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BY OYRUS

E.

BROOKS.

The Wages of Sin is Death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

No. 1. Vol. V.

OCTOBER, 1881.

DOUBLE

NUMBER,

TWOPENCE_

BRADFORD
TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CONFERENCE
THE
PAGE

REPORT.
OLD FAITH.
CONFERENOE, SERMON AT BRADFORD

Conference Sermon-" The Old Faith" ... Conditional Immortality ... A Challenge to Orthodoxy Un-Conditional Immortality The Silence of Scripture on Natural Immortality _.. What is the Soul? Is it Mortal or-Immortal? The Gospel in E.ze1ciel The Church of Christ: Its Present Mission and Future Destiny ..; , The Pre-Millenial Advent: Its Nature, Necessity, and Nearness Witnessing... Conference Report Special Notes
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

1 4 6 7 10 12 15 16 18 21 22 24

OPENING

By

REV.

W.

LEASK,

D.D.

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The Association assumes no responsibility for the views expressed by its literary contributors. Of necessity its members differ widely on minor points, and are held personally responsible tor their communications. 'I'he same is true of the works published by the Association. -

DR. LEASK selected his text from St. Jude's epistle, Brd verse "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." He said :-Let me read this somewhat differently to bring out more clearly its meaning" Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it became necessary for me to write forthwith, and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." Tbat is the meaning of it; that is the fuller interpretation of this Scripture, and gives us two 01' three stronger ideas than we get from the authorised version. I am quite sure from your appearance that you feel the importance of the subject, and believe that we are messengers of truth, not heretics trying to draw away men from the faith. Let me earnestly invite you, brethren, to look at this. You see there are just two things iJi the text-I don't intend to be systematic-that may guide our lines of thought. There is first a great doctrine, namely, that a faith or a system of Divine truth was at one time given-that is delivered by God. The idea is this. "I and my brother apostles are not teaching things which we have conjured out of our own imaginations." A system of truth called the faith has been delivered to certain persons about whom we shall speak presently. The second thing is the practical part, the duty which springs out of the privilege, which is this-you are to contend earnestly for this faith (whatever it was) which was once for all delivered to the saints. Well, now, this once for all is a judgment word, it condemns before hand all subsequent systems that pretend to be from the Divine source. It sets its foot upon even-thing which cannot trace its parentage and origin to the word of the living God; it claims for Christianity a Divine source exclusively. It was once for all delivered to certain persons for reasons which we shall presently trace. If this be true, and it is true, all additions through ecclesiastical systems, through "theology, through

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system was the worst that ever cursed the world. Tbe religion of the Son of God, thus defaced and defamed, became obnoxious to the nations, and Popery is accountable for the infidelity of the continent of Europe at this day. There is no doubt of it. The thing came in the name of the Holy One,-the name of the Redeemer of men,-and no wonder that men revolted. The common intelligence of .men revolted against it, yet the thing has continued to this day. But you say the great Reformation came. It did,-I bless God for it,--I know all [about it. Did it succeed, however, in getting rid of these evils? It did a great deal. It set the Book free, and the nations read. Multitudes commenced to read who had been imposed upon by the elaborate systems of covetous priesthoods. And men . paid for their principles as we now pay for ours, I have paid for them myself, and am prepared to pay Ior them more, They paid for their Protestantism; they gave up the practice of praying to saints; but they retained the unscriptural dogma that saints fly up to heaven when they die. They gave up purgatory, but they retained a horrible hell, and teach it yet. There is not a particle of it in this Book. It is not given by God. They send men to heaven or to hell when they die,-ali ve and conscious,- the one in ecstatic bliss, the other in fearful torments, and multitudes have delighted to preach these torments, leaving the impression on the minds of men that the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is a fearful tyrant, triumphing needlessly over poor naked souls; and they have brought in armies of devils to help God to torture and torment these beings, telling us that they are immortal, that they cannot die, that God is not merciful enough to put them out of being. This IS not in the faith delivered to the saints. There is nothing of the kind here. Give me any proof that it is here, and I bow, but with trembling and with wonder and astonishment. Prove it, and I accept it, although I shall not be able to reconcile it with the fact that God so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son that I should not perish, but have everlasting life, Neitber can I reconcile it with the great Scriptural truth that "the wages of sin is death." You ask me how came this corruption of theology? I will tell you. It is very simple. The way to corrupt theology is to corrupt words. Take the word" death," and say it means "life," and the whole thing is corrupted at once. I will tell you how this corruption of words took place. During the first century or two of Chrlstianity, the new religion made marvellous progress. It was such a deliverance for people who had been hoodwinked by the Pagan priesthoods that they embraced it in great multitudes, until the Pagan temples became deserted. By-and-bye Constantiue tLe Great was either converted 01' said to be-it does not much matter which-and the Pagan priests found they were losing their incomes, and many of them became Christians and Christian teachers. And they brought in the doctrines of Plato, that man has an immortal soul by nature, and they incorporated that with Christian theology, along with various other things of the same kind. So with the doctrine of an immortal soul, it became a logical necessity that the soul should have its deserts, either in bliss for its piety, or in woe for its impiety. Lay down the doctrine that you and I can live for ever, despite of God, whatever be our character, and it follows clearly that either happiness or misery must be our lot. I can trace every corrupt doctrine to the simple fact of changing the natural meaning of words, and giving us to understand that though our newspapers mean what they say, and our books, written by men of common understanding, mean what they say, yet this book, the Bible, must be read in an entirely unnatural style, and thus you can make it teach anything or nothing under the sun. I can teach any doctrine if you allow me to give what meaning I choose to words. We are bound to be consistent, and to accept words as they are meant. Revelation is not revelation, but a riddle, if it is left to men's imagination to put what meaning they like upon the words. It is not uncovering, but concealing, if I am allowed to say tbat "death" means" life." A number of words have been in this manner turned from their proper meaning, and compelled to teach what God never taught. Everlasting life means everlasting happiness. Of course it does; but without ignoring that fact you must understand that the doctrine of the Bible is that Christ came to give immortality to mortals, to give immortal life to such as accept Him. God only hath immortality, and He has given it to His Son to give to us, and that immortality we shall have when the Lord shall come to raise His sleeping, and change His living, saints. Our life is hid with Christ in God, and that is its security, its certainty. My life would become bankrupt to-morrow, but it cannot if it is hid in Him. He breathes His spirit upon us to quicken us from the blindness of sin, and retains the eternal life for us, to give it to us in the morning of resurrection, when neither spot nor stain shall be left. He gives us now pardon, for He put away sin and brought in everlasting righteousness, He gives us now peace, and He is our peace. He is God's peace, He is God's sabbath of rest, and He becomes that to us, aud hereafter He will give us full-toned redemption,-redemption of the body,-and we shall be like Him. Oh! it is a prospect fitted to make us exceedingly jealous for His glory, whilst we set our heel on the great adversary's lie, " Ye shall not surely die," as it was preached to

teachers of any class or kind, every addition to the faith delivered once for all, is a mistake, an error, an addition which has no Divine authority. Now if you can find things in Christendom, in the vast system of Churches which covers Europe and many other places of the world, if you can find in them things which do not trace their origin to the Holy Spirit, from whom the Scriptures came, you must set them aside. If there are things repugnant to our humanity, for when our humanity is allowed to speak it speaks truly; if there are things which appear to us to bring a stain on the revealed character of the Maker of this wonderful universe, and the Source of this wonderful revelation, you . may be sure that spot or stain has no relationship to God and His truth, Where it came from we ask not at present, but if it is there, if you see something which appears to repel you from the faith of the Gospel, something which jars upon the heart, which seems to require an elaborate system of explanation hefore you can fit it in with what is acknowledged to be Divine, then your suspicion ought to be awakenedthe honour of God is at stake in relation to His holy truth. It is not a patchwork of human and Divine manufacture, but a thing brilliant in its Divine light as it came from God, and was once for all delivered to His saints. Well now, just go back with me a moment to the history of the ecclesiastical world. We are finding no fault with any man or any number of men, we are dealing with doctrine, with Divine truth, and with the error which has crept into the system of Divine truth. Go back with me and you will see in a moment that the great Apostacy which was predicted has arisen and ridden rough-shod over nations for many ages. You will find that ecclesiastical tinkering has so battered and marred the holy vessels of the sanctuary that it requires a theological expert to tell you which was the shape of the original vessel. Theology has darkened the pages of inspiration, and we require a keen analysis to get at what is God's and what is man's. Age after age ecclesiastical councils have been called to do-what? To add to the articles of faith. But nu class of men whatever has the slightest power to add anything as an article of faith to be believed by us. Councils have been called for that purpose, and terrible penalties have been inflicted on those who would not accept blindfold the whole of the doctrines taught by their popes and their councils, and their cardinals and other men in authority. The faith once delivered to the saints is beautiful in its simplicity. It is worthy of God, from whom it came. ~t appeals at once to the heart, it goes direct to one's fondest affections, and you look at it and say it is worthy of the God of heaven, so simple and so sublime is it. But in the lapse of ages hierarchies have risen up in imposing grandeur, and have triumphed over kings in the name of the lowly Man of Nazareth. Things have been done in the name of Jesus which make the blood curdle to read of in these days. Men invented fearful engines of oppression to crush the . life out of those who dared to doubt the infallibility and supremacy of those hierarchies. All this is so utterly incompatible with the faith delivered to the saints once for all, that you see there must be usurpation somewhere; there must be pretence, hypocrisy, and arrogance. And not only. did they thus create these ecclesiastical hierarchies, but they invaded heaven, and canonised men who had been dead for ages, and placed them in heaven to be worshipped, Ahd they brought down these men and set before you their names as help ers of your faith, men to whom you were to pray, added to the one that this book speaks aboutChrist, the only Saviour, the only name under heaven given to mankind whereby we can be saved. But these men have risen up and spoken perverse things, and have told you about the saints they have canonised, and that you are to pray to them; and the angels of God have been brought in to be worshipped, and throughout ages Mary has been worshipped as the Blessed Virgin. There are men at this moment telling their fellow-men to put their prayers into the hands of Mary, to be presented to her Son.1 Where do you find that in the system of faith here? There is not a particle of it. Everything here is a protest against the impudent assumption that men in heaven can thus present your prayers to God. There is one Mediator, and we need no other. He came to be our Mediator, and we know that He is alive, whether saints be alive or asleep, and we can send up to Him our prayers. But, the iniquities of this great system! not content with invading heaven and placing their canonised men there, they have dug up for us in some mysterious region a purgatory-thus adding also to the system of faith -that place where it is said men are purged by fire, as. if the blood of Jesus Christ did not cleanse from all sin. And as a sort of pathway to that fearful dungeon of fire, they build their own dungeons, their inquisitions, and spill the blood of saints to make a Roman holiday. They Lave done all this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Saviour. It is that that arouses one's holy indignation. The insult to the Saviour is too palpable to escape notice, and too terrible for us to keep quiet under. The Scripture here speaks about a system of faith that God once gave to the saints. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man,-the man, Christ Jesus. That is part of the Divine system given from above. The blood of Jesus Christ .eleanseth from all sin. What is the use of purgatory? The use of it was to lavish gold into the coffers of the priests, to enable them to ride rough-shod over the nations of the earth, to bring the conscience' of )humanity under the heel of tyrannical power. You all know that that

THE BIBLE
our first parents by the enemy of God and man. Take the words of Christ, and set them beside them-" He is a liar and the father of lies; " " I have come that you may have life;" "This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent;" "He that hath the Son hath life,"-the life which is emphatic, and the only thing worth calling life; and "He that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Do you think we are awful heretics? Are these awful doctrines? Are we to be scowled upon, and cast out of society, for teaching God's truth? This is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Jude-says," I thought of writing to you about the common salvation, but it became necessary for me to write forthwith." What is the meaning of it? It is the impulse of the Holy Spirit. He was inspired to do it in view of the fact that there were certain men spoken of as having crept in unawares, bringing in the apostacy. He felt he was called upon to write forthwith, to urge believers to contend earnestly for the faith delivered to them. I come now, therefore, secondly, to the practical part of the subject. I ask, who are the persons to whom the defence of God's truth is given? The Lord did not leave His truth to the patronage of kings, or emperors, or councils. He did not ask the schools of philosophy to stand up for His philosophy, which is the finest in the universe. He sat not in the company of the learned that he might get the advantage of their culture in sustaining His truth, end enabling it to make its way through a hostile world. No; the truth was given to the saints. Who are they? Persons upon whom this truth has acted so as to sanctify them. Ye believers, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; The glorious tone that rings its melody over the sorrows and discipline of human life breathes in the faith delivered to the saints. You believing men and women are the persons into whose hands God has placed His legacy of life, to protect it from harm. What a privilege! What an honour! What are we that we should come forth to say theology has been terribly corrupted, and there are things taught every Sunday in many of our churches which cannot be justified by an appeal to Scripture? Weak are we? Why, God in His Christ has made us followers of His own, and forthwith we find that it is our privilege and duty to contend earnestly for the pure, simple faith of the Gospel. That is all. We do not expect to make ecclesiastical preferment out of this; to enrich ourselves. I for one have found that I have proceeded upon an entirely wrong course if that had been my object. What is it? Necessity is laid upon us. Woe is unto us if we preach not this Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is all. I have no choice in the matter. I have had to do it. As soon as my eyes were opened to see that a great many dark clouds of tradition hung over the brightness of the Book, and obscured its grandeur, I had no choice. I had to take my stand forthwith, because I am accountable to the Master, not to any human being. I have no priests but one, and I believe in auricular confession to Him alone. No master but One. " Be ye not called Rabbi." "Call no man father upon earth." So much for the Pope, you see. He is universally called" Father." "Call no man master." I know all this is too simple for the world, that likes its ecclesiastical grandeurs and noble piles of buildings. But the simplicity accords witl. Him who chose fishermen for His associates, and sent out the poor, saying, "I will teach you what to say when youare brought before kings and emperors for My sake." Now, brethren, I do not speak about sects or parties. I know nothing about them. We have' had too many of them. Christians are the persons into whose hands God has placed this Book. The Lord Jesus Christ has left His character in our keeping, that is it. Oh, dare we doubt this, or dare we trifle with this, when He has .put it into our hands? And I observe here that Christians are the only persons who appreciate the system of faith, and therefore they are the only persons who are capable of contending earnestly for the faith committed to the saints. The vast mass of worldly men do not understand this thing. They may be very benevolent, very good, very moral; I do not say they are not. Many of them are very excellent men, but it is those whom God calls saints, sanctified ones, men set apart for Him as Christ's inheritance, Christ's redeemed property-those are the persons whom He expects to bear witness for Him. They alone are qualified, because they know the value of the truth themselves. I come to you, my dear friends, and say that I know that sin is a moral disease of the most inveterate kind. It blinds the heart, stupifies it; it shuts men's eyes to the grandeur and glory of God's universe, and hinders them from seeing that God in Christ Jesus is reconciling the world to Himself. I know this, but I know the way of deliverance from it. I know Jesus Christ as the Anointed, my Saviour. What follows? Am I therefore just to sit still and not open my lips to those great things the Lord Jesus Christ has laid upon us? "Ye are My witnesses," and every new convert to the faith of Christ is a new witness added to those who ought to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. I know perfectly well, without any harsh judgment or want. of charity, that there are Christian teachers who believe that we are right, but it requires a great deal of courage to stand up before a congregation and say, " I have been teaching what is wrong for the last fifteen or twenty years." It requires moral heroism to do that. A Christian minister

STANDARD.

said to me not long since, " Dr. Leask, I quite believe your doctrines." " I am glad to hear it," I replied; "Do you teach them 1-" He said he did not. I said, " Why?" and the reply was, " I cannot afford it." I said, " Your salary is four times mine, and I can afford it." I mention this anecdote for this reason. I said to him, " My dear brotber, if you hold down God's truth in unrigbteousness, He will find some means of punishing you. 'To him that hath shall be given,' but he who conceals need not expect any more. God puts in trust to certain men His secrets, His great principles; opens their eyes to see it, and their business is then not to put it under a bushel, but on a table that all may see the light." What did the Lord Jesus Christ say about Paul? " He is a chosen witness to Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and the kings of the earth." And let me add one more remark. Christians are the only persons who feel their obligation- to stand up for the truth of God. The consciousness of much received, prompts the convert to go and bestow. The way to conserve Christian truth is to proclaim it upon the housetops. The way to make it grow in our own hearts and intellects is to love it and speak about it to other men. The way to become rich in the wisdom from above is to tell others about that wisdom and what it can accomplish for men by what it has accomplished for you. A third point is this. Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, wrote forthwith; for he was anxious that they should contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, because he saw its exceeding value. Men whose eyes are opened see the exceeding value of the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What could man do without it? What would be our employmeut to-night but for the wonderful unfoldings of God's character, and redeeming love in this Book? We would be worshipping idols, calling out to stocks and stones to pacify our troubled consciences' smarting under a disease tbe nature of which we did not understand. Jude saw that this was so exceedingly valuable that he urged upon Christians to preserve it. Let no admixture of error get in. Let not the wily teachers who are profiting from professed godliness and destroying the purity and the beauty of truth succeed. Contend earnestly. How? Passionately? No. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." How? Vehemently; but in the spirit of the Gospel. The Gospel must be proclaimed in its own beautiful spirit and in no other. This leads me to one or two practical remarks on this subject. I should like to enlist you all in the- great work in which we are engaged. I should like to enlist you all as members of our Society. Union is Strength. I have been engaged for a great number of years in publishing a magazine, the Rainbow, on the first day of every month, containing arguments in connection with this-the knowledge of the Lord J esus Christ, and other matters of essential importance in connection with Christian theology, and great multitudes have been benefited, they tell me. I have received letters which have been to me a great reward. Men have written to me: "We were infidels; now we are Christians, because you have taken away that frightful doctrine of everlasting torment." Men say to us, "You deny everlasting punishment." I do not. I teach the scripture doctrine of everlasting punishment, which is' destruction. The penalty of sin is death. I deny nothing that is in this book. I accept its teachings with all my heart, and I am prepared to do what in me lies to diffuse those teachings. If we only had the means, we could through our publishing society distribute a great deal more light upon this vast and most important subject. We have to contend earnestly, and there is one way in which we can all contend earnestly, for the faith. Let men see that we who hold this doctrine of life only in Christ are living godly and holy lives. Men are watching us very narrowly. They are calling us sceptics and infidels, and we are so far as false doctrines are concerned. But we are not so far as God's truth is concerned. We can appeal to our hearts with holy confidence. Let the world see that we are not the worse but the better for believing that our life is hid with Christ in God; for believing that the theological hell is a frightful fiction; in doing .what we can to redeem our Father's character from the stains which have been brought upon it. I could tell you how I was agonized and exercised in mind for years on this subject. I thought it out thus :- Why did God make me if that is to be my destiny? The devil replied, " 0, but you are a Christian." Who made me that? What difference is there between me and anv other man? Are. we not all alike by nature? Take me and give me blessedness whilst my brother must be an eternal sufferer! I could not believe it, and one day whilst deeply thinking upon this subject, a great many years ago, this thought flashed like lightning across my mindIs Man Immortal? I leaped with joy. I saw it all in IIn instant. I felt that that was the [question, and I went to the Scriptures, and not a word :about it could I find. Not a particle of intelligence upon it. This is the way to clear the Father's character, A lady said to me, " Oh, sir, how exceedingly I am obliged to you. I can now love God with all my heart. I could not do it before. It is a black cloud removed. It seemed to me that His government was so contradictory." And so they -all said who have felt this. Brethren, Iife and death are set before uslife in Christ, death the penalty of sin. Ye search the Scriptures, for in

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constitution, an immortal creature possessed of a life that can never die? Or, is immortal life a boon to be enjoyed by man on oertain conditions specified in Scripture? Before proceeding to the oitation of Scripture, let me call your attention to its SILENCEas to the immortality of the human soul. If man were really destined by his Creator to live for ever, we naturally should expeot to find that faot often asserted and referred to in the Bible. How then are we to acoount for its utter silence on this matter? Nowhere, in the Bible, is immortality, eternal life, or deathlessness, affirmed of man, as man. While OU1' religious literature teems with such terms as "immortal soul," "never-dying soul," "deathless spirit," these, or their equivalents, are nowhere found in any part of the Bible. Is not that remarkable, oonsidering the importance of the subject? Those who believe the doctrine are ever bringing it to the front; and no wonder.How is it, then, that the only written revelation of the purposes of God regarding man is absolutely silent about the essentially deathless nature of the sons of men? Leaving our friends to answer that question, let me now call your attention to the voice of Soripture in response to the enquiry-" WHO SHALLLIVE FOIt EVER?" I might cite Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and from Genesis to Malachi, show that the uniform teaching throughout is that life, eternal life, is a privilege to be gained or lost; but I pass on at onoe to the teaohing of Him, who "brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel." Turn then to John iii. 16. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that wbosoever believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting life." The term life in this and kindred passages is commonly interpreted to mean not life in its common acceptation of existence-but happiness. But as we are referring to these doouments for information as to what they teach, we are, in all fairness bound to understand their terms in the ordinary and natural sense commonly attached to them. Now it is a fact well known that in no language does the term life express the idea of happiness; for it is as lawful to speak of a miserable life as of a happy one. Tbat the eternal life wbich believers are to enjoy is a happy one we may well believe, yet it is life not happiness which is spoken of in the passage before us. Happiness and life are not synonymous terms; and had tbe Lord meant to express the idea of happiness simply, He would have used the proper term. There is nothing in the context forbidding us to understand the terms" perish" and" everlasting life" in their ordinary aooeptation ; yea, rather we should say, the oontext demands that tbese terms be understood to have their oommon and primary meaning (see verso 14, 15). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perisb, but have eternal life." The analogy or comparison employed clearly establishes that the sense we are contending for is the true one. A reference to Num. xxi. 4-9 will show this. "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died" (vel'. 6). "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (ver. 9). The Israelites were perishing because of their sin; to save them from dying, a serpent of brass, by the command of Jehovah, is elevated on a pole, and the appointment made that whosoever of the dying Israelites looked at the brazen serpent, should live." And" as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must tbe Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The comparison is so simple and expressive that he who runs may read it. What our Lord meant by the word perish, is very clearly seen from His use of it, as recorded in Luke xiii. 1-5. On one ocoasion some told Him of .the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, "Suppose ye, that these men were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent ye shall all likewise 'perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Those persons upon whom the tower of Siloam fell were "slain,"-killed. The persons whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were also put to death. It was their own blood that Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. Very likely, Pilate or his officers, suddenly laid hold of these men while they were saorificing in the Temple at Jerusalem, and slew them with the sword, so tl;1at the blood of the offerers became mixed with the blood of their offerings. The men were put to death. What else than the loss of life, could our Lord mean by perish, wben He said: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish?" Yet theologians maintain that these sinners were deathless. That the privilege of living for ever can only be enjoyed by sinners of the human race, through Jesus Christ our Lord, is very clearly set forth by Him in that discourse where He speaks of Himself as "The Bread of Life." John vi. 51, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." The parties to whom our Lord thus addressed Himself had desired from Him some miraculous display of divine vowel' as an

them ye think ye have eternal life, yet you will not come to Me. I have the eternal life. I give it to you. One word more. It is needless to ~lab?rate, to extend these remarks. Here we have a picture of an inspired man, prompted by the Holy Spirit to write, at onoe, to believers in Jesus Christ, to contend earnestly for the faith onoe for all delivered, to see that no-addition from any quarter should be made to the Book, but th~t in its entirety and beauty it might go down through the generations to bless all who should receive it. Here is an earnest appeal to those who bave thus been blessed by these truths to send tbese truths to others, and to keep them sacred for the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is a great faot--and I would repeat it because of its vast importanoe-that we are not at liberty to sustain and defend truth by proxy, but must do it ourselves. Contend earnestly for the. fa!th onoe ~elivered ~o the saints; clearly, habitually, oonsistently, behevmgly, lovingly. GIve to every man a reason for the hope that is in you, but with meekness towards man and fear, or reverence, towards God. Paul says, speaking to the Corinthians on the subjeot: Some of you call me mad. If I am mad, it is to God. If sober, it is for your cause. The love of Christ constrains me, and so forth. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord we persuade men. There, you cannot meet that-the terror of the Lord! Yes, I can meet it . All the terror of the Lord in the text is the fear of God in Paul's own mind-feeling the fear of God upon me, I cannot hold my tongue. Knowing, therefore, tbe fear of God, we beseeoh you. We are ambassadors of Christ; therefore beseeoh men to be reoonoiled to God. Now, let tbe fear of God prompt our minds and hearts, and we too shall speak as we have opportunity, giving men to understand that we feel that we are responsible for what God has told us, and that we are determined the Lord helping us, to do what we can to make known these great truthsthat God is in Christ giving life to believers; that Christ God's Anointed, is coming to rule over His own world, His' native world, and that Yle, if His, shall receive eternal life at His coming, and shall be for ever with the Lord. And when we lo.ok back from tha~ state of splendour and glory, how small will appeal' all the trials that try us, and how trifling will appear the little servioe we render to such a Master! My dear friends ponder tbese things; examine tbe Book for yourselves, and you will find that God's great dootrine is, life in His dear Son, and that He and His people are one. I hope you will not only examine these things for yourselves, but do what you can to make it known, that men may be delivered from tbe frightful burden which has hung over the nations so long, and tbat God's truth shall shine out clear as the sun. The vindication of the Majesty of Heaven is no small honour to poor creatures such as we are, engaged in this honourable task, and He shall have the glory. The meeting terminated with singing and prayer.

Public Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 7th.

Chairman:
ROBERT

J.

HAMMOND,

ESQ., Treasurer.

A Meeting was held on Wednesday evening, at which there was a large attendance. Mr. Robert J. Hammond, of London, Treasurer of tbe Association, presided. The CHAiRMAN said: He was very pleased to oocupy the post he did that evening. They had, he trusted, a very important and profitable meeting before them. After some few remarks as to length of time to be devoted to eaoh address, he introduoed the first speaker.-

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY. By Mr. WILLIAM LAING.

Mr. WILLIAMLUNG [Edinburgh.) read a paper on "Conditional Immortality." He said: Mr. Chairman and Friends,-The motto I bave chosen for the present address is-this: "The wages of sin is death; the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom: vi. 23. Immortality is the theme of this Conferenoe: the grand cause of our coming together. Not immortality of name or fame, but a personal immortality; an immortality which we hope, consciously, to enjoy, and whioh we believe the All-Merciful Jehovah has put within the reach of us all, and lovingly desires we should enjoy. This sublime subject is also the ground of our contention with the great bulk of professing Christians, including the church of Rome and the multitudinous sects of Protestants. All these, or almost all, hold and teach, as a neoessary truth, that every man is an immortal being: that whatever be his character, or conduct, in this life, he sball live for ever; that-lost or saved he can never cease to have a conscious, personal existence. Our contention is tbat while God has provided immortality for every man, it can only be possessed in a certain way. The oourt of appeal is the Bible. There and there only can a satisfactory deoision be had. Tbis is admitted on both sides. To that court we now repair for its deliverance on the question: Is man, by

THE BIBLE
evidence that He was sent by God; and they supported their demand by referring to the circumstance that their fathers had been miraculously fed in the wilderness by the hand of Moses. "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat ;" Jesus replied by asserting that God had given them a blessing of far superior value, and that He Himself was that gift," My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if a man eat of this bread he shall live for ever." Jesus, in representing Himself as "bread," plainly intimates that one grand end of His mission was to give life. The only use of bread is to sustain life; and the only proper mark of analogy hetween Christ and bread consists in His being the source of life to all who believe on Him. The property of bread is not to communicate happiness; for how many at this hour have abundance of bread and continue unhappy! That it is as the Giver of life that Jesus represents Himself as bread is still further evident from His language in verse 50, " Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die." Where is the ~rce of the antithesis, on the supposition that the Lord meant, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not be unhappv, or not live in misery for ever I The true antithesis is this. The manna which fell in the desert only , sustained life for a while; it did not prevent their fathers from dying; but the bread which God had now sent down to them gave everlasting being; God had sent it that a man might eat of it and" not die." "But," it may be urged, "believers do die." True, indeed, but they shall live again, at" tberesurrection of life;" and, as the" dead know not anything," the continuity of life'shall, in the experience of the saved, he unbroken. The sense in which the Lord used the terms life and death as consequences of fidelity or infidelity to Himself, is clearly defined in His language recorded in Matt. xvi. 25, 26-" Whosoever will save his life for My sake shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it; for what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" We are at no loss to understand what sort of life it is which the unfaithful disciple seeks to save. It is the same kind of life which he shall lose. No one hesitates about the kind of life which the faithful martyr loses for Cbrist's sake. Well the Lord affirms that he who loses his LIFE for His sake 'shallfind IT: surely that life which he lost. It is of importance to notice that the word rendered so'id twice in verse 26 is the identical Greek term twice translated life in verse 25; and should have been rendered life in these four occurences, and so it is in the Revised New Testament. "What shall a man be profited if he gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life." "It is this life of man," said the late Dean Alford, "which carries his practical will, with all those motions of intellect and feeling which set it at work; it is the life which is' mysteriously bound up with the body, which is reft from it at death; it is this life, which if a man spend upon God and upon good, he shall save to life eternal." (Good Words, January, 1868,) That the Lord Jesus Christ came to give life in its primary sense, is also very clearly taught in the beautiful language of John x. 10-18. " The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." . . . "I lay down My life for the sheep." "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." Did Jesus lay down His spiritual life, or did He lay down mere happiness? Nay, it was His own life He laid down and took up again; and he likens Himself to a shepherd who, to save the life of His sheep, lays down His own life. unlike the hireling who, to save his life flees in the time of danger, and allows the wolves to devonr the flock. If such language does not express the idea that life, in its ordinary sense, is the boon which Jesus laid down His own life to confer upon His own flock, then it is impossible to find language to express that idea. The beauty and force of the comparison wonld appear all the more lively to a pastoral people in the East, where the attachment betwixt a shepherd and his flock seems much stronger than in our Western clime. " Thy servant," said the son of Jesse to King Saul, ,. Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went after him and smote him and slew him." " The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and ont of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine," 1 Sam. xvii, 34-37. David's love for this lamb of his little flock was great indeed; but how unspeakably greater is the love of Christ for us sinners, since He not only risked His life but" laid it down." He threw Himself into the lion's month that His sheep might escape. He "poured out His soul unto death," "that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but bave everlasting life." Herein, indeed, is love! Contemplate it calmly and gratefully till tears of joy and adoration flow from your eyes. To save us from the destiny of the brnte-" abhorred annihil-

STANDARD.

ation "-and make us partakers of His own eternal life, the blessed God sent His only begotten Son into the world to live a mortal's life and die a mortal's death. He, with the benignity of God, gave up freely not happiness alone, but life itself, that we through faith in Him, the risen and immortal Christ, might, at His appearing, enter into life that knows no end, no sinning, and no sorrow! It is now time that we should refer to the testimony of the Apostles of Christ on the important question before us. The limits of our time demand that the review be brief. And first let me point you to the language of the Apostle Peter, where he charges his countrymen with killing "The Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead." Acts iii. 15. In the margin both of the Authorized and the" Revised" translation,' the word "Author" is given instead of "Prince." And in Robinson's Greek Lexicon, the first meaning assigned to the word is, The author, SOU1'ce, cause, of anything.' According to the common nsage and import of the term, Peter here claims for his Lord that He was the author, i.e., the intelligent, active source of life-that everlasting life which He shall confer on His faithful ones, when He appears the second time, unto salvation. Well might Peter do so, for he had heard it from the Lord's own lips, "That as the living Father had life in. Himself, so had He given to the Son to have life in Himself." John v. 26. To change the words" living Father" into" happy Father," &c" is to destroy the force and beauty of the language. "As the Father has life in Himself, underived, independent being, so has He giwn to the Son to have life in Himself; " Bot merely as a personal possession, but also as a source of life to others. And that the life here referred to is eternal, or post-resurrectional life, is plain from the context, see vers, 20, 21. " For the Father loveth the Son, and hath sbowed Him all things that Himself doeth; and He will show Him greater things than these that ye may marvel; for as the Father raiseth the dead, and maketh them alive, even so the Son maketh alive whom He will." Again," 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. For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." For this reason Peter charges the men of Israel with having killed the Prince, or author of life. Again. When the Jews at Antioch, who were filled with envy against Paul and Barnabas, because of the multitudes that thronged to hear the Word of God, "Spake gainst the things which were spoken of by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming; then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said: It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you; but seeing that ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unwortby of everlasting hfe, 10, we turn to the Gentiles; for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." And, adds the historian, "when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord : and as many as were ordained (or disposed) to eternal life believed." Acts. xiii. 44-48. The apostolic testimony to the truth that the possession of eternal life by men is dependent on their union with Christ is more manifest from the epistles to the churches. Thus in the letter to the saints at Rome we find the following statements :-" To those who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour and immortality [God will render] eternal life," Rom, ii. 7. Here it is broadly stated that irnm01'tality, as well as glory and honour is a blessing to be sought for, and that God will bestow eternal life on those who seek for these blessings by a patient continuance in well doing. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesns Christ, our Lord," Rom, v. 20,21. "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of these things is death: But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." Rom. vi. 21-23. "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of tbe body, ye shall LIVE," R01n. viii. 13. Here it may be well to notice the mode by which those who believe that all men shall live for ever, explain such passages as those just cited. They assert that the terms death and life, die and live, in these instances, are used in a metaphorical sense; and in support of this explanation certain passages are cited in which these terms are used with a metaphorical signification; such as, " Thou hast a name tbat thou livest and art dead," Rev. iii. 1; "Dead to sin,"" Alive unto righteousness," "Dead to the law," "Dead in trespasses and sins," &c. But how does it follow that because the terms in question have an undoubted metaphorical import in the latter class of passage, they have also a metaphorical import in those just cited? The sense of the passage demands it in the one case, not in the other; as has already been pointed out. But even in those instances where life and death, die, dead, &c., are used in a metaphorical sense, the metaphor derives all its force f~om the prima.ry and proper meaning of these terms. Nay, more, real life and death, III the sense of non-existence, is affirmed of the person in relation to the matter specified. Thus:" dead to the law" mean~

THE BIBLE

STANDARD.

non-existence in relation to the law. Having a name to live, while dead, implies that the person described was really dead in relation to the matter in which he professed to be alive. There is no dubiety as to the meaning of the language: "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. " Rom. viii. 13. Here it is evident that it is the persons who are to live or die, according to their conduct. The ultimate destiny of the one class is everlasting destruction, that of the other everlasting life. I shall call in only one more witness, the Apostle John. these are his words: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that.He sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him." 1 John iv. 9. This is the record, God hath given to ns eternal life ; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hatb not life." 1 John v. 10, 11. When the Apostle says that, He that hath the Son hath life," he is not to be understood as affirming that the believer has this life within himself at present; for he has just before said that this eternal life is in God's Son; in like manner as Paul affirms that it is" Hid with Christ in God." The believer has it safely deposited in Christ, like a deed of inheritance, to be possessed at a certain day. Throughout the whole of the teachings of the Lord and His apostles we find the terms+ life," eternal life," everlasting life," used as the equivalents of Salvation; while death," destruction," " everlasting destruction," "perdition," and similar terms, are used to describe the 'fate of those who remain unsaved. And in the sight of such testimonies it seems passing strange that anyone having faith in these Holy Scriptures should fail to perceive that man is not an immortal being by birth; but contrariwise, by inheritance from Adam, mortal; and, in consequence of personal transgression, condemned to die" the second death"; and that it is only through union with Christ that any child of Adam can live for ever. This truth is to be further illustrated by other speakers; but before closing my remarks, allow me a word or two regarding the phrase" Conditional Immortality." Some have objected to its use because they think it militates against the truth that we are saved by grace. The objection is founded on a mistake. We rejoice in the truth expressed in the motto of this address: " The wages of sin is death; the gift of God is eternal life," more emphasized in the Revised New Testament, The free gift of God is eternal life." The conditions alluded to are not connected with the giving; but with the possession of the gift. The manna on which Israel' fed in the desert was sent freely, copiously, and ready for use, yet unless they had eaten of it, they would have died of starvation. In like manner, our gracious God, out of the fulness of His mercy, sent down from heaven, the Bread of Life-Jesus, the Son of His love, Who laid down His life for the life of the world; the gracious boon is freely given; and lovingly and earnestly pressed on the acceptance of perishing sinners; but it must be received in order to be possessed. In other words, God hath given-gifted-to us eternal life; but this .life is in His Son "; and in order to be partakers of that eternal life we need to be united to God's Son by a living, active faith, that works by love and purifies the heart; otherwise, in spite uf the abundant provision, perish we must, and that for ever. The great feast of salvation has been provided, without money and without price. All things are ready; but in order to enjoy the bounty we must COME to the feast. Come! Yes, come! "The Spirit and the Bride say Come! Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely 1 "

CHALLENGE TO ORTHODOXY. By GEN. H. GOODWYN.

General GOODWYN read a paper entitled" A Challenge to Orthodoxy." He said :-As an officer of the Queen of these realms I have fought many a battle, and won them (laughter and applause), but as a soldier of Jesus Christ I never had such a hard battle to fight as that which we are now carrying on in defence of truth. Do you ask me once more what is truth? I give you one simple answer.-It is that which relegates to the dust human philosophy and human opinion, and has its source only in the inspiration of the Word of God (applause). Agnosticism, or a peculiar attitude of Infidelity, has made its appearance in this latter part of the nineteenth century 1 The root of this evil tree, that has been planted by the same malicious hand that sowed the tares in the field, is a contemptuous indifference to, and willing ignorance of God as Creator and Life-giver, of a Divinely moral government of the world, of the relation between God and man, and consequent moral and practical duties that flow from a belief in the above. Leaving this root unnoticed just now, I will allude to one branch of the tree of evil that claims a Scientific indifference, a Laodicean neutrality between belief and un belief in matters of Divine revelation. I. If religious truth were no more than a branch of science, such a position might be barely tenable; but however desirable to the agnostic mind, such neutrality between truth and incredulity is simply impossible, because Scripture veri ties are not offshoots of science, but principles of life that unveil the mysteries of God, of Christ, with the perfection of

Divinely righteous administration, embracing the whole field of the existence of man, his conscience, will, affections and future destiny. It is supposed, but it is not true, that the real doctrine of Scripture, in regard to this latter point, is opposed either to reason or morality. Difficulties are admitted, but, even here, no contradictions are to be found between the authoritative teaching of Revelation and the deliverances of moral sense. H. One of the questions with which this Association concerns itself, viz. "Conditional Immortality" and the doctrine of" eternal punishment," is one of momentous importance, but the acquisition of right views regarding it is of more importance to some persons than to others. What I mean is, that there are some to whose minds the proposition that the majority of the human race. are destined to writhe in torments and blaspheme the 'Name of Him who made them' through endless ages, presents no peculiar difficulty. They are satisfied with what they have been taught, and feel bound by no responsibility to test their teachers' tenets. To such, and to their ministers, I have not a word to say.-Let them alone. There is another. a large class, who have given but little heed to the question at all. They profess a belief in "eternal punishment;" are familiar with the expressions" hell," "eternity," "lake of fire," but the ideas that such expressions convey are entirely wanting. They, like the former class are untroubled, but the source of their tranquillity is indifferent thoughtlessness, agnosticism. But this baseless peace is liable to a sudden rude disturbance. One dearly loved is called without a moments preparation to die. Now then, words that before were words only are invested with tremendous meaning! whither is the lost one gone? This must be answered, and it can only be answered by the mourner beiug arrested to a sincerely careful consideration of the question, and becoming affiliated with those who have become convinced that the awful doctrine of the eternity of the process of punishing is in direct contradiction both to the Word and the Attributes of the God of Scripture. Nevertheless, having been taught that the Bible is committed to the doctrine, they are driven by adverse winds, and are in danger of either rejecting revelation altogether, or the terrible alternative of doubting the goodness and mercy of God! "I'is to this class that I would speak in sober earnestnass ; for I am persuaded that not only is this false doctrine driving thousands both openly, but oftener in secret, into infidelity, but that it is the great obstructive power which keeps others altogether without the gate. I maintain then that this question ought not to be evaded, and I mainly and emphatically protest against the manner in which Pastors and Ministers shuffle it on one side as if it were a mere trifle, but a small speck in the great Gospel scheme. Ill. What are the practical results of Missionary labours? is it not a fact that success is the exception, failure the rule? Missionaries themselves who have been working among the 150 millions in India. declare that nominal converts are barely one in two thousand. What then is the load of misery that a zealous preacher of the orthodox doctrine has brought about? a load surely that ought to weigh heavy on his soul l Has any recognized tyrant of the human race brought such an avalanche of suffering on his species as must be ascribed to any missionary who has failed; for failure, as may statistically be proved, has been in the ascendant. IV. Again,-take any of the popular evangelical literature for children, which 'flows from the press in torrents, and which everywhere raves of eternal fire. "I was naughty yesterday, and would not take my medicine, and, only that Jesus died for my sin, I should have gone to live with the Devil in flames for ever." Such words are put into the mouth of a little sick child, perhaps on a death-bed! But admit the salvation of this child,-is there a parent who can affirm that he or she is an exceptional favorite of God, and their offspring liable to exemption from the common lot of humanity? Is it to be denied that some, or even say one, of such children, may be supposed to perish, when, according to popular opinion, it will dwell with everlasting burnings. Now, endeavour to realize what that means, and shut not your eyes to the consequences that necessarily flow from it; look the ghastly contingency in the face, and say, if under such circumstances, you are justified in bringing beings into the world, with the bare possibility of so hideous a doom? Once more. Take the case of a dear, though unregenerate, friend. At his decease after suffering, the verdict is, "What a merciful release!" Here in flat contradiction to the orthodox Creed, it is assumed that all pain is over for him. Of course it is said that resignation to the will of God absorbs all other feeling, that therefore there can be no grief for the possible endless torments of a former friend. Now the value of such resignation to the Divine will may be submitted to a very simple test. You have only to suppose that, instead of your neighbour, it is yourself for whom the Divine will has decreed the fiery pit. How far would your resignation carry you? a very short way indeed. And yet, you are cornmanded to love your neighbour as yourse!f. V. Such examples-and more might be added from a powerful work by Mr. Barlow, of Dublin-palpably justify the advocates of truth of demanding, in the Name of the Lord, from our opponents, instead of the personal odium, the social and ecclesiastical proscription, to which we have been long and unjustly subjected, a Scriptural substantiation of their opposition.-Not by such evasive generalities as they usually

