201
THE KING’ S BUSINESS
to them in Christ Jesus is plainly declared in the Word o f God to be a state o f con scious, unutterable, endless torment and anguish. This conception is an appalling one, but it is the Scriptural conception. It is the unmistakable, inescapable teaching o f God’s own word. I wish that all men would repent and accept Christ. I f any one could show me one single passage in the Bible that clearly taught that all men would ultimately repent, accept Christ and be sayed, it would be the- happiest day o f my life, but it cannot be found. I once thought it could, and I so believed and taught. These ideas so widely noised about today as something new, these theories o f Pastor Russell, formerly o f Pittsburg, Mr. Gelesnoff o f this cittf and Dr. Mabie o f Long Beach, and Mr. Prid- geon o f Pittsburg, and many others, are not at all new to me. I held and taught substantially the same views regarding ulti mate universal salvation years beforè these men were heard of, indeed nearly forty years ago. I was familiar with the argu ments that they now urge, and other argu ments which they do not seem to know, but which were to me more decisive than those that they urge. But the time came, as I studied thè Bible more carefully, when I could not reconcile my teaching with what I found to be the unmistakable teach ing o f God’s Word. I had to do one o f three things : I had to either give up my belief that the Bible was the W ord o f God, or else I must twist the words o f Jesus (and others in the New Testament) to mean something else than what they clearly appeared to teach, or else I must give up my doctrine o f ultimate universal restora tion and salvation, I could not give up my faith that the Bible was the W ord o f God, for I had found absolutely over whelming proof that it was God’s Word. I could not twist the words o f Jesus and o f others to mean something else than what was clearly their intended meaning, for I was an honest man. There was only one thing left to do and that was to give up my doctrine o f Univérsal restoration and
in the \vorld to come is ‘’the things done in the body,” i. e., the things done this side the grave, the things done before we shuffle off this mortal coil, the things done before the spirit leaves the body. O f course, this particular passage has to do primarily with the judgment o f the believer, but it shows what the basis o f future judgment is, viz., the things done this side o f the grave. 2. The secon(f passage is Heb. 9 :27, “ It is appointed unto men orice to die, and after this cometh judgment.” Here we are distinctly told that Rafter death" there is to be, not an opportunity to prepare for judgment, but “judgment,” and that, there fore, our destiny is settled at death, and that there is no chance o f salvation “after •death.” 3. The third passage is John S:28, 29, “Marvel not at this : for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection o f life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection o f judgment.” Here also it is clearly implied that the resurrection of good and bad is for the purpose o f judg ment regarding the things done before their bodies were laid in their graves. 4. A fourth passage, if possible more decisive than any o f these, gives our Lord’s words John 8:21, “He said therefore again unto them ; I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin, whither I go, ye cannot come.” Here our Lord distinctly declares that the question whether men shall come to be with Him or not depends upon what they do before they die, that if they die impenitent, if they die in their sins, that whither He goes they cannot come. To sum up the teaching o f all these passages, thé issues o f eternity, the issues o f eternal life or eternal destruction, the issues o f eternal blessedness and glory, or eternal agony and shame, are settled in the
life that now is. IV. Conclusion.
The future state o f those who reject in thè life that now is the redemption offered
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs