from strife and sin and the misery 
 that attends them. In ancient Oriental monarchies 
 the king was the supreme judge ; and if he was 
 kind and competent, his nation enjoyed prosperity 
 and happiness. Christ, the king and judge of all 
 the earth, is kind and competent, and under his reign 
 
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 157 
 
 the Prophets foretold a time when the Holy Spirit 
 would be poured on all flesh, and all, from the great- 
 est to the least, would know the Lord. 
 
 In the Old Testament, God is spoken of as the 
 judge of all ; in the New Testament, Christ is the 
 sole judge. The law and the policy are the same 
 in both dispensations ; but in the new regime the 
 Son is the official agent of the Father. Jesus said 
 (John v. 22): "The Father judgeth no man, but 
 hath committed all judgment unto the Son." He 
 adds (John v. 27) that the Father " hath given him 
 authority to execute judgment." Again (John ix. 
 39): "Jesus said, For judgment I am come into 
 this world." And finall\ T he said (John xii. 31), 
 " Now is the judgment of this world." Putting all 
 this together, and bearing in mind that the risen 
 Lord said, u All power in heaven and earth is given 
 unto me," the conclusions seem to us irresistible, 
 that there is a Divine judgment now going on in 
 this world among living men ; that Christ is the 
 judge ; that it began immediately after his resurrec- 
 tion ; that every person of each successive genera- 
 tion must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 
 to receive in body the things he hath done ; and that 
 another judgment of the same people for the same 
 offences or virtues, at the end of time, is utterly 
 needless and improbable. 
 
 Several years ago, Professor Alpheus Crosby of 
 Dartmouth College published a small volume en- 
 
158 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 titled " The Second Advent," in which he clearly 
 shows, by a multitude of proof- texts, (1) that the 
 second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, 
 the general judgment, and the end of the world 
 (ciion) are simultaneous events ; and (2) that the 
 second coming of Christ must have taken place 
 before some of the Twelve had tasted death, and 
 hence before the generation in which he lived -had 
 passed away. All the writers of the New Testament 
 expected his immediate return to earth ; and their 
 expectations were realized, not perhaps in the man- 
 ner of his coming, but in its date. In saying to the 
 Revelator, "Behold, I come quickly/' the Saviour 
 uttered the exact truth. He did come the second 
 time, immediately ; and of course the three other 
 contemporaneous events — the resurrection, the judg- 
 ment, and the end of the world — transpired. But 
 there is no historical record of these events in a 
 material form. The old earth still rolls peacefully 
 in its orbit, the bones of the patriarchs quietly re- 
 pose in the cave of Machpelah, and no outward eye 
 has ever seen Jesus coming in the clouds, or the 
 great white throne of judgment. And for the best 
 of reasons, no such physical changes ever occurred 
 or ever will occur ; no such outward events were 
 predicted or were to be expected. They were all 
 spiritual affairs. Christ did come again as a spirit ; 
 the dead in sin, the human race, was summoned to 
 his spiritual tribunal. The Jewish world, age, dispen- 
 
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 159 
 
 sation, ended; and the Christian age began. In no 
 other way can the passages that speak of these events 
 be interpreted as true. We must abandon the Bible, 
 or abandon the old notion of a literal resurrection 
 and judgment at some vet future date. We prefer 
 to give up the notion and hold on to the Bible. 
 
 Being thus obliged to adopt a spiritual exegesis 
 of the general judgment, let us examine with care 
 some of the Scripture statements on the subject, 
 and try to ascertain whether they do or do not war- 
 rant our theory. A study of the twenty-fourth and 
 twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew w T ill satisfy an} T log- 
 ical mind that there is good reason to believe that 
 the\' both refer, and only refer, to events synchronous 
 with the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the 
 Jewish dispensation, and the beginning of the Chris- 
 tian. If such an interpretation can be fairly made, 
 we shall be glad to accept it and retain our faith in 
 the Word of God. We can still believe that Jesus 
 spoke the simple truth ; that the great judgment de- 
 scribed in Matt. xxv. 31-46, began eighteen hundred 
 years ago, that it has not ended, and that it will not 
 end until the reign of Christ shall terminate. 
 
 There may be no warrant for asserting that the 
 judgment is restricted to persons in this earthly life. 
 It is certain that Christ is the judge of all, both the 
 living and the dead, whether in the body or out of 
 the body. It is also certain that a large majority of 
 mankind have died in their sins ; and perhaps the 
 
160 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 general judgment extends to them, and causes each 
 one of their guilt}' souls to go to its own place and 
 receive a just recompense of reward. The possi- 
 bility of this we are not disposed to deny ; but it is 
 a noteworthy fact that in the two great passages of 
 Scripture in which the future life is spoken of with 
 most distinctness, no allusion is made to a judgment. 
 In reply to a question of the Sadducees respecting 
 the marital relationships of the future life, Jesus 
 said (Luke xx. 35, 36): " They which shall be 
 accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the 
 resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are 
 given in marriage : neither can they die any more : 
 for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the 
 children of God, being the children of the resurrec- 
 tion." This is a clear and precious statement of the 
 immortal realm, but it has no hint of an}' judgment 
 there. It may teach a conditional resurrection, but 
 it completely excludes the idea of an after-resurrec- 
 tion judgment. Those who are the immortal sons of 
 God, and equal to the angels, certainly do not need 
 to be judged. If there is to be a general judgment 
 of those raised from the dead, it is strange Jesus did 
 not mention it to the infidel Sadducees. Equally 
 silent is Saint Paul in his lucid and explicit expo- 
 sition of the resurrection in 1 Cor. xv. He dis- 
 tinctly states that all are to be raised, each in his 
 own order, in incorruption, power, gloiy, in a spiritual 
 body, and are to be unlike each other as stars differ 
 
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 161 
 
 in brilliancy ; but he does not even remotely allude 
 to an} T judgment in that exalted life. It may be that 
 64 he that is dead is freed from sin," and that the 
 close of the earthly life is to each soul the end of 
 judgment. 
 
 It is quite probable that so far as soul development 
 is concerned, the consequences of the present life ex- 
 tend far into the future in peculiarity of condition, 
 rank, order, and amount or intensity of love and joy. 
 Yet the judicial awards for special deeds of vice or 
 virtue may be made and received before or in death. 
 Adopting the Revised Version, and omitting the 
 italic word done, this doctrine seems to be clearly 
 taught by Saint Paul in 2 Cor. v. 10 : " We must all 
 be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, 
 that each one may receive the things in [or through] 
 the body, according to what he hath done, whether 
 good or bad." The " things " must be the awards for 
 good or bad deeds ; and if they are received in or 
 through the bod}', only one question remains : Was 
 Saint Paul right or wrong? If he was right, there is 
 to be no after-death judgment, rewards, or punish- 
 ments ; if he is wrong, not reliable, we are all afloat 
 without helm or anchor. We dare not reject the 
 teaching of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. We 
 believe in him, and rejoice that he repeats in sub- 
 stance the testimony of Solomon (Prov. xi. 31) : 
 u The righteous sliall be recompensed in the earth: 
 much more the wicked and the sinner." 
 
 11 
 
162 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE SECOND DEATH. 
 
 " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." — 
 Rev. ii. 11. 
 
 T^ROM this we may infer that some will not over- 
 come, and will therefore be hurt by that mys- 
 terious change, the second death. Hurt how, when, 
 where ? There are onty four verses in the Bible that 
 allude to the " second death" by name ; and these 
 are all in Saint John's book of the Revelation. This 
 occult book few people pretend fully to understand. 
 To us it is a sacred panorama ; the pictures are dis- 
 tinct, but we cannot always perceive their meaning. 
 Hence we approach the subject with diffidence. 
 
 There are four theories respecting the second 
 death : — 
 
 1. It is not a death at all, but eternal life in cease- 
 less miseiy. A second implies a first. The first 
 death is the end of the present life, but the second 
 death is not the end of anything. Instead, it is 
 the beginning of endless woe, in which the poor 
 lost soul, in full possession of all its faculties, will 
 live and suffer forever. This theory is in accord 
 
THE SECOND DEATH, 163 
 
 with the belief of many Christians ; but it is so at 
 variance with the ordinary meaning of words and 
 the use of language, and so manifestly absurd, as to 
 be unworthy of consideration. We leave it without 
 comment. 
 
 2. The second death is the death of the soul. The 
 first death is the dissolution and extinction of the 
 material body ; the second death is the dissolution 
 and annihilation of the spirit. If an immortal spirit 
 can thus die, this theory is plausible. It is ana- 
 logically sound ; other passages of Scripture seem 
 to give it support ; and some evangelical Christians 
 are said to believe it. But the doctrine of annihila- 
 tion is not in harmony with philosophy, or the spirit 
 of the Gospel. It has never had man}' advocates in 
 the Church of Christ, and probably never will have. 
 To be u hurt'" does not mean to be " killed ; " and to 
 be " hurt of the second death" cannot mean to be 
 " put out of existence." We abandon this theoiy. 
 
 3. The second death is apostasy. To sin is to 
 die. " In the da}* thou eatest of the forbidden fruit, 
 thou shalt die." The unregenerate sinner is dead. 
 This is the first death. To be converted, to believe 
 in the teaching of Christ, to turn " from darkness to 
 light and from the power of Satan unto God," is the 
 first resurrection ; and to return to sin and unbelief 
 is to die again, — is the second death. We find no 
 fault in this theoiy. It is ingenious ; it is well 
 poised ; it is advocated by some able theologians ; 
 
164 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 but it is not clearly taught in the Bible, and we are 
 therefore obliged to rule it out as unsound. 
 
 4. Both the first death and the second were na- 
 tional affairs. The Jewish people, proud of their 
 ancestry, of the purity of their blood, and of their 
 religion, had dwelt in Palestine for many centuries. 
 They believed themselves to be a chosen and highly 
 favored race ; the} 7 loved their hill-country home ; 
 and they fondly hoped to remain there forever. But, 
 b. c. 588, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, 
 with a mighty arnry, invaded and subjugated Pales- 
 tine, captured Jerusalem, burned the sacred temple, 
 and carried almost the entire people into captivity in 
 a foreign land. The fields of Judaea were left uncul- 
 tivated, the houses empty, the land desolate. The 
 nation was dead as a nation could be ; and Palestine 
 was erased from the map of kingdoms. The calamity 
 was worse than the dismemberment of Poland ; it 
 was the apparent end of the Hebrew nationality, 
 language, religion, and name. It was a national 
 death, the first death of the Jewish commonwealth. 
 The nation was dead, but the people still lived ; and 
 after an exile of fifty-two }~ears, by a decree of Cyrus, 
 King of the Medo-Persian Empire, a small portion of 
 the people returned to their fatherland, and began 
 to reconstruct the fallen State. Slowly and with 
 much difficulty the walls of the capital were re- 
 paired, the temple rebuilt, the land cultivated, and 
 a new lease of political life obtained. In the course 
 
THE SECOND DEATH. 165 
 
 of time the full tide of prosperity came in, the 
 promised Messiah was born, and a long and lofty 
 career seemed open to the Jews. This was the first 
 resurrection. 
 
 In Saint John's da} T another, a greater, and a 
 lasting calamity was about to befall the Jewish na- 
 tion ; and it soon after came. A Roman army in 
 command of Titus Vespasian, after a long and dis- 
 tressing siege, captured and destroyed Jerusalem. 
 The temple was burned, many thousands of the 
 people perished, many thousands were exiled ; and 
 the national life became extinct. This was the 
 second and apparently the final death of the Jewish 
 nation. During all the eighteen centuries since the 
 terrible event there has been no semblance of a 
 Jewish government in Palestine or anywhere else ; 
 and in all these dreary ages the homeless and 
 scattered Hebrews have everywhere been a despised 
 and ill-treated people. This impending calamity, 
 clearly foreseen and foretold b}' our Saviour, is fre- 
 quently alluded to in the New Testament ; and Saint 
 John voiced the general feeling in giving it the 
 appropriate name, the " second death." In our 
 judgment, this theory is very plausible. It is self- 
 consistent and analogical ; it is in harmony with 
 historical facts ; and it can be applied to each of the 
 four passages in which the phrase " second death" 
 occurs. 
 
 1. " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the 
 
166 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 second death" (Rev. iL 11). Three facts are here 
 stated : (1) There was to be a second death ; (2) It 
 would hurt some people ; (3) Others — they that 
 overcame something — it would not hurt. The re- 
 mark was made to the church in Smyrna, which at 
 that time contained a large number of Christianized 
 Jews. The unconverted followers of Moses and the 
 Prophets were bitterly opposed to the religion of 
 Jesus, and plied every art and used every means in 
 their power to crush it out. The disciples of Christ 
 were reasoned with, tempted, warned, persecuted. 
 They were soldiers of the cross, and their daily life 
 was a constant warfare. Some overcame all opposi- 
 tion, and held fast their faith and integrit}^ ; others 
 yielded to the pressure, relapsed into Judaism, and 
 shared the sad fate of the Jewish nation, — that is, 
 were hurt of the second death. The faithful Chris- 
 tian, true to himself, his Master, and his God, though 
 liable to persecution, was on the winning side, be- 
 came cosmopolitan, felt sure of eternal life, and was 
 not hurt by the great Jewish calamity, — the second 
 national death. This interpretation seems natural, 
 plain, reasonable, consistent, true. 
 
 2. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
 first resurrection ; on such the second death hath no 
 power" (Rev. xx. 6). The first resurrection, as has 
 already been shown, was the return of the Jews 
 from exile in Babylon, the re-establishment of the 
 nation and the temple service, growth in virtue, 
 
THE SECOND DEATH. 167 
 
 and the advent of Christ, whom great multitudes 
 of the " common people heard gladljv" Jesus said, 
 "I am the resurrection;" and of course he was 
 the first resurrection. Into him, into his spirit, out 
 of idolatiy and ignorance, a goodly portion of the 
 chosen people had been rising ever since the decree 
 of Cyrus. Those who are in Christ, in the spirit 
 of Christ, have part in the first resurrection. They 
 are blessed and holy ; and on such, in Saint John's 
 day and ever since, the second death — the disper- 
 sion, degradation, and misery of the Jews — hath no 
 power. They escape because they do not bear the 
 Jewish name, and their Father careth for them. 
 
 3. u And death and Hades were cast into the lake 
 of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of 
 fire" (Rev. xx. 14, Revised Version). This pas- 
 sage is more difficult than the two already explained, 
 simply because it is a broader statement, clothed in 
 more figurative language. It is an Oriental court 
 scene ; and the meaning is to be sought beneath the 
 imagery. That meaning cannot be found with the 
 precision and certainty of a mathematical solution ; 
 but to our mind, it is approximately the following: 
 " And I saw a great white throne," — the symbol of 
 royal and judicial authority, — "and Him that sat 
 upon it," — Christ, the divine king and judge, — "be- 
 fore whose face the earth and the heaven " — temporal 
 and ecclesiastical governments — "fled away; and 
 there was found no place for them," — they became 
 
168 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 of no consequence. "And I saw the dead, small 
 and great," — all nations and peoples dead in sin, — 
 " stand before God " to be judged. There was no res- 
 urrection ; all were still dead. " And the books " — 
 the records of conduct, and the volume of Mosaic and 
 universal law — " were opened," — adopted as the ba- 
 sis of the judgment ; " and another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life," — the Gospel of Christ. 
 " And the dead " — not those raised to immortal life 
 — " were judged out of those things which were writ- 
 ten in the books." Those who had no knowledge 
 of the law recorded on parchment had the divine 
 commands, the law written on their hearts, and 
 therefore were amenable to the Judge of all. " And 
 the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death 
 and Hades delivered up the dead which were in 
 them," — figures to indicate the universality of the 
 judgment; "and they were judged every man ac- 
 cording to his works," — some having been more 
 sinful than others. "And death and Hades were 
 cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, 
 even the lake of fire. And whosoever was not found 
 written in the book of life was cast into the lake 
 of fire," to be punished. Here we have a definition, 
 a synonyme ; the second death is the lake of fire. 
 But where or what was the lake of fire ? It was not 
 hell, for hell was cast into it ; yet it seems to have 
 been a place. What place? When Moscow was 
 burning, in the days of the First Napoleon, a spec- 
 
THE SECOND DEATH. 169 
 
 tator said it resembled " a sea of fire ; " and when 
 Sodom was burning, it probably resembled a lake of 
 fire, — a spectacle that no Jew ever forgot. So when 
 Jerusalem was burning, at the close of the siege 
 conducted by Titus, it appeared like a lake of fire. 
 To this event, as it appeared in vision, Saint John 
 alluded ; but, like everything else in his strange book, 
 the allusion is figurative. A great fire is a great ca- 
 lamity, involving suffering, death, destruction. Those 
 whose names were not written in the book of life 
 were to suffer keenly ; death, and Hades the place 
 of the dead, were to be destroyed. But it was not 
 literal fire ; it was the executive arm of God — who, 
 it is said, ;c is a consuming fire " — stretched forth in 
 retributive justice and mercy in the Christian dis- 
 pensation, — justice in punishing the guilty, mercy 
 in destroying evil. This truth is stated more fully 
 in the fourth passage. 
 