THE BIBLE
advance, not by sophistical human assumption, nor by unwarrantable perversions and traditional allegorising of the plainest words and passages of Holy Writ; but by such an evidence and pertinently demonstrative proof as may reduce the controversy within the limits of Christian courtesy and brotherly love; such as may tend to quiet men's consciences and smooth ~he way for the perception of Truth. I do not forget how I am supported In what I say by the highest Authority, for the Lord Jesus Himself said to His J~dge, " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me"? I speak thus, because the evidence on our side has been manifold and with a single eye to the Glory of God, both oral and written. We do ~ut repeat at Bradford what has been spoken elsewhere; it is time, tnerefore, that we advanced from our oft-defended, and hitherto impregnable position of our own camp, planted our standard, and threw down the gauntlet on the field of illusory Orthodoxy! VI. Who of the champions of that field have ventured to impugn the of~.r~peated fact that man's Natural Immortality is not to be found ~IthIn the pages of the Bible? Assumed, say they,-but the assumption .l~cks t.he one essential of proof I What was Adam's original condition P lifeless dust; i.e. "God formed man," not a part of man only, ~)Ut the entire man, of the dust of the ground. An agnostic reasoning can find no place here; God has said it, the human mind must accept it and orthodox theology be silent. Adam, body and soul, was thus made, till the breath of life gave motional existence to both interior organism arld outward members. Moreover Adam's condition was that of pure innoceney only (Gen. ii. 25), with responsibility to attain to Immortality, or by disobedience to forfeit it. Had God created him Immortal as Himself, He must have formed a second Deity; had He made him mortal at first, God might Have been called the Author of death! And then the words after his fall indicate in the plainest manner that Adam had become possessed of a mortal nature. " Dust THOU art, and to dust shalt THOUreturn "; the entire being, or visible MAN, (see Job xxxiv. 15; Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4). Finally, remember this, " the soul that sinneth, IT shall die." Let not Orthodoxy revere Plato and dethrone the Divine Creator! VII. Wielding by faith the sword of the Spirit, we again advance; and whilst recognising in Matt. xxv. 4~, that the original word for the perpetuity of the doom for the righteous and unrighteous is the same, we maintain that the" punishment" of the latter, being eternal, is not an eternal process of punishing, or tormenting, and challenge orthodoxy to the proof of its creed in view of the statement in Heb. ix. 12, where it is said that" Christ has obtained eternal redemption"; not a process of eternally redeeming, but, as in the other case, an eternal effect of one act of redemption, as in the next chapter, " He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever ... and by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'" The New Testament Revision gives an unquestionable description of the character of the" punishment" of Matt. xxv, in the 9th and 10th verses of 2 Thess, ii., being a record of the same event. Or perhaps our opponents in their zeal may fortify their position with undying worms and unquenchable fire? alluding to the words of the Lord in M arl ix. But the Lord, Who gave His Jewish followers understanding, gave them the Scripture from whence He quoted those much perverted words, viz.; Isaiah lxvi. 24., where it will be found that mouldering" carcases" are to be subjected to the worm and fire, which, as of old, will not cease their work till there are no more corpses to devour"This is the second death," the dread sentence that will be pronounced from the great white tbrone of inflexible righteousness. Life misused during the period of present probation, will be withdrawn for ever! VIII. The onus probandi of unending sin and torment rests unquestionably with the orthodox supporters of the hypothesis. One sample of their explanatory theory-for argument it cannot be called-is a very ancient one, viz. that sin being an offence against an infinite being, cannot be atoned for by finite suffering; but demands an eternal infliction." To which the old retort is more than sufficient as areply-" Sin being committed by a finite creature, requires only finite infliction." Sin is not thus defined in Scripture. It is said to be a "transgression of law." The law therefore has to deal with it, and the sentence is plain, " The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die;" and to attribute to death any other meaning than extinction of existence, would call, not only for a re-revision of the Word of God but of the English language I IX. Finally, in reference to the question of sin. I indignantly resent the charge often made, that our doctrine invalidates the Atonement! Hark! to the words of the Baptist as he saw Jesus walking by the Jordan, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away (abolisheth by bearing) the sin of the world." Again, listen to the words of inspiration, "Christ hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself:" This, as an apostle has affirmed, the law could not do, Rom. viii. 3.; The * This Scriptural reference a.ffords an explanation ot the words used by the Revisers of the New Testament to express the 29th verse of Ma-rh Hi. where it is said that "bIas phemy against the Holy Spirit hath never forclvenesa, but is in danger of eternal Judgment." The revision gives" is guilty of ete'1'nal sin." Now these expressions do not (unless by perversion of meaning) signify either an eternal perpetration of an act of judging, or of sinning; but a sin. that carries with it an. eternal'resu.lt, viz> never
<I

STANDARD.

Cross of Christ therefore, having exhausted the penalty, becomes the Divine pledge for the abolition of sin! Will man dare to define the requiremen~s of God as to what He should judicially demand for His satisfaction, or will He presume to measure the propitiatory value of the death of His Son? Was that death all-sufficient and exhaustive? was it substitutionary? was it extinction of life and nothing else? I challenge ought but an affirmative to these questions. Then unquestionably every believer, but for the arresting power of the grace of God, would have had to suffer that penalty after the judgment, and every unsaved soul must suffer the like penalty and nothing else! "By one ~an sin came into the world, and death by sin;" i:e. in con~equence, as Its penal award. But according to 1 C01. xv. 26., death, IS to be destroye~; "no more death" says another Apostle, Rev. xxi. 4., how then can sm be perpetuated when death is no more? can sin in the .persons of sinners. be eter?~lly retained? if so, then, not only is the SCl:lpture that affirms Its abolition, untrue, but Christ has died in vain! This lS solemn enough I .A}as! "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and the people love to have it so."

UNCONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY. By Rev. GEORGE P. MACKAY.

The R~v. GEORGE MACKAY, Mint Lane Baptist Church, Lincoln, P. of ne.xt dellVe~ed a paper entitled, "Unconditional Immortality." He sa~d :-It gives me very great pleasure indeed to be to-night upon this pla:tform, and. to. assist the brethren whom you see before you in advocating the principles of Life only in Christ. We are taught that every male and female of the human race is immortal-that once brought into existence these can never die. That we c~ll unconditional immortality,. and that it is now my duty to challenge. I must ask you to bear WIth me, those of you who hold the orthodox view for in challenging that opinion one is not always well received. But I ;hall endeavour to speak as kindly and with as much Christian courtesy and charity as possible. It is necessary for us to search into the matters that we are ~upposed to believe; we ought to try the foundations of them m order to see whether they are sound or not. If my hope of future glory depends on belief in natural or unconditional immortality, that belief must .be well based or my hope will halt. If my ~ear and ~read of future punishment are based upon belief in natural immortality, that belief should be well founded, or of course my fear WIll fall, and my dread will die. Without faith there can be neither hope nor fear, and it is to the advantage of all orthodox preachers, therefore, to have that which is commonly believed well sounded tried t~ste~ and proved, for it is at the foundation of all, and if the foundation IS not sound: the? n~thing built ~pon it can be stable. Some say we .ought not to inquire Into these things, but that we simply should believe. But Dr. Adam Clarke has well said, "The doctrine which cannot stand the test of rational investigation cannot be true. (Hear,.hear.) We are not called upon to believe anything on which we dare not think. (Hear, hear.) We are not born with the beliefin natural immortality. We ar~ taught when we are children that our souls can never die. But the fa~th of childhood is credulity. The child simply accepts that which is laid before it, asking no questions. The belief of manhood however ought to be a very different thing from that. I ought to see whether these things which were taught in my youth are according to the Book of God or not. It is my duty and my privilege so to do. Proof there~ore we must request if expected to continue our faith in unconditional immortality, and the proof must be placed in the balance and found not wanti~g before it can command acceptance. Scripture and reason are both said, by our orthodox friends, to uphold the. ~heory of natural immortality. We will begin, ~hen, by examn;ung a few of the Scriptural passages advanced In support of It. When we ask our orthodox friends fOI' the Scril?ture wherein it is plainly stated that man is immortal, we cannot get It from them. They cannot produce in either the Old or the New 'I'estament anything which says that man has an immortal soul not one passage which contains the oft-repeated phrases, "never-dyi~f( soul" "deathless spirit," or one wherein God is shown to have doomed the sinner to a "death that never dies." Moses says, "These statements are not m my books;" the prophets declare, "We know them not" and the Psalmist is ignorant of them. The Apostles and the first Fathers of the Christian faith knew them not, and He who spake as never man spake, said not a word regarding the immortality of the soul. (Loud applause.) ~ut with great ingenuity it is said that the very silence of Scripture proves the doctrine, for that it is so self-evident God did not require to state it. Sometimes, in support of that, the words of our Lord are quoted, "If it were not so I would have told you." But this is peculiar reasoning. It opens the floodgates for any statement, however erroneous. If it may be said "silence gives consent" to the . doctrine of the immortality of man, then it may also be said it permits

forgiveness."

10

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.
with fire, or blown up into the air, or washed away with the floods, still it remains in existence: only its form has changed. Well, I am not arguing against the eternity of matter; but against the natural immortality of man. The atoms of which he is composed may remain in existence for ever, but as for the man himself, only "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." A regiment may be annihilated, though the soldiers composing it may not be blown into thin air. Let the battle-field be strewn with their lifeless bodies, and the deed is done, A palace may be destroyed by inextinguishable fire, though the stones, and bricks, and mortar, and dust, and ashes may remain somewhere in existence. And so with man, matter (and spirit), as such, may be indestructible ; the atoms or particles may be eternal; "but the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." (Ps. xxxvii. 20.) But even though it were necessary to annihilate the material atoms to accomplish the destruction of a man, would that be impossible with God? Would the Almighty not be" able to perform" such a scientific miracle? "The things which are seen (even atoms) were not made of things which do appear." They were spoken into being by God, and He could, if He so willed it, blot them out again. Considered either way the argument as to the difficulty of annihilation does not hold good. But now I must conclude. It has given me much pleasure to be here and to examine before you the principal arguments for the doctrine of unconditional immortality. It is called the "orthodox" doctrine, because it is commonly believed. But, with my hand upon God's Word, I denounce it as heretical and false. Not a single text of Scripture states it, and not one upholds it when examined in the light. It is supported neither by reason, natural science, nor common-sense. On the contrary, it contradicts the Word of the Eternal. When He forewarns the wicked, saying, " The soul that sinneth it shall die; " this doctrine dares to say, (with one of old,) "Ye shall not surely die." Thus men are deceived and led on to their own hurt. It is the basis of the eternal-torment theory, and of universalism. It is the foundation of faith in purgatory, ghosts, spiritualism, and other evil matters. It is also a cause of unbelief in resurrection and a day of judgment. For if men go to their reward at death, why, it is asked, need there be a resurrection-morning and a judgment-day? And it has made many Atheists; for through the representations of the Hell-fire-God of orthodoxy many have cast the Bible utterly aside. This doctrine is God-dishonouring and mandebasing; and I am glad of the opportunity to assist in its demolishment. Specially am I glad to do so here in Bradford, where I have so many warm.hearted friends. It rejoices my heart to know from time to time that the Church at whose birth, within these walls, I had the honour of assisting, over three years ago, is increasing" in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man." And I pray that the unflinching (but withal kind and charitable) opposition of that Church to the doctrine of unconditional immortality may result in the opening of the eyes of many to the truth of immortality exclusively in Christ.

the part of God to preserve for ever any man who could neither glorify his Maker nor enjoy himself? You will at once say, No. You must; for infinite wisdom cannot keep in eternal existence a being who can never fulfil the purpose of his being. I have no narrow idea of the number ~vho shall enter into life eternal. Regarding the heathen, the partiallyInformed, and the deceived, I entertain a large hope. The kingdom of heaven shall be much more populous than many close-minded men would calculate. In some way or other the Gospel must be preached to all. For the condemnation at the end, as at the beginning shall be,"Ye will not come unto Me that ye may have life." But beyond this I dare not go. Depend upon it, if Shakespeare and Scott, and Byron and Burns, and Voltaire and Hume, and Plato and Paul are not rendered immortal by Christ, the might of their intellect shall not immortalize them. But supposing it did. If God in His wisdom spared the intellectual stars on account of the brightness of their shining, would that be unconditional immortality? Nay, does not the very suggestion show that man's consciousness of what is just, and right, and good leads him to expect conditions in connection with such a wondrous boon as neverending life. He says, The Wisdom 'of God shall grant it to the wise among men. But God says, " To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a/contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." "He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life," however great and intellectual he may be, "We are not content, therefore with the assumed immortality of the race, nor with the cold comfort of the posthumous immortality of the famous and renowned." But now, turning to the metaphysical argument, we find it stated that man must be immortal because he is a spirit tabernacling in the flesh. It is said that the spirit (or soul, for orthodoxy does not distinguish between these carefully,) is the real man, and though the body perishes the spirit survives eternally. Now the Bible declares, " There is a spirit in man," but It nowhere states that man himself is a spirit. " God is a Spirit," and the angels are" ministering spirits," but" God formed man of the dust of the ground," There is his nature! "Of the earth, earthy." And as for the spirit, it was "breathed into his nostrils," it abides there, (" The Spirit of God is in my nostrils," Job xxvii. 3;) and it is in the nostrils also of the animals around, "Yea, they have all one breath (or spirit); so that (in that matter,) a man hath no preeminence above a beast." (Eccles. iii. 19.) But, it is argued, man must be a spirit, and therefore immortal, b.ecause he can think and reason. This is based upon the assumption that matter cannot produce .thought. Now we admit, of course, that inert matter produces no thought; a stick, or a stone, or a piece of iron cannot think. But may not matter be organized so as to produce thought, just as it produces feeling, and heat, and light, and perfume, and electricity? Besides, if matter does not think, ho.w do horses, dogs, and elephants think and reason? That they do think as really as man does, though not to the same degree, is beyond dispute. And if man is a spirit because he can produce thought, so also are the brutes beneath him, for they can do the same. But it is said, 'It is the soul that thinks, and that is what is claimed to he immortal.' As it is put in Cruden's Concordance: "The soul is spiritual because it thinks, and immortal because it is spiritual." Now, when man is laid upon his couch, and yields himself up to " Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," what is it that falls asleep? Is it the body, or the soul? Orthodoxy at once will say, "The body." How is it then that man is unconscious? Why does not" the soul" continue to think? The answer is evident: it is because thought depends as much upon " the body" as " the soul." And dreams prove nothing to the contrary of this, for they come upon us when we are only partially asleep. Sound sleep is dreamless. It is however urged that as the personality is preserved, although the body undergoes continual change, the soul must be the real man. This ~ppears at first sight plausible, but a little consideration proves its InsuffiCle~cy as an argument. We grant that the body is entirely changed In a certa~n number of years, but the identity of the mind (or soul) is no more retained than that of the body during the same period. Is mind unchangeable? If so, then the mind of the infant is just the same as that of. the man. The fact that mental impressions are retained from childhood to old age, is explained by the law of atomical succession, just as that explains the retention of scars, and other marks of the body, during the same period. But now, supposing men are immaterial souls, or spirits, "cabin'd, cribbed, confined, bound in" by material bodies, out of which they mount at death. Does that prove they are immortal? It certainly does not appear to me to do so. On the contrary, the VeI'ystatement brings to one's mind more vividly the language of the Scripture: "Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine : the soul that sinneth it shall die." (Ezek .. xviii. 4.) "He which converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James v. 20.) "Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. x. 28.) The supposition, therefore, does not support the theory of unconditional immortality. Orthodoxy, however, in desperation, says, Nothing can be annihilated, therefore man must live for ever. This argument rests upon the scientific statement that matter cannot be destroyed. If ground to powder, or burnt

THE

SILENCE

OF SCRIPTURE ON NATURAL IMMORTALITY. By Mr. GEORGE ALDRIDGE.

MR. GEORGEALDRIDGE, f Bradford, next addressed the meeting on o " The Silence of Scripture on Natural Immortality." He said :-1 thank you very much Mr. Chairman, for the kind way in which you spoke of me when you opened the meeting this evening, and perhaps a word of apology is due to the audience here present with regard to my appearance. It is not because I am learned that I am here, but simply because I am a Bradfordian. It has come to a qnestion now, not of natural worth, but of the supreme honour which belongs to one's native place. The subject with which I have to deal to-night is Natural Immortality and the Silence of the Scriptures connected therewith. Allow me first of all to define what I mean by Natural Immortality. I mean that which is believed to be an essential attribute of the soul. The man as we see him is mortal. We know it, but it is believed that it is possible for a man to exist separately from his material organism, and the belief, in orthodox circles, resolves itself into a belief of soul immortality. That is what I mean by Natural Immortality. Those who have time and ability to search into these matters tell us that the history of the past shows that there has been much speculation in days gone by with reference to this question of natural immortality. The same historical investigation has also shown that all those who have inquired into it did not believe in it, and there were some of the most eminent reasoners of their day who disbelieved, and altogether rejected the doctrine of natural immortality. Others, who rejected it, accepted and taught it on grounds of political expediency. That has been done according to Archbishop Whateley in his" Revelations of "Future State." . We liye in times when Christians believe it universally. It is not to be questl?ne~ at all. They everywhere believe it as the very truth of God. 9uest,lOn It, and you are questioning the veracity of the Scriptures. It IS believed to be a fundamental truth. It is ingrained in the minds of men as if sucked in with their mother's milk.; ,Question it and you

THE BIBLE
evoke bigotry on every hand. And yet if we as men and women, believing in that revelation from God, do not inquire into this matter we are sadly to blame. Whatever bigotry may be evoked it is our business to search the Scriptures, to search in order to see whether these things are true. (Hear, hear.) If not true, reject them; if true, take them in as God's own truth. (Applause). It has been questioned in Bradford, by the few I grant; but then, doctrinal truth is not to be tested by' the numbers who believe in it. Truth is truth, whether believed in by the few or by the many. (Applause). The fact that it has been questioned has called forth more than one defender of the orthodox doctrine in this town of ours. I remember some time ago a minister in this town came forward to prove to his congregation natural immortality, and he produced the old, stock, threadbare arguments in its favour which have been thrashed out times without number. Not long ago we had here an eminent Transatlantic lecturer who came to prove the same thing. But we venture to affirm that neither the rev. gentleman who tried to save his flock from falling into the paths of error by endeavouring to prove natural immortality from reason and history, nor the scientific gentleman who tried to prove natural immortality from science,-the same gentleman by the way, to whom we are indebted for the gratuitous insult that" Conditional Immortality is an exegetical lunaey v-c-eatablished his position. We still question the truth of natural immortality, and demand proof from reason, science, or Scripture, that the thing is true. If proof is not forthcoming we, as men and women of common sense, must reject it. (Applause). My remarks to-night are to be confined to the relation which Scripture sustains to the doctrine of natural immortality. Allow me to make an affirmation, and that affirmation is this, it has been made already to-night, tbat Scripture is absolutely silent with reference to the doctrine in question. A strange thing this when references thereto are contained in the sermons, books, tracts, and pamphlets preached, and issued by the waggon load I We should think it a very strange thing if, in listening to an orthodox sermon, we did not hear of a never-dying soul to save; and a tract to the unconverted would scarcely be a suitable appeal unless the precious immortal soul was spoken of as the object of salvation from eternal woe. And yet, when we turn to the book from which all this is supposed to be derived we find that it is grandly silent upon this thing. I think we can very easily prove the Scriptures do not mention it, to the common sense of Yorkshiremen, by the following argument. There has been before the public now for a great number of years an offer of 100 for the production of one passage of Scripture affirming the doctrine. I believe when our worthy President was in Bradford last, he made an offer of 1,000 for such a passage. These offers I presume still hold good. But when some mention is made of an offer of money in regard to this question the whole proceeding is commented upon gravely in orthodox circles. The hands are lifted up in holy horror at the idea of money being offered. Of course the doctrine is there, but Christians are not mercenary. (Laughter). Strange to say that everywhere, the whole wide world over, they are so impressed with the sacredness of this doctrine, so astounded at the audacity of the man who dared to offer money for proof of it, and so embittered against the filthy lucre, that they will not prove it for its sake. (Laughter and applause). At all events they might do it for love, (applause), and thus win us back from the paths of error into the good old ways of soul immortality, (renewed applause). Rest assured of this, that had the doctrine been there, or, any expression calculated to convey it, some one, Christian or unchristian, would have been forward before this to claim the money. We are not so well off that we can do without 100 if we could get it easily. The words" soul" and "spirit" occur in the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures 1,600 times. The words" immortal soul," or "immortal spirit," occur in the Hebrew, Greek 01' English, not once. Seeing that this is the fact, we have a right, as working men and women, who desire to know the truth concerning God's revelation, to demand proof of the doctrine before we are asked to believe it. (Applause). Seeing then that the Scripture is silent with regard to this doctrine, I think it possible to draw lawful deductions from that silence in favour of Conditional Immortality. And the first deduction which I would draw would be something like this :-That if there are circumstances recorded in God's Book when mention of the doctrine of natural immortality appears to be specially called for, if no such mention is made, then we have at all events negative proof that the doctrine is untrue. Have we such circumstances? Yes. Genesis, ii, 7; "The Lord formed man of the dust of the ground." There is one man's name which was duly revered, which is attached to the following statement--I refer to John Wesley-" I am an immortal spirit, strangely eo-mingled with a little portion of clay." "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Put these two propositions side by side. Which is to have the truth, God's own word or John Wesley's? The Lord God formed man, and such are earth-made, earth-formed. Was the man from God's own hand? "He formed man of the dust of the ground, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living soul." Moses is inspired to write. the history of the creation. He does so, and he expends all his labour in giving us a description of the mere husk. Does he? No; he tells

STANDARD.

