THE

RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS.

LONDON : PRINTED BT
SPOTTISWOODB .AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUAQS
AND" PARLIAMENT STRKET

Cy
THE SECOND DEATH
AND THE
RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS:
WITH SOME PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE
NATURE AND INSPIRATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
§i fitter to a JrienJr.
BY
ANDREW JUKES.

" Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead ? shall the dead arise aud
praise thee ? ShaU thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave ?
or thy faithfulness in destruction ?" — Psalm lxxxviii. II), 11.

EIGHTH EDITION.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO
1881.

PREFACE.

A thought conceived but not expressed is at best
only an unborn child, not only without any influence
on the world, but of whose very existence the world
may be unconscious ; but once brought forth it be
comes part of the living working universe, to work
there its appointed season, and possibly to leave
its mark for good or evil on all successive time.
The thought which is now expressed in these
pages has long been growing in the writer's heart.
Hidden at first and unconfessed, during the last few
years it has from time to time been brought forth
in conversation with trusted Christian friends. But
the time seems come to give it a wider circulation
Men's hearts, now perhaps more than in any former
age, are everywhere moved to enquire into the nature
and inspiration of Holy Scripture, and the destiny of
the human race, more especially the future state of
sinners, as taught in Holy Scripture. Many are
perplexed, hesitating to receive as perfect and divine
a revelation, which, they are told, in the name of God
consigns a large proportion of those who in some

vi Preface.
sense at least are His offspring to everlasting misery.
And while the conclusion, uttered or unuttered, in
many hearts is, either that this doctrine cannot
really be a part of Holy Scripture, or else that what
is called Holy Scripture cannot be a perfect exposi
tion or revelation of the mind of God our Saviour,
few even of those who receive the Bible as divine
seem able to solve the difficulty, or throw much light
on those portions of the " oracles of God," which con
fessedly are " dark sayings " and " hard to be under
stood." A friend, whose mind had been unsettled by this
subject, lately expressed to the writer of these pages
some part of his perplexity. The following letter
was the result. The writer feels the solemn respon
sibility of dissenting on such a question from the
current creed of Christendom ; and nothing but his
most assured conviction that the popular notion of
never-ending punishment is as thorough a misunder
standing of God's Word as the doctrine of Transub
stantiation, and that the one as much as the other
conduces directly to infidelity, though both equally
claim to stand on the express words of Holy Scrip
ture, would have led him to moot a subject which .
cannot even be questioned in some quarters without
provoking the charge of heresy. Truth is worth all
this, and much more. If we will not buy it at all cost,
we are not worthy of it. The writer has felt more
the force of the consideration, how far, granting its
truth, the doctrine of the Restitution of All Things

"Preface. vii
is one to be proclaimed generally. Truth spokeii
before its time may be not hurtful only, but even
most unlawful. The Christian truth, that " there is
no difference between the Jew and the Greek," and
that "circumcision is nothing," would surely have
been unlawful, because untimely, in the Jewish age.
So even now there may be many eternal verities
which are beyond what St. Peter calls " the present
truth," and which may therefore " not be lawful for
a man to utter." But the fact that God Himself is
ever opening out His truth seems a sufficient reason
for making it known as far as He opens it. Is not
His opening it to His servants an intimation to them
that His will is that they should declare and publish
it ? Age after age the day arrives to utter some
thing which till the appointed day is come has been
" a secret hid in God." The very gospel which we
all believe once jarred on many minds as a doctrine
directly opposed to and subversive of the law given
by God to Moses. The doctrine here stated, there
fore, though it runs like a golden thread through
Holy Scripture, may, because as yet; it has been
hidden from many of God's children, be condemned
by them as contrary to God's mind, just as Paul's
gospel, when first proclaimed, was charged with being
opposed to that old law of which it was but the ful
filment. In every age the man of faith can only
say, " We having the same spirit of faith, according
as it is written, I believed, and therefore have
I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak."

viii Preface.
Truth may, and indeed must, vary in form as time
goes on, — Christ Himself, the Truth, at different
stages appears differently, — for God has stooped to
this, to give us truth as we can bear it ; stooped
therefore to be judged as inconsistent ; because He
is Love, and waits to reveal Himself till we are pre
pared for the revelation. But the end will justify
all His ways ; and some of His children can even
uow justify Him.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. And
as in early dawn the stars grow dim, because the day
is coming, so now the lesser lights which have been
guides in darker days are paling before the coming
Sun of Righteousness. And though those who go
up to the hill-tops and watch the east may see more
of the light than those who are buried in the valleys
or sleep with closed shutters, all who look out at the
glowing firmament may see signs of coming day.
Men must be fast asleep indeed, if they do not
perceive that a new age is even now upon us.
The writer would only add that he will be thank
ful for any suggestions or corrections on the subject
of the following pages. Any letter addressed to him,
to the care of the Publishers, will be duly forwarded
and acknowledged.
March 25, 1867.

CONTENTS.

Two qaestions of the present day— the nature of Scripture,
and the doctrine of eternal punishment .... 2
I. The nature of Scripture  4
The Incarnate Word the key to the "Written Word . . 4
(1) Analogy between the letter and Christ's flesh . . 5
Both are open to the objection of being merely
human  6
And are therefore liable to dissection ... 7
But cannot see corruption  8
(2) Both are also a veil as well as a revelation . . 9
And therefore apparently inconsistent ... 9
In this like all God's other revelations ... 10
Nature  10
Providence  11
Christ's flesh  12
Holy Scripture  13
The same characteristics are found in all . . . 14
Because all are from the same Hand . . .14
(3) Why God has so revealed Himself under a yeil . 14
Because man was where and what he is . . . 15
The necessary consequence of His doing this . . 16
The revelation is open to the objection of being in
consistent and merely human .... 16
[I. The teaching of Scripture, as to the destiny of the Human
Race  17
Apparently contradictory  19
Eternal punishment, and the restitution of all things . 20

Contents. PAOlt
The common explanation — unsatisfactory ... 23
The truth which solves the riddle  27
(1) Pirst — That God's purpose is by a first-born to save
the later-born ....... 30
This secret revealed by degrees . . . .30
The promise to " Abraham's seed " .... 30
The law of the " first-born " and " first-fruits " . 31
The double first-fruits at Passover and Pentecost . 34
The earthly and heavenly first-born . . .36
The work of each ....... 41
Their relation to the later-born .... 43
All Saints Day and All Souls Day .... 45
Our knowledge of this useless, unless we run for the
prize  46
(2) Secondly — That this purpose of God is only fulfilled
through successive ages  48
The " purpose of the ages "  48
Every man in his own order ..... 49
This truth taughtin the " times " and " seasons " of
the law  49
And in the predictions of the prophets ... 54
And by the analogies of creation and regeneration . 65
The teaching of the New Testament respecting the
" ages "........ 57
The " ages" of the New Testament the substance of
the " times " of the law  53
The use and sense of the words aiiie and alibvios . 61
Ages which are ended, and ages to come ... 67
(3) Thirdly — That this purpose is only accomplished
through death and judgment . . . .68
Popular error, that we are saved from death, instead
of through it, and out ofit. . . . .70
Death the way of life . . ... 71
The teaching of Scripture on this point ... 72
The reason of this seen in the nature of the Fall . 72
How man departed from God ..... 73
How he must return . . . , ' , .74
The nature of the Fall, the reason for both law and
gospel  76

Gontents. xi
PAGE
Tlie " ministry of condemnation " only temporary . 77
Yet required in its place as much as the "ministry
of life and righteousness "  78
The great illustration of this in the law of sacrifice . 79
The way of life therefore for all is through the
fires  81
Christ camo to cast fire into the earth . . .81
Both first-fruits and harvest are tried by fire . . 83
God Himself a consuming fire, and therefore the
curse of the godless  83
But the end is not annihilation .... 84
For God can turn curses into blessings ... 87
Souls are "delivered to Satan that they may learn
not to blaspheme "  87
The " second death," therefore, like the first, may be
 91

The lesson taught by God's precepts, as to His pur
pose  93
III. Popular objections to this doctrine .... 95
Of three kinds :  96
(1) First — It is opposed to the teaching of the Church 96
(2) Secondly — It is opposed to Reason . . c 10]
(i) The doctrine makes the Atonement unnecessary. 101
(ii) It practically teaches that hell can do more for
us than heaven  104
(iii) It gives up God's justice  105
(iv) It is contrary to the analogy of nature . .107
(v) It is answered by the existence of present evil . 110
(vi) What reason might say on the other side . .113
(3) Thirdly— It is opposed to Scripture . . .117
(i) S. Matt. xii. 32  120
(ii) S. John iii. 36 . . ." . . . .122
(iii) S. Mark ix. 42-50  123
(iv) S. Matt. xxv. 46  128
(v) S. Matt. xxvi. 24 ... . .131
(vi) S. Luke xvi. 26  134
(vii) At least opposed to the obvious sense of Scrip
ture  140
(viii) H all men are saved, why not the fallen angels . 144

xii Contents. PAGE
IV. Concluding remarks  148
He that hath my word, let him speak my word . .150
The supposed consequences of this doctrine . . .151
Extracts from orthodox writers  152
Our views of God react upon ourselves .... 156
What saith the Scripture  1 59
Postscript  161
Appendix ..... .... 169
Note A, Scripture use of the words " death " and " destruc
tion"  169
Note B, Extracts from the Fathers  174
Note C, On Heb. ii. 9, 16  190

THE
RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS,

&c.