 4. " But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the 
 abominable, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idol- 
 aters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
 that burnetii with fire and brimstone, which is the 
 second death" (Rev. xxi. 8). Here we have the 
 same lake of fire and the same second death men- 
 tioned in the third passage, but with two added 
 particulars. First, the fire is fed or mingled with 
 brimstone, which increases its horribleness. The 
 stench of burning sulphur is very offensive and suf- 
 focating. The combined action of these two, as 
 
170 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 agents of destruction, is a very ancient idea. In 
 Gen. xix. 24, it is recorded, "Then the Lord rained 
 upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire ; " 
 and they were thus utterly destroyed. This was 
 known to all the Jews; and "fire and brimstone" 
 became a phrase that denoted overwhelming ruin, 
 and it appears to be thus used by Saint John. The 
 second added particular is the specification of guilt, 
 — the fearful or cowardly, the abominable, sorcerers, 
 murderers, etc. Not only Jews, but Gentiles also ; 
 not onlv those who disobey the laws of Moses, but 
 all sinners — all kinds of sinners — are to have their 
 part in the lake of fire which is the second death. 
 The retribution under the judgeship of Christ, in the 
 siege, capture, and conflagration of Jerusalem, contin- 
 ues, and extends to all mankind. It is the steady, 
 ubiquitous working of Divine law, to which we and 
 all are amenable. It is one of the solemn truths of 
 the Christian religion, and it should be emphatically 
 stated time and again in every pulpit : " All sinners 
 shall have their part in the lake of fire." 
 
 At this point our attempt to explain the mystery 
 of the second death might close, did not several 
 corollaries come to mind, that throw light on this 
 confessedly difficult subject. 
 
 1. God is the Creator of all things, and hence 
 He must have scooped out the basin of the lake, pre- 
 pared the fuel, and kindled the fire. We cannot 
 imagine that He, the great and good Ruler of the 
 
TEE SECOND DEATH. 171 
 
 universe, would allow any other person to get up 
 such a vast bale-fire. The lake of fire, with all its 
 appurtenances, is therefore His institution ; and being 
 His, it must be a good, an excellent, lake of fire 
 and brimstone. A better one could not have been 
 made. If we never see it, if we fail to appreciate its 
 good qualities, we are not at liberty to doubt its 
 worth and worthiness. God doeth all things well. 
 
 2. We are unable to perceive any beaut}^, an}~- 
 thing ornamental, in this fiery lake, and hence we 
 conclude that He made it, as we build a house or 
 prison, for a useful purpose ; and, He being ail-wise 
 and kind, this useful purpose must be good and com- 
 mendable. Dr. J. Edwards's idea that the saints in 
 heaven will rejoice at the agony of lost sinners never 
 impressed us pleasantly ; but there is no doubt that 
 if we could fully comprehend the good purpose of the 
 lake of fire, we should be glad that it was made, and 
 grateful that it is or is to be used. 
 
 8. As there is no historj- or prophec}' of the fire 
 being extinguished, in all probability it is still burn- 
 ing, and so long as needed its lurid flame will continue 
 to rise. 
 
 4. The lake of fire was evidently made to put sin- 
 ners in to be tormented, to cause them to surfer ex- 
 cruciating agony. This seems cruel ; and if the only 
 object is to cause intense pain, it is cruel, and utterly 
 unworthy the God who is love. He who calls souls 
 into existence is certainly able to destroy them ; and 
 
172 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 annihilation is far better than endless suffering that 
 does no good. 
 
 5. But there may be — let us hope there is — an- 
 other object. Fire purifies, consumes, melts away 
 the dross, and sets free the pure gold. Possibly the 
 lake of fire is to burn off and burn out sin ; to make 
 the sinner thoughtful and penitent ; to turn his heart 
 to the Saviour ; to refine, purify, and save the guilty. 
 If this is so, the object is truly noble ; and we are 
 glad the fire was kindled, and devoutly pray that all 
 sinners may have their part in it and receive its 
 benefit. 
 
 6. But literal fire cannot even scorch the real sin- 
 ner, the soul. Material bodies can hardly be called 
 sinners, yet they onfy can be burned. Other — finer 
 — agencies reach the spirit. u Fear hath torment ; " 
 and so have shame, regret, and remorse ; and these 
 agencies have a tendenc}' to humble, make penitent, 
 reform, and refine the doer of evil. The literal fire, 
 being utterly powerless and useless, itktv as well go 
 out. Few w r ell-informed Christians in this age believe 
 in a literal lake of fire and brimstone. 
 
 7. The second death — that is, the lake of fire — 
 is the mental misery into which the wicked are 
 plunged. It is the sequence of iniquity ; and it exists 
 wherever and whenever a person transgresses the 
 laws of God. It is certainly in this world ; and it 
 will certainly be, or it is, in the resurrection state, if 
 anv sin is there committed. 
 
THE SECOND DEATH. 173 
 
 8. Whj T sin and its inevitable punishment were 
 permitted, the wisest men have not yet fully decided. 
 God's ways are inscrutable, but the}' are right and 
 good. Jesus, though not sinful, was made perfect 
 through suffering ; and it may be that all suffering 
 is a means of grace, and that t; our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
 
174 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 SPIRITS IN PRISON. 
 
 Christ " went and preached unto the spirits in prison" — 1 Pet. 
 iii. 19. 
 
 " The gospel was also preached to them that are dead" — 1 Pet. 
 iv. 6. 
 
 npO our mind, these sayings have ever seemed dark 
 and hard to. be understood ; and we have long 
 wished for light on this subject. The explanations 
 given by the learned commentators have not been 
 entirely satisfactory ; and we were unable to frame a 
 theory that would full}' accord with reason and reve- 
 lation. It was therefore with great pleasure that we 
 recently found and read, in a high-toned magazine, 
 an article on iC Preaching to the Spirits in Prison." 
 It was written Iry a ripe scholar and profound thinker, 
 and was a labored attempt to show that the passages 
 quoted above are historical statements of actual oc- 
 currences. There was, and perhaps is, a prison in 
 which spirits were imprisoned. The dead, at least 
 some of the dead, were also there. They needed to 
 hear preaching, and Christ "went and preached to 
 them." This was the interpretation ; and so far as 
 our limited knowledge of the dead languages enabled 
 
SPIRITS IN PRISON. 175 
 
 us to judge, the arguments were philologically cor- 
 rect. This explanation also revealed a new lustre in 
 the Saviour's glory : he came not only to seek and 
 save the lost on earth, but also the spirits in prison. 
 We may now pray and hope for the salvation of the 
 dead, even for those who never heard of Christ or his 
 gospel ; for some of those in prison who listened to 
 his preaching are undoubtedly saved. But on mature 
 reflection, many puzzling questions arise. 
 
 Where was the prison to which the Saviour went? 
 When, by whom, and of what material was it built? 
 Was it hell ? Some learned divines tell us that hell 
 is a condition, and not a place ; but a prison is a 
 place, a bounded localit}-. The word has no other 
 meaning. Hence, either there is a local hell, or the 
 adjunct "in prison" is redundant. If there is no 
 prison, why did Saint Peter speak of one? We find 
 it hard to believe in a local spirit prison ; we dislike 
 to think the Apostle indulged in empty verbiage ; 
 and we are almost compelled to suppose his language 
 figurative. 
 
 Again, who were the prisoners? If it be said, 
 "They were the spirits of all the sinners who had 
 died previous to that time," the congregation was 
 the largest that ever listened to a single speaker. 
 There must have been at least 50,000,000,000 spir- 
 its present on the great occasion. How much space 
 did they occupy? Perhaps a spirit is infinitesimally 
 small ; if so, they inay all have been near the speaker. 
 
176 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 In this case an ordinary voice might have been loud 
 enough for them all to hear. If the sinners then de- 
 served a sermon or two, the wicked who have since 
 died and gone to prison must also deserve to hear 
 preaching. Why was not the place made a mission- 
 ary station, and the efforts to save sinners continued? 
 So far as we know, this was the only religious service 
 ever held in that prison. The chaplain was perfect, 
 but the time seems inadequate. 
 