11

us what man is, and every subsequent passage of Scripture which refers to man's nature corroborates the first statements with reference to him. (Applause). Further, bear in mind, not only is Moses inspired to write this, but it is God's own statement of His own act. "He formed man of the dust of the ground." I deem Him as all supreme with regard to this passage, His definition, rather, as supreme with regard thereto. He has said it, and until some one comes forward, and says that he has a greater right to define man's nature, I must be content with the definition He has given. Another passage, and this time from the New Testament. You will remember that once in the history of our Saviour it is recorded that there came to Him a party of men who disbelieved altogether in man's immortality, present or future. They came to Him with a question with reference to the future existence of man. They denied immortality. When our modern divines have brought before them persons who deny natural immortality, they feel specially called upon to affirm it. Now here the Saviour is in the presence of men who absolutely denied it, and in His reply to them He makes no reference to the doctrine at all. He tells who may and will attain immortality, but in regard to the future existence of all men He is absolutely silent. I take these two passages, then, as instances of the propositions I laid down; that where there are circumstances recorded where we might expect some mention of the doctrine, and where there is no such mention, we have negative proof that the doctrine is untrue. But further, when God's Word ignores any doctrine deemed of high importance by men, such silence on His part is sufficient to throw discredit on the doctrine believed, and to occasion suspicion of its falsehood. Natural immortality is believed to be the grandest fact in human nature. Philosophers affirm it, our divines affirm it. They deem it their especial duty to affirm natural immortality when they have a chance. When we turn to God's book we find no reference at all to the doctrine. Herein are contained about 60 productions of a large number of different authors, and strange to say, not one of them teaches it, not one of them makes reference to it. They lived at periods of time remotely separated from each other; in places locally! distinct; and yet orthodoxy would make us believe that these men have entered into a strange conspiracy to teach the doctrine of natural immortality and never mentioned it. (Laughter). Can you believe it? I cannot for one. Some of these authors might fail to mention it, but that all of them, without exception, should believe it and fail to mention it is to me absolutely past all credence. (Hear, hear). Comparing, as we can compare, the persistent affirmations of modern theologians with the calm, grand silence of God's book, we say that the doctrine of natural immortality is untrue, because those who affirm it have to invent their own terms to define it, and those terms cannot in any way be drawn from God's book. But there are one or two objections, and the first is, if the doctrine is not taught directly it may be taught inferentially. Well, inferential reading may be the foundation error of any false doctrine. It is a horse that is apt to take the bit in its own mouth and gallop away. It likes its own sweet will. It must be guided, and Dr. Angus, in his" Handbook to the Bible," gives some valuable rules to guide that inferential reading. One of them is this-that nothing must be made a matter of faith which is not a matter of revelation. Is natural immortality a matter of revelation? Admittedly no. Then why make it a matter of faith? Another rule that he gives is that in studying the Scriptures there must be unbiassed judgment until the truth itself decides. Now, put aside your bias for a moment. Take up this Word of God, and read it for yourself, and as you read-I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet-I venture to predict that belief in natural immortality will become a vanishing quantity. Take another rule-that the same prominence must be given to aoy doctrine which is given to it in God's word. Very well. You have a system of theology. "I believe in God" is the backbone of theology, but belief in soul immortality is the spinal cord in that backbone. Take your Bible, and see what prominence that gives to the doctrine of natural immortality. Give it the same prominence in your system of theology, Here is your doctrine of soul immortality up here. The Bible doctrine is away down there. Prune it down, brother, and I venture to predict, if you read God's Word, you will not only prune it down so that it becomes smaller by degrees and beautifully less, but you will not have a shred of the doctrine left. If you give it the same prominence which is given to it in God's Book, you will have no natural immortality left. You will be on our side and believe in " Life only in Christ." Time does not permit of my going into some examples of inferential reading by orthodoxy, but I will just conclude that portion of my subject by quoting a remark of Dr. Bridge's, to tbis effect: That inferences drawn from the Scripture must be accepted with the greatest caution, or rather decidedly rejected, save as they are supported by those express declarations of Scripture. But the Bible assumes natural immortality as it does the existence of God? Does it assume the existence of God? Are you quite sure of that? I am not. 'I'he first verse in this Book says," In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Is that assuming His existence? (Hear, hear.) I think not. But supposing for a moment that we grant you that it does assume the existence of God. Now give your own comparison that it assumes natural immortality as

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BIBLE

Sr.v-AND AltD..
question may be asked in a sentence, but it cannot he answered in a sentence. It has different meanings as I have just shown you, but they are relative meanings like many other words in our language. We could not give a reply if asked the meaning of many words in our language. For instance; if we were asked, " What is spring?" We should not know what to reply-apart from any text. We should have to know whether the inquirer was inquiring about the spring of the year, or the spring of a watch, or the spring of a wild animal. And so with the word soul. But I affirm, and challenge denial, that the word" soul" means primarily the life, and applies to any creature whatever, in which life is manifested and to the attributes of the creature, its qualities, its desires or its affections. So that we can summarise all the various meanings of the word " soul" under three heads. First, then, I will prove to you ,from the Word of God that the word translated" soul" means the life. In the very first occurrence of this word, you will see, even from your English Bibles with marginal referenoes, that the translators evidently thought it had this meaning. Look in the first chapter of the book of Genesis and the 20th verse, where the word nephesli first occurs. "God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life." And if you will look in the margin you will see that the Hebrew is given, soul. "The moving creature that hath soul," or "that hath life." This, thcn, is the meaning of the word in its first scriptural occurrence and we find here that" soul" is predicated of the lower animals. The waters brought forth abundantly the moving creature that had soul; that had life. Again, in the 30th verse We see the word nephesh or soul has this meaning. To every .beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life." And in the margin again you have the statement that the Hebrew is soul. Thus, in the first occurrences of this word the meaning is undoubtedly that which we affirm-life. And the Word of God abundantly proves that this is one of its primary and common meanings. I have told you already that in the Old Testament .the word is translated life 120 times. Surely then, even King James's translators knew, with the. Bishop of Manchester, that at least sometimes it meant merely the physical life. Let me give you one or two quotations in which this will perhaps more clearly appear. In the 12th chapter of the book of Job and the lOth verse, we read; In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and tht breath of all mankind." " In whose hand is the soul." And the margin again gives you the word life. Look again in the 78th Psalm and the 50th verse, where the psalmist is giving a descriptiou of the judgment that fell upon Egypt, and stating how God cast upon the Egyptians the fierceness of His wrath and indignation by sending evil angels among them. " He made a way to His anger; He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence." There again its meaning is undoubtedly life. Take an instance from the New Testament, the 16th chapter of Matthew's Gospel and the 25th verse, where we read the well known passage, so often quoted by orthodox teachers: "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and shall lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Here in the Revised Version the translators ShOWYOll clearly that the meaning is simply, life. The revisers, instead of saying, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul," give, "what. shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" and in the margin they have put the word soul. Again in Matt. x, 28, if we translate the word soul there by the word life we shall find the meaning clear, intelligible and simplified. Our Lord is speaking to His disciples and He says, Fear not them who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." That is Do not fear them, you My disciples." He is speaking to His disciples and not to men in general, and what applies specially to the disciples of Christ does not apply to men in general. . They are not able to put an end to your life." This is one of the meanings of the word translated kill". And the same word p~yche is translated life in this very chapter; Matt. x, 39th verse: "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." Again, in the 8th chap. of the Book of Revelation and the 9th verse, we have the same word translated soul which is so frequently here translated life. The third part of the creatures that were in the sea that had life-or soul-or psyche which is the same word, died. We affirm then on the strength of these testimonies that the primary meaning of soul is life; applied to the lower animals as well as to men; applied even to the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, creeping things, fisheseverything in Iact that moved, and that had soul or life. If therefore the possession of soul, or life, implies t.hat we are in possession of an immortal principle, it implies also that every animal, every beast, every creeping thing that ever crept upon the earth, had the same immortal principle, and was therefore deathless. If therefore our souls are immortal and to be translated to realms of unending bliss, and all these others have immortal souls and have to be translated likewise, there will be a motley crowd somewhere (applause). But shall we inquire a little further, and ask again, what is the soul? what is this life? where is it? is it an entity within us, or is it a principle, or a condition of our organisation? The Word of God helps us in these inquiries. In the Book of Leviticus, the 17th chap. and the lOth and 11th verses, we are told the locality of this

it does the existence of God. Very well, then, I expect that the two things should be treated in preciselythe same manner in the Scriptures. But I find the existence of God referred to on almost every page-soul immortality not once. You can easily prove that. Take your pen, tum over the pages of your Bible, strike out all the passages that refer to God's existence. You have doue it. Now take your pen again, and strike out all those passages which refer to natural immortality. You will leave it where it was. In the' one case you will have a mutilated, unintelligible record; in the other case you leave it just where it was before, with never a passage touched. In view.of the fact that Scripture is altogether silent on natural immortality, I affirm that that silence stands as an absolute barrier to the truth of the doctrine, and that those who teach it do so against the express declarationsof Scripture itself; and, further, that the advocates of natural immortality are changing the truth of God into a lie, (hear, hear) and are propagating that Serpentine delusion which ruined Eden's fairest howers-" Ye shall not surely die." (Applause.) The meeting was brought to a close with the pronouncing of the Benediction. -

Public Meeting, 'Thursday-Afternoon,

Chairman:
HENRY

Sep. 8.

J.

WARD,.

Bsq., President.

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

WHAT

IS

THE

SOUL? IS IMMORTAL?
ALBERT

IT

MORTAL

OR

By Mr.

SMITH.

MR. ALBERT SMITH addressed the meeting on the above subject. He said: Scientific lecturers define the terms of their proposition before lecturing. Theologians may well learn a lesson from them. We need clear ideas in theology as well as in science ; yea, more so. The terms, " soul" and" spirit" are frequently used but seldom defined. When a definition is attempted the soul is vaguely described rather than a definition given. Let us then understand that our question refers to soul rather than spirit, though the latter is never said to be immortal. Our question then is, what is soul; what is spirit? These two terms are very often confounded. Even so great a person in the ecclesiastical world as the Bishop of Manchester is not free from this confusion. He says in his letter which he addressed to me about circulating papers which denied the immortality of the soul: "They seem to be based on the most absurd ignorance, and not to know that the word ' soul' in the Scriptures is sometimes merely the physicailife, and sometimes the spirit over which death has no power." It is strange that we should be charged with "absurd ignorance" in saying the very same thing that the Bishop himself said in the first part of his statement of what the soul is-merely the physical life. But in the latter part, where he says it is sometimes the spirit over which death has no power, he is contrary to the fact. We are all one with Parkhurst, the great Hebrew lexicographer, who says "As a noun' Nephesh,' the Hebrew term translated soul, hath been supposed to signify the spiritual part of man, or what is commonly called his soul." The Bishop of Manchester is an example of this supposition. But what does Parkhurst himself say? He says, " I must for myself confess that I can find no passage where it hath undoubtedly this meaning" (applause). Then we are shut up to this conclusion: Either that the Bishop or Parkhurst is in error. Which of the two? Our translators never confounded the two terms, but I may in passing say that while I remind you that the question is, "What is the soul?" rather than "What is the spirit?" the Word of God never speaks of immortal spirit, and you Will not be able to make a loophole of that if I confine myself to proving the non-immortality of the soul, as some ignorant of the facts of the case have done by saying that it must be that the spirit is immortal. The term never occurs either with spirit or with soul What. then is the soul? The spirit according to the definition given by Luke in his first chapter is the power, the effluent power of God. When the angel visited Mary he said to her. with respect to the Wonderful One, the Counsellor who was to be called the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,-he said with respect to His conception, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." Evidently speaking of the Spirit as the power of the Deity. But the word" soul; " what does it mean? What is this Nephesh that is so spoken of in the Old Testament, and this Psyche so spoken of Vel'y frequently 'in the New? We ought not to be left in any doubt. The word occurs in the Old Testament 752 times. It is certainly translated 44 different ways, but it is translated soul 475 times and life 120 times. In the New Testament the word Psyche occurs 105 times and is translated 6 different ways; soul 59 times, and life 40 times. We ought not then to be in any doubt as to the scriptural meaning of a term so frequently used in the Word of God. What, then, is the soul? The

THE BIBLE
soul. The testimony reads thus: "Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, thateateth any manner of blood, I will even set My face against that soul that eateth blood." "For the life [or soul-the same word '1lephesh] of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is me blood that maketh atonement ~or the soul." According then to Moses the nephesh. or the soul, or the life, is in the blood. We have puzzled ourselves in. the days of our orthodox belief with wondering whatever this soul could be, and it is amusing sometimes when we remember what we have thought it might be. I was asking some of our people what they thought in the days of their ignorance of their souls-what they thought their soul was; and I got some ver~ curious and some very ridiculous answers. I may give you one or two of their answers. One friend said that he had thought his soul was like a boiler full o~ steam without the boiler. If you can understand that, perhaps its as clear a definition as some of our more learned friends have given us. Another thought it was some vapour-like substance of the same shape as his body, but how it would be able to leave the body unless it were elastic he could not imagine, And so we have had all sorts of vague and fo(?lish and unsoriptural ideas. But Moses tells us that it is the life principle in the blood, and therefore, wherever there is blood, living blood, there is soul in the blood. And this helps us to understand that wonderful passage in Isaiah, where we read of the Redeemer pouring out His soul unto death. What was it He poured out? He gave His blood, for without shedding of blood there was to be no remission (applause). The soul, then, can be poured out, and let us thank God that One was found willing to pour out His soul unto death that our souls might live for ever. 'I'he soul then is life-the life principle in the blood. What is life? Is it an individuality? Is it some tangible being within us as we have been taught, or is it a condition of our organisation? I affirm that it is the latter. It is vital and molecular motion, the result of the chemical action of the breath of life which we breath in the lungs and the chemical combination of the spirit or breath and atmospheric air with the blood; and wherever there is chemical union there is intense molecular vibration. Life then IS motion; it is vital motion; the result of the operation of the Spirit of God upon matter-organised matter. We read that God breathed into the nostrils of an organised being the breath of life, and man became a living soul. We have a description of the resurrectionapplied figuratively doubtless to the resurrection of Israel, but giving a description of the revivifying process-in Ezekiel, in the 37ih chapter, where the prophet was commanded to prophecy unto the wind or breath, and say, "Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones. Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live." And the result of this breath coming upon them and rushing into cells prepared for its reception, was that they who had been dead stood up alive, an exceeding great army. The testimony is that" I shall put My Spirit into you and ye shall live." Life, then, is the result of the spirit of God being put into organised beings. But you perhaps think this spirit is put in as an entity, so I will refer you to a testimony in Job which tells you the locality of this spirit. He says in the 27th chap. and the 3rd verse: "All the .while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils." The Spirit of God in Job's nostrils gave him life, gave him soul. This Spirit existed before ever a soul was created. Soul is dependent upon Spirit; the Spirit is not dependent upon the soul (applause.) But we pass on to notice in the next place that the term soul is applied to any creature, or any organised body of life, any breathing thing. And here I must refer you to that well-known but much misunderstood passage, Gen. ii. 7. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and the' man thus formed became a living soul. It does not say a living soul was put into him, but the man himself became a living soul, or a living creature. Take scriptural language to illustrate scriptural language. You have read of the miracles that Moses was commissioned to perform to convince Pharoah that he was sent by God. When the Lord appeared to him in the bush, Moses was asked, "What is that which is in thine hand?" and he said it was a rod, And we read that Moses was commanded to put down the rod upon the ground, and when he put down the rod we are told it became a serpent. Does it mean that a serpent was put into the rod? (hear, hear,) or does it mean that the rod was transformed into a serpent? and so, when we read that man became a living soul it does not mean that an entity was put into him, but that He himself was looked upon and defined in the language of the Creajor as a living soul; or a living creature. Some of our orthodox friends say that this shows that man was made in some superior manner to the beasts, for it is never said of them that they had living souls, but simply souls. They first deny the term as applied to the lower animals at all, and then, shifting their ground when they find that they have nothing to stand upon, they say the term living soul is not applied to them. Let me show you that the term living soul is applied to the lower animals before it is to man. In the 1st chapter of Genesis and the 30th verse we read: "Every beast of the earth wherein there is. life," and if you will look in the margin you will find that the Hebrew is, "everything wherein there is a living soul;" so that, according to thEY language of Scripture and teachings of the Word of God, there is not a beast that has ever existed, there is not a fowl that has

STANDARD.

13

ever existed, not a creeping thing however minute and despicable, that is not called a living soul. The Word of God then applies these terms to the lower animals as well as to man. In fact we see it in this very verse, "man became a living soul." We have been compelled by popular language to ask, What is the soul? Our question perhaps would have been. more accurate if we had aske I What is a soul? we do not read that man became the only grand wonderful living soul, but man became a living soul-one amongst many. The definition itself intimates that there were other living souls already in existence, and the Word of God affirms it. Again we read in this verse that man became a living soul. We do not read that he became an everliving soul (hear, hear.) The quality of immortality is conditional, and that it is conditional we shall see as we proceed to examine this question. But let me further prove to you from God's Word that this term simply means a creature in the second meaning which we have given it-a creature or a body of life. In the Book of Number it is applied to asses and sheep. Can any man believe that these animals have immortal souls? and here I cannot but refer to the want of candour, to my mind, on the part of the Bishop of Manchester when he was trying to convince me of my unsound position, as he thought. He referred me, amongst other things, to Bishop Butler for one of the finest arguments that he knew of for the immortality of the soul. I replied to his Lordship that Bishop Butler was candid enough to own that the self-same arguments that he had used in support of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man would likewise prove the immortality of the souls of the brutes (applause); and I asked his Lordship if He accepted that position, and there was no reply. He does not accept the position, but Bishop Butler was candid enough to allow it. Therefore, according to Bishop Butler, if a man has an immortal soul so has every other animal on the face of the earth (applause). That question remains unanswered. When will the Bishop of Manchester be candid enough to say whether he believes in the immortality of fleas and bugs and every creeping thing upon the earth? We wait for a reply (applause). Under this heading we are also enlightened as to the origin of souls. Vie have some of us had some strange speculation as to where souls come from. We thought we saw in the testimony I had quoted from the Book of Genesis, where Adam's soul originally came from, and we were taught to believe that it was part of the Divine essence itself. But we have wondered many times in the days of our darkness where all these other souls come from; whether they have been created fresh from the Creator's hand, or whether they have been made to order, and whether there is a stock in supply to be brought out when they were needed, or in what way could they be produced. We could not imagine. But the Word of God, using this term as creature or as person, answers these and all other lawful inquiries. Moses tells us in his Book of Exodus, the 1st chapter and the 5th verse, where souls come from; whether they are created as they are wanted or whether there is a stock supply. He tells us that they are the result of natural generation. He says, "All the souls that came out of the loins of J acob were seventy souls." And thus, putting aside for ever all our vain wonderings and imaginings, we see the simplicity and the beauty, aye, and 'the modesty of the language of Holy z-cripture. Again, Peter uses language just as we do in the present day when we are not talking of Bible subjects. It is very strange that men can use terms that are in Scripture quite scripturally, if they are talking upon common topics, but the moment they come tothe Scriptures they invest he same words with very different meanings, and lllany times they are not aware of the mental process they have undergone at the time, We read of souls perishing and souls being saved. Speaking of the flood, Peter says, of some" who were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was !\_ preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." Rather a strange thing for souls of the orthodox type to be saved by watersomething that is immaterial, intangible, invisible. But you can quite understand eight persons being saved byjwater. A ship has been wrecked, and so many souls perished, you will read in your newspapers (hear, hear,) and we see the same use of the word in our Bibles plainly brought out in Gen. xiv, 21, in the margin. And in the account of Abrabam res~uing Lot and his servants, we read that the king of Sodom said, . GIve me the persons," and the margin says the Hebrew is "souls." The king of Sodom wanted the souls, and he is willing to let Abraham take the spoils. I wonder whether any kiug in modern days would make such a bargain; but the king of Sodom knew what souls were evidently. He says, Give me the souls, and take thou the goods to thy~ self. Most kings now would prefer the goods, for fear they could not catch the souls. (Laughter and applause.) The term is applied even to trees in the Word of God-in Isa. x. 18. Trees, you know, have life. It is doubtless a figurative use, but figures do not, or should not, contradict facts. We read there that The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and His Holy One for a flame: .... And shall consume the glory of His forest, and of His fruitful field, both soul and body." That passage will perhaps help us to understand the other where God threatens to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. God who is merciful even in judgment, destroys the life of His enemies before He . puts their worthless carcases into the fire. But I must pass on to notice, in the third place, that the term" soul" is applied to the affections and desires, or the appetites which result