Mt Dear C-

The account you give of your perplexity,
and of the answers with which it has been met by
some around you, reminds me, (if one may refer to
it in such a connection,) of what happened some
months ago in a Sunday-school. The boys in one
of the classes were reading the chapter which records
how David, as he walked on the roof of his house,
saw Bathsheba. One of the boys, looking up through
the school-room window at the steep roofs of the
houses opposite, after a pause, said, — " But, Teacher,
how could David walk on the roof of his house?"
The teacher, on this point as ignorant as his
scholar, at once checked all enquiry by saying,
"Don't grumble at the Bible, boy." Meanwhile tbe
teacher of an adjoining class had overheard the
conversation. Leaning over to his fellow-teacher he
whispered, " The answer to the difficulty is, * With
men it is impossible, but not with God, for with
God all things are possible.' " Such was the solution
of "the difficulty;" too true a sample, I fear, ofthe
Il b

2 The Restitution of All Things.
way in which on the one hand honest doubts are
often met, as though all enquiry into what is per
plexing in Scripture must be criminal ; and on the
other, of the absurdities which are confidently put
forth as true expositions of God's mind and word.
Your difficulty is, how are we, as believers iu
Scripture, to reconcile its prophetic declarations as
to the final restitution of all things, with those other
statements of the same Scripture, which are so often
quoted to prove eternal punishment. Scripture, you
say, affirms that God our Father is a Saviour, full of
pity towards the lost, seeking their restoration ; so
loving that He has given for man His Only-Begotten
Son, in and by whom the curse shall be overcome,
and all the kindreds of the earth be blessed; and
yet that some shall go away into everlasting punish
ment, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not
quenched. How is it possible, you ask, to reconcile
all this ? Are not the statements directly incon
sistent ? And if so, must not the statements of the
Bible, as of other books, be corrected by that light of
reason and conscience, which is naturally or divinely
implanted in every one of us ?
Now I grant at once that there is a difficulty here,
and further that the question how it is to be solved
is one deserving our most attentive consideration. I
entirely agree with you also, that " though indiffer
ence or devout timidity, calling itself submission,
may set aside such enquiries as unpractical or even
dangerous, though indolence under the guise of

The Difficulty stated. 3
humility may refuse to look at them, and spiritual
selfishness, wrapt in the mantle of its- own supposed
security, may forbid such investigations as presump
tuous, Christ-like souls can no more be unconcerned
as to what may or may not be God's mind as to
the mass of humanity, than they can stand by un
affected when the destitute perish from hunger, oi
the dying agonize in pain." All this to me seems
self-evident. But, agreeing with you in this, I can
not grant that the difficulty you urge is unanswer
able, or that, even if it were, you would be wise for
such a reason to reject the Scriptures. Is there
any revelation which God has given free from diffi
culties ? Are there not even difficulties as to the
present facts of life which are quite inexplicable ?
Is it not a fact that man comes into this world a
fallen creature ; and yet that God who made man is
just, holy, and merciful ? But how do you reconcile
the facts ? You think that man is not a sinner only
because he does evil. You rather believe that he
does evil because he is a sinner, and that, guard and
train him as you will, evil will come out of him
because it is already in him ; that in the best there
is an inability to do the good tbey would ; that in
all there is a self-will and self-love, the pregnant
root of sin of every kind. And yet you say that God
is good. Say that the evil came through Adam's
disobedience ; yet how is it just to make us suffer
for a trespass committed thousands of years before
we were born ? That there is a difficulty here is
¦b 2

4 The Restitution of All Things.
evident from the many attempts which have been
made to solve it. Yet you and I believe both sides
of the mystery. We believe that man by nature is
corrupt, his heart wrong from his mother's womb,
a dying sinful creature, who cannot change or save
himself, utterly hopeless but for God's redeeming
mercy ; and yet that God is good, and that He does
not mock us when He declares that not He, but we,
are blameable. Why then, seeing that life is such
a mystery, and that there are contradictions in it
which seem irreconcileable, and for the true answer
to which we have often to wait, should you take the
one difficulty you urge as a sufficient reason for
hastily rejecting those Scriptures, which you have
often found to be as a light in a dark place ? Eather
look again and again more carefully into them.
Then you will see, as I think I see, how these Scrip
tures, rightly divided, open out far more exalted and
glorious hopes for man than his own unaided imagi
nation or understanding has ever yet dared to guess
or been able to argue out.
§ I. The Nature of Scripture.
But before I come to the testimony of Scripture,
let me clear my way by a few words as to its nature
and inspiration. The mystery of the Incarnate
Word, I am assured, is the key, and the only suffi
cient one, to the mystery of the Written Word ; the
letter, that is the outward and human form, of which

The Nature oj Scripture. 5
answers to the flesh of Christ, and is but a part
of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal
Word. The Incarnation, instead of being, as some
have said, different in principle to the other reve
lations of Himself which God has given us, is ex
actly in accordance with, and indeed the key to, all
of them, in one and all the unseen and invisible God
being manifested in or through His creatures, or in
some creature-form ; and this because thus only
could God be revealed to creatures like us. Whether
in Nature, or Scripture, or Christ's flesh, the law is
one. The divine is revealed under a veil, and that
veil a creature-form.
(1) Let me express what I can on this subject,
though in these days what I have to say may lie open
to the charge of mysticism. The blessed fact, which
we confess as Christians, is that the Word of God
has been made flesh, — has come forth in human form
from human nature. Jesus of Nazareth is Son of
God ; not partly man and partly God, but true man
born of a woman, yet with all the fulness of the God
head bodily. So exactly is Holy Scripture the Word
of God ; not half human and half divine, but tho
roughly human, yet no less thoroughly divine, with
all treasures of wisdom and knowledge revealed yet
hidden in it. And just as He, the Incarnate Word,
was born of a woman, out of the order of nature,
without the operation of man, by the power of God's
Spirit ; so exactly has the Written Word come om
of the human heart, not by the operation of the

6 The Restitution of All Things.
human understanding, that is the man in us, but
by the power of the Spirit of God directly acting
upon the heart, that is, the feminine part of our
present fallen and divided human nature. It is of
course easy to say this is mere mysticism. God
manifest in the flesh is a great mystery. And the
manifestation of God's truth out of man's heart in
human form is of course the same, and no less a
mystery. And those who do not see how our nature
like our race is both male and female, may here find
some difficulty. But the fact remains the same, that
our nature is double, male and female, head and
heart, intellect and affection. And it is out of the
latter of these, that is the heart, that the letter of
Scripture has been brought forth, the human form
of the Divine Word, exactly as Christ was conceived
and born of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the
Holy Ghost, without an earthly father. In no other
way could God's Word come in human form. In no
other way could it come out of human nature. But
it has humbled itself so to come for us, out of the
heart of prophets and apostles ; in its human form,
like Chris-t's flesh, subject to all those infirmities
and limitations which Christ's flesh was subject to —
thoroughly human as He was ; yet in spirit, like
Him, thoroughly divine, and full of the unfathomed
depths of God's almighty love and wisdom.
Now just as the fact that Jesus was man, and as
such grew by degrees in wisdom and stature here,
and lived our life, which is a process of corruption,

The Nature of Scripture. 7
and had our members of shame, and was made sin
for us, by no means disproves that He was also Son
of God} but is only a witness of the love which
brought Him here in human form ; so the fact that
Holy Scripture is human proves nothing against its
being divine also, exactly as Christ was. I would
that those who are now dissecting Scripture, and
finding it under their hands to be, what indeed it is,
thoroughly and truly human, would but pause and
ask themselves, what they could have found in
Christ's flesh, had they tortured it as they now are
torturing the letter. Had it been possible for them
to have dissected th,at Body, — I must say it when I
see what men are doing now, — would they have
found, with the eye of sense at least, anything there
which was not purely human ? The scourge, the
nails, the spear, the bitter cry, and death at last,
proved that that wounded form was indeed most
truly human. The Bishop of Natal has dissected
the letter of Scripture till it is to him as the flesh of
Christ would have been to a mere anatomist. It is
' not to him a living thing to teach him, but a dead
thing . to be dissected and criticized. He has proof
that it is human ; he has proof that it has grown ; he
has proof that death works in it, or at least touches
it; he has seen its shameful members; he does not
wish to lead any to despise the true teachings given
by this human form ; for he says it has been the chan
nel through which he has received much blessing ; he
only wishes men to see that it is really human, which

8 The Restitution of All Things.
of course it must be, seeing it came out of the heart
of man ; but, consciously or unconsciously, he is
leading men, not from the letter to the spirit, which
would be well, but merely to reject and judge the
letter, not seeing how that letter, like Christ's flesh,
is incorruptible and shall be glorified. After all,
this too perhaps must be done : it was needful that
Christ should suffer and be put to death ; but woe to
him who rejects and slays the human form, in which,
for us, God's truth has been manifested. Yet for
this, too, mercy is in store, for they do it ignorantly
in unbelief. The Bible then resembles, yet differs from, other
books, just as the flesh of Christ resembles and yet
differs from the flesh of other men. All the utter
ances of good and true men are in their measure
aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation, being par
tial revelations in human form of God's eternal
Truth and Wisdom ; even as every good and true
man also in his measure is another aspect of the
same mystery, for God has said, " I will dwell and
walk in them," and so human forms and flesh and
blood are by grace God's tabernacles. But the In
carnation and Manifestation of the Divine Word in
the person of our Lord Jesus Christ was pre-eminent,
and infinitely beyond what the indwelling of the
Word is in other good men, though Christ took our
flesh and infirmities, and we may be filled with all
the fulness of God. In like manner the Incarna
tion and Manifestation of the Word of God in the