 Again, preaching consists in talking to people, in 
 delivering a religious discourse. Did Christ really 
 talk to the prisoners, and in a language the}' all could 
 understand? If so, either all had learned a common 
 language after their incarceration, or the preacher 
 spoke to them in a thousand different tongues at once 
 or consecutively, or they were miraculously enabled 
 to understand any language. Each supposition in- 
 volves a miracle ; and the Being that could empower 
 these spirits to understand words new to them could 
 as easily have empowered them to comprehend the 
 ideas uttered without any words, and the preaching 
 have been omitted. Inspiration and intuition are the 
 divine methods of instructing souls ; and possibly the 
 preaching was not verbal and literal, but was spiritual 
 communion without the use of tongue or ears. 
 
 It is supposed by those who adopt the literal 
 theory, that the preaching to the spirits in prison 
 took place during the interval between the death and 
 resurrection of Christ. He died about three o'clock, 
 
SPIRITS IN PRISON. 177 
 
 Friday afternoon. The women who went to the 
 tomb Sunday morning, "very earl}', while it was 
 yet dark," discovered that the sepulchre was empty. 
 The hour of his rising is not stated ; it may have 
 been soon after midnight ; and if so, he remained in 
 the realm of the dead not longer than thirty-six 
 hours. Was not that rather a short time to devote 
 to preaching to several thousand millions of sinful 
 spirits? With so many, and so vast interests at 
 stake, it seems to us that a thousand years of 
 preaching would have been none too much. 
 
 What did Christ preach to the spirits in prison ? 
 Old truth? If they did not know there is a God, 
 and that they had violated His laws, and therefore 
 deserved punishment, their imprisonment was cruel. 
 They were in the condition of many a victim of the 
 Spanish Inquisition, who found himself in a dungeon 
 without being aware that he had done wrong. We 
 dislike to think that Torquemada imitated God. But 
 if the prisoners did know the law of God, and their 
 guilt, then there was no need of preaching to them 
 these old truths. Was it new truth, — the Gospel 
 truth, that God had sent His Son to seek and save 
 the lost, and that he was then doing this sublime 
 work? If his mission extended to imprisoned spirits, 
 this would have been worthy the Preacher and the 
 occasion. But did they not know all about it? Had 
 no new-comer, no " foul spirit" cast out by Jesus, 
 told the news from earth? Had no John Howard 
 
 12 
 
178 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 angel carried the glad tidings to the prison? It 
 is written, " The devils believe and tremble;" were 
 they better informed than their fellow-prisoners? 
 The simple truth is this : we do nojb know, and we 
 cannot imagine, the status of spirits in prison ; and 
 the preaching needed by them is to us unthinkable. 
 But the preaching of Christ anywhere to any lis- 
 teners must do good ; and some of the hearers must 
 have been converted and freed, — how many, we are 
 not informed. Nor have we an}' promise that the 
 Saviour will ever again visit this penitentiary. Unless 
 all were redeemed in that thirty-six hours' ministry, 
 there is nothing in Revelation to give any hope for 
 the salvation of all the prisoners. The curtain falls 
 on the dreary scene, and we wonder why it was 
 raised. The strange statements of Saint Peter, un- 
 supported by any other Scripture testimony, do not 
 seem a sufficient basis on which to build a theory of 
 the spirit realm ; and we are compelled to believe 
 they are not bits of history, but are to be interpreted 
 figuratively. 
 
 The statement is explicit that there was a prison 
 in which spirits were prisoners ; if that place was 
 not in the spirit world, where and what was it? 
 Our answer is, the prison is the human, material 
 body. In that, during this life, the immortal spirit 
 is confined. Saint Paul calls it a tabernacle. The 
 poets speak of it as a tenement, — "a close, im- 
 mured wall." In dying the body " gives up the 
 
SPIFITS IN PRISON. 179 
 
 ghost " — pneuma, the spirit — which it had held. 
 This or similar phraseolog}^ is so common in the 
 Bible, and so in accord with poetical and Christian 
 usas;e, that no further comment is necessary. The 
 prison is the material bod}', and the prisoners were 
 the spirits of men and women living in this mate- 
 rial world. To these Christ in spirit "went and 
 preached, in times past, while the ark was being 
 built." In making this statement, the Apostle gave 
 expression to a very important Christian doctrine, 
 too often overlooked, — the universality of Christ's 
 mission and work. It is not of recent elate. It did 
 not begin when Jesus preached the Sermon on the 
 Mount, nor when the Babe was born in Bethlehem. 
 The Word that was made flesh and dwelt in Pales- 
 tine eighteen centuries ago, had long before thrilled 
 the minds of prophets and patriarchs. The true 
 Light, that lighteth every man who cometh into the 
 world, had flashed its rajs along the path of Israel 
 in the Wilderness. Christ existed before he was 
 sent to save mankind. The Christ spirit preached 
 to spirits in prison before the Deluge, and was coeval 
 with Adam. He said, " Before Abraham was, I 
 am." He was, he is, he will be, "the same, yes- 
 terday, to-day, and forever." 
 
 His mission was not to a few, — not to the chosen 
 people, the elect, the called, but to all the human 
 race. The narrowest kind of limitarianism is the 
 belief that Christ works for human good only in 
 
180 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 certain localities and through certain agencies. He 
 " is the Saviour of all men, especially those that 
 believe." He was in India before the arrival of the 
 missionaries. As Brahma is said to be able to ap- 
 pear in human form in thousands of homes at the 
 same moment, so Christ can be present, as a saving 
 influence, in all the homes and hearts of earth at 
 the same moment. He is not select in his choice of 
 souls. He came to save all, if possible. He ate 
 with publicans and sinners. He said, u Come unto 
 me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest." He preached the Gospel, in the 
 " still, small voice/' to the dead in sin and sensual- 
 ity, and even to spirits in prison. Bear in mind 
 that while the body confines the spirit, it is a prison 
 to the ignorant and sinful only. The good spirit 
 that understands and believes the Gospel, is not a 
 prisoner ; he enjoys the glorious liberty of the sons 
 of God. In every land and age, Christ as a spiritual 
 influence has been preaching to all souls ; teaching 
 them to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, and to 
 live soberly, righteously, and godly. 
 
 Such is our interpretation of these difficult pas- 
 sages ; and it harmonizes with the general scope of 
 the Bible. It is free from ambiguity and absurdity, 
 and is worth}' the pen of him who was taught to 
 call nothing " common or unclean." It is as if the 
 Apostle had said, " Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, is not a mere man of our times, not a 
 
SPIRITS IN PRISON. 181 
 
 gifted and great man, but the divine Son of God, by 
 whom the world was created, with whom man has 
 always been in contact, — even the lowest and worst ; 
 and through him alone the world is to be saved." 
 This is the Gospel ; this is orthodox, and to us 
 satisfactory ; and to it we shall cling until some- 
 thing better is presented. 
 
182 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 " These shall go away into everlasting punishment." — Matt. 
 xxv. 46. 
 
 TTERE, at last, we find limitarianism announced in 
 the plainest language. Christ has come again, 
 in his glory, with his angels, has summoned into his 
 august presence all nations, and has divided them 
 into two classes, the righteous and the wicked. A 
 brief trial takes place, a hearing is granted to all, 
 and then the verdict is given : " the wicked shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous 
 into life eternal" — these to inherit the kingdom pre- 
 pared for them " from the foundation of the world ; " 
 those to go " into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
 devil and his angels." It is impossible to state the 
 case in any stronger or clearer language. The Eng- 
 lish words eternal, everlasting, forever, for ever 
 ancl ever, mean endless duration, and nothing else. 
 The eternal life and the everlasting punishment are 
 of equal length ; and both the punishment and the 
 fire are everlasting. Is there any way through this 
 awful shadow? To those who believe and want 
 to believe in the unending misery of the wicked, 
 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 183 
 
 this passage of Scripture affords aid and comfort, — 
 it settles the question ; but for those who desire 
 to know the exact meaning of the words, be it for 
 or against them, and who try to compare Scrip- 
 ture with Scripture, light breaks in from several 
 directions. 
 