14

THE -BIBLE

STANDARD.
can never die! Then was the serpent right? No. Paul says, "Take heed, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds shall be beguiled from the simplicity in Jesus Christ." But if we do believe that the soul cannot die, we are shut up to this dreadful conclusion-that God told a lie! There is the alternative. Take which you like. "He that believeth not God hath, made Him a liar." Tell Him so. (Hear, hear.) Oh, what a dreadful thing it is to think that there are men now, many of them innocently, unthinkingly, but continually, making God a liar, and accepting the serpent's lie, rather than the eternal word of truth. But we have further, and perhaps to some minds, simpler evidence. Let me refer you to Ezekiel xviii. 4, a verse which I shall never forget because of. its power in convincing me of my own error. "Behold, all ~ouls are Mme ; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Can anything be plainer? We are not proving these things as some do, when they try to prove our doctrines false. They go to texts of Scripture that don't say a word about the matter in hand. But we are keeping to texts that speak of the soul. The soul that sinneth it shall die." Can anything be plainer? And on that, the infallible and eternal Word of God, we take our stand, if need be against the whole world. Yes, I have reason to remember that passage. I think after that very clear stat~men~ of G?d's Word no man who is willing to accept the Scriptures as his guide, Will dare any more to affirm that the soul that sinneth shall not die. An~ it comes to that. If you affirm that the soul shall not, and cannot die, you go contrary to the teachings of the Spirit in Ezekiel. . If time permitted I might show you of dead souls, and in many passages of God's Word we read of souls being slain. Take Jos. x. 28." ThatdayJoshua took Makkedah and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein' He let no~eremain: and he ~id to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho." And Jos. XI. 2.; "They smote all souls that;were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them." Joshua is there said to have slain all the souls that were in a certain place, and to have done it with the edge of the sword. Swords might be put through souls of orthodox type, and they would. fear no evil (laughter). I have seen men waving swords through Pepper's Ghost which was the nearest notion of a soul that I ever met with, (laughter) and they failed to slay the ghost (renewed laughter.) But souls of Scripture type are souls that can be and were slain by the keen edge of the sword of the Lord and of Joshua. But in con,clusion we.must just briefly bring before you the positive side of the question. I think that we have shown clearly that there is no Scripture warrant for the doctrine of soul immortality, unless we believe with t.he bishop of Manchester, that the Scriptures can prove anything. I repudiate the thought, and I throw back the assertion. The Scriptures of God cannot be made to prove immortal soulism, we challenge any man to do it (applause.) But if the Scriptures of truth be consistent, and we affirm that they are, then we see our second question answeredthat the soul of man, and the soul of every other creature is mortal. But that is negative proof. Thank God we have something better to .bring before you. It certainly is a gloomy theory to say that man must die; that he mus~ ~o~e his being; that his thoughts, as the Psalmist affirms, must perish III the. very day that his breath goeth forth; yea, that he shall have at the tune no remembrance of God Himself. But while that is a gloomy picture, the Word of God presents to us a bright one. It promises life again to all those who are in Jesus Christ. Let me briefly refer you to two or three of these sweet and precious portions of Scripture. In the lxxxix Psalm, 48verse, the Psalmist asks that very pertinent question, "What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" There is a Scriptural challenge. What man is he that can deliver his soul from the grave? Let him be forthcoming. What man is he that can deliver his soul from the grave? We never hear in these days of souls in graves. The ideas are incongruous according to popular teaching. But the Psalmist asks the question, "Where is the man that Iiveth and shall not see death, and shall he deliver his soul from the grave 1" He answers the question in the xxii Psalm and the 29th verse :-" All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Hint: and none can keep alive his own soul." Is not that clear language? Is it not beautifully explicit? None can keep alive his own soul." "But while we are unable to do it blessed be God there is one Who can, and Who has promised and Who has said, "He that will lose his soul for My sake shall find it." We want to .find it, even if we have to lose it now for the sake of Jesus Christ. We are ambitious to have that immortality, and blessed be God, He has satisfied the yearnings of our hearts in the promises of His glorious Gospel, for the Gospel has brought life and immortality to light through Jesus Christ. The Psalmist intimates this in Psalm xxxiii. 18., "Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him; upon them that hope in His mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive." and in Psalm xlix. when he is speaking of the doom of the wicked that shall perish :-" Man that is in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." "Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them." But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave." Can we say that? Has God held out promises to us that He will deliver our souls

from the possession of life by an organized being. I shall only be able to give you one or two proofs of this statement, but if you will refer to the 6th chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, with your English Bibles and marginal helps you wiII find this statement verified. And allow me to remind you of a difference that you will find between us and teachers of the ordinary class. They require you to believe them; we refer you to the Word of God. (Applause.) We are willing to submit to the test. of proof; the proof demanded by this very Word. If they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them. If the light then that is in them be darkness, how great must the darkness be! And it is for you to put them to the proof, and say, "Where is the proof for all your assertions?" Well, we give you proof of our third position in Eccles. vi. 7,-" All the labour of man is for his mouth. and yet the appetite is not filled," and in the margin you wiII find that the Hebrew is "soul," and yet his soul is not filled. I am dealing with passages which you can test by your English Bibles. " All the labour of a man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled." Soul, then, is something that can be filled with food, something that can be satisfied. It is appetite here, evidently. And we have a similar use of the term in Prov. vi. 30, where we read, "Men do / not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." Souls, then, can be hungry-souls of Bible type. Souls of Scriptural type can speak, can swear. We read of a soul swearing such and such things. And you wiII remember that I read you a testimony that said souls were not to eat the blood. Therefore souls can eat, and souls can drink; and we read of fat souls and lean souls; whereas souls of the Platonic type are all alike-thin, immaterial, ghost-like, vapours,that nobody can get hold of, nor see whether they are square or round, or black or white. (Applause.) I think I have clearly proved to you from the Word of God that soul primarily means life,-that is, any living creature, whatever might be the attributes of that creature, in its appetites, or its affections, or its desires. We read in the Gospel of St. Luke-to give you a New Testament testimony-of the rich glutton who said to his soul, "thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat and drink." What, was that soul, then, that he asked to eat and drink? And then we read he was a fool, for God said, "This night shall thy soul be required of thee." Orthodoxy is very ready to take hold of that sonl, but not so ready to take hold of the other soul. The New Testament is in perfect accordance with the Old. (Hear, hear.) Holy men of old, and holy men of eighteen centuries ago, spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. We have now to proceed to our next question: "Is the soul mortal, or is it immortal?" I think by clearing away a lot of this traditional rubbish, we ha.ve already partly answered the question. If a soul has life, the question resolves itself into this: "Can life expire? Can life die?" If soul is what scientific men have proved, and as the Word of God allows-motion, molecular motion, the result of chemical action in the blood-the question resolves itself into this: "Can motion cease? " And it is just as sensible to ask where a man's soul has gone to when he is dead, as to ask where is the flame of a candle when the candle is extinguished (applause), or where is the motion of a train when the locomotive has come to a standstill. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. But, you will say, this is making man a mere machine. Nay; not a mere machine, but a machine made by the great Architect of the . universe Himself, and worthy of His wisdom and of His power. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and vitalised by the Spirit oflife,-for God is the source of all life, the breath of life,-then the wonderful machine is set in motion. But there is a time when the motion ceases. The tests of life are motion, and you see a man lying still and motionless, and you say he is dead; his life has come to an end. But you call in medical aid, and what are the tests that are applied? They are tests of motion, 'to see whether life has become extinct or not. They will perhaps put a strong light upon the eye, and if the pupil contracts, they say there is life. Why? Because there is motion. They will put a mirror to the mouth to see if it be dimmed at all with the breath, and they say there is life because there has been respiratory motion: and as motion can cease so life cab cease, But we take you again to the Word of God. The question is: "Is soul, according to the Word of God, mortal, or is it immortal?" What do we mean by the terms mortal and immortal? Nuttall, in his Dictionary, says the meaning of the word immortal is, "exempt from death; having life; a being that shall never end; destined to live; imperishable." Webster, in his Dictionary, says, "undying, imperishable, lasting for ever." As to the meaning of the word mortal, Nuttall, in his Dictionary, says, "subject to death, destined to die." Webster defines it thus. "a man or a being' subject to death." Our question then resolves itself, in plain and simple Saxon language, into this: "Can the soul die, or does it live for ever? " What saith the Scripture? What does God affirm of the first human soul, v!z. Adam,-the man that was made out of the dust of the ground, not out of the Divine essence? . The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely ~e,"-or dying thou shalt die. The serpent said, "Ye shall not surely die," and there was an issue raised. God said the soul shall die, and the serpent said, Nay. And will you believe it? Those who profess to take God's Word for their guide to teach the doctrines of the Deity, are actually now affirming the serpent's lie, and telling people that the soul

THE BIBLE
from the hand of the grave? Thank God, He has. John, who delights to discourse upon life and immortalityfells us in his first epistle; "This is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." He that doeth the will of God-then it resolves itself into this-What is the will of God? What am I to believe? And as Paul says,-What am I to do? And if we believe the promise of God and keep the precepts of God, then we shall abide for ever. We shall find our life on the resurrection morning, for this is the testimony to all that the Father hath given to Jesus Christ. He will raise it up againnot bring it down from heaven, but raise it up at the .Iast day: He that doeth, then, the will of God abideth for ever. And as Jesus summarises that: "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned." I cannot do better than quote two more testimonies commending these things to you. Isaiah Iv. 3.. "Incline your ears and come unto Me; hear and your soul shall live." It depends upon hearing, whether or not your souls shall live for ever. And one more quotation by way of warning as recorded in Acts iii. 23. " And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people." You are to hear that prophet, and if you hear, your soul shall live. But Peter in this passage adds, and it is a solemn warning, "It shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people."

STANDARD.

15

THE

GOSPEL IN EZEKIEL. By GEN. H. GOODWYN.

General GOODWYN then read a paper on" The Gospel in Ezekiel." He said :-" The god of this age hath blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ, Who is the Image of God, should shine unto them:' This passage shews that the G~ad Tidings of God are not limited to the proclamation of Grace; there IS another element in the Gospel, that of Glory; and Satan, the great adversary of truth, has tried every device both of temptation and . persecution to destroy both the one and the other; his object being to dishonour the Son of God, to veil the results of the Cross, to drown the knell of his own destruction, and to spoil the children of God of their hope and joy. IT. It is remarkable in the Epistle of the once-hidden" Mystery of Christ" (Ephesians), when the immediate blessing of Redemption is mentioned, it calls forth praise" to the riches of Divine Grace," but when the results of Redemption are spoken of, viz. the Inheritance in Christ, the psean shouts forth the "praise of Divine glory." In the first chapter, the earnest desire of the Holy Author is, not that the minds of saints should be blinded, but that the" eyes of their understanding should be enlightened, that they may know" what" are the riches of the glory of God's Inheritance in His saints." How is it then that" the light which has shone out of darkness," has failed "to give to so many the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" in the Personal glory of Jesus Christ? An explanation may be found in the course of the following address; yet I must add here with sorrow, that grievous misconceptions in regard to the doctrine of the Second Advent have been entertained, and I think I can trace them to the same source that led to the rejection of the Son of God and Man at His first Advent. The True Light had come, and was shining in the darkness, but the darkness of Pharisaic tradition comprehended it not. And so, after shining into the hearts of some few who received Him, that Light was extinguished on earth, and retired to the heavens; whence" As the lightning shineth from the one part of heaven to the other," so shall the return of the Son of Man be, " His eyes as a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns." "The Word that was God, and in the beginning was with God, was made flesh and dwelt among men;" that same "Word of God" will return "clothed with a vesture dipped in blood," and with the sharp sword of His mouth to smite the rebel nations warring against Jerusalem, "treading the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God! ". This is no metaphorical language, but literal truth. Let me now refer to the First Advent. t ITI. We are divinely told that the Son of God" came to His own" people Israel, to whom had been entrusted the oracles of God, which contained the promise of His coming, with every tittle of circumstance, place of birth, parentage, and personal offices. Why then did they not receive Him? The answer is, because of their ignorance and misapprehension of the very Scriptures they held in their hands. Neither did they consider the course of events of their kingdom of old under the failing kings of the house of David, how that the Kingdom and the King were one, and that the former stood or fell according to the moral condition of the latter.

* Lu1:t xvii. 24, Rev. xix. 11-15, t Bear in mind that in this paper I am not touching upon the Coming of the Lord for His body the Church, 8,8 in 1 Thes8. iv: but refer only to HiB Epipha.ny in glory, subsequent to that event, and His acts in the Kingdom connected with the restora.tion of Israel a.nd salvation of the heathen. To HiB reign 8.S Antitype of David previous to His assumption of th.t of Solomon.

Now, according to the prophecy of Isaiah (ix. 7,) and the Evangelist Luke (i. 32.) Jesus was heir to' the throne of David, yet He came not in regal state, but in humiliation, as Ps. xxii., Isa. liii., and Zech. ix, especially inform us; He was the Divinely-sympathetic Representative of what ought to have been the state of the national heart at the condition of that throne. It was in the dust, stained with sin I Pharisaic Teachers, though boasting of the Law, had not discovered that sin was a transgression of it, and that by its deeds no flesh could be justified. How then could this Son of the Highest, though born Heir of that throne, a King to "rule in righteousness," when the subjects were all unrighteous? This could not be until the question of sin had first been settled and atonement made, as the entire nature of the Levitical ordinances could have told that people, had they not been blinded. Thus it was then that THE OBJECTof the first Advent was altogether misconceived. Their Scriptures had not been searched for the testimony concerning Him, or they would have discovered that" Christ ought first to have suffered and then to enter into His glory." IV. Precisely is it so with so great a number of God's people in this age. Tradition, and the non-literal rendering of the plain Word of God, together with inattention to the character of the Dispensation under which we now live, have obscured THE OBJECTof the Second Advent. The prophetic utterances relative to the sufferings and cross of the Son of God, were fulfilled at the First Advent; those that foretell and foreshadow His glory remain to be fulfilled at the Second; moreover, the language in which the accomplishment of the former was written is precisely the same, and written by the same pen as that which records the sure consummation of the latter. V. Though nationally missed on the occasion of the first coming of Jesus the Lord, on account of the darkness in regard to the universal need of redemption; shall the national hopes be destroyed, and the promised Kingdom not be restored to Israel? God forbid! Hark to the Prophet Ezekiel (xxi, 27.) "I will overturn, overturn, overturn," the diadem of David, " it shall be no more, UNTIL HE COMEwhose right it is." And again, writing of Jerusalem in the age to come, Isaiah says (Ix. 1, 2, 13,) " Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: darkness shall cover the earth; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory be seen upon thee . I will make the place of My feet glorious" ! VI. At the Conference held last year at Liverpool, I described the main governmental features of the Kingdom of 1000 years yet to come (commonly called the Millennium), as judicial; for it hail been so announced, viz. that Jesus Christ shall judge the living and the 'dead at His Appea1"ing and His Kingdom." Clothed with the authority M the Kingdom He will execute judgment, which will be maintained throughout its duration. "He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet" (1 Cor. xv. 25,) to which agree the words of Ps. ii, This judicial action will be necessary, as that Psalm tells us, for the establishment of righteousness and peace, the peculiar characteristics of the Lord as the Royal Melchizedec, before whom " all kings shall fall down, all nations shall serve Him" (Ps. lxxii.) Again also it is wri.tten,. "I will return and build again the Tabernacle of David, which IS fallen; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and will set it up." The reason whereof is immediately given; "That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom My Name is called, saith the Lord." (Acts xv. 16, 17.) And this leads me to bring to notice the great object of the Prophet Ezekiel, in looking at which it must be remembered that, whilst the interests of the whole nation of Israel are before the eye of the prophet, who writes during the captivity, the throne of God is not seen in Jerusalem, but unconnected with, and outside it. It is the universal, sovereign throne of God, from which the city is first judged. This accounts for the description of the throne, and the governmental attributes of the God of creation, the supporters of that throne, under the likeness of four' categories of living creatures on earth, the four being united in one. But whilst that is the case in the early chapters of the prophecy, when judgment on Israel is pro~ounce~ from the throne of the God of all the earth; in the latter portion, though the actual Advent of the Messiah, the King, is not stated, th.ere is unquestionable evidence of the Lord being personally present in HIs land, accomplishing the restoration of His people; that their Light will have come, and that the glory of His Epiphany will have risen upon them. VII. In chapter x., the city of Jerusalem is seen under judgment, the glory of the Lord that once filled His house with blessing, is here seen presiding over the judgment, it forsakes the doomed city, and stands upon the Mount of Olives whence Jesus ascended, and to which spot He will descend for Israel's restoration. "Oh, Jerusalem," &c. (Luke xiii. 34,35.) To anticipate. In chapter xliii., on the repentance of Israel, the same glory of the same Lord is beheld returning to His house, filling it once more with blessing because of His presence, as it is written (vel'. 7), ~' Son of Man, the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever." In chapter xliv., the fact that the Lord has returned to His house is

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clearly made known, and the memorial of His having done so is preserved, in that the door by which He entered is to remain for ever shut. (See ver. 2.) . VIII. I have slightly anticipated the cause of the Lord's return to Israel, but it is the fulfilment of many prophecies and promises; notably Lev. xxvi. 40-46, Deut. xxx, 1r1O, Mou, xxiii, 38, 39; but the actual event is circumstantially declared in chapter xxxvi, of our prophet. God, having executed the double punishment for their sins, will, on national repentance, intervene, and sanctify His great Name before all heathen nations by bringing His people out from among them; He will purify their heads, give them His Spirit, and cause them to walk in. His statutes, owning them as His people, being Himself their God. Chapter xxxvii. reveals the definitive blessing of the people. The dry bones of Israel, as a whole, are resuscitated by the power of God. Now, mark! we have in these two chapters a parallel to the event that will occur to the Church of Christ according to 1 Thess. iv., where we read that the saints who are alive at the hour of His coming to call them to meet Him in the firmament, will be changed, and the dead will be raised, so that all may go up together a perfect body. In the history of Israel there is just this difference, that in chapter xxxvi, the change is shewn to be from the natural to the spiritual condition of the livingtheir conversion, in fact; chapter xxxvii, is the resurrection of the national dead to a spiritual condition in the flesh. Not in their finallyglorified state as the Church will be, for Israel during the kingdom will be national missionaries to the heathen world, to mix with men iu flesh and blood, for which a glorified state would not be fit. Who will be bold enough to allegorize such scenes as these? or to what will they compare them? Is it not enough to look at the language of verse 11, "These bones are the whole house of Israel," and to verse 12, " Behold, 0 My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel," when one King shall reign over them," and God's Tabernacle-Messiah in Person-shall dwell among them, "that the heathen may know" the Lord, even all upon whom His Name is called! In chapter xxxviii., Gog, the last enemy of Israel, having no thought that the Lord is there, blinded by lust and pride, attempts to invade the land. This is permitted for a witness to the heathen of the protecting power of Israel's King, in aid of their own obedience to His sceptre. It is the great northern power from the Russian dominions that is the aggressor; but the wrath of the Lord breaks forth, and, all but a sixth part of, hundreds of thousands, utterly perish. IX. We pass now to chapter xlv., which describes certain offerings during the period of the Millennial Kingdom, which I should hardly have noticed, but that in the mode of offering and character of offerings there is additional evidence of the presence -of the Lord. It is the Prince and not the priest who makes the offerings, for they are ordinances of remembrance, and not Levitical. The sense of the Messiah's acceptance, as the burnt-offering, will be perfect in that day, so seven bullocks are offered instead of two as of old, and because of His presence, for" they shall look on Him that was pierced," the Feast of Pentecost is omitted -a circumstance of great significance, for it characterises the present dispensation; thus the remembrance of redemption, the passover and enjoyment of Feast of Tabernacles, will manifest the position of Israel's rest in' the presence of their God. Another circumstance distinguishes this worship, viz., the two feasts, types of the millennial period, are marked in the worship, the Sabbath and the new moon; rest and establishment, Israel appearing anew in the world. X. From this point the remainder of the prophecy is taken up with a description of the renewal of the city of Jerusalem, the healing of the Dead Sea by the waters that issue from the Sanctuary, representing the life-giving power from the throne of God, and the new division of,the land. The Sanctuary or new Temple will be a mile square, situated to the north of the city, which will be nine miles square, or a circuit of more than thirty miles, surrounded by a suburban garden of halfa mile in width, whilst to crown its glory, and complete our evidence, " The name of the city from that day shall be THE LORD IS THERE!" (In connection refer to Ps. xlviii. and Isa. lx., with Zech. xiv. 16.) XI. With the hour of His Epiphany we, who are members of His body, are not immediately concerned, for" when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall we also," having been previously translated. " be manifested with Him in glory; " yet this thought about" the hour" ought to bring all the practical and sanctifying influences of His Advent upon our daily life, down to the occupation of each passing hour, suggesting absolute self-denying avoidance of what He cannot approve. Let us be as those who watch and wait for the Son of God born heaven; as Paul says, "loving His appearing," because loving Him, and being zealously affected for that hour when" all things, whether in heaven or on earth, shall be gathered together in Christ;" when "all power and might and dominion in the age to come shall be under His feet."
QUESTIONS.

Mr. SMITH: It would take a whole lecture to explain that parable, but our friend acknowledged it was a parable, and the Bishop of Manchester acknowledged it was a parable. We must not expect a parable to express the plain meaning of Holy Writ found elsewhere. Parables are like lEsop's fables : they are meant to convey certain lessons rather than to teach facts contrary to nature and experience. In the Book of Judges we have a parable of trees talking, and choosing a king. Must we take our views of botany and of vegetable life from that parable and say that trees can actually talk? No. Neither must we take our view of the death state or of the immortality of the soul from the rich man and Lazarus. There is no reference whatever to souls in the parable: it simply speaks of man as man. The parable teaches a Jewish lesson. CAPT.WAJ!.D here presented a tract to the questioner bearing on the subject. Another questioner said: I understood Mr. Smith to say he believed in the Trinity. Was I correct? Mr. SMITH: That does not apply to the subject. The questioner: Further I understood him to say that man was made in the image of his Maker. I wish to ask whether he believes in the tninity of man's being, body, soul and spirit, Mr. SMITH: Anyone who was attentive to what I said would see that I did-namely, that man had a body, and when it was breathed upon by the spirit of life, it had life or soul. So that there was body, and when in vital motion, there was soul or life. There is body, soul, and spirit, but there is no immortality mentioned. ' The questicner: I understood the rev. gentleman to say as much; but I could not understand, and I should like him to explain, how the soul is the blood of life, and how the soul is in the nostrils? (laughter), or how the soul is in the mouth, as he stated? Mr. SMITH: You have made a little confusion in the terms, just like the Bishop of Manchester, and if he can be excused you ought to be. I said that the soul was in the blood; and I said the Spirit of God was in his nostrils, not his soul. The questioner: Have I to understand that the soul of man is merely the principle of motion ? Mr. SMITH: You are to understand that the soul is the life according to the Scriptural usage of the term, and the passage I quoted shows the difference in the meaning of soul and spirit. Soul is in the blood when living, and spirit is in the breath and in the nostrils. The gentleman who had asked the first question now said: Does the gentleman believe in the conscious dread of "something after death," of which Shakespeare speaks? Mr. SMITH: I do not take my belief from Shakespeare, but from the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. The question as to whether the soul is immortal is quite distinct from the dread of future punishment which the Word of God puts before us. God is able to make the dead live again. There is to be a resurection of the just and of the unjust, and if we are found deserving we shall be punished with everlasting destruction. There is a wholesome dread, but it does not imply the immortality of the soul. The CHAIRMAN:It is rather strange such questions should be put because there is direct Scriptural evidence on the subject which ought to convince all humble minded Christians who are willing to submit to be taught by the Word of God. I think now we must conclude. The Benediction was then pronounced.