The Nature of Scripture. 9
letter of Scripture is pre-eminent, and differs from
other books exactly as the flesh of Christ differs
from the flesh of other men. Instead of believing
therefore, that, because Scripture is human, and has
grown with men, and has marks of our weakness and
shame and death upon it, therefore it must perish
and see corruption, I believe it can never perish or
see corruption. I see it is human ; I see that it has
grown ; I see it can be judged and wounded. I be
lieve too that it has in its composition exactly so
much of perishableness as Christ's flesh had when He
walked here with His apostles. But it is like Christ's
body, the peculiar tabernacle of God's truth. And
those who walk by it day and night know this, for
they have seen, as all shall one day see, it trans
figured. (2) I proceed to shew that like Christ's flesh, and
indeed like every other revelation which God has
made of Himself, the letter of Scripture is a veil
quite as much as a revelation, hiding while it reveals,
and yet revealing while it hides ; presenting to the
eye something very different from that which is
within, even as the veil of the Tabernacle, with its
inwoven cherubim, hid the glory within the veil, of
which nevertheless it was the witness; and that
therefore, as seen by sense, it is and must be appar
ently inconsistent and self-contradictory. Both these
points are important; for if God's revelations of
Himself are veils, even while they are also manifes
tations ; and if therefore they are and must be open

10 The Restitution of All Things.
to the charge of inconsistency and contradiction ,
this fact will help us to understand, not only why
Scripture is what it is, but also how to interpret its
varied truths and doctrines.
And here, that we may see how all God's revela
tions are alike, let us look for a moment at those
other revelations of Himself, the books of Nature
and Providence, which God has given us. Are they
not both veils as well as revelations, the first sense-
readings of which are never to be relied on ?
First, as to Nature, which has been called God's
formed word, and which beyond all question is a
revelation of God. Yet how does it reveal Him ?
Is it not also a veil, hiding quite as much as it
reveals of Him ? Is it not a fact that our sense-
readings, even of the clearest physical phenomena.-
such as the rising and setting of the sun, are opposed
to the truth, and need to be corrected by a higher
faculty ? Is it not further a fact that Nature hides
almost more than it reveals of God our Saviour ?
Does it not seem even to misrepresent Him ? Does it
not seem also to contradict itself, with force against
force, heat against cold, darkness against light, death
against life, its very elements in ceaseless strife
everywhere ? On one side shewing a preserver, on
the other a destroyer : here boundless provision for
the support of life ; there death reigning. We know
that this contradiction has been so strongly felt by
some, that on the ground of it they have denied that
the world is the work of one superintending mind,

The Nature of Scripture. 1 1
and have argued that it must be either the result of
chance or the work of eternally opposing powers.
Are there not here exactly the same contradictions
and the same difficulties which we find in Scripture ?
Either therefore we must say, Nature is an inconsist
ent and lying book, and therefore we will not believe
the testimony either of its barren rocks or smiling
cornfields; or else we must confess some veil or
riddle here. It is precisely the same riddle which we
find in every other revelation.
For the book of Providence, which I may call
God's wrought word, has the very same peculiarity
Providence surely is a revelation of God ; and yet
is it not, like Nature, a veil quite as much as a
revelation ? Look not only at those things which
David speaks of, that God's servants suffer, while
the wicked are in great prosperity and not plagued
like other men ; but look at born cripples and idiots,
the deaf and dumb and blind, who, as far as we know,
cannot be suffering for their own sake ; — look at the
fact that in one instance crime is punished, in another
unpunished, here. Is not this inconsistent ? Where
is the justice of it ; and where, as judged by sense,
is the love of sending souls into the world whose life
throughout is one of suffering ? Certainly here is a
text in God's providential book of rule, (which I
may say answers to the books of Kings, or Eule, in
Scripture,) quite as hard as any of those texts in the
book of Kings, which some would cut out of Scrip
ture, as presenting us with false and unworthy views

12 The Restitution of All Things.
of Him. But can these critics blot the selfsame
text out of God's book of rule in Providence?
There it stands, just as it stands in the book of
Nature also. Shall we therefore say that the revela
tion of God in Providence is an inconsistent one ?
No — the fact is, it is a veil as well as a revelation,
and all its apparent inconsistencies and contradic
tions can be cleared up, if not to sense, yet to faith,
in the light of God's sanctuary.1
Even so it is with those two other revelations,
which, much as they have been gainsaid, the Church
has received and yet believes in, I mean the flesh
of Christ and Holy Scripture. The flesh of Christ,
the Incarnate Word, is beyond all question a veil.2
How much did it hide, even while to some it re
vealed God. How few knew what He was : how
many misunderstood Him. And how inconsistent
did that feeble form appear with the truth that it
was God's chosen dwelling-place. The apparent in
consistency may be gathered from the fact that those
to whom He came stumbled at it. And from that
day to this that human form, that birth of a woman,
that growth in years and stature, those tears, that
sweat, that weariness, those bitter cries, those mem
bers of shame, that dying life, all this, or part of
this, has to the eye of sense seemed so inconsistent
with divinity, that thousands have denied that that
Form was or could be a revelation of God, even
¦ Psalm lxxiii. 3-17. * Heb. x. 20.

The Nature of Scripture. 13
while they allow that it has done what mere humanity
never did. The fact is, it was, and was intended
to be, a veil as well as a revelation : and as such
there could not but be apparent contradiction.
The same is true of Scripture, that is, the written
word, which like Nature has gone through six days
of change, and like Christ's flesh has grown in
wisdom and stature here. Throughout it is a veil
while it is a revelation ; and therefore, like Nature,
Providence, and the flesh of Christ, it is and must
be open to the same reproach, not only of incon
sistency, but of setting forth unworthy and even
untrue statements of God. For indeed Scripture is
a veil, which when taken in the letter, that is, as
it appears to sense, makes out God to be just as far
from what He really is as Nature and Providence
seem to make Him ; and yet all the while it reveals
Him also, as nothing else has ever revealed Him
For though in Christ's flesh the revelation is com
plete spite of the veil, its very completeness and
compactness keep us from seeing the various parts,
which are set before us in Holy Scripture piecemeal,1
and in a way that neither Nature nor Providence at
present shew Him to us. For the law and the
prophets tell us more of God and of His purposes, as
to the restitution of all things and the promised times
of rest and sabbath, than Nature yet declares to our
present understanding ; though indeed Nature may
1 iroXvfiep'cs koL TroKvrptnrws. — Heb. i. 1.

14 The Restitution of All Things.
be, and probably is, saying far more to us than any
mere human eye or ear has yet apprehended.
Now if Nature and Providence, Christ's flesh and
Scripture, have all this same characteristic peculiarity
of being veils as well as revelations, and are there
fore open to the charge of inconsistency, as read
by sense, seeming to declare what is opposed to fact,
may we not conclude that they have all come from
the same Hand, especially when it is seen that the
apparent contradictions, which are found in any of
these revelations, like the tabernacle veil, invariably
cover some deeper truth, which cannot safely be ex
pressed, to fallen men at least, in any other way.
(3) The deeper question, why God has thus re
vealed Himself should not be passed by ; for it opens
the heart of God. God alone of all teachers has had
two methods, law and gospel, flesh and spirit, — one
working where we are, the other to bring us in rest
where He is, — one to be done away, the other to
abide,1 — which at least looks like inconsistency. The
reason is that God is love, and that in no other way
could He ever have reached us where we were, or
brought us where He is. God therefore was willing
to seem inconsistent, and for awhile to come into
man's likeness, to bring man back to His likeness.
Here is the reason for law before gospel, for Christ's
flesh before His Spirit, for all the different dispensa
tions, and for all the types and shadows which for
' 2 Cor. iii. 11.

The Nature of Scripture. 15
awhile veiled while they revealed God's living Word.
Here is the reason for the human form of the Divine
Word in Scripture. Had that Word come to us as
it is in itself, we should no more have apprehended
or seen it than we see God. Had it come to us even
in angelic form, only a very few, the pure and
thoughtful, ever could have received it. But it
stooped to reveal itself to creatures through a crea
ture, and to come to us out of the heart of man in
truly human form, so that all men, Gentile or Jew,
polished or savage, might through its perfect hu
manity be able to receive it. God more than any
of His most loving servants has become a Jew to
gain the Jews, and weak to gain the weak, and
under law to gain those under law ; because He is
love, and love must sacrifice itself, if by any means
it can save and bless others. If therefore men are
in the flesh, God comes to them in flesh ; if they
are in darkness and shadows, God comes for them
into the shadows ; because they cannot comprehend
the light, and because the darkness and light are
both alike to Him.1
If this is not the way of His revelation, how, I
ask, has He ever revealed Himself? Will any dare
to say that He has not revealed Himself ? Has God
who is love been content to leave poor man in
perfect ignorance ? Or if He has told man what He
is, as most surely He has, how has He done so t
1 Psalm cxxxix. 12.

16 The Restitution of All Things.
Did He, does He, can He, plainly tell out to all
what He is ? And if He did not, why did He not ?
Why have men always heard God first speaking in
law before a gospel dawned on them ? Why must it
be so, or at least why does He allow it ? Is it a
mistake of His, which we must avoid, when we
attempt to make Him known ; or shall we be wise,
if, in doing what He is doing, that is, in revealing
Him, we imitate His way of revelation? Surely
from the days of Adam, seeing what man is, and our
delusions about Him, God must have desired, and
we know has desired, to make Himself known ; and
being Almighty, All-wise, and All-loving, surely He
has taken the best method of doing it. Again I ask,
how has He done it, how must He do it, man being
what .he is ? Could God consistently with our
salvation have done it otherwise than it has been
done ? To shew Himself as He is would to man be
no shewing of Him. It was needful that He should
shew Himself under the forms and limitations of
that creature in and to whom He sought to reveal
Himself, that is by shadows before light, by law
before gospel, by a letter before a quickening spirit,
in a word, by the humiliation of His eternal Word
stooping to come out of man's heart and in human
form. And yet this could not be done without the Truth
by its very humanity laying itself open to the charge
of being merely human and not divine, and to the
humiliation of being rejected for having our infirm-

The Testimony of Scripture, 17
ities upon it. Love can bear all this, and God is
love, and the truth can bear it, for truth must con
quer all things. And therefore while it submits to
take a human form, in which it can be judged and
die, (for it must die, and to some of us has died, in
the form we first apprehended it, — a trial of faith
sooner or later to be known by all disciples, who,
like apostles of old in the same strait, are sorely
perplexed at this dying, for they have trusted that
this is He which should have redeemed Israel, — ) it
must also live and rise again, and glorify that human
form for ever. But because it has thus stooped to
come in human form, out of the heart of man, even
as Christ came forth from Mary, for ut, therefore
like Him it shall be stripped and mocked. But
those who are stripping it know not what they do.
§ II. The Testimony of Scripture.
I pass on now from the nature of Scripture to its
teachings as to the destiny of the human race, and
more especially of those who here either reject or
never hear the gospel. I feel how solemn the en
quiry is, not only because no subject can be of greater
moment, but because what appears to me to be the
truth differs from those conclusions which have been
received by the majority of Christians. Believing,
however, that the Holy Scripture, under God and His
Spirit's" teaching, is, the final appeal in all controver
sies, — regarding it- as the unexhausted mine from
c

18 The Restitution of All Things.
whence the unsearchable riches of Christ have yet
still more to be dug out, — acknowledging no autho
rity against its conclusions, and with the deepest
conviction that one jot and one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled, — I turn to it on
this as on every other point, to Hsten and bow to its
decisions. And knowing, for by grace this Word is no
stranger to me, that like Christ's flesh it is a veil as
well as a revelation, — knowing that it has many
things to say which we cannot bear at first, and that,
if taken partially or in the letter, it may appear to
teach what is directly opposed to Christ's mind and
to its true meaning ;— in this like not a few of Christ's
own words, as when He said, " He that hath no sword,
let him sell his garment and buy one ;'n and again,
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up ;" 2 and again, " He that eateth me shall live by
me ;"3and again, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ;"4 all
of which were misunderstood by not a few of those
who first heard these words from Christ's own mouth ;
— knowing too that the words of Holy Scripture, in
many places where they seem contradictory, and in
its " dark sayings,"6 and " things hard to be under
stood,"6 ever cover some deep and blessed mystery,
I see that the question is, not what this or that text,
taken by itself or in the letter, seems to say at first
sight, but rather what is the mind of God, and what
• S. Luke xxii. 36. « S. John ii. 19.
" S. John vi. 57. « S. John xi. 11.
* Psalm Ixxviii. 2 ; Prov, i. 6. • 2 S. Pet. iii. 16

The Testimony of Scripture. IS
the real meaning in His Word of any apparent in
consistency. If I err in attempting to answer this,
my error will, I trust, provoke some better exposi
tion of God's truth. If what I see is truth, like His
coming who was the Truth, it must bring glory to
God on high and on earth peace and goodwill to
men. What then does Scripture say on this subject ?
Its testimony appears at first sight contradictory.
Not only is there on the one hand law, condemning
all, while on the other hand there is the gospel, with
good news for every one; but further there are direct
statements as to the results of these, which at first
sight are apparently irreconcileable. First our Lord
calls His flock " a little flock," ' and states distinctly
that "many are called, but few are chosen;"2 that
"strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth
unto life,3 and few there be that find it;"4 that
"many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able;"5
that while " he that believeth on the Son hath ever
lasting life,6 he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him ; " 7
that " the wicked shall go away into everlasting
punishment," 8 " prepared for the devil and his
angels ;" 9 " the resurrection of damnation ;" 10 " the
1 S. Luke xii. 32. s S. Matt. xx. 16, and xxii. 14.
3 eis tV Qnrl\v. * S. Matt. vii. 14.
i S. Luke xiii. 24. s (tr>iv oX&viov.
' S. John iii. 36. 8 S. Matt. xxv. 46 ; n6\curtv tut&moii,
' S. Matt. xxv. 41. M S. John v. 29.
c 2

20 The Restitution of All Things.
damnation of hell," ' " where their worm dieth not,
and the fire is not .quenched;"2 that though "every
word against the Son of Man may be forgiven, the
sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven,
neither in this world,3 nor in that which is to come ;" 4
and that of one at least it is true, that " good had
it been for that man if he had not been born."5
These are the words of Christ Himself, and they
are in substance repeated just as strongly by His
Apostles. St. Paul declares that while some are
" saved " by the gospel, others " perish ; " 6 that
"many walk whose end is destruction;"7 that "the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction 8 from the pre
sence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power,
when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe in that day."9
To the Hebrews he says, " If we sin wilfully after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indigna
tion, which shall devour the adversaries;"10 that " it
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
1 S. Matt, xxiii. 33. 2 S. Mark ix. 44.
' iv roxnif t§ alum, * S. Matt. xii. 32,
8 S. Matt. xxvi. 24. « 2 Cor. ii. 15.
' Phil. iii. 19. 9 bKeBoon alai/iov,
* 2 Thess. i. 8-10. >• Heb. x. 26, 27.

¦The Testimony of Scripture* 21
God," *' for " our God is a consuming fire."2 St. Peter
repeats the same doctrine, that "jndgment must
begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at
us, what shall the end be of them that obey not
the gospel of God ; for if the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner ap
pear?"3 He further says of "false teachers," who
" deny the Lord that bought them," that they "shall
bring upon themselves swift destruction," and, like
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, " shall utterly
perish in their own corruption." 4 St. John's words
are at least as strong, that " the fearful, and unbe
lieving, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sor
cerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
place in the lake which burneth with fire and brim
stone, which is the second death ;"5 and that "those
Who worship the beast, and his image, shall drink of
the wine of the wrath of God, and shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels ahd the presence of the Lamb, and they have
Ho rest day nor night, and the smoke of their tor
ment ascendeth up for ever and ever."6
Words could not well be stronger. The difficulty
is that all this is but one side of Scripture, which in
other places seems to teach a very different doctrine.
For instance, there are first the words of God Him-
1 Heb. x. 31. * Heb. xii. 29.
• 1 S. Pet. iv. 17, 18. * 2 S. Pet. ii. 1, 3, 6, 12.
* Rev. xxi. 8.
' Rev. xiv. 9, 10, 11 ; us almnas auiviev.

22 The Restitution of All Things.
self, repeated again and again by those same Apostles
whom I have just quoted, that " in Abraham's seed
all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed ; " '
words which St. Peter expounds to mean that there
shall be " a restitution of all things," adding that
" God hath spoken of this by the mouth of all His
holy prophets since the world began."2 St. Paul
further declares this wondrous "mystery of God's
will, that He hath purposed in Himself, according
to His good pleasure, to rehead 3 and reconcile 4 unto
Himself, in and by Christ, all things, whether they
be things in heaven," that is the spirit-world, where
the conflict with Satan yet is,8 " or things on earth,"
that is this outward world, where death now reigns,
and where even God's elect are by nature children
of wrath, even as other men.6 Further St. Paul
asserts that " all creation, which now groans, shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into
the glorious liberty of the children of God."7 In
another place he declares, that " God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself," 8 and that Christ
" took our flesh and blood, through death to destn-y
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;"9
that " if by the offence of one many be dead, much
1 Gen. xii. 3 ; xxii. 18; Acts iii. 25; Gal. iii. 8.
2 Acts iii. 21. » bvaicfipiAaiiiimtrOat.
4 oiro/coTiixxo{oi, to reconcile back again.
5 Rev. xii. 7. 8 Eph. i. 9, 10 ; Col. i. 20 ; Eph. ii. 3.
' Rom. viii. 19-23. » 2 Cor. t. 19.
9 Heb. ii. U.

The Testimony of Scripture. 23
more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which
is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many :" ' that " therefore as by the offence of one, or
by one offence, judgment came on all to condemna
tion, even so by the righteousness of one, or by one
righteousness, the free gift should come on all unto
justification of life," while " they which receive
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteous
ness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ ; " 2 that
" as sin hath reigned unto death, so grace might
reign unto eternal life," yea, that " where sin
abounded, grace did yet much more abound."3 To an
other church he states the same doctrine, that " as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive ; " 4 and that " the end " shall not come " till
all are subject to Him," that " God may be," not
all in some, but " all in all ; for He must reign till
He hath put all enemies under His. feet ; the
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 5 So
he says again, " Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, . . .
that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He
might gather together in One all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are in earth,
even in Him."6 To the same purpose he writes in
another epistle, " that at, (or in,7) the name of Jesus,
1 Rom. v. 15. * Rom. v. 17, 18 " Rom. v. 20, 21.
* 1 Cor. xv. 22. • 1 Cor. xv. 24-28. « Eph. i. 3-10.
' iv t$ M/nari: cf. S. John xiv. 13, 14 ; and xvi. 23, 24.

24 The Restitution of All Things.
(that is Saviour,) every knee shall bow, of things in
heaven, and things on earth, and things under the
earth ; and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father ;" '
" for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and re
vived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and
living." 2 He further declares that " for this sake he
suffers reproach, because he hopes in the living God,
who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who
believe ; " 3 that this God " will have all men to be
saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth ; "
that therefore "thanksgivings as well as prayers
should be made for all," because there is " a ransom
for all, to be testified in due time ; "4 and lastly that
" God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might
have mercy upon all."6 The beloved Apostle St.
John repeats the same doctrine, that " the Father
sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world ; " 6 " for
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world by Him might be saved;"7
further He teaches that the Only-Begotten Son " is
the propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for
the sins of the whole world : " 8 that He is " the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world," 9 and " was revealed for this very purpose
that He might destroy the works of the devil," 10
1 Phil. ii. 10, 11. a Rom. xiv. 9. 3 1 Tim. iv. 10.
« 1 Tim. ii. 1-6. 5 Rom. xi, 32. « 1 S. John iv. 14.
' S. John iii. 17. 8 1 S. John ii. 2.
« S. John i. 29. >» 1 S. John iii. 8.

The Testimony of Scripture. 25
and that, as a result, " there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor pain, because all things are made
new, and the former things are passed away." l For
"the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all
things into His hand:"2 and the Son Himself de
clares, " All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do
mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me,
that of all which He hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day."3 And again He says, " And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 4
Now is not this apparent contradiction, — few find
ing the way of life, and yet in Christ all made alive, —
God's elect a little flock, and yet all the kindreds of
the earth blessed in Abraham's seed, — mercy upon all,
and yet eternal punishment, — the restitution of all
things, and yet eternal destruction, — the wrath of God
for ever, and yet all things reconciled to Him, —
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and
yet the destruction through death, not of the works
of the devil only, but of him who has the power of
death, that is the devil, — the second death and the
lake which burneth with fire, and yet no more death
or curse, but all things subdued by Christ, and God

1 Rev. xxi. 4, 5 ; and see Rev. v. 1 3. z S. John iii. 35.
3 S. John vi. 37-39. ' S. John xii. 32.

26 The Restitution of All Things.
all in all. What can this contradiction mean ? Is
there any key, and if so, what is it, to this mystery?
The common answer is, that these opposing words
only mean, that some are saved and some are lost
for ever ; that the saved are the elect of this and
other dispensations, who as compared with the world
have hitherto been but a little flock; but that,
though as yet few have found the strait and narrow
way, all nations shall be saved in the Millennium ;
further that though we read, " There shall be no
more death," yet, since the wrath of God is for ever,
there must be eternal death, (words by the way not
to be found in all Scripture,) and that this death
consists in never ending torments, so endless that
after the lapse of ages on ages the punishment of the
wicked shall be no nearer its end than when it first
commenced; that therefore the words, "In Christ shall
all be made alive," only mean that all who are here
in Christ shall be made alive ; that the Lamb of
God, though willing to be, is not really the Saviour of
the world, but only of those who are not of the world,
but chosen out of it ; that instead of taking away the
sin of the world, He only takes away the sin of those
who here believe in Him ; that all things therefore
shall not be reconciled to God, and that " the resti
tution of all things," whatever it may mean, does not
mean the reconciliation to God of all men.
This is the approved teaching of Christendom ;
this is the orthodox solution of the mystery ; the
simple objection to which is, that in asserting one

The Testimony of Scripture. 27
gide of Scripture, it is obliged, not only to ignore
and deny tbe other side, but to represent God in a
character absolutely opposed to that in which the
gospel exhibits Him. Nor does it meet the diffi
culty to say, as some have said, that though a large
proportion of mankind are lost for ever, the greater
part will probably be saved, inasmuch as at least
one-half of the race die in infancy, whose sin is
perfectly atoned for by Christ's sacrifice. What is
this but saying, that, if evil has fair play, it will
overmatch all that God can do to meet and remedy
it ? Is this indeed the glad tidings of great joy ?
Is this the glorious gospel of the blessed God ? Is
it not simply a misapprehension of God's purpose,
arising out of some mystery connected with the
method of our redemption ? But " the Scripture
cannot be broken " thus.1 Not a few therefore have
confessed that there is some difficulty here, which as
yet they cannot solve or reconcile. Is the mystery
beyond our present Hght ? or is there any, and if so,
what is the, key to it ?
The truth which solves the riddle is to be found
in those same Scriptures which seem to raise the diffi
culty, and lies in the mystery of the will of our ever
blessed God as to the process and stages of redemp
tion : —
(1) First, His will by some to bless and save
others; by a first-born seed, "the first-born from
the dead,"2 to save and bless the later-born: —
1 S. John x. 35. a Col. i. 18.

28 Tive Restitution of All Things.
(2) His will therefore to work out the redemp
tion of the lost by successive ages or dispensations,
or, to use the language of St. Paul, " according to
the purpose of the ages :"1 — and
(3) Lastly, His will (thus meeting the nature of
our fall,) to make death, judgment, and destruction*
the means and way to life, acquittal, and salvation ;
in other words, " through death to destroy him that
has the power of death, that is the devil, and to
deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage."2
These truths throw a flood of light on Scripture,
and enable us at once to see order and agreement,
where without this light there seems perplexing in
consistency. We should of course get deeper views,
if, instead of starting from the fall, and merely
asking what is declared as to its results and remedy,
we began with God, and enquired what He has re •
vealed as to His end in making man, and how far, if
at all, His purpose in creation is or has been frustrated
in any way. Did the entrance of sin change or affect
God's plan ? Was redemption only an after- thought to
meet an undesigned or undesired difficulty ? What
was the object of the Incarnation ? On what grounds,
and for what end, is judgment committed to the Son
of Man ? What was intended to be accomplished by
the first and second death ? These are questions
which must meet us, if we think of God and of His
thoughts, and give Him credit for having had a
1 Eph. iii. 11. 2 Heb. ii. 14.

, The Teshmony of Scripture. 29
purpose in creation. Christ is the answer to them
all; and His Word contains, though under a veil,
the perfect key to these and all mysteries ; though
in His Word, as in His works, the open secret is un
seen, and His wisdom, as in the wondrous laws of
light, may be all around us and yet for ages undis
covered. For God's sons still think it strange and
even unbecoming to enquire " what is the breadth
and length and depth and height" of their heavenly
Father's purpose. But for our present object we
need not ask all this. It is enough to begin witty
ourselves as fallen, and to enquire what Scripture
reveals as to the results of our fall, and of the
remedy. We shall see how God's will, as witnessed,
first in the " law of the first-fruits " and " first-born,"
then in the " purpose of the ages," and lastly in the
mystery of "death" and "judgment," as it is opened
by Christ's cross and resurrection, clears away all
that looks like contradiction between " mercy upon
all" and yet " eternal judgment." By this light we
see more fully God's purpose in Christ, and how He
is "Saviour of all men, specially of those that
believe;"1 how "to those who overcome He will
grant to sit with Him on His throne,"2 and make
them partakers of all His glories ; while others, not
partakers of the first resurrection, are only brought
to God by the resurrection of judgment, that is by
the judgments of the coming age or ages. But till
God opens all is shut. A man can receive nothing
' 1 Tim. iv. 10 * Rev iii 9,1.

SO The Restitution of All Things.
except it be given him from above. " Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who
knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man
which is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God." '
Let us look then in order at each of these three
points : —
(1) First, the purpose of God by the first-fruits
or first-born to save and bless the later-born.
This, which is in fact the substance of the gospel,
like all God's secrets, comes out by degrees. Scarcely
to be discerned, though contained, in the first
promise of the Woman's Seed,2 it shines out brightly
in the covenant made with Abraham : — " In thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;"3 for
the seed, in whom all the kindreds of the earth are
blessed, must be distinct from, and blessed prior to,
those nations to whom according to God's purpose
in due time it becomes a blessing. This purpose is
then revealed with fuller detail in the law of the
first-fruits and the first-born,4 though here the veil
of type and shadow hides from most the face of
Moses. But in Christ the purpose is unveiled for
ever, and the mystery, by the first-born to save
• 1 Cor. ii. 9-11 * Gen. iii. 15.
* Gen. xxii. 18 ' Rom. xi. 16.

Thie Testimony of Scripture. 31
others, is by the Holy Ghost made fully manifest.
Christ, says the Apostle, is the promised Seed,1 the
First-born,2 and in and through Him endless blessing
shall flow down on the later-born.
Now Christ, as Paul shews, is first-born in a
double sense. He is first-born from above, first out
of life, for He is the Only-Begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds ; " for by
Him were all things created, which are in heaven
and which are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers, all things were created by Him and for Him,
and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist."3 But He is more than this, for He is also
" first-born from the dead," first out of death, " that
in all things He might have the pre-eminence ;"4 and
it is in this relation, as first-born from the dead, that
He is Head of the Church, and first-fruits of the
creature. All things are indeed of God, but it is no
less true also that all things are by man ; as it is
written, " Since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead."5 Therefore as by
one first-born death came into the world, so by
another first-born shall it be for ever overthrown.
Herein ia love indeed, that the whole remedy for sin
shall come through man, even as the sin did. Thus
not only is there salvation for man, but by man, for
the Eternal Son is Son of Man also ; who by a birth
• Gal. iii. 16. * Col. i. 18. a Col. i. 15-17.
* Col. i. 18. » 1 Cor. xv. 21.