 1. It is not certain that the phrase " eternal life," as 
 used in the New Testament, ever indicates duration. 
 Instead, it is certain that it generally means a par- 
 ticular kind or condition of life, — a pure, living, 
 heavenly life ; life in Christ ; life in the kingdom of 
 heaven. A few quotations will make this manifest. 
 When the wealthy young man came to Jesus and 
 said (Matt. xix. 16), "What good thing shall I 
 do, that I may have eternal life?" he did not mean, 
 " that I may live forever." People in those daj^s 
 did not believe in conditional immortality. He did 
 not inquire how he might be raised to life after 
 death. He saw that Jesus was animated by a life or 
 spirit which made him great, good, divine ; and the 
 young man desired to share that potent and noble 
 life. It was the current report that Jesus claimed to 
 be the promised Messiah, and that he was about to 
 establish on earth the glorious Messianic kingdom. 
 The inquirer desired a place in it. That kingdom, 
 the new national life, was to be enduring, eternal ; 
 and so long as he lived, he wished to share its glory 
 and joy. " What good thing shall I do to attain 
 that? " At that time even the Twelve did not real- 
 
184 THROUGH THE SHADOWS, 
 
 ize that Christ's kingdom was to be purely spirit- 
 ual; and the young man manifested an ignorance 
 equal to theirs. In reply to his question, Jesus told 
 him how to become " perfect." Perfection and eter- 
 nal life are one and the same ; and neither of the 
 terms means unending existence in heaven. The 
 Beloved Disciple said (1 John v. 11, 12) : " God hath 
 given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 
 He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not 
 the Son of God hath not life." Here eternal life 
 does not mean immortality, or entrance into heaven, 
 or an j' thing future. It was something Saint John 
 and his friends already had. It was the spirit, the 
 animus, of Christ. To make this idea entirety- clear 
 and free from doubt, Jesus said (John xvii. 3) : 
 M This is eternal life, that they- might know Thee the 
 only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast 
 sent." It is not a period of time or a local habita- 
 tion, but an intelligent condition, a belief and faith 
 in God and Christ. 
 
 In the passage under consideration, eternal life and 
 eternal punishment are exact opposites. This is self- 
 evident. If the one means endless happiness, the 
 other means endless misery ; if one refers to the im- 
 mortal realm, so does the other. But, as has been 
 shown, eternal life means onty' a kind of life, — a 
 pure, perfect, divine life ; hence everlasting punish- 
 ment must mean the opposite, — an impure, imper- 
 fect, ungodly life. The one, of course, is joyful ; the 
 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 185 
 
 other, joyless ; but in neither is there any allusion to 
 duration, long or short. We dare not say the passage 
 means more than it expresses ; and we are therefore 
 obliged to confess that it fails to prove the endless 
 punishment of the wicked. 
 
 2. As before stated, the English words eternal, 
 everlasting, and forever signify endless duration ; 
 but it is not certain that either the Hebrew olam or 
 its Greek equivalent aionios has often, if ever, this 
 meaning in the Bible. In many a petty lawsuit, in- 
 volving the rights of property alone, the exact mean- 
 ing of every word in the contract is sought with the 
 utmost care ; in the case involving the destiny of 
 immortal souls, the meaning of words cannot be too 
 carefully weighed. A thorough review of all that 
 has been wiitten on the meaning of aionios would 
 fill a large volume ; in this brief chapter onl^y a few 
 items can be stated. Those who would see the sub- 
 ject fully ventilated can consult Dr. J. W". Hanson's 
 " Aion — Aionios." Jesus said, and Matthew wrote, 
 "These shall go away into aionian punishment." 
 But aionios does not alwavs mean " endless ; " and 
 in the Bible it rarely has this signification, as the 
 following considerations clearly indicate. 
 
 In any and every large Greek lexicon, the radical 
 meaning of aion is said to be " age ; " and the deriva- 
 tive meanings are " time, a lifetime, a long period of 
 time, time indefinite." That this is the true defini- 
 tion may be inferred from the facts that aion has a 
 
186 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 plural, as eternity has not : and that axons of axons, 
 axons and beyond, the ends of the axons, and this 
 axon and the axon to come, are spoken of in the 
 Bible. No such usage of the word eternity is admis- 
 sible. Hence aion does not mean " eternhyy." Aion- 
 ios is an adjective derived from axon, and it must 
 mean " pertaining to an aion'' It does not therefore 
 signify ''eternal'" or "everlasting." Jesus did not 
 say, "These shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment," although the translators put that word in his 
 mouth. Let us not be wise above what was written 
 in Greek. A few quotations of Scripture will show 
 the correctness of the above statements : — 
 
 Dan. ii. 44: "In the daj^s of these kings shall 
 the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall 
 never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be 
 left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and 
 consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for- 
 ever" — be an aionian kingdom. This implies a 
 very long period of time, but not endless duration. 
 The prophecy is generally supposed to refer to Christ's 
 kingdom, his mediatorial reign ; but this is to end. 
 We read (1 Cor. xv. 24-28): "Then cometh the 
 end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to 
 God . . . that God may be all in all." From that 
 moment, his mission being accomplished, Christ will 
 cease to be a mediator, and his kingdom be involved 
 in the eternal reign of God. The long aion has 
 terminated. 
 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 187 
 
 Other aions (English, ceons) of great length are 
 mentioned in the Bible, though not so long as the 
 duration of Christ's kingdom. For example, Canaan 
 was given to the Jews for an everlasting possession ; 
 the Aaronic priesthood was to be everlasting ; and 
 the Mosaic law, with all its ritualistic details, was to 
 be everlasting. These aeons embraced many centu- 
 ries, but finally came to an end. Gehazi was to re- 
 main a leper forever ; and the slave who at the year 
 of Jubilee did not wish to become free was to remain 
 a servant forever. In these two cases the axon meant 
 simply during the remainder of life, — a lifetime. 
 Jonah was in the great fish three da} T s, } T et he said, 
 "The earth with her bars was about me forever." 
 This aeon lasted only three days ! We find in the 
 New Testament the phrase u for ever and ever," — 
 Latin, secida seculorum ; Greek (Rev. xiv. 11), 
 aionas aionon. If one ever does not imply endless 
 duration, a thousand added evers would not equal 
 eternit3 T . In the copious Greek language there are, 
 it is said, a dozen different phrases that indicate 
 absolute endlessness. Instead of using one of these, 
 Jesus employed the indefinite word aionios to de- 
 scribe the punishment of the wicked. If he meant 
 endless punishment, why did he not say it emphati- 
 cally? He did not mean it. 
 
 3. More important and conclusive than all else is 
 the connection in which the passage under examina- 
 tion occurs. It is at the end of a long discourse 
 
188 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 given b}' Jesus to his disciples as he sat on the Mount 
 of Olives, facing Jerusalem. It embraces the twenty- 
 fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew's Gospel. 
 Jesus had said that the temple would be so entirely 
 destnrved that not u one stone upon another" would 
 remain. The twelve did not doubt the truth of the 
 Master's statement, strange as it seemed ; but they 
 cared less for the temple than for the kingdom which 
 Christ was soon to establish, in which they were to 
 share his glory ; and, vaguely surmising that his as- 
 sumption of royalty, the destruction of the temple, and 
 the end of the existing state of affairs were to be simul- 
 taneous events, they eagerly asked him, " When shall 
 these things be, and what shall be the sign of tlry 
 coming and of the end of the world ? " The trans- 
 lation of one word in this question is very unhapp}', 
 and it has led man}' to wrong conclusions. It is the 
 word world. There is no proof that the disciples at 
 that time had any idea that either the solid earth, or 
 the human race on the earth, would ever come to an 
 end ; and the}' did not inquire about such unthinkable 
 events. Thoughts of the new kingdom filled their 
 minds. The word they used was aion. This word 
 never means "the earth" or " the human race " ; and it 
 should never be so rendered. It does mean " age," 
 and in the margin of the Revised Version of the New 
 Testament the phrase " end of the world" is ren- 
 dered " the consummation of the age." This is right. 
 The revisers clung to the common version with heroic 
 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT, 189 
 
 tenacitj", but their honest}' compelled them to give in 
 the margin the true sense of the original. The ques- 
 tion was, therefore: u When shall these things be, 
 and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the 
 end of the age ? " — the then existing, Mosaic, sinful 
 age. To this question, and this alone, Jesus replied 
 in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of 
 Matthew. 
 
 It is true, many commentators assert that for a 
 time the Saviour does talk about the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, the downfall of the Jewish nation, and 
 the inauguration of the Christian dispensation ; but 
 suddenly he leaves that subject, and describes the 
 last scene in the solemn tragedy of earth and man. 
 But why the transition is made, and where the break 
 occurs, it is not easy to decide. Any careful reader 
 of these two chapters must see that the connection 
 throughout is close and perfect. It is said, in refer- 
 ence to the horrors attending the siege of Jerusalem 
 (Matt. xxiv. 21), "Then shall be great tribulation, 
 such as was not since the beginning of the world to 
 this time, no, nor ever shall be." If Jesus meant 
 what he said, no other miserv will ever be worse. 
 (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30) "Immediately after the tribu- 
 lation of those clays shall the sun be darkened, and 
 the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall 
 fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
 shall be shaken ; and then shall appear the sign of 
 the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the 
 
190 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 tribes of the earth mourn, and the}' shall see the 
 Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
 power and great glory." Whatever ma}' be meant 
 by these Oriental figures of speech, the tremendous 
 scene was to occur " immediately after the tribulation 
 of those clays," — that is, a short time after. (Matt. 
 xxiv. 34) " Verily I say unto you, This generation 
 shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." 
 A more explicit statement than this cannot easity 
 be made. It makes clear the fact that the coming 
 of Christ in power and gloiy was then near, close at 
 hand. We are sure of the time, — it was eighteen 
 hundred years ago ; and w r e are now ready to con- 
 sider the events that transpired on that great occa- 
 sion. (Matt. xxv. 31, 32 et seq.) "When the Son 
 of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
 angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
 of his glory : and before him shall be gathered all 
 nations : and he shall separate them [the nations] 
 one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
 from the goats." Then follow the details of the 
 judgment, as it is called, ending with the statement, 
 " These shall go away into everlasting punishment ; 
 but the righteous into life eternal." Thus Jesus 
 fully answered the question of his disciples, stating 
 the time, the signs, and, in part, the results. 
 