Public Meeting, Thursday Evening, Sap. 8th.

Chairman:
HENRY

J.

WARD,

Esq., President.

There was again a large gathering in the Hall at the evening meeting, when Capt. WARDonce more presided. After devotional exercises, the business of the evening was proceeded with.

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST: ITS PRESENT SION AND FUTURE DESTINY.

By Rev.
THOMAS

MIS-

V ASEY.

The CHAIRMAN then intimated that questions bearing on the subject of Conditional Immortality would be answered. :.. A question was asked: I should like to ask how the gentleman (Mr. Smith) explains the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?

The Rev. THOS.VASEY, f the Baptist Mission, Bacup, read a paper on o this subject. He said: The Dispensational dealings of God with our race have been but little studied by either the world or the Church. Men professing to believe in the One Snpreme Ruler have had some idea of His throne in heaven and His Kingdom-rule over all creatures and things; but how that rule is carried out, what are the great eternal principles on which it proceeds, the large portion of the world does not stay to enquire. Then when we come to the Church, or those professing to compose it, how many of God's real children care to enquire as to its nature ana constitution, what is its mission here on earth, and what its glorious and eternal destiny? the larger number content themselves with the hope that they are saved, and that their ransomed souls will go to heaven when they die, and they leave the rest to the course of events, believing that it is God's design to use the Church as an instrumentality by which the world at some future time will be converted to Christianity. The

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glorious Advent of Christ, His millennial kingdom and reign, Israel's restoration and conversion, and the revealed glorious future, both of the Church and the world, enter not into their conceptions. Now it is quite true that "Secret things belong unto God, but those He has revealed to us and to our children." We are privileged to know some of the thoughts of God on His" plan of the ages" and the varied dispensations He has given and will yet grant to this world of ours, the importance of this Dispensational truth is very great. It is one of the keys that opens out the Scriptures. The mariner would fail to navigate the trackless deep without his lines of latitude and longitude. The geographer must have his countries and counties to classify his towns and villages, and thus give direction by which others can find them; and thus the Eternal God has made His broad line of the ages, and dotted line of the dispensations. Reference to the past will prove the truth of this; there was the age before the flood, divided into two dispensations, Eden and Adam, an~ then that which followed and ended in the flood. Next follows Noah and with him a new age, a fresh start for the race. We come down to Abraham and the Patriarchs, the time of covenants and glorious promises of future blessing. Then comes the Theocracy and Moses, the giving of the law-Israel-the prophets-this continued until John, who forms a connecting link between the old and new dispensations; the Christian began with its divine founder, Jesus the Christ; and the Church, which is His Body, on the day of Pentecost. Our present enquiry is, What is the church? Is it simply a term of speech? an ecclesiastical term? a material. structure? now our only decisive answer to this enquiry, must be the Word of God, He whose the Church is, can alone authoritatively tell us what it is. Our English word Church, comes from the Greek word ecclesia which means an assembly called out, in this sense it is applied to the excited mob at Ephesus. Acts xix. 39,41. It is also used in the Jewish sense of a congregation met for war or in the synagogue as a religious body. "The church in the wilderness" is the assembly congregation of Israel. "In the midst of the church, or assembly will I give praise unto Thee." In the general meaning of-the term it refers to an assembly called out for any purpose whatever. But in its New Testament sense it stands associated with Jesus Christ, and signifies the assembly of believers in Him, whether male or female. It was thus that Christ spoke of it to Peter: "Upon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Note this was in the future tense, not I have built, for the Church of Christ only came into existence after His death, resurrection and ascension. It dates from the day of Pentecost, when the Divine Spirit descended on the assembly gathered in Christ's name in that upper room at Jerusalem, then and there they recei ved that promised Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and were thereby incorporated into the Body of Christ; and from that day to this, the Lord adds to the Church the saved ones. The purpose to gather the Church existed in the mind of God from eternity, but was not revealed to the Old Testament saints and prophets-was not made known but to Paul, as we learn from Eph. iii. 1, 5, 9, 11. How glorious this revelation of Divine love! how sublime this Divine conception I and how certainly will Jehovah carry it out! This statement clearly shows that Judaism as such is no part. of the Church of Christ. Israel were the people of God, and all Israel will be saved as God's earthly people, God's saints have lived in all ages of the world, but His Church is a new thing in the earth, perfectly unique-coming into existence in this parenthesis of the plan of the ages, it is that upon which the mind of God has been set from eternity; the grand monumental pillar, from which the angels and principalities of the heavens may study and read His manifold wisdom, grace and love; it is that which He has loved and given Himself for,-" It is the Church. which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. i. 22, 23. The Church is tbus a sacred thing in the sight of God, it is really a part of God's dear Son, whom Paul describes thus, Go!. i. 15-18. The Church of Christ is now being gathered by the Holy Spirit out of all nations who lose their nationality, by this union with Christ into one body. "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is ail, and in all." The great truth made so prominent in the New Testament is the believers' union with Christ. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."-" I am the vine, ye are the branches." This is a figure, but the idea is uuity, oneness; the branches can only live by the life that is in the root and stem of the vine-such is Christ and His Church; Christ alone is the me of His Members, hence it is called 'His Body, and how fully is this sustained, see Rom. xii. 4, 5., again 1 Cor. v. 12.; how we have become thus united is clearly stated in the next verse; now from these statements it is clear, the Church of Christ is His one Body, of which He is the living and life-giving Head-consisting of many members, but they are members one of another, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." Our union now is of grace through faith, but we are thus united wherever we dwell, by whatever name designated among men, all those who are His gather round the one centre, Christ, and are indwelt and sealed by that one Holy Spirit. Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6. There is another representation of the Church we dare not pass over, it is the Bride of Christ, the Lamb's wife, Eph. v. 23-32. No union can be more sacred than that God instituted between Adam and Eve, husband and wife, the bride takes her husband's name, so the Church, see 1 Cor. xii. 12., she shares his love, station,

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sorroro, wealth, is his companion, they are no more two but one flesh, all this honour and glory is in store for the Bride Elect of Christ; the marriage of the Lamb will surely come, but what is our present character? is it as a chaste virgin, we are to be presented to Christ; shall we join with the State? go in for the honours and help of the world? or humbly live and walk by faith till our Friend and Bridegroom appears? Now from this it is clear, the Church of Christ is no building of mere costly material; the Jews had their temple, and Christians now are proud of what they call their chapels and churches; but Bible Christianity knows nothing of abbeys or cathedrals, churches or chapels as in any way constituting the Church of Christ; our Divine Lord taught in the temple, as His Father's house, where He symbolically as the Sheckinah dwelt among them till their rejection,-but Peter's boat, the mountain side, the sea shore, were where the people, gathered to listen to the great Teacher; the Sonof God has consecrated the whole earth or any part of it, "Wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, there is He in the midst." We sometimes hear the Church of Christ spoken of as the invisible Church, now I think this is a mistake, except as it applies to the fury of state persecutions, when some of the members of His body were not to meet within five miles of any English town under peril of pillory, prison or death,-the moors of Scotland have borne witness that His Church is not invisible, the Alpine heights of Switzerland, the Catacombs of Rome, nay what. part of Christendom, but more or less has been drunk with the blood of the saints, but this Body of His, the Church, is after all, earth's light, earth's salt; the city set upon l'- hill that cannot be hid, her very speech betrayeth her; Yet in th,ese dark apostate closing days of Christendom, where can this Church in anything like a corporate body be found? In this respect it rs indeed invisible, neither the Romish or Greek can lay claim to be the body of Christ; Episcopacy equally fails, and the entire legion of sects Established and Dissenting, cannot claim the honour. What then, has the Church of Christ proved a failure? As an organization it has, but not as the Members of the Body of Christ, for th~ foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them, who are His, and out of Rome, with all its rubbish, the Great Searcher with His lighted candle may find some precious pieces of silver bearing the image and superscription of the Divine Redeemer; Episcopacy with its lordly bishops, its acts of parliament, and state treasury, we know shelters many of the true disciples of Him, Who, when on earth had not where to lay His head; and among us, poor despised nonconformists and dissenters are many of the Members of His Body; but our God will not pander to any of earth's titles, the Church is His (Christ's) Body and Bride, and consist of the called and chosen ones, "for if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." In vain do Christian brethren try to make that straight which is crooked, or build that which the Great Architect has cast aside, it is just what the Master said it would be, "Ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake," but "let him that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit saith to the Oburches." Let us now glance at the present Mission of the Church. What say you, has this despised, outcast, nameless body, a mission? Yes, brethren, it has, and one of vast importance; the future ages will show tbis. Let us notice, earth is the sphere or place where the Church is gathered' all who compose it were of Adam's ruined doomed race, not angels but redeemed from amidst men, and have become by faith the children of God. It may be well just to note some few things that are not included in the mission of the Church, seeing that we are not a legislative, but only an executive, assembly, we have no right to alter orders or institutions but to keep them as Christ has given them, till He come. We cannot make either ministers or churches, any more than we can create worlds. "Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Another fond ambition that must perish, is that our mission is to convert the world. Nowhere has this command been given to us, or the promise made, that the effort would be successful. Christ did tell us " And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Our true mission is a very humble one; it is to testify to the riches of Divine Grace, and show forth the praises of Him who has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light, to be like Christ we are to " keep the testimony of Jesus" to "contend earnestly for the faith once for .all delivered to the saints," but the servants of the Lord must not engage in strife, but be patient, meek, apt to teach; ours is the heroisln of suffering. Meek under injuries, patient under wrong, firm and loyal to Christ, should we die at our post. Yet there is dignity and glory in this message, "As My Father sent me," said Jesus, "so send I you." In this service may be won the princedoms and dignities and glories of the kingdom, the smile of Jesus, the" well- done " of the Master's good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Lord. 0, brethren, as He is, so are we in this world. "If we suffer with Him, we shall also rei an. " Our mission is patiently to wait, occupy, watch, and hope for Him from heaven. And now very briefly, the Future Destiny, and with very many it has been to fall asleep, die, be under the dominion of death in the grave but it is in the hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised us before the ages began; do not shrink, it is only like our Head; He died and laid in the grave, a lifeless corpse, and we are to be conformable to

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that are fallen asleepin Christ have perished; and that apart from resurrection there is no immortality. That is his distinctive teaching. (Hear, hear.) Fallen asleep in Christ and perished t t To bend my head to death's dark portal, to come out into all the splendours of immortality, to join the white-robed brotherhood, and to be at home with Christ,and to call that perishing! That is the orthodox theory. Paul says that apart from resurrection there is no immortality. Harmonise these statements. Look them fully in the face. Think for yourselves. Don't be misled by any teachers or sermons. Modern orthodoxy says that is the happy and instant condition of the departed spirit. Paul says that perfected condition of blessedness is deferred until the resurrection morning. Harmonise tl!ese statements if you can. We will give you ample time to do it in; say until the next time the Conference is held in Bradford. (Laughter.) We shall often THE PRE-MILLENNIAL ADVENT ITS NATURE, think of you, and we shall feel deeply for you when we remember the NECESSITY, AND NEARNESS. hopeless task to which you have committed yourselves. (Laughter.) By Rev. BURLINGTONB. WALE. But still persevere; try to harmonise these statements.. But if you The Rev. BURLINGTONWALE,of High Wycombe, (Author of the B. should feel there is a difficultyin harmonising these statements, suppose Closing Days of Christendom,") deliveredan Address on The Preyou put them before the pastors of the several Churches to which you Millennial Advent: its Nature, Necessity,and Nearness." He said:belong. Tell them these conflicting statements have fogged your I shall endeavour to pack my thoughts into as small a compass as understanding, or that you have not the power to harmonise them, and possible in dealing with the subject I have to bring before your notice. ask them to explain them for you. I shall assume, to some extent, that you are acquainted with the How much longer are we to distort language, and to divest words of Scripture relating to the subject, and I shall only indicate the road upon their meaning, in order to prop up a theory which has no foundation which your thoughts may travel. It may possibly strike some of you that but Satan's lie and Plato's philosophy? (Applause.) We have been the subject upon which I am about to speak has little or no relationship taught long enough that death means life, and destruction means to that upon which we have been engaged during this and the previous preservation. What next? Was Tallyrand right when he said that evenings; but a little coherent thinking will demonstrate that the language was given to conceal thought? If so, I say, with all reversubjects are closelyconnected with each other. You can never eliminate ence, that the Apostleswere eminently adapted to do it, if that is the or displace anyone of the doctrines of the Gospel without weakening meaning of the terms. Another reason why the subject of the Preand displacing all the rest. (Hear, hear.) Break but one link, and the millennial Advent has been so rudely and generally pushed aside as wholeyou mar; break but one of a thousand strings, and the paining unnecessary and uninteresting, is the false notion commonly held and jar through all will run." Modern orthodoxy having thus eliminated taught by modern orthodoxy, that it is the mission of the Church to one of the most important doctrines of the Gospel, has displaced convert the world. I remember that Dr. Harris once said that if the other truths, and ~mong them that of the Pre-millennial Advent of our Christian Church had done her duty, ere this the world would have been Lord and Master Jesus Christ. The truth that has been supplanted is converted to Christ. Well, try it. Begin with Bradford. Just convert that the perfected and active happiness of the redeemed is deferred to that, and send us the intelligence you have done it. Did you ever know the resurrection morning. That truth has been supplanted by the fig- a village or a town entirely converted to Christ? As our brother has ment of the believer's immediate and active happiness at the moment of said, there is no such commission given to the Church in any word of death,-so that, at the moment when the soul quits the body, it enters revelation, and no such commission or responsibility devolves upon her upon the full joys of Paradise. As a result necessary, inevitable, the for the conversion of the world. Thank God it is so. That theory has doctrine of the Second Advent has been relegated to a remote and input a weapon into the hands of the sceptic and infidel, which they have determinate future, and it has lost, in fact, its interest, so that you not been slowto use. I have heard it said again and again, "Christianseldom hear it referred to from any of the pulpits or platforms of the ity is a failure." You say it was intended to convert the world. It has day. It has been regarded as somewhat obsolete; in fact, in consequence been engaged in the effort for eighteen centuries, and instead of the of the teaching to which I have referred, it has been regularly labelled, world being converted, how many nominal Christians are embracing docketed,and pigeon-holed, under the head of Crotchets," (Laughter infidelity. That theory, I say, is a weapon that a superficial and unand loud applause.) Let us take it out of the pigeon-holeto-night, and thinking Christianity has placed in the hands of infidelity, by assigning let us see what the teachings of Scripture are in relation to this special to the Church an officewhich God has not assigned to it. Let us beware, subject. Of course, from the orthodox point of view, it is perfectly lest in attempting to defend "battlements which are not the Lord's," we intelligible that this subject should be relegated to an undetermined betray the citadel into the hands of the enemy. One modern sceptichas future, for if it be true that at the moment of death a man passes into represented Christianity as sitting in the crypt of her temple vainly trying the full joys of paradise, takes down his harp from the crystal walls of to support the ruins. Another represents her as sitting on the vergeof a heaven, and begins the everlasting song, with the broad marchings of worn-out mine, with her treasures exhausted, and about to die. And this immortality beforehim, and the many mansions" to take possession has resulted from that false teaching, that it is the mission of the of,-what can he anticipate more at the coming of the Saviour? Surely Church to convert the world. We know, of course, that the worldis he possessesthen all that can make matter beautiful, and spirit happy! not converted, and that millions are still estranged from grace. Let us So that, from the orthodox standpoint, it is perfectly intelligible that remember that is not the work assigned to the Church. I shall show the SeeondAdven of the Saviour to govern our world, and to gather you presently what that work is, though I do not wish to travel again together His own, should lack all interest. But it is against that special the ground over which my brother has just gone. doctrine that the Apostle Paul levels his artillery in lOOT. xv., when he. What then is the mission of the Church, or rather the purpose of this lays this down, that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then they Dispensation? The characteristic and purpose of this Dispensationare
His death; but they shall rise again. He who is the Resurrection and the Life declares, I will raise him up at the last day; of all Thou hast given me I have lost none. Our glorious destiny is to be like Him, in the body of His glory; our life now is hid with Him in God, but when He who is our life shall appear we shall appear with Him in glory; as the betrothed Bride; the marriage of the Lamb shall take place, and His despised Church shall then be presented to Him a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without. blemish. Her destiny is to sit with Him on His throne, share in His glory, as now she bears His reproach; it is to be for ever with the Lord. To have lavished upon her His love throUgh the age of the ages; it is to come with Him as His own when He dsscendswith the glory of His Father and the holy angels; to be acknowledgedas his Royal Bride, when the hallelujahs of earth and heaven mingle with the jubilant shout, "the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." Amen.
11 11 11 11 11

,THE
given to us very clearly in the Acts of the Apostles (xv.) It was the first Council held at Jerusalem, James

BIBLE

STANDARD.

19

Peter had been

hour is drawing near when the judgment of Christendom will come, and when there will be few men prepared. The advent then must in the nature there can be no millennium, Since the Lord ascended, individual of the case be pre-millennial, for hut a world of unbelief until Until He comes.

preaching to the Gentiles, and was defending himself for having done so. being in the chair. to preach to the Peter rose and said how he had been commissioned

Gentiles, and, when he had justified himself, James said: "Simon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name." on the work. And for eighteen centuries He has been carrying out of the nations a people for HimIt is the gathering

the hope of the Church as well as of every He does return, the bliss of embodied immortality. life. "Let not your hearts be

believer, has been in His return.

believer will not enjoy the consecrated He is waiting for the great future troubled him and to invest him with resurrection

act of the Son of God to re-instate

self, and not the converting of the nations to Christ. No such mission as that belongs to the Church of Christ. Modern orthodoxy has taken hold of that view, and it follows as a natural result from that standpoint, that there can be no millennium until of Christ until then. the unknown future. And inasmuch If the rate the world is converted, no coming as the world is as far off being of. conversions goes on in the

And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will that where I am, there ye What is the nature How will He come?

come again and receive you unto Myself; may be also." of His coming?

(St. John xiv.)

In the 1st chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, it is stated from them and taken by them said, " that

converted now as it was centuries ago, the Advent, of course, is to be in future as it has in the past, it would take 144,000 years world to Christ, remains at and during its present figu-re, 316,000,000,000 That is the fact. to convert the of the world

that while He blessed His apostles He was parted up into Heaven, and two angels who were standing

same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." Let us analyze that sentence. How did H~ go up? Figuratively or literally? It was a literal ascension. invisible? went, how? Then He will come- literally and personally. Was it He No, the disciples saw Him. interrupted Then he shall come visibly. blessing

that time if the population

of people would have

passed into eternity. outset of my subject.

And yet men are dreaming of I have just said this at the

con verting the world before Christ comes.

While He was in the act of blessing them a cloud received to be completed when Oh! glorious He (Loud applause). (Applause).' Oh! splendid hope!

My subject is" The Nature, Advent."

Necessity, and Nearness placed in it.

of the Second

Him out of their sight-an He shall come again. destiny. It is a grand thing

It was necessary that

I should move out of my way the imThe Nature of the or will the Second Coming of

pediments that modern orthodoxy had Second Advent-will Christ bring the millennium? He find faith on the earth?" "When

to be a Christian.

it be pre-millennial,

shall so come in like manner.

How did He ascend?

In the presence of Earth

the Son of man comes again, shall else. The very way

His disciples, seen by them and by them alone. suspended her law of gravitation

Secret was His ascension Heaven stooped to

If the world could be converted by existing form of negation that faith Again, "As it was in the days Was the world We activity and life? generation,"

from the world, secret will be the first stage of the Advent. to let Him rise;

agencies before Christ came, He would find nothing in which the question is put is the strongest itself will hardly exist when Christ comes.

welcome Him to His throne. The inhabitants of the heavenly world were commissioned as His servan-ts and messengers to announce the grand tidings' of His return to this world. How will He return? The Monarch and Master of nature and of nature's laws. earth will be caught up to meet Him. The Necessity three His return. important Testament for His coming-wherein doth it exist? There are for a most He will come out

of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man cometh." converted at that time? was it full of spiritual away. "Thee only have I found perfect in this

read that the whole earth was filled with violence, and God swept it said the Lord to Noah. "As it was when Lot came out of Sodom, so shall it be Was Sodom full of spiritual knowledge?

of the Heavens unto the earth, and we who are alive and remain here on

when the Son of man cometh."

or four illustrations The first and splendid Scripture.

which may be given is this. It is necessary type which remains

of the necessity as fulfilling

The only one saved was Lot himself. "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Is that converting the world? "As a snare spread, quietly gathering around all the entire human race, shall that day come upon all those that are settled on the earth." that that day shall come upon you as a thief." will be watching and waiting the grand results that follow from His coming. dreaming still of material prosperity, about by modern science,-a There "As a thief that day shall come; but not to all, for ye, brethren, are not in darkness are those who' for the coming of the Lord, and expecting But the world will be to be brought and of a millennium

unfulfilled

in the Old

Christ said "I the substance

am the way and the Life,"of all the ceremonial shadows. to the Hebrew act of atoneand offered the the vail,

the way to the Father, ment. When

The type to which I refer is in reference the high priest

had slain the victim

THEN

sacrifice, he dipped the hyssop in the blood, and went within and presented the blood in court, glory and beauty, and blest the people. His home, and is now within the vail. of the type that He should return. receive His kingdom, and shall

came out, put on his garments of Christ hath pierced the heavens It is necessary for the fulfilment He has gone within the vail to It is to bless His people.

millennium without Christ (applause.)

with His own blood, and has gone in the power of His own sacrifice to

This is the negative proof to be adduced from the texts I have quoted; but there is another element ment from historical analogy. previous dispensations of proof to be adduced, I mean the arguWhat has been the characteristic of all Look at the Ante-

return

in the hour of their death?

necessary as fulfilling and meeting the proper hope of the Church and of the Christian. Remember, apart from resurrection there is no immortality. Then suppose He did not return, the sleepers would slumber for ever in the sepulchre. coudition morning It is necessary if He is to fulfil the The the hope that His grace has kindled in my soul that He should return. " They are fallen asleep in Christ." and that is the condition until of resurrection. Whether it is a sleep of five minutes

diluvian dispensation; it ended in apostacy and disorder. The Jewish dispensation, did that end in spiritual life and light? No, but in destruction. Every dispensation has been commenced by God in grace, and has ended on the-part of men in failure. That is the fact in the past.