32 The Restitution of All Things.
in the flesh has come into our lot, that by another
birth out of the grave He might also be the first
born from the dead ; and it is in virtue of this
relation that He fulfils for us all those offices which
are included in the word Eedeemer. The law of
Moses is most instructive here : for while it is true
that the letter of that law cannot be explained but
by the gospel, it is no less true that the gospel in its
breadth and depth cannot be set forth save by the
figures of the law, each jot of which covers some
blessed mystery.
What then does the law teach us of this First-born
from the dead ; for be it observed it is ever the
first-born from the grave that the law speaks of, —
therefore the woman's, not the man's, first-born,
"the male which first openeth the womb,"1 who
might, though not necessarily, be also the father's
first-born. For the law, as made for sinners only,2
needed not to speak of the First-born as proceeding
out of God, but only of the First-born as raised up
by Him out of the grave and barren womb of this
present fallen and unclean nature. According to the
law, the First-born had the right, though it might be
lost, of being priest and king, that is of interceding
for and ruling over their younger brethren ;3 on him
devolved the duty of Goel or Eedeemer, to redeem
a brother who had waxen poor, and sold himself
• Exod. xiii. 12 ; xxxiv. 19 ; Numb. iii. 12, 13.
! 1 Tim. i. 9.
* Exod. xiii. 2 ; xxiv. b ; Numb. iii. 12, 13 viii. 16 ; I Chron. v. 1, 2.

The Testimony of Scripture. 33
unto a stranger ; to avenge his blood, to raise up
seed to the dead, and to redeem the inheritance, if
at any time it were lost or alienated.1 To sustain
these duties God gave him a double portion.2 Need
I point out how Christ fulfils these particulars ; how
as first out of the grave, that " barren womb, which
cries, Give, give,"3 He is the First-born through
whom the blessing reaches us ? In this sense no
Christian doubts that God's purpose is by the First
born from the dead to save and bless the later-born.
But the truth goes further still, for there are
others beside the Lord who are both " first-born "
and " Abraham's seed," who must therefore in their
measure share this same honour with and under
Christ, and in whom, as "joint-heirs with Him,"4
the promise must be fulfilled, that in them " all the
kindreds of the earth shall be blessed." 5 This glo
rious truth, though of the very essence of the gospel,
which announces salvation to the world through the
promised seed of Abraham, is even yet so little seen
by many of Abraham's seed, that not a few of the
children of the promise speak and act as if Christ
and His body only should be saved, instead of re
joicing that they are also the appointed means of
saving others. Even of the elect, few see that they
are elect to the birthright, not to be blessed only,
1 Lev. xxv. 47, 48 ; Deut. xix. 4-12 ; Gen. xxxviii. 8 ; Deut. jccv.
6-10 ; Ruth iv. 6-10 ; Lev. xxv. 25 ; Ruth ii. 20.
'' Deut xxi. 17.
" Prov. xxx. 15, 16. « Rom. viii. 17. 6 Gen. xxii. 18.
D

34 The Restitution of All Things.
but to be a blessing; as first-born with Christ to
share the glory of kingship and priesthood with
Him, not only to rule and intercede for their younger
and later-born brethren, but to avenge their blood,
to raise up seed to the dead, and in and through
Christ, their life and head, to redeem their lost in
heritance. Thank God, if the elect know not their
double portion, God knows and keeps it for them,
and will in due time, spite of their blindness, fulfil
His purpose in and by them. But surely it is a
reproach to the heirs, that they know not their
Father's purpose, and that through not knowing it
they bear so imperfect a testimony as to His good
will to all His fallen creatures.
The whole old law beams with light upon this
point, not only in its ordinances and appointments
as to the first-born and their double portion, but
also in the details of the oblation of the first-fruits,
which is only another aspect and presentation of the
same mystery. The seed of nature figures the seed
of grace, and the first-fruits of the one are but the
shadow of the other, that " seed of the kingdom "
which is first ripe for heaven, ripened by the true
Sun1 and Light2 and Air,3 of which the sun and
light and air of present nature in all their wondrous
workings are the silent but ceaseless witnesses. The
type is very full and striking here; for the law,
which required the first-fruits, speaks of a double
1 Psa. lxxxiv. 11. 2 S. John viii. 12. « S. John iii. 8.

The Testimony of Scripture. 35
first-fruits.1 The first, the sheaf or handful of un
leavened ears, the first to spring up out of the dark
and cold earth, which lay the shortest time under its
darkness, soonest ripe to be a sacrifice on God's
altar, was offered at the first great feast of the year,
the feast of unleavened bread, which is the Pass
over.2 The other, which are also called " first-fruits,"
were offered in the form of leavened cakes, fifty days
later at Pentecost.3 Both in the law are distinctly
called " first-fruits," though they are distinguished
by a separate name, the ears at Passover being called
Rashith, the leavened cakes at Pentecost, Bicou-
rim ; 4 to which the gospel exactly agrees, saying,
" Christ the First-fruits," 6 and " we a kind of first-
fruits:"6 Christ "the First-born,"7 and we "the
church of the first-born ; " 8 words which carry with
them blessings unspeakable, "for if the first-fruit
be holy, the lump is also holy," 9 the offering of the
first-fruits to God being accepted as the sanctifica
tion and consecration of the whole coming harvest.
Need I say Christ is the Paschal first-fruits and
first-born. The day of His resurrection was the very \

1 Lev. xxiii. 10, 17.
2 Lev. xxiii. 10, 11 ; S. Luke xxii. 1. s Lev. xxiii. 17.
4 Rashith, or "the beginning," the title given in the law to the
Paschal first-fruits, is the very -word used by St. Paul of Christ in the
passage already quoted, — " He is the head of the body, the Church,
who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead," &c. — Col. i. 18.
5 1 Cor. xv. 23.
« S. James, 1. 18. See also Rev. xiv. 4. ' Col. i. 18.
8 Heb. xii. 23. ° Rom. xi. 16.
d 2

36 The Restitution of All Things.
day of the offering of the first first-fruits.1 But who
are those, who, as leavened bread, share the honour
with and under Him of being the Pentecostal first-
fruits? Who with Christ and through Christ are
Abraham's seed ?
. First, the Jew is Abraham's seed, — " the people
that dwell alone, and are not reckoned among the
nations ; " 2 and though " all are not Israel who are
of Israel,"3 Scripture will indeed be broken, if
Israel is not again grafted in ; when, if the casting
away of them has been the riches of the world, the
receiving of them, as St. Paul says, shall be life from
the dead.4 " Israel is my son, my first-born, saith
the Lord."6 All nations, therefore, shall yet be
blessed in them. They are indeed only the earthly
first-born, but as first-born, though of the least-
1 These first first-fruits were offered " on the morrow after the
sabbath" after the Passover, (Lev. xxiii. 11,) that is the very day,
" the first day of the week," on which Christ rose from the dead. I
may, perhaps, add here, for it is most noteworthy, that in 2 Sam. xxi. 9,
we are told that " all the seven sons of Saul fell together in the days
of harvest, in the first day, in the beginning of barley harvest ; "
that is they fell on the day of the first first-fruits. The books of
Kings, where this is recorded, are the books of Rule, shewing out
in mystery all the forms of Rule under which God's elect have been
either in bondage or liberty. The first form of rule is Saul, whose
name means Death or Hell. He is the figure of the rule under
which we all are at first, while " death reigns " by God's appoint
ment. (Rom. v. 14, 17.) All his seven sons, that is, the fruits of
death, faE in one day, under the reign of David, that is the Be
loved ; that one day being the sacred day of the Paschal first-fruits,
the day of Christ's resurrection.
2 Numb, xxiii. 9. 3 Rom. ix. 6.
4 Rom. xi. 15. " Exod. iv. 22.

The Testimony of Scripture. 37
loved wife, they must in their own sphere possess
the double blessing ; • being not blessed only, but
made blessings to the nations, whose conversion the
Church is rightly looking for, but whom the Church
shall not convert ; for the conversion of the nations
is already promised to Israel, who, dwellers among
all nations, yet not of them, are even now being
trained and prepared for this, and who at their con
version, converted like Paul, who is their type,2 not
by the knowledge of Christ in humiliation, but by
the revelation of His heavenly glory, shall like Paul
become apostles to the Gentiles, " priests to the Lord
and ministers to our God,"3 to all upon the earth.4
• Deut. xxi. 15, 16.
2 1 Tim. i. 16; irpbs vttot&kuitiv ruv fie\\6vTuv TrtiTTeveiv —
literally, " for a type of those who shall hereafter believe." Paul is
not a type of "the first trusters in Christ," (see Eph. i. 12,) that is
of believers now, but of " those who shall hereafter believe," when
Christ reveals Himself in glory; and his peculiar experience, for he
was " as one born out of due time," (1 Cor. xv. 8,) as well as his con
version in an extraordinary way by a sight of Christ's glory, were
earnests and figures of what should be wrought in Israel, who shall
be converted to Christ in a similar and no less sudden manner.
Isa. lxvi. 8, 12, 18, 19.
8 Exod. xix. 6 ; Isa. lxi. 6.
1 Very wonderful is the statement in the Song of Moses, (Deut.
xxxii. 8,) addressed both to the heavens and earth, which declares
that, " when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples
according to the number ofthe chUdren of Israel!' Now the number
of the children of Israel, when they went down into Egypt, was
seventy; (Gen. xlvi. 27; Exod. i. 5; Deut. x. 22;) and, answering
to this, in Gen. x., which gives the account of the peoples to whom
the earth was divided after the flood, we read of seventy heads of

38 The Restitution of All Things.
But (and this concerns us) the Church is also
Abraham's seed ; for, as St. Paul says, " If ye be
Christ's, ye are Abraham's seed, and heirs according
to the promise." l To the Church therefore belongs
the same promise, as first-fruits with Christ, not to
be blessed only, but to be a blessing, in its own
heavenly and spiritual sphere. For if the Jew on
earth shall be a " kingdom of priests," what is our
hope but to be also heavenly " kings and priests," 2
as " kings," for the Lord shall say, " Be thou over
five cities," 3 to rule and order in the coming age
what requires order ; not only with Christ to "judge
the world," 4 but to be " equal unto the angels " and
to "judge angels ;"8 as " priests," for a priest is " for
those out of the way," 6 to minister to those who yet
are out of the way. This is the Church's calling, to
do Christ's works, as He said, " He that believeth on
me, the works that I do shall he do also ; " 7 with
Him to be both prophet, priest, and king, and this,
not here only in these bodies of humiliation, but
when changed in His presence to bear His image
and do His works with Him. Christ barely entered
on His priestly work till He had passed through death
nations. Surely there is a secret here, connected with Christ's mis
sion of the Seventy, which was distinct from and followed the mission
of the Apostolic Twelve, by whom and under whom the Church is
gathered out. See S. Luke x. 1.
1 Gal. iii. 29. * Rev. i. 6 ; v. 10.
3 S. Luke xix. 17, 19 ; Psa. xiv. 16.
4 1 Cor. vi. 2. » S. Luke xx. 36 ; 1 Cor. vi. 3.
8 Heb. v. 2. ' S. John xiv. 12.