 An attempt to explain the highly wrought, fig- 
 urative language employed by the Teacher is not 
 in the line of this argument; .the manifest facts 
 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 191 
 
 are sufficient for our present purpose : (1) The 
 time in which all these events transpired was more 
 than eighteen centuries ago. (2) ""The end of the 
 world " w r as the end of the Jewish dispensation. 
 (3) The coming of Christ in gloiy was not the 
 visible appearance of a person descending from the 
 clouds, but the inauguration of the Christian dispen- 
 sation. (4) The events all took place on the earth, 
 among living people, and not in the spiritual realm. 
 No resurrection of the dead is mentioned. (5) Na- 
 tions, and not individuals, were separated and judged. 
 (6) The rewards and punishments — the aeonian 
 life and its opposite — were earthly and temporal 
 affairs. (7) Christ still occupies the throne of his 
 glory, the judgment is ever going on, and the events 
 of history are verifying the prophec}\ Every nation 
 and person that is imbued w^ith the Christian spirit 
 is enjoying life eternal ; while those who do not pos- 
 sess that spirit are suffering seonian punishment. 
 
 Finally, whatever aionios may mean, it is not 
 often applied to the doom of the wicked. Neither 
 endless misery nor endless torment is mentioned in 
 the Bible. The phrase " eternal death " has no place 
 in the Bible. JEonian damnation is not alluded to 
 in the Revised Version. Why this reticence? Can 
 any evangelical Christian answer? We need have 
 no fear of a fate of which the Word of God does not 
 give clear and repeated warnings. 
 
192 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 ENDLESS MISERY. 
 
 " God grew dark with utter wrath ; and in the grasp 
 Of His almighty strength, took them upraised, 
 And threw them down into the yawning pit 
 Of bottomless perdition, ruined, damned. 
 
 A groan returned, 
 
 As if all misery, all sorrow, grief, 
 
 All pain, all anguish, all despair, which all 
 
 Have suffered or shall feel from first to last, 
 
 Eternity had gathered in one pang, 
 
 And issued in one groan of boundless woe." 
 
 Pollok's Course of Time, book iv. 
 
 XT OT being able to remember any passage of Serip- 
 ture suited to the subject of this chapter, we give 
 as a substitute the above seemingly appropriate quota- 
 tion from a once popular English poem. It portrays 
 the beginning of endless woe so clearly, eloquently, 
 and honestly, that every reader, whether believer or 
 unbeliever, ought to be entirety satisfied. 
 
 The object of the preceding chapters in this book 
 has not been to disprove or deny the doctrine of 
 endless misery, but simply to show that it is not 
 taught in the Bible. We have carefully and candidly 
 
ENDLESS MISERY. 193 
 
 examined the strong texts, phrases, and words re- 
 lied upon to prove this doctrine, and found that 
 not a single one of them can honestly be pressed 
 into its service. Yet it is a solemn fact that a large 
 majority of the people called Christian profess to be- 
 lieve that man}' millions of keenly sensitive souls, 
 our brothers and sisters, will be indescribably un- 
 happy forever ; and that this frightful doctrine is 
 believed not onlv bv the ignorant and callous, but 
 also by multitudes of. highly cultured, pious, and 
 tender-hearted men and women. Moreover, it is 
 distinctly taught in many pulpits, Sunday-schools, 
 books, magazines, and newspapers ; and to doubt its 
 truth is, in many churches, deemed heresy. 
 
 We do not feel inclined to censure people for be- 
 lieving in this awful dogma, or to affirm that they 
 refuse to use their reason or to shun investigation. 
 On the contrary, we sympathize with them ; we 
 honor them for their adherence to what the}' deem 
 true ; we extend to them the hand of Christian 
 fellowship, and easily find several good and strong 
 reasons for their holding fast their faith in endless 
 miser}'. Some of these reasons the spirit of kind- 
 ness requires us to consider ; yet, lest we should 
 seem offensively to speak of others, we prefer to 
 give the reasons for our disbelief. 
 
 We do not believe in the doctrine in question, be- 
 cause its awfulness, its infinite horror, is too vast for a 
 finite mind to grasp. Possibly a great many profess 
 
 13 
 
194 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 to believe it who do not try to comprehend it. In the 
 old Greek mythology Prometheus is represented as 
 chained, hands and feet, to a rock. Unable to protect 
 himself, vultures came every day and tore out his 
 vitals, which grew again every night. The pain, of 
 course, was excruciating ; but for him there was no 
 rest, no change, no hope. Imagine millions of human 
 beings compelled to endure, if possible, a more intense 
 agony, and among them your parents, companions, 
 children, whose bitter anguish must continue on, on, 
 on, without a moment's cessation or a ray of hope, 
 through all eternity. Possibly some people are so 
 constituted, so hardened by sin or so refined by grace, 
 that they can think of all this with composure, 
 profess to believe it, and praise God for His great 
 goodness ; but to us the thought is sickening and 
 unbearable. We sink in sympathetic agony, and 
 must either doubt the doctrine or become insane. 
 We accept the benefit of the doubt, and save our 
 reason. Not choice, but necessit}', leads to our dis- 
 belief. 
 
 Again, we are led to doubt this doctrine because 
 it is a pagan doctrine, and has the cruel air of hea- 
 thenism. In the savage period called the Dark Ages, 
 all Europe believed it. It was the motive power that 
 worked the enginery of the Inquisition. Islamism 
 is aflame with everlasting fire. Mythology teaches 
 it. The old religions of Asia are lurid with burning 
 hells. All this may not be thought of or cared for 
 
ENDLESS MISERY. 195 
 
 by the average believer in the awful dogma ; but 
 the fact that it is indigenous in paganism, that it is 
 congenial to savages, and that it flourishes among 
 people that have no Bible and no conception of the 
 one true God, certainty suggests grave doubts of its 
 truth. 
 
 That portion of revelation contained in the Old 
 Testament, in the opinion of all scholarly theologians, 
 does not teach the immortality of man, much less 
 immortal suffering. Persons who are not aware of 
 this fact, but believe that the writings of the ancient 
 Prophets contain many a text proving the doctrine of 
 unending woe, should not be blamed for cherishing 
 that article of their creed. But the reticence of the 
 Prophets and the silence of God on this subject, His 
 neglect for four thousand years to warn sinners to flee 
 from the wrath to come beyond the grave, suggest 
 an abiding doubt respecting the existence of such a 
 wrath. 
 
 But the New Testament? Well, the doctrine in 
 question is not distinctly taught in this portion of the 
 Word of God ; for, if it were, controversy and doubt 
 would not have begun. Great plainness of speech is 
 possible. No one doubts that John Calvin believed 
 in and taught the doctrine of endless punishment ; 
 but there has long been, and there still is, a sharp 
 debate going on among students of the Gospel on the 
 question, " Do the writings of the Apostles teach an 
 unending woe for sinners ? " Without indistinctness 
 
196 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 in the text no such debate would be possible ; and 
 the neglect of the Apostles to state the matter clearly 
 must and does suggest a doubt of its truth. But 
 more than this, in the preceding pages we have ex- 
 amined, as many others have before, every nook and 
 corner of the New Testament wherein the doctrine 
 has been supposed to lurk, and have failed to find the 
 faintest trace of it. What can we do but disbelieve ? 
 Those who in childhood were frightened or coaxed 
 into a church that professed to believe this doctrine ; 
 who have often heard it taught in the pulpit by be- 
 loved pastors ; who have often read it in religious 
 books and papers ; who have not time, opportunity, 
 or brain to make a thorough investigation ; and who 
 might be expelled from the church, lose caste, and 
 perhaps suffer financially by any change in religious 
 opinions, — should not be too severely blamed for 
 clinging to their early impressions. We are not of 
 that unfortunate number. 
 