And we are not left to inference as to what \"ill be the fact in relation to the future, for in the passages I have quoted we have a similar statement that, as in the days of Noah and Lot, so shall it be in the days of the Second Coming of Christ. And while the denominationalists of the day the world are dreaming that their special churches for Christ, we hear the mutterings are fully equipped with all the

of the body after death is ever spoken of as a state of sleep. or of

5,000 years it will be alike unknown, and a mere moment of time to the sleepers, just as the peaceful sleep of a man who goes to bed at night and wakes up quietly in the morning, without being conscious of the flight of time. And whether it be Paul or Luther, or the latest believer on

panoply of spiritual warfare, and ready to go forth to conquer

of the coming storm, we know the

20

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.
complished in the way of education, during the last few years, than in all the previous five or six thousand years of the world's history. Sir John Hooker, the Curator of Kew Gardens, said that within the last five years there had been a far greater advance in science than in the fifty years previous. Why, we know that everyday history is out of breath in keeping up with fresh discoveries in science. Very well, you have the signs locomotion and knowledge. I know many people laugh at the fixing of dates. But they were not far wrong in fixing some dates. Robert Fleming, in 1700, fixed upon the year 1793 for the overthrow of the French dynasty, and upon 1848 for the downfall of the Papacy, or 1866, if the years were solar years. How long was it after this last date that the Papal power was destroyed? Four years. Years before it was destroyed, France had marched her troops into Italy to maintain the Pope, and to destroy the Roman Republic, and she kept them there until 1870. When the question was put by a member of the Left in the Chamber of Deputies, "Do you intend to remove them?" there came the famous answer of the French minister-Jamais! Two months from that time they had gone, and the Emperor was dethroned, exiled, and a prisoner. And the Pope. Well, now he has got a palace and a guard, and he is, he says, a prisoner. That is sufficient for me. Turkey, the Eastern anti-Christ, was to be destroyed in the same way before Christ came. In 1827. Turkey was a great and powerful monarchy. Then came the Grecian insurrection. Then Algeria was wrested from her by the French; and now you see there is no Power in Europe that has so rapidly wasted away as Turkey. Another sign is that which has 'more recently appeared-spiritualism. I am not about to speak upon that without being thoroughly familiar with it; but let our friends understand I am not a medium. (Laughter.) My impression is, that the modern spiritualism is the revival of the ancient necromancy. "The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter days many shall depart from the faith, giving heed to wandering spirits and the teachings of demons." What has taken place since 1848? In that year-the year of the great revolution-spiritualism developed itself. I am willing to admit a great amount of imposture connected with the ranks of spiritualism, but look at the literature of that belief, their periodicals, andinstitutions, and tell me then that it is all a system of conjuring. Although I do not expect you to believe it, yet there is a reality about the phenomena. You ask me, Then you think these are the spirits of the dead? No, I don't; but I think they are the powers of darkness, of which Satan is the prince. Some people think he is in hell; and he shall be one day. But at present it is said, "He goeth about seeking whom he may devour." Spiritualism characterized the beginning of this dispensation, and it is to characterize the closing in of it. These are some of the signs. Put all these things together, and you will see we are living in the midst of scenes that indicate the Nearness of the Second Advent. There is another that I must give, though of a different class. The Second Advent has been shown to be expected about the six thousandth year of the world's history, dating from the time Adam came upon the earth. There is a tradition that the seven thousandth year will be the Sabbath of rest. I only quote it to show you that this can be traced in the Assyrian tablets, recently disinterred, and written in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The world has existed within a few years of the six thousandth century, there being only some twenty or thirty years to make up the six thousandth. Remember the number" six" in Scripture plays a most important and suggestive part. Creation took place in "six" days, and the seventh was the Sabbath of rest. That is supposed to be a type of the world's history. When the Lord called Moses into Mount Sinai, He kept him waiting" six" days, on the seventh He appeared unto him. Does God do anything without a reason or a purpose? Again; when Israel, under the guidance of Joshua, took Jericho, they walked round it "six" days, but on the seventh they entered. I only state the facts. 'I'here must be meaning in them. Everythiug else connected with these events was typical, and why should not these circumstances be so? The feasts of the tabernacle were" six" in number (Lev. xxiii.); Christ said (St. Matt. xvi, 28), "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom," and it was "six" days afterwards that Christ was transfigured before them. I have brought before you facts that to my mind are pregnant with hope and promise, and upon which my mind loves to dilate, linger and meditate. And we must remember it is not simply the individual believer who is anticipating the coming of the Lord. As I said before, the whole creation centres its hope in the coming of the Son of God, and from many a bed of anguish and pain, from many a bereaved mourner, the sunshine of whose life has faded, who is sighing for the glimpse of a vanished face, and the touch of a vanished hand, from the crowded cemetery and the depth of ocean, there goes up the cry" Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."
Come, then and added to Thy many crowns Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth; Thou who alone art worthy. it wa.s Thine By ancient covenant. ere nature's birth, And Thou hast made it Thine by purchase sinee, And over-paid its value with Thy blood. " Even so c ime LORD JESUS.

whom the sods have been but just placed ere the sound of the Archangel's trump disturbs his repose, all will he invested with immortality at the same instant at the same time, and all will commence activities of everlasting life. the glorious

The hour is coming in which He will come "I go that I may wake them out of Where shall we take our stand

from within the vail, and when the Saviour will say of all His sleeping saints as He said of Lazarus, sleep." And what a waking it will be.

to behold that wondrous spectacle, when at the sound of the Archangel's trumpet, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, instant as thought from the string, will be invested we shall be ill immortal It is Such will be the arrival of the and swift as the light, like music flitting changed, and the dead will be raised. Redeemer. happiness. The entire living Church It is necessary, then,

for us that He should return.

necessary for creation at large that He should return. the apostle represents all creation as standing on tip-toe stretched neck waiting for the manifestation honour that necessary for Christ's

In Romans viii, and with outIt is The last the world

of the sons of God.

He should come again.

that the world saw of Him was when they crucified Him, and cast Himout as an unclean thing, as though His footsteps had dishonoured He had made. It is fitting for Him that should be the scene of His vindication of thorns, should assume will do it. (Applause). the scene of His suffering

and glory, and that He who

was mocked with the mocking robe, and the reedy sceptre, and a crown the empire of the world He has made, and should assert and vindicate His right to reign over earth's kingdoms. And He Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word Just think of who He was and what He was. shall never pass away.

Remember that nothing exists which He has not made, that He was the light and life, that He laid aside the purple of empire for the swaddling clothes of Bethlehem, exchanged a throne angels for the execrations of men. I hasten for a manger, the praises of It is to be maniWhat is the result?

fested when He comes again and vindicates His right to reign. to the last part of my subject. ones. The third It is more difficult to deal angels to the nearness of with than any of the previous could do no more." the Advent. I will do my best, and'

part is with regard

I am not about to fix dates;

I do not know them, and there-

fore it is better not to fix them.

But while it is out of any man's power

to fix dates, I am convinced that there are many signs given to us of the closing in of this Dispensation, indicating the near approach of the Saviour, and my impression is that we are living in the midst of the very events on which the eye of the Apocalyptic Seer rested in Patmos. The first is this. appeared on the power There

What are the signs of the near Advent of Christ? Daniel had a vision of four monarchies. the power that was to persecute was to be no fifth great monarchy. monarchy,-we can They have stage of time, marched across, and disappeared.

The apostacy has arisen, It is so.

the saints has done so,-that

before His Coming was to be wasted away-destroyed. expect no other than

We are in the midst of the fourth the Kingdom of Christ. It is not locomotion. the

Thc angel said to Daniel, " Seal the book, even to the time 'of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." the time to introduce criticism that the words used there-" time of the end." years. There is a period when Dispensations is neither clear nor dark-and that least that is my impression. and knowledge. was a greater characteristic meet and part-where the light At Locomotion is where we are living now. The" on the passage. run to and fro "-indicate This much is certain,

There you have two signs given us of the closing in of the age,-" time of the. end"

before the Deluge was 120

years, and the" time of the end," before Jerusalem was destroyed was 40

What are the characteristics? than now.

Could you ever think of an age in which locomotion And with regard to knowledge,

Sir Samuel Baker, in a lecture at Exeter, said that more had been ac-

THE
WITNESSING. By Rev. W.
LEASK,

BIBLE

STANDARD.

21

D.D.

The Rev. Dr. LEASKdelivered an address on "Witnessing." He said: I hope you pity me for having to follow this gentleman (the Rev. Mr. Wale) who has electrified us all with truths so eloquently expressed, so clearly enforced, and so grandly put. One of the happiest things I have had to do during the last few months was to review his book, "The Closing Days of Christendom," in the pages of the Rainbow. And I advise you all to get and"read it for yourselves. My subject is "Witnessing." We have had witnessing to-night, we had witnessing yesterday, and you had a little witnessing from me on Tuesday night. And I am thankful to say that these Conferenceshave been so blessed, so peaceful, so happy, that there has been not a jarring note. The two speecheswhich have been delivered to-night have brought before you the very marrow and fatness of Divine truth, and the unfolding of the Divine plan by Mr. Wale has been such as you will not forget in a hurry. I will ask you to read your Bibles with the recollection of some of these statements which have been supported, sustained, and enforced by God's Book, to which we attend with reverence as unfolding to us the great important truths of God. I ha.veoften wondered, when examining these truths, that God's Divine plan is so clearly set before us, and yet most Christians do not know it. I have just one thought merely with regard to witnessing. Again and again it has been said to me, "Sir, if you will teach the doctrine that there is no eternal torment, men will run wild in sin and iniquity, and get worse and worse, and utterly careless." I have two answers to that. In the first place you have been teaching the doctrine of eternal torment fifteen centuries, and what has been the result? How have you affectedthe nations of Christendom? Have you brought them to the foot of the cross, and placed them under the law of "' Jesus Christ, by the teaching of eternal torment? In the Romish Church, in the Greek Church, in the Church of England so-called, and in the various Nonconformist bodies throughout England and Scotland, and I suppose in America, you have been teaching these doctrines, preaching these fearful things, and making God such a terrible Being to the conceptions and imaginations of men, and what is the result? Do not your streets run down with wickedness to this day, notwithstanding the doctrine of terror which is hurled with its thunderbolts from our pulpits? Instead of deterring men from iniquity, you have made infidels by the million throughout the world, and men won't believe in the God that torments His people. It is contrary to human intelligence, and no sane consciencecan believe this thing. You say you believe it. You do not -excuse me-you think you do. It is ungraspable by the intellect of man; you cannot take it in. I have heard men blaspheme God on account of this very thing, and you have all heard the same thinghorrible statements have been made in your own hearing. Luther's friends implored him not"to teach justification by faith, as it would make men carelessof their conduct; but the result of that teaching was blessed. Myriads of people were released from the fetters and bondage of Popery and brought into the light of the Gospel. The fact that a man feels that he is justified freely, binds him to the Master and makes him serve with consciousgladness. It is because I am saved by grace that I wish to cultivate the graces of God's Spirit. The very reason of the thing is in that. The fact is, that instead of driving men into wickedness, they are brought under the influence of truth by the knowledgethat God deals graciously. The law is, "The wages of sin is death," and beyond His own law God will not go with the most desperately wicked. Those who read the Rainbow have seen hundreds of letters from all parts of the world from men telling me they have gone to Christ broken down with joy when they found this doctrine of Scripture taught. Again and again has my heart been ~laddened. I am the best Vaid Editor in

the kingdom, for I am getting letters constantly telling me that hearts are goingup for me to heaven. Bankers won't acknowledgethat kind of payment, but to me it is very sweet and gracious. Secondly,-I am not responsible for the consequences if I speak of them. No man is responsible for consequences. If this doctrine drives men to sin, I hold the Bible accountable for it, for it is there; it is in the Bible. (Hear, hear.) Some of the brethren were speaking about missionary work as a means of converting the world. I thought in the warm life of my first Christian days what a grand thing it would be to get the world converted. I believedin it; I was taught it. By-and-bye I began to think, and I came across the statement of Dr. Harris, to which my friend has referred, that the Church was responsible for the con-version of the world. I thought, Myriads are going down to hell constantly, and for that the Church is responsible! I started as if struck by the intensity of the awful statement. God forbid! I to be held responsible for the salvation of man. How can that be? Has He put into the hands of the Church skill to bring an apostate and rebellious world to Himself, when the combined power of redeeming love and the Holy Spirit is required to touch one human heart and bring it back to God. No; we are responsible for fidelity, faithfulness, loyalty. What" does even the Lord Himself say, when men came to Him with questions? He came into His own country, and His own people received Him not. The Father determined He should be rewarded, and resolved to give Him this unique and wonderful thing, the Church. I want you all to witness by holy lives to the power of this truth; witness by a loving harmony in all your actions; witness in the manner that has been described to me, " I can love the Lord our God with all my heart, for He is love itself." Let them call this Society what they please. When you go home to-night you will all feel that during these three days we have had precious truths set before us. Love the Lord Jesus Christ, and so live as to let men see that the evil things spoken against us, and the nicknames given us, are nothing but stimulants to greater activity and motives to greater zeal. The Lord bless you all, and all connected with you, for Christ's sake. The CHAIRblAN: is not my first visit to Bradford. I have been to This Yorkshire many times, and I have fallen very much in love with the Yorkshire people. They are a very warm-hearted people, and always hospitable, and I think I may llay that I have experienced that characteristic, especially in connection with Bradford people. We have always been received here with open arms and with great cordiality; but on this occasion especially "we have been received with such cordial spirit and such kindness and Christian sympathy that we have each one of us felt it most sincerely. We wish to testify our thanks and gratitude to you, and, without occupying more of your time, I beg to move this resolution, with regard to our dear brethren who have worked so arduously and successfullyin getting up this Conference. There has not been a single hitch from beginning to end, and that is a great deal to be able to say. I move" That this Conference gratefully recognizes the earnest and cordial spirit of willing co-operation manifested by the Church meeting on these premises, in receiving and so generously entertaining the members and visitors of the Conference,and asks this meeting to endorse the same." Mr. ROBT. . HAMMOND: behalf of myself personally, I can speak J On to the kindness and care sbown to us, and of the great comfort provided for us in every particular. We shall go home and think about it. They say Yorkshire is the biggest county; and this has been the biggest Conference we have had, and it has been the biggest treat, and I hope it will be retained in most cordial remembrance. We believe that great good will result from the Conference. The motion was carried with enthusiasm, and the meeting terminate with the Benediction.

22
CONFERENCE BRADFORD, REPORT,
1881.

THE BIBLE

STANDARD.
scriptions be reduced to the original sum of 2s. 6d. upwards, per annum, and that one and two copies of the Bible Standard be statedly delivered to Subscribers of 3s. 6d. and 5s. respectively. That the grade of Associates be merged in that of Members. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: That its Representative Members be elected in the proportion of one to each 50 Members and Branch Members, or fraction thereof. PAID OFFICESNOTELECTIVE: That all pa'id offices be Standing, not Elective, to date from the present Conference. Such Officer'S to be chosen by and held responsible to the Executive Committee. Six months' notice, from or to any Executive Meeting, shall be sufficient to terminate the engagement (unless otherwise determined on making the same). This resolution not to affect the Bradford Conference. BRANCH ASSOCIATIONS: That such shall be required to contribute annually to the Association a sum of not less than Is. per (local) Member. And that a statement of the total Membership shall be made annually when forwarding the Subscription, to enable the Association to include such in the annual statement; as Branch Members. Such Branch Members to be at liberty to subscribe direct also to the Association, if so desiring. Such Branch Associations to be entitled to receive the following advantages from their union with the General Association. (1) Supplies of Literature at Wholesale Rates. (2) A fair proportion of the services of Lecturing and Evangelistic Agents. (3) A free supply of Members' Cards, Rules, and Reports. (4) Representation on the General Committee in the proportion "of one Representative to each 50 (or fraction thereof) of Local Members. SUMMARY OF RULES: That the Members' Annual Report contain a Summary of Rules, &c., to be afterwards separately printed for distribution. The Meeting then proceeded to the Election of Officers and Committee. The following were thanked for past services and re-elected :-President, Henry J. Ward, Esq., Liverpool; Vice-Presidents, Rev. W. Le ask, D.D., London, and Gen. H. Goodwyn, Reading; Treasurer, Robert J. Hammond, Esq., London; Secretary, Mr. Cyrus E. Brooks, Malvern; Auditor, Mr. William Mortimer, Lincoln; SubAuditor, Mr. James W. Davis, London; Executive Representative Members, Messrs. G. Aldridge, Bradford; W. Bausor, Lincoln; W. F. Davies, Liverpool; and W. H, Miller, Liverpool; New Members added thereto, Rev T. Vasey, Bacup, and W. Laing, Edinburgh. Thanks to the Bradford Church were voted as follows:"That this Conference gratefully recognises the earnest and cordial spirit of willing co-operation shown by the Bradford Church, in receiving and generously eutertaining the Members and Visitors of the Conference, and directs the Secretary to prepare a suitable acknowledgment for insertion in Conference Report." This was spoken to by Messrs. H. J. Ward, G. P. Mackay, R. J". Hammond, IT. K. White, and C. E. Brooks. Grateful appreciation was also expressed of the earnest and unselfish labours of the Local Secretary, Mr. Waiter Clark, and his coadjutor, Mr. Samuel Arnold. An interesting conversation followed Oll the Title of the Association, it having been suggested by some of the Members that a change was desirable. The Rev. B. B. Wale suggested" Conferred" instead of "Conditional." Mr. C. Fooks (by letter) "Bible Standard Publishing Society." And Mr. Challice (by letter) the addition of some" sub-title to explain the title. The discussion was sustained by Messrs. H. J. Ward, R. J. Hammond, W. Laing, B. B. Wale, G. P. Mackay, J. Paul, W.F. Davies, and C. E. Brooks. Owing to the difficulty of finding a title sufficiently expressive, which would be free of reproach, and the faot that the title has now become rooted in the public mind as expressing a given doctrine, it was agreed by all not to change it until some better title