The Testimony of Scripture. 39
and judgment ; ' so with those who are Christ's, their
death and resurrection shall only introduce them to
fuller and wider service to lost ones, over whom
the Lord shall set them as His priests and kings,
until all things are restored and reconciled unto
Him. It is, alas, too true that of the Church's
sons, some like Esau shall sell their birthright for
some present good thing, and that in this age as in
the last some of the children of the kingdom shall
be cast out, while others from the east and from the
west press in and win the crown and kingdom ; yet
an elect first-born shall surely be preserved, who are
sealed to this pre-eminence, to be priests to God and
rulers of their brethren. To whom, I ask, shall the
Church after death be priests ? Shall it be to that
great mass of our fellow men, who have departed
hence in ignorance ? Shall it be to " spirits in pri
son," such as those to whom after His death Christ
Himself once preached ? 2 Shall not His saints, made
like Him, do the same works, still following Him,
' Heb. iv. 14; vii. 15-17; viii. 4, 6.
2 1 S.Peter iii, 18-20. This passage, I know, is called " difficult,"
that is, it is one which it is hard and even impossible fairly to recon
cile with the views called Orthodox. The words, however, are not
difficult. They distinctly assert that our Lord went and preached
to the spirits in prison, who once had been disobedient in the days of
Noah. The "difficulty "is that Protestant orthodoxy has decided that
there can be no message of mercy to any after death. Protestant
commentators therefore have attempted to evade the plain statements
of this Scripture, and their forced and unnatural interpretations shew
how very strong the passage is against them. Any one who wishes
to see a summary of these interpretations may find them collected in

40 The Restitution of All Things.
and with Him being priests to God ? Will not their
glory be to rule and feed and enlighten and clothe
those who are committed to them, even as Christ
has fed and clothed them ? For He is " King of
. kings and Lord of lords," l words which indicate
' the many kings and rulers under Him, of whom He
is Head, and whom He makes heads to others.
I should perhaps be going beyond my measure
were I to follow in detail all that the law says further
as to the first-fruits and the first-born ; but I may
add here, that this same truth, that the first-blessed
must save others, is set forth, though in a slightly
different form, in the kindred law of redemption
touching the firstlings of beasts, whether clean or
unclean. The lamb redeems the ass.2 So it must
be. The clean are called, and content, to be sacri
fices. For the law of redemption, which is the law
of love, is this, that they who are first redeemed and
blessed must bless others. And this is their joy, to
Alford's Greek Testament, in loco. His own comment is as follows :
— " I understand these words to say, that our Lord, in his disem
bodied state, did go to the place of detention of departed spirits, and
did there announce His work of redemption, preach salvation, in fact,
to the disembodied spirits of those who refused to obey the voice of
God, when the judgment of the flood was hanging over them." The
fact, that in the Prayer-book these verses are appointed to be read
as the Epistle for Easter Even, that is for the day after the cruci
fixion, and before the resurrection of our Lord, shews plainly enough
the judgment of the English Church as to the true sense and inter
pretation of this passage. The Early Fathers, almost without ex
ception, understand it to speak of Christ's descent to Hades.
1 1 Tim. vi. 15. 2 Exod. xiii. 12, 13.

The Testimony of Scripture. 41
be like Christ, that is to be channels of blessing to
viler, weaker souls. For all higher and elder beings
serve the lower and younger. The first-born there
fore must serve and save others. Their calling is to
be, like Christ, channels of blessing and life to thou
sands of later-born.
Such glories are in store, to be revealed when
the two leavened cakes of first-fruits, then completed,
shall together be offered up, in that great coming
Pentecost, of which the fiery tongues of old, and the
rushing wind, in the upper room were but the type
and earnest : when the elect, Christ's mystic body,
being raised with Him, the Head not born alone, but
all the members with it, the Spirit shall be poured
out upon all flesh, and, the first-fruits being safe,
the harvest, already sanctified by the first-fruits,
shall also begin to be gathered in. Oh glorious day,
when our Lord and Head shall give of His treasure
to His first-born, that they may with Him redeem all
lands and all brethren j1 when with Him they shall
judge their captive brethren, who through their unbe
lief have lost their own inheritance. Then shall the
laver be multiplied into " ten lavers," 2 till the water
of life become a " sea of crystal,"3 large enough even
for Babylon the great to sink into it, and to be found
1 Lev. xxv. 25, 47, 48.
2 Compare Exod. xxx. 18, which speaks of the wilderness, with
1 Kings vii. 38, 39, which describes the far larger provision made
for cleansing in the glorious reign of the Man of Peace, the true
Son of David.
3 Compare 1 Kings vii. 38, 39 ; 2 Chron. iv. 2-6 ; and Rev. xv. 2.

42 The Restitution of All Things.
no more at all for ever. Then shall the elect " rnn
to and fro as sparks among the stubble;"1 and as
all sparks or seeds of light, though they may come
forth at long intervals from one another, are yet con
genial, if they have come out of a common root, —
as they can not only mingle rays with rays and em
brace each other, but in virtue of a common nature
have the same power of consuming and purifying
that they come in contact with, — so shall Christ's
members judge the world with Him, and consume
the evil with that same fire which Christ came to cast
into the earth, and with which He is yet pledged to
baptize all nations. For our Lord, who gave Him
self, with Himself will give us all things, grudging
His children nothing of that inheritance He has
obtained for them.
Here then is the key to one part of the apparent
contradiction between " mercy upon all," and yet
" the election" of a " little flock ;" between " all the
kindreds of the earth blessed in Christ," and yet a
" strait and narrow way" and " few finding it."
Here is the answer to the question, " Wilt thou shew
wonders to the dead ? Shall the dead arise and
praise thee ? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared
in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction ?
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy
righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?"2 The
first-born and first-fruits are the " few" and " little
1 Wisdom iii. 7, 8. * See Psa. lxxxviii. 1-12.

The Testimony of Scripture. 43
flock;" but these, though first delivered from the
curse, have a relation to the whole creation, which
shall be saved in the appointed times by the first
born seed, that is by Christ and His body, through
those appointed baptisms, whether of fire or water,
which are required to bring about " the restitution of
all things." St. Paul expressly declares this when he
says, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, . . . that in
the dispensation of the fulness of times He might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in
Him."1 The Church, like Christ its Head, is itself
a great sacrament ; " an outward and visible sign of
an inward and spiritual grace given unto men ;
ordained by God Himself, as a means whereby they
may receive the same, and a pledge to assure them ¦
thereof;" and " the blessing" of the elect, " with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," is
but the means and pledge, as the Apostle says, of
wider blessing ; the means by which " in the dispen
sation ofthe fulness of times" God designs to "gather
together in one all things in Christ, whether they
be things which are in heaven or which are in earth,
even in Him ;" and the pledge that He both can and
will do it, as He has already done it in some of the

1 Eph. i. 3-10. The same doctrine is stated in almost the same
words, chapter ii. 4-7.

44 The Restitution of All Things.
weakest and the worst ; for " God hath chosen the
base things of the world, yea and things which are
not;"1 to shew to all that there are none so weak
but He can save, and none so vile, but He can
change and cleanse them. Thus when " He comes
with ten thousands of His saints," He will not only
by them " convince all ungodly sinners of all their
hard speeches, which they have spoken against
Him;"2 — for if the thief be saved, and the Magdalene
changed, who shall dare to say that the lost are
uncared for or beyond the reach of God's salvation ; —
but He will by them also, as His royal priests, joint-
heirs with Christ, fulfil all that priestly work of judg
ment and purification by fire, which must be accom
plished that all may be "subdued"3 and "reconciled."4
To say that God saves only the first-born would be,
if it may be said, to make Him worse than even
Moloch, whose slaves devoted only their first-born to
the flames, founding this dreadful rite upon the true
tradition that the sacrifice of a first-born should
redeem the rest ; a requirement, tender, as compared
with that which some ascribe to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus, who, according to their view,
accepts the elect or first-bom only, and leaves the
rest to torments endless and most agonizing. The
gospel of God tells us of better things, of a sacrifice
indeed, even of God's Only-Begotten Son, who,

' 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. 2 S. Jude 14, 15.
» 1 Cor. xv. 28. 4 CoL i. 20.