 The fact that many Christians in the first two 
 centuries of our era hoped for the final restitution of 
 all sinners, and that many learned and pious men 
 and women in our day still indulge in this sublime 
 hope, leads us to doubt the vindictive theories of dark 
 ages and ignorant people. All good beings would 
 like to have all sinners converted and saved. This 
 is a fact of hopeful significance. It is written. " God 
 will have all men to be saved." Jesus said, " Come 
 unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and 
 
ENDLESS MISERY. 197 
 
 I will give you rest." Charles Wesley, in this sweet 
 verse of the u Convert's Hymn," voiced the feelings 
 of all genuine disciples of Christ : — 
 
 " Jesus all the day long 
 
 Was my joy, and my song 
 
 Was redemption through faith in his name. 
 
 Oh that all might believe, 
 
 And salvation receive, 
 
 And their song and their joy be the same." 
 
 Every missionary movement is an expression of the 
 same excellent desire. Every true prayer of the 
 Church is for the salvation of sinners, even all sin- 
 ners. Are all these holy desires to remain unsatisfied 
 forever? We hope not. 
 
 The entire uselessness of unending misery is also 
 to be taken into consideration. Any unprejudiced 
 person can see at a glance that it would not do any 
 good to its victims, that the sight or knowledge of 
 it would not benefit the saints or angels, and that it 
 would add no glory or honor to Christ or God. It 
 would be only an eternal nuisance in the universe, 
 which, it seems to us, the wise, mighty, beauty-and- 
 order-loving God cannot and will not tolerate. The 
 annihilation of the wicked would be far better. Be- 
 sides, it would be a manifest injustice and fiendish 
 cruelt}^, wholly repulsive. The laws of all civilized 
 nations, and also the Divine laws set forth in the 
 Bible, provide that each criminal shall be punished 
 according to his deeds, — for light offences, a small 
 
198 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 penalty ; for great crimes, severe punishment. This, 
 all men approve as just and right. Endless punish- 
 ment would be an infinite penalty; and no one sin, 
 nor any number of sins added together, can equal in- 
 finity. Such a penalty would therefore be unjust and 
 cruel. Only continual sinning can deserve continual 
 punishment ; the guilty deeds must keep up with the 
 penalty, or the balance of justice be lost. And this 
 is the theory of modern Orthodox}', — eternal sin 
 and eternal woe. But here comes in the cruelty. To 
 permit a finite soul to sin and suffer forever is infinite 
 cruelty. To crush out of existence a sinner in danger 
 of such a fate, or to paralyze his ever}' faculty, would 
 be tender meixry ; to permit him to go on sinning 
 and suffering eternally, diabolic cruelty. We can- 
 not believe God to be as heartless as the Satan of 
 superstition. 
 
 The doctrine of endless sin and punishment im- 
 peaches the wisdom, goodness, and power of the 
 Supreme Being. In the remote past there was a 
 time when there was no sin, no human being, no 
 habitable earth ; but God meditated the creation of 
 earth and man. To sa}' that He did not foresee the 
 fate of the human race before He created Adam and 
 Eve, is not only to charge Him with a lack of fore- 
 sight, but also with a deficiency of common sense. 
 That the young, weak, ignorant, tempted first pair of 
 human beings would make mistakes, blunder, and do 
 wrong, was absolutely certain. This the All-wise 
 
ENDLESS MISERY. 199 
 
 must have known ; yet, knowing it, He called into 
 existence a race millions of whom, He knew, would 
 forever sin and suffer. Was this wise? Would you 
 have done it? To affirm that He did knowingly and 
 deliberately inaugurate an immense amount of eter- 
 nal sin and woe, is equivalent to declaring not only 
 that He is not all-good, but also that He has some 
 exceedingly bad traits of character. To assert that 
 He did foreknow that men would sin, and many for- 
 ever suffer, yet was obliged to create earth and man, 
 is to deny His almighty power. It is not true. He 
 was subjected to no pressure. He could or He could 
 not create man, just as He pleased. If He was not 
 at liberty to do as He pleased, then there is no Al- 
 mighty. We are not prepared to take this step into 
 atheism ; and to claim that from " before the foun- 
 dation of the world " God in His great mercy pro- 
 Added the means whereby some would be saved, does 
 not mend the matter : the Creator of the lost must 
 still bear the blame. He must have foreseen that 
 vast multitudes of sinners would never hear the name 
 of Christ, nor be in the least benefited by his mis- 
 sion to earth. The only solution of the problem of 
 sin that is honorable to God and comforting to man 
 is that it w T ill ultimately end. God's children were 
 made to be, designed to be, foreordained to be, at 
 last and forever holy and happ} T ; and the}' will be. 
 God is all- wise, all-good, almighty ; and though we 
 may not comprehend the mystery of evil, we may 
 
200 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 rest assured that the Divine plan will be carried out 
 in every particular, and all His children will " glorify 
 and enjoy Him forever." 
 
 It was reported that Kobert G. Ingersoll began 
 one of his lectures by saying, "I hate God." If he 
 meant that he hated the Being, real or imaginary, 
 that created immortal souls to sin and suffer without 
 end, can we blame him for the harsh statement? 
 Such a Being we could fear, and bow down to in 
 prayer and verbal worship ; but we could not love 
 or even respect Him. We need not go back to the 
 creation of our first parents ; for Him to permit 
 thousands of children to be born every clay, and 
 live to adult age with scarcely a probabilit}^ of con- 
 version before death, does not seem to us kind or 
 wise. He did in one night smite all the first-born 
 in the land of Egypt ; He can do the same now ; 
 and not to kill in infancy all children in danger 
 of being lost if they grow up, seems like a lack of 
 mercy. 
 
 If all souls are not finally saved, Christ's mission 
 to earth was a sad failure. He was sent, and he 
 came, to seek and save the lost, — to save the world. 
 All needful power was given him to do this glorious 
 work ; he tried ; lie gave himself a ransom for all ; 
 he tasted death for every man : yet he failed. A 
 few he has saved ; many more he will save : but the 
 majority, even in lands nominally Christian, are still 
 going down the broad road to destruction. Either 
 
ENDLESS MISERY. 201 
 
 sinners were harder to save, or his grace, gospel, and 
 death less potent, than was expected. Down, down, 
 nevermore to rise, have gone, and are still going, a 
 multitude that no man can number ; and the Saviour 
 cannot prevent it. This we cannot admit. The 
 Calvinistic blood in our veins protests against it. 
 We cannot refrain from believing that eveiy soul he 
 came to save, will be saved ; and that he came to 
 save all, is now generally conceded. In either case, 
 whether he was commissioned to save all or only to 
 save a part, his success is assured. God would not 
 emplo}' such a divine agent, and a failure ensue. 
 If he was not sent to seek and save all the lost, — 
 to " taste death for every man," to give " himself a 
 ransom for all," — the partiality and the blame rest 
 on Deity ; but if he was sent to be the Saviour of 
 the world, there will be no failure : the world will be 
 saved. 
 
 These are some of the reasons that create our 
 doubt of the truth of the doctrine in question ; and 
 with these reasons meeting us at every turn of 
 thought, we cannot do otherwise. Why so many do 
 profess to believe in endless punishment, we know 
 not : but it may be that many of its supposed adher- 
 ents are silent doubters ; that many have not suffi- 
 cient mental capacity to realize its enormity, and 
 hence believe they know not what ; that many are 
 entirely ignorant of the great and precious promises 
 in the Gospel ; that many, like the late Rufus Choate, 
 
202 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 are willing to " accept what the Doctor teaches, 
 without question ; " that some are cowardly, desirous 
 to be on the safe side ; and that some advocate the 
 doctrine just to build up their sect. God help us 
 all! 
 
INTO THE LIGHT. 203 
 
 XX. 
 
 INTO THE LIGHT. 
 
 "As in Adam ail die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." — 
 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 /^NLY one more shadow can dim our faith. If the 
 Bible does not clearly and repeatedly reveal the 
 ultimate holiness and happiness of all intelligent 
 souls, we are still out in the dark and the cold. Intui- 
 tion, reason, the heart, the sense of honor and right, 
 though thej r teach our doctrine, may have no clinch 
 of logic that holds. It is conceded by all Christians 
 that God, by prophets and apostles, and more than all 
 by Jesus Christ, has spoken to us something in relation 
 to our final destiny. If that something is onl} T a 
 dubious hint or two, we may well doubt and fear ; 
 but if He distinctly announces a glorious future for 
 all, His announcement settles the question, and pours 
 around us the clear light of eternal da}'. Our final 
 appeal is therefore to the Word of Gocl. We have 
 not time or space to quote all the passages that 
 teach this sublime truth of universal salvation ; but 
 we will cite enough to banish all doubt from the 
 minds of the candid. 
 