XCELLENT arrangements for the meetings of the Conference had been made by the Local Committee, which enabled the Members and Public to thoroughly enjoy the programme provided, without the least discomfort. For this purpose the exclusive use of the Temperance Hall (centrally situate in Chapel-street, Leedsroad) had been secured for three days, and every effort made to stimulate local interest by means of gigantic wall-posters, ordinary posters, handbills, and advertisements. The local Press showed a generous interest in the Conference, and won the gratitude thereof by its lengthy and sympathetic reports. The following places were represented in the list of visitors :-Bacup, Bingley, Blackburn, Cheltenham, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Gravesend, Halifax, High" Wycombe, Huddersfield, London, Liverpool, Lincoln, Lanark, Malvern, Manchester, Reading, Skipton, and Stoke-on- Trent. Notwithstanding that the number of visitors was larger than at any previons Conference, homes were found for all requiring them; a fact which speaks volumes in praise of the Bradford Church and its friends. A preliminary meeting for prayer was held on Monday evening, September 5, which was attended by near 20 local resideuts, and a few of the earlier arrivals of visitors. The Conference, proper, opened on Tuesday morning, September 6, at 11.15, under the presidency of the Treasurer (the President not being able to reach Bradford so early), when the General Committee commenced its sittings. As several Members had not then arrived, it was decided merely to discuss the Digest of Business, leaving the voting until the afternoon. At 3.45 the Meeting was resumed, the President in the chair, when the Digest was completed for the following day'S meeting of Members. , At 7.30 the Annual Sermon was delivered by the Rev. W. Leask, D.D., Vice-President, from Jude 3, " Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend- for the faith which was once (for all) delivered unto the saints." The discourse, which was attentively followed by an audience of above 300 persons, was an earnest and eloquent contention for pure doctrine, a protest against the many corruptions thereof-called "Popular Theology," and an exhortation to pure life. After the Service a Social Gathering was held in the Saloon, where refreshments had been provided by the Local Committee. The room was crowded. " On Wednesday morning, at 10, a Meeting for Prayer was conducted by the Rev. W. Leask, D.D., and well sustained by several Members. After which the Annual Meeting of Members was held, the President in the Chair. After the Opening Address of the Chairman, the minutes of previous Conference (Liverpool) were read and confirmed. The Treasurer's Balance Sheet was then read and cordially adopted, showing a gain in income of above 30, with a debit balance of 3 Is. l1~d. The Auditor's Report followed, of which we give a summary:" Although the debit of 3 Is. ll~d. as against a credit last year of 3 19s. O~d., appears to place the Association in a worse financial position than last year, this is more apparent than real. The item for printing stands at the heavy sum of 227 14s. Ld., but a considerable portion of this has been incurred for Author's Publishing, some part of which remains to be returned to the Association, besides which the stock has received an addition. The sales show a falling off of 8, but the office expenses, on

the other hand, show a saving of 58 10s., a direct pecuniary gain by the closing of the London Office. The Subscriptions show a small gain, a matter of some importance and encouragement. It is true that the Donations are less, but it must be remembered that last year's income from this source included 77 specially donated by our esteemed President and Treasurer. The Collections, this year separately returned, show a pleasing gain of about 60 per cent., and thus emphatically mark the increased interest taken in our work by the Churches. The item of Sundries and Postage shows an increased expenditure, hut the former includes some expenses of last Conference, which could not properly be included under other heads, and the latter is due to the expansion of our postal sales, the most profitable pad of our business." The Report was adopted by acclamation. The Secretary's Report was then taken-we only give a summary :-" MEMBERSHIP: Last year we reported an increase of 73 Members. We have since added 59. Owing, however, to the Triennial Revision of our Register, with the year's losses by removals, withdrawals, and deaths, and the temporary want of the returns of two Branch Associations, we report a total loss of 92 Members, giving a net decrease of 27. SUBSCRIBING CHURCHES:We now report 7 such, a gain of 3. The Collections have been as follow :-Maberley Chapel, London, N. (Rev. W. Leask, D.D", Congregational), 11 2s. 6d.; Mint-lane, Lincoln (Rev. G. .P. Mackay, Baptist), 2 10s. ; Skipton Mission, 1; Glasgow Mission (Gorbals), 12s.; Bradford Mission, 3; Life and Advent Free Church, 'I'orquay, 10s.; St. John's Room, London, W. (Mr. R. J.Hammond), 4; Total, 22 14s. 6d. LECTURES: By private arrangement such have been given at Uxbridge, by the Treasurer; at Lincoln, by the Revs. Thos. Vasey and H. B. Murray; at Blackburn, Huddersfield, and Lincoln, by Mr. Albert Smith; at Glasgow and Alcester, by Mr. T. J. Hitchcock; at 'I'orqusy, Gainsborough, and Lincoln, by the Secretary; and at Auckland and Port Albert, New Zealand, by the Rev. G. A. Brown. PUBLISHING:We have printed for circulation 3,000 copies of "The Ministry of Evil," 24 pages; 3,000 do. of " The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life," 24 pages; 3,000. do. "'1'he Dispensation of the Mystery," 24 "pages; 2,000 do. "Tile Life the Light," 16 pages ; 2,000 do. "Life Everlasting," 16 pages; 2,500 do. "A Great Theological Controversy," Hi pages; 4,000 do. "Tbe Coming of Christ," 45 pages (2 Editions) ; 2,000 do. "Lord Beaconsfield on What is Duty and What is Faitb r " 12 pages; 2,000 do. of a Penny Hymn Book, 16 pages; 3,000 do. of " Life and Advent Hymns," 84 pages; 2,500 do .. Puuline Theology," 96 pages; 3,000 do .. The Destiny of Mankind," 16 pages; 38,150 do. of " The Bible Standard," October to September inclusive, 12 pages; and 500 do. of the "Conference Plan," 8 pages. Branch Associations: Two additional Centres have been established in the Colonies of New Zealand and South Australia, and one in N. W., London. THE BIBLE STANDARD:The year's circulation has been 35,250 copies, giving a monthly average of 2,937 copies, an increase of 15,250, or about 60 per cent. The income of the paper is still, however, below the expenditure, the present loss being at the rate of 30 per annum. During the year, equal to three additional pages of reading matter have been secured by the exclusive use of Brevier type, and 15 extra expense incurred for folding, stitching, and cutting, making an increased expenditure of above 20, which has more than counterbalanced the gain to income by the increased circulation. An addition of 2,000 copies per month will make the paper self-supporting." The Report was cordially adopted. The following recommendations of the Committee were then adopted-MEMBERSHIP: That Members'Bub-

TItE :i3I:BtE STANDARD.

can be suggested, which shall win general approval. Thus closed the most happy and active business session yet held by the Association. It was decided to adopt the recommendation of the Committee and devote the afternoon to conference upon the work in which the Association was engaged. The Afternoon Meeting opened at 3-,15, the President in the Chair. After the Devotional Exercises, the meeting was thrown open to all, when the following Members spoke, some of them being called upon from the Chair :-The President, on Personal Experience, and the blessings realized in connection with the Truth; the Rev. Thos. \fasey, on his experience as a witness for Scriptural Truth in Liverpool and Bacup; Mr. Albert Smith, on his painful experience at Withnell, how the Truth had been won at much cost and suffering, but was prized dearly ; Mr. John Wilson, on the importance of reaching the Masses, enquiring how they might best be won; Mr. R. J. Hammcnd, on the prejudice caused to the Truth by the harsh and dogmatic way in which it has been presented by some teachers, and the importance of the public clearly understanding that, as an Association, we were Evangelical in our religious sympathies, and in no way connected with Christadelphianism; Mr. W. Laing, on the importance of making known to the Christian public that we were purely Unsectarian, advocating the fullest Catholicity on the part of the Association, and that the Bible Standard should plainly declare this from time to time, that the co-operation of all should be welcomed, who were guided by the Word of God; Mr. John Paul, on Personal Experience in Bradford, and difficulties oft placed in the way of the witness by those who loved it not; Dr. E. W. Forster, on how to reach the Masses, with' phases of personal experience in testimony-bearing, and the importance of not needlessly creatine prejudice against the Truth. by intemperate ';.dvocacy thereof; Mr. W. H. Miller, on signs of good iu connection with the testimony borne at Liverpool, and the martyr-spirit which the Truth enkindles; Mr. H. K. White, on the work in Lincoln, past and. present, and the powerful influence which the doctrines have exercised in the city. This closed the private meetings of the Conference. In the evening, at 7-30, a Public Meeting was held, attended by near 500 persons, the Treasurer, R. J. Hammond, Esq., presiding. Addresses were delivered by Mr. Wm. Laing of Edinburgh, on " Conditional Immortality; ,,' by General Henry Goodwyn, of Reading, on "A Challenge to Orthodoxy j " by Rev. George P. Maekay, of Lincoln, on " Un-Conditional Immortality;" and by ]'v!r. George Aldridge, of Bradford, on "The Silence of Scripture on Natural Immortality." The speakers were closely followed throughout by an earnestly attentive audience, which, for. once, had an opportunity of hearing the subject of Conditional Immortality fully, fairly, and earnestly placed before it. On Thursday morning, Sept. 8th, a goodly number of Members and Friends availed themselves of the opportunity to visit Saltaire and keenly enjoyed the pleasure caused by ~ sunny morning, the natural beauties of wood vale, a.nd. river, and ~he conversation and song of Christian fellowship. The morning's ramble will not readily be forgotten, and its results manifested the wisdom of our Treasurer in suggesting that the morning of one day should be so spent, and will make such excursion an annual feature of the Conference. In the afternoon, at 3, the first of Two Public Mee~ings (for this the closing day) was held, the President ID the chair. A Lecture was delivered by Mr. Albert Smith, of Blackburn on" What is the Soul? Is it Mortal or Imm~rtal?" followed by a Paper from Gen. H. Goodwyn, on "The Gospel in Ezekiel." Notwithstanding the fact that several of the Mem bel'S of the Conference had left by tbe noon train, there was a fair audience, near 200 persons, who manifested their interest by remaining to the close, and listening to the questions which were asked by some persons present, and replied to by the Lecturer. In the evening, at 7-30, the final meeting was held, the President in the Chair, quite 500 persons being present. Addresses were delivered as tollow r-i-'I'he Rev. Thos. Vasey, of Bacup, on "The Church of Christ: its Present Mission and Future Destiny; " the Rev. Burlington B. Wale, of High Wycombe, on " The PreMillenial Advent: its Nature, Necessity, and Nearness;" the Rev. Wm. Leask, D.D., on " Witnessing." Owing to the lateness of the hour, Mr. Hammond withheld his address on "The Lessons of the Conference." The Meeting was certainly the best ever held by the Association, the feelings of the audience being wrought to a very high pitch, vent for which was needful and found in oft-repeated applause. At the close the President moved "That that meeting should express by vote and acclamation its hearty and grateful thanks to the Bradford Church and Friends for the excellence of their arrangements for the comfort of the Conference, and the thorough and self-forgetful way in which they had laboured to secure the happy result which, by God's good blessing, had followed." This was seconded by the Treasurer, who, in a few genial words, stated what a happy and harmonious Conference they had enjoyed, that it had passed without a single jarring string, and how pleasantly they would remember it, after returning to their respective homes. The vote was carried by acclamation, and the Conference closed with a stirring hymn and the Benediction. We cannot close our Report without gratefully noting a few features of. the Conference, and its influence for good. It was undertaken by the Local Church in much doubt as to its ability to prepare in such a manner as should bear favourable comparison with other places in previous years, but prayer, love, and effort vanquished every difficulty, and produced a Conference which will not only bear favourable comparison with any of its predecessors, but in some points eclipsed them. The place of meeting, too, was admirably adapted for our needs, being central, cheerful, commodious, and the best place for sound that we have ever been in. We can but congratulate the Temperance Authorities of Bradford in having so excellent a hall, and thank them for the courtesy manifested towards us in granting us its exclusive use for three days on exceedingly moderate terms. The arrangements for Sacred Song were also most excellent, the singing being led by a powerful instrument, which, with the hymnsheets provided for all-comers, the excellent leadership of the Precentor (Mr. G. Aldridge), and the heartiness of the audiences, made this one of the pleasing and helpful features of the Conference. Then again there was no failure on the part of expected speakers, even though two of them (Gen. Goodwyn and Mr. Albert Smith) were suffering from much weakness, all were present, and all bore noble and clear testimony. There was no uncertain sound of the trumpet, and-as matter of equal momentthere was a breadth and warmth of thought and feeling that was most helpful and pleasing. Whilst intensely possessed with the idea that they were bearing witness to that which was indeed the Truth of God, there was no dogmatism, and no harshness. All obeying the Apostolic injunction, and "speaking the truth in love." Excellent management of the Bookstall-under the care of Mr. Samuel Arnold, helped by several willing colleagues-brought

23
excellent results, a considerable number of books, pamphlets, and tracts being purchased, besides the free distribution of many numbers of the Bible Standard, the gift of the President. To the Local Press we wish to specially acknowledge our indebtedness. Indeed we find more and more each year that it is only to the Secular Press that we can look for just and generous treatment, and our offering of thanks we therefore gladly present. At Liverpool, and again at Bradford, we have received willing help from the Daily Press in making our testimony known. On the other hand the Religious Press is closed to us. Part of it is too servile to admit even a paragraph or advertisement concerning us-except in opposition-and the rest too thoroughly impregnated with the pleasing delusion of "The Larger Hope,"-which feeds the vanity and ministers to the false dignity of man,-to care to give publicity to the teaching which places man (natural) in the dust, and exalts alone the grace of God and its Giver. It is indeed nearly time for us to seriously and earnestly ask ourselves if it is not possible for us to amalgamate the Three British Monthlies which have long borne faithful and helpful witness to Divine Truth, and issue our own Weekly, making us independent of the Religious Press, and enabling us more fully to redeem the time-the brief timewhich separates lis from our Lord's return.' And we have little doubt that, should the Master still tarry, the Conference will be found a year hence discussing and determining some such plan. But to return, the provision 10r Dinner and Tea was all that could be desired, the former being spread each day at the Imperial Temperance Hotel, and the latter in the Saloon of the Temperance Hall. To the former 30 sat down on Wednesday, and 40 on Thursday; whilst each day the Tea tables were well crowded, and their generous fare appreciated. The closing scenes augured well for the future of the work. None were willing to say good-bye. All had thoroughly enjoyed-what one of the Bradford friends wished to be known as- the YORKSHIRECONFERENCE. Believers had been built up and strengthened in their most holy faith. Members had been quickened and led more fully to realize the importance of their Association for witness by press, pulpit and platform, And the residents of a large and important industrial centre had. had, and many of them had used the opportunity of 'hearing, clearly and clefinitely explained' by several of the most able teachers of Scriptural Truth in the Kingdom, the (to them) new and strange teachings of the Life and Advent, and of comparing those teachings with the Word' of God. Then, too, others, far and near, were made acquainted with that testimony through the Press, and will be probably led to think thereon. Well may we, therefore, thank God and take courage and press forward. To Mr. Walter Olark, the local secretary and our prized and efficient helper in the work of the Conference, our most grateful thanks are also due, and freely given. . In accordance with the resolution of the previous Conference, we now supply the list of Churches making an Annual Collection for our Fund, with their place of meeting and times of service.
SUBSCRIBING CHURCHES.

l'vlABERLYCONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BallsPond Road, London, N. Pastor, Rev. William Leask, D.D. Sunday Services at 11 and 6-30. Thursday 7-30. MINT LANE BAPTIST CHURCH, Mint Lane Lincoln. Pastor, Rev. George P. Mackay. Sun~ day Services at 10-30 and 6. Wednesday at 7-30. MISSIONCHl!RCH,Temperance Hall, Skipton, Yorks. Supplies. Sunday Services 10 and 6. CHRISTIAN MEETING,13, Kirk Street, Gorbals Glasgow. Supplies. Sunday Services at 11 and 3. Thursday at 7.

24
MISSION CHURCH, Temperance Hall, Chapel Street, Leeds Road, Bradford, Yorks. Supplies. Sunday Services at 11 and 630. Wednesday at 7-30. LIFE AND ADVENTFREE CHURCH,East Street, Torre, Torquay. Supplies. Sunday Services at 11 and 6-30. Wednesday 7-30. CHRISTIANMEETING, St. John's Rooms, Lisson Grove, London, W. Pastor, Mr. Robert J. Hammond. Sunday Services at 11 and 7. Tnesday at 7.
BRANCH ASSOCIATIONS.

TH:ffi BIBL:B1 STANbARD.

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY ASSOCIATION,
PUBLISHING AND EVANGELISTIC.
HOIlle, .Colonial, and Foreign.

NOVV

READY.,
Vol. of the

The Fourth

BIBLE

STANDARD:

Cloth gilt, Is. 6d. post free, (Also a few copies of Voliii.) FROM THE OFFICE OR AGElITS OF THIS PAPER.

CONDITIONS

OF MEMBERSHIP.

LIVERPOOL: Secretary, Mr. W. H. Miller, 9, Clayton Square, Liverpool. NEW ZEALAND: Secretary, Rev. G. A. Brown, Lindum House, Vincent Street, Auckland. SOUTH AUSTRALIA:Secretary, Mr. George H. Glover, Jamestown, Belalie. LONDON,N.W.: Secretary, Robt. J. Hammond, Esq., 62, Maida Vale, W. There are also Local Auxiliaries at Lincoln, Bradford, Bingley, Skipton, Birmingham, Torquay and Queensland, but from these no separate returns have been received for the late Conference, their subscriptions being forwarded direct to the Association. Arrangements were made for Two Special Services to be held in the Hall on the Sunday following the Conference, to be conducted by the Rev. Thomas Vasey, of Bacnp. These were well attended, and the large Hall has been since engaged for the two following Sundays.-CYRUS E. BROOKS,Secretary, Malvern, Sept. 13th, 1881.

SPECIAL

NOTES.
Mem-

&" We hold over until November our final list of donations to the Albert Smith Fund.

The acceptance of the Sacred Scriptures as the LASGOW: NOTICE OF REMOVAL. Inspired Word of God and Rule of Faith and . The CHRISTIAN MEETING hitherto held Life: of the Truth that Immortality and Eternal at No. 80 GORRALSCROSS,has removed to a MORE Life are only obtainable through personal uni~n COMMODIOUS ALL, No. 13, KIRK ST., GORH with the LO"d Jesus Christ.-" The Wages of Sin BALS. This is only 200 yards from the former is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life, place. SERVICESEACH FIRST-DAY: Forenoon at through 'Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. vi. 23), 11 for Worship j Afternoon at 3 for Scripture together with a subscription as follow: LIFE Reading.-Also on Thursday Evening. The MEMBERS, a single subscription of Five Pounds; Doctrine of Eternal Life only in Christ is statedly MEMBERS, an annual subscription of Two Shil. proclaimed here, and all properly accredited lings and Sixpence upwards. When the Sub- Believers will find a cordial reception. scription amounts to 3s. 6d.per annum upwards, one or more copies of the Bible Standard (the YOUNG PERSON of the Faith Official Organ) aoo statedly posted. would like EMPLOYMENT in a STABRANCH ASSOCIATIONS. TIONER'S SHOP; and would be willing to give two or three months to learn the Business. It is desired to establish such in all important centres of population, Home, Colonial, and ADDRESS-J. L., 9, Devonshire Road, Greenwich, Foreign, wherever there are a sufficient number Kent. of Local Members to efficiently operate the same. Such Branch Associations subscribe an THE annual sum of not less than One Shilling per Member to the .Association, and rece!ve Special Advantages m return, together with [NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA]. Representation.

BIBLE

STANDARD

r.::s'" DUE SUBSCRIPTIONS.-Those

bers, Associates, and Subscribers who receive the present number in a COLORED wTapper, will kindly regard it as an intimation that heir Annual Subscription are now due; hey will greatly oblige by forwarding, as . early as convenient, to the SECRETARY.
~ MONTHLY STATEMENT, from Aug. 1st to 31st, l881.-New Members and Subscribers, 3. Subscriptions: S. N., 5s. 6d. j Mrs. L. L. W., 3s. 6d.; Mrs. M. H. L., 5s.; J. S., 5s. ; Mrs. M. A. S., 5s. ; W. R., 5s.; H. C., 2s. 6d. ; W. A., 5s., N. S., lOs. j J. L., (Canada). 10s.; Miss M. P., 2s. 6d.; Mr. M., 10s.; J. D . 5s.; G. W., 3s. 6. j E. W., t 6d.; Miss M. A. W., 7s. sa., T. W., 7s. 6d.; Mrs. T. W., 7s. 6d.; J. M . 2s. 6d.; G. E., 3s. 6d. ; J. S., 5s.; D. T . 3s. 6d.; J. G., 3s. 6d.; Mrs. M. 5s.; A. M. K., 5s.; A. W., 3s. 6d.; T. C., 3s. 6d.; C. E. Q., 10s. Donations: Nil. Church Collections: Maberly Chapel, London, N., 12; Mission Church, Skipton, 1. Conference Donations: Miss J. L., 10s. j Mrs. M. A. S., 5s.; C. F., 28. 6d.; H. G., 5; N. S., 1 j J. L. (Canada), 2 lOs. j G. P. M., 1 2s.; L. B., 1 Is.; Mr. and Mrs. G. K., 2s. 6d. j D. B. S., 2s. ea.. G. E., Is. 6d.; G. S., 1.; C. E. Q., 10s. G We have received to present (Sept. 15th,) or Conference Expenses, the sum of 44 14 Ok, or which we gratefully thank our Contributors, and respectfully inform our Friends, whose donations are not yet to hand, that ten pounds are still needed to cover all claims.

Subscription 3/6 per copy, direct from Christian Churches or Missions-of every sec- Auckland. Orders and Subscriptions received tion of the Great Protestant Family-at Home, in the Colonies, and Abroad, are invited to unite by the SECRETARYat the OFFICE OF THIS PAPER. with the Association in Unsectarian Missionary Enterprise as SUBSCRIBINGCHURCHES,by making an annual collection, offertory, or grant in aid of the Association. Such Churches or Mis- A Sixpenny Monthly Magazine, devoted to the sions appear in the Annual Report, with place Exposition of Revealed Truth. Edited by Rev and times of Services. W. LEASK, D.D. All Communications, Subscriptions, Donaby E. STOCK, 62, Paternoster Row, tions, and Collections, should be forwarded to Published the Secretary, CYRUSE. BROOKS,Malvern Link, London, E.C. WOI'. (England), who will forward post-free to any address, a Catalogue of Publications of the All believers in THE LIFE and ADVENTshould Association, or its rules of Membership. subscribe thereto. Annual

SUBSCRIBING

CHllRCHES.

Edited by Geo. A. Brown.

THE

RAINBOW,

Post-free,

to any country

in the Postal Union, from the OFFICE of

NY CONGREGATION needing the

for Six Shillings

per annum,

services of an EXPERIENCED TEACHER and PREACHER of "Life only in Christ"on Paul's terms, 1 Tim: vi. 8,-are requested to apply to P ..A.C., cere of the Editor.

THIS PAPER.

PAULINE
WITH

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A Twopenny the Coming the Lord Jesus,

MESSENGER."
Monthly Magazine, of God, the advocating Return Life. of Kingdom and the Hope of Eternal post-free,

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FROM THE OFFICE OR AGENTS OF THIS PAPER.

From- the OFFICE OF THIS PAPER. Printed by CHARLES AKRILL, Silver Street, Lincoln; and published for the" Conditional Immortality Association," by CYRUS E. BROOKS, MALVERN LINK, WORCESTERSHIRE, to whom all postal communications" L IN CO LN orders, and advertisements should be addressed. London Agent: F. SOUTHWELL, SERVICES EVERY LORD'S DAY, at 10-30, 19, PATERNOSTER ROW. N.B. In orders and 6 O'CLOCK. ing through your local bookseller or newsGeo. P. MACKAY, Pastor. agent, you are requested to give the address of the London Agent. All Visitors made welcome.

~~~~o~~

~o~~~~~~~t~~a~~~~~~~ ing the Full Report of

MINT-LANE BAPTIST CHURCH,

The Bradford Conference,

NOWEADY. Price Twopence, being a double number. Post-free 2~d. or 2s. per dozen. May be had from the Office or Agents of this Paper,