The Testimony of Scripture. 45
because we were dead, came into our death to
quicken us, who took on Him the darkness, and
death, and curse, which bound and would have for
ever held us, and broke through it in the power of
His eternal life, not only reconciling us by His blood,
but also shewing us by His death the way out of the
bondage of sin and this world, and who having thus
in His own person, as Man, broken through death,
gives Himself now to as many as will receive and
follow Him, that in and by His life they also in the
same path may come forth as first-fruits and first
born from the dead with Him. But Scripture never
says that these only shall be saved, but rather that "in
this seed," whose portion as the first-born is double,1
".all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed."
I fear that the elect, instead of bearing this wit
ness, have too often ignored and even contradicted
it. And yet the fact, that the Church for many
hundred years has had an All-Souls Day as well as
an All-Saints Day in her Calendar, is itself a witness
that she may have been teaching far more than some
of her sons as yet have learnt from her. For why
did the Church ordain a celebration for All-Souls as
well as for All-Saints, but because, spite of her
children's contradiction, she believed that like her
Lord she is truly linked to all, and with Him is
ordained at last to gather all. And why does All-
Souls Day follow All-Saints,2 but to declare that All
1 Deut. xxi. 17.
2 November 1st is All-Saints Day : November 2nd, All-Souls.

46 The Restitution of All Things.
Saints should reach All Souls, going before them
indeed, yet going before to be a blessing to them.
For indeed All Saints are to All Souls as the first
born to their younger brethren, elect to be both kings
and priests to them ; or as the first-fruits to the
harvest, the pledge of what is to come, if not also
the means to bring it about in due season. I know
of course, that, through the abuse of masses for the
dead, All-Souls Day has since the Eeformation been
dropped out of the Calendar of our English Church.
I neither judge nor defend our Eeformers for what
they did in a time of veiy great difficulty. I only
say that the truth once taught by All-Souls Day, if
ever a truth, must be a truth for all generations.
And I thank God that the Church had, and yet has,
such a day ; and that, if not with English saints
now living, yet "with all saints," as the Apostle
says, " we may be able to comprehend the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we
may be filled with (or into) all the fulness of God."1
And in faith of that love and fulness I look for the day
when All Souls shall become the inheritance and
prize and glory of All Saints, who by grace have
gone before them.
Our knowledge however of this or any other mys
tery will serve us nothing, yea be far worse than
nothing, if, instead of running for the prize which
1 Eph. iii 19.

The Testimony of Scripture. 47
the gospel sets before us, we sit down content merely
to understand how the apparent contradictions of
Scripture can be reconciled. Not so do the first-born
win the prize. Christ has shewn the way, and there
is no other. He died to live — He suffered to reign —
He humbled Himself; therefore God hath greatly
exalted Him.1 If we be dead with Him, we shall
live with Him, — if we suffer, we shall reign with
Him,2 — joint-heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer
with Him, that we may be glorified together.3 Only
by the cross can the change be wrought in us, which
conforms us to Christ and His image,- -which makes
us, like Him, lambs for the slaughter,4 and as such
fitted to bless and serve others. And as corn does
not grow by any thinking of the process ; as gold is
not melted by any speculation of the nature of fire,
but by being cast into it ; so the change required is
only wrought in us through that baptism of fire, which
is so sharp that even the blessed Paul could say, " If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable,"5 a trial very different from
that of the mass of professors, who suffer no more
than the common lot of humanity. And indeed so
narrow is the way, and so strait is the gate, that
leadeth to the life and glory of the first-born, who
"follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth ;"6 so entire
is the loss and renunciation of the things dear to the
1 Phil. ii. 8, 9. 2 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
" Rom. viii. 17. 4 Rom. viii, 36.
* 1 Cor. xv. 19. 6 Rev xiv. 4.

48 The Restitution of All Things.
old man, whose will is entranced by the things thai
are seen and temporal ; so bitter is the cross that few
can bear it, and pass willingly through the fires which
must be passed to win that "high calling."1 Here
is the patience of the saints, to bear that fire in and
by which the old Adam is dissolved and slain, out of
which they rise, through " blood and fire and pillars
of smoke," that is the Pentecostal offering,2 as sacri
fices to God, to stand as kings and priests before
Him. (2) I pass on to shew that God's purpose, by the
first-born from the dead to bless the later-born, — as
it is written, " So in Christ shall all be made alive,"
— is fulfilled in successive worlds or ages,3 or, to use
the language of St. Paul, " according to the purpose
of the ages,"4 so that the dead are raised, not all to
gether, but " Every man in his own order — Christ
the first-fruits — afterwards they that are Christ's at
His coming;"5 which latter resurrection, though
after Christ's, is yet called " the resurrection from
among the dead,"6 or "the first resurrection."7
Now it is simply matter of fact, that Christ, the
first of the first-fruits, through whom all blessing
reaches us, rose from the dead eighteen hundred
years ago, while the Church of the first-born, who
are also called first-fruits,8 will not be gathered till
1 Phil. iii. 8-14. 2 Acts ii. 19 ; Cant. iii. 6.
8 cuxves. * Eph. iii. 11 ; Kara TrpSBefftv r&v alaivuv.
6 1 Cor. xv. 23. " Phil. iii. 11 ; tV Qav&ffTamv, k.t.K.
' Rev. xx. 5. 8 S. James i. 18 ; Rev. xiv. 4.

The Testimony of Scripture. 49
the great Pentecost. Some are therefore freed from
death before others ; and even of the first-fruits, the ""
Head of the body, as in every proper birth, is freed
before the other members. So far it is clear that
this purpose of God is wrought, not at once, but
through successive ages. But this fact gives a hint
of further mysteries, and some key to the " ages of
ages,"1 which we read of in the New Testament,
during which the lost are yet held by or under death
and judgment, while the saints share Christ's glory,
as heirs of God, in subduing all things unto Him.
The fall here gives us some shadow of the restora
tion. For just as in Adam, all do not come out of
him or die at once, but descend from or through each
other, and die generation after generation, though all
fell and died in him when he fell and died, as part of
him, and therefore partakers of his sad inheritance ;
so in Christ, though all have been made alive in Him
by His resurrection, all are not personally brought
into His Hfe and light at once, but one after another,
and the first-born before the later-born, according to
God's good pleasure and eternal purpose.
The key here as elsewhere is to be found in the
details of that law, of which " no jot or tittle shall
pass till all be fulfilled;"2 the appointed "times
and seasons " of which, one and all, are the types or ,
figures of the " ages " of the New Testament ; for
there is nothing in the gospel, the figure of which is
1 w&ves aluvuv. 2 S. Matt. v. 18.

50 The Restitution of All Things.
not in the law, nor anything in the law, the sub
stance of which may not be found under the gospel ;
God's once oppressed and captive Israel being the
vessel, in and by which He would shew out His pur
pose of grace and truth to other lost ones.
Observe, then, not only that the first-fruits are
gathered, some at the feast of the Passover, and
others not till Pentecost, while the "feast of taber
nacles," or, as it is called, the " feast of ingathering,"
is not held until the seventh month, " in the end of
the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours
out of the field ; " ' but how no less distinctly both
cleansing and redemption are ordained to take effect
at different times and seasons. I refer to those
mystic periods of " seven days," 2 "seven weeks,"3
" seven months," 4 " seven years," 6 and the " seven
times seven years," 6 which last complete the Jubilee,
which are all different times for cleansing and bless
ing men, — the former of which are figures of " the
ages," the last, of " the ages of ages," in the New
Testament ; under which last blessed appointment
all those who had lost their inheritance, and could
not go free, as some did, at the Sabbatic year of rest,
might at length, after the " times of times," that is
the " seven times seven years," regain what had been
lost, and find full deliverance. For in the Sabbatic
1 Exod. xxiii. 16 ; Lev. xxiii. 39 ; Deut. xvi. 13.
! Lev. xii. 2 ; xiii. 5, 21, 26 ; xiv. 8, &c.
" Lev. xxiii. 15. 4 Lev. xvi. 29; xxiii. 24; Numb. xxix. 1.
8 Lev. xxv. 4 ; Deut. xv. 9, 12. ' Lev. xxv. 8, 9.

The Testimony of Scripture. 5 1
year the release was for Israel only, not for foreign
ers;1 while in the Jubilee, liberty was to be pro
claimed to all the inhabitants of the land.2 What is
there in the ordinary gospel of this day, which in
the least explains or fulfils these various periods, in
and through which were wrought successive cleans-
ings and redemptions, not of persons only, but of
their lost inheritance ? And if in the gospel, as now
preached, no truth is found corresponding with these
figures of the law, is it not a proof that something is
at least overlooked ? God knows how much is over
looked from neglect of those Scriptures, which St.
Paul tells us are needed, " to make the man of God
perfect," 3 but which by some are openly despised,
and by others are neglected, as the useless shadows
of a by-gone dispensation. In them is the key,
under a veil perhaps, of those " ages " and " ages of
ages," during which so many are debtors and bonds
men under judgment, without their true inheritance.
And though indeed it is true, that " it is not for us
to know the times and the seasons, which the Father
hath put in His own power," 4 it is yet given us to
know that there are such times and seasons, and in
knowing it to gain still wider views of the " manifold
wisdom of God," and of the " unsearchable riches of
Christ," our Lord and Saviour.
It would far exceed my measure to attempt to
shew how the law in all its " times " figured the
1 Deut. xv. 1, 3. s Lev. xxv. 10.
8 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 4 Acts i. 7.
h 2

52 The Restitution of All Things.
gospel " ages." But I may give one more example
to prove, that in cleansing, as in giving deliverance,
God's method is to accomplish the end through ap
pointed seasons, which vary according to a fixed rule,
— I refer to the different periods prescribed for the
purification of a woman on the birth of a male or of
a female child.1 If a son is born, she is unclean in
the blood of her separation seven days, after which
she is in the blood of her purifying