204 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 In our examination of the Scriptures, we are for- 
 cibh r impressed with the allism (to coin a word 
 that exactly expresses our meaning) that pervades 
 the entire book. For all human beings there is one 
 and the same moral law, call to repentance, throne of 
 grace, and Father in heaven. God is no respecter 
 of persons. In His pure sight, all men have sinned, 
 and all misbelieved ; all were weak, all were tempted, 
 and all needed a Saviour. All were worth sav- 
 ing ; and means were employed to save all, if possi- 
 ble. All Christians except rigid Calvinists (if there 
 are any) admit and believe this. Notice now how 
 this allism constitutes the essential element, the very 
 soul, of many important passages. 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 22 : " As in Adam all die, even so in 
 Christ shall all be made alive." In, through, or 
 by our first parents, a calamity fell upon the entire 
 human race. Saint Paul calls this calamity death. 
 In the old nursery-rh\~me we were taught that 
 
 " In Adam's fall 
 We sinned all." 
 
 Precisely in what the misfortune consisted, is of 
 no consequence to our argument ; its universality is 
 beyond question ; and so, also, is the counteracting, 
 remedial influence of God in Christ. In, through, 
 or by Christ shall all be made alive. Some benefit, 
 some blessed change, comes to all in the great plan 
 of redemption ; and the good is coextensive with the 
 evil. In each member of the sentence, the allism 
 
INTO THE LIGHT. 205 
 
 is absolute, — " all die," "all be made alive." This is 
 enough for our present line of thought ; the uplifting 
 influence overmasters the depressing influence. 
 
 But light breaks in from another statement of the 
 Apostle. He says (2 Cor. v. 17, 18): " If any 
 man be in Christ," — and to be alive in Christ is the 
 same thing, or more, — "he is a new creature: old 
 things are passed away ; behold, all things are be- 
 come new. And all things are of God." In other 
 words, entering into the spirit of Christ, or being 
 made alive in Christ, is a great change for the better. 
 The old, dark, dreary condition vanishes ; the man 
 becomes a new creature, and perceives that he is 
 in a divine realm, wherein God is all in all. His 
 change, his condition, his salvation, is perfect. And 
 all who die in Adam (that is, absolutely all human 
 beings) are thus to be made alive in Christ, and 
 thus attain the new condition, — salvation from the 
 old, the dark, and the sinful. When, where, how, 
 this is to be done, we may not know ; it is enough 
 that all shall be made alive in Christ. Saint Paul 
 uses the strongest language possible ; and we are 
 unable to imagine how any candid reader can avoid 
 feeling that universal salvation is clearly taught by 
 his unequivocal statement. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 4 : "God will have all men to be saved." 
 In the Revised Version : " God willeth all men to be 
 saved." Sinners alone need to be saved ; and the 
 evident meaning is, God willeth all sinners to be 
 
206 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 saved. This is a very broad and strong statement. 
 If He is merely willing that all men shall be saved, 
 if He does not oppose the salvation of all, we may 
 hope that Jesus Christ will succeed in saving all. If 
 God wishes to save all men, — if He has any, even 
 the slightest, preference in favor of the salvation of 
 all, — our hope ripens into certainty. All His wishes 
 and preferences are sure to be gratified. But when 
 the absolute will of the Infinite is announced, when 
 He willeth (will have) all men to be saved, there not 
 being in the universe any thing or being that can in 
 the least or for a moment hinder Him from doing 
 and having just w T hat He pleases, — the ultimate 
 salvation of all is a foregone conclusion, an absolute 
 certaintv. If all men are not to be saved, whv was 
 
 i 7 v 
 
 the pen of inspiration allowed to indulge in state- 
 ments so positive yet so delusive? 
 
 Immediately following this glorious revealment is 
 another instance of Gospel allism. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 6 : "Christ gave himself a ransom for 
 all." The same idea is expressed in Heb. ii/9 : " We 
 see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
 angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
 and honor ; that he by the grace of God should taste 
 death for every man." This does not prove that all 
 men will be redeemed by the ransom or saved by 
 the death ; but it does prove that God is in earnest 
 about having His way and doing His will. 2so half- 
 measures, no limited means, are employed. He sends 
 
INTO THE LIGHT. 207 
 
 His Son to be a ransom for all, to die for all, to 
 save all, because He willeth all to be saved. 
 
 In the same chapter there is another specimen of 
 allism (1 Tim. ii. 1) : "I exhort that, first of all, sup- 
 plications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks 
 be made for all men." These prayers were not to be 
 a solemn mockery, mere formal utterance of words, 
 but sincere, earnest petitions. Anything less than 
 this in prayer is unapostolic and unchristian. In 
 praying for all men, the only appropriate petition is, 
 so far as we can see, to ask for their conversion from 
 sin and error, and their forgiveness and salvation. 
 We have heard clergj-men intercede for the Divine 
 blessing to be bestowed upon all "for whom it is 
 right to pray." Of course it would be needless and 
 even w r rong to pray for those doomed to remain un- 
 blessed forever. But Paul, Timothy, and their co- 
 laborers were troubled by no such scruples. This 
 does not necessitate a favorable answer to the praj^er, 
 — God knows best what is best, — but it does show 
 very clearly a strong hope in the final salvation of all 
 mankind. 
 
 It is barely possible that in these three remarkable 
 statements Saint Paul meant to say that God will 
 have some to be saved, that Christ gave himself a 
 ransom for some, and that we should pray for some ; 
 but we prefer to believe that the Apostle made no mis- 
 take, that he meant just what he wrote, and that he 
 more than intimated a holy, happy future for all men. 
 
208 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 Phil. ii. 9-11 : " God also hath highly exalted hini 
 [Jesus], and given him a name which is above every 
 name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
 things under the earth ; and that every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father." The great family of mankind is at last 
 of one mind and heart. All devoutly kneel, and all 
 confess the supremacy of Christ. There is not a 
 doubter or an unbeliever among them. It is not said 
 they will then all be holy and happy. Some perhaps 
 may kneel and confess by compulsion, and thus God 
 be able to enjoy, like an infinite Nebuchadnezzar or 
 Nero, the pageant of a humbled race. But if the 
 words of Isaiah are rightly translated, and refer to 
 the same event, the affair will be more than a vain 
 show ; it will be a manifestation of deep and J03-OUS 
 feeling. He says (Isa. xlv. 22-24): "I am God, 
 and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the 
 word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, 
 and shall not return, That unto nxe every knee shall 
 bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, 
 in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." A 
 soul that can saj-, with all the force of an oath, that 
 it has righteousness and strength in the Lord must 
 be a saved soul ; and all souls will make that asser- 
 tion. But, to put the matter be}"ond doubt, Saint 
 John in his wonderful Patmos vision says (Kev. v. 
 13) : " Every creature which is in heaven, and on the 
 
INTO THE LIGHT. 209 
 
 earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
 sea, and all that are in them, heard I sa}'ing, Bless- 
 ing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him 
 that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
 for ever and ever." All intelligent beings unite in 
 this ascription of praise ; all do it with a zest ; and 
 all are apparently satisfied and happy. Ingenious 
 and profound theologians may find some waj T in 
 which the "every knee, every tongue, and every 
 creature," mentioned in these three sublime passages, 
 may signify only a part of the human race ; but we 
 are content to take the plain, common-sense view of 
 the case, and to rejoice in the glorious prospect set 
 before us by Isaiah, Paul, and John. 
 
 At the birth of Jesus an angel said to the shep- 
 herds (Luke ii. 9, 10) : "Behold, I bring }'ou good 
 tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." We are one of 
 the people ; and we can honestly say that if Christ 
 is only to open the wa} r whereby some may be 
 saved, and many are not to be saved, and this is the 
 last and only chance for salvation, the good tidings 
 is to us not joyful, but painful. But if the good 
 tidings is that the new-born Saviour will effect the 
 salvation of all souls from sin and woe, we are filled 
 with great joy, and can heartily sa}-, with the angel 
 host, " Glory to God in the highest." 
 
 Many other convincing passages might be quoted, 
 
 14 
 
210 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 
 
 and many other arguments employed ; but these are 
 sufficient for our purpose. We have emerged from 
 the shadows, wherein are doubt ariS fear and torment, 
 into the clear light of the Gospel, wherein are cer- 
 taint} T , peace, love, and joy ; and we thank God and 
 take courage. 
 
 University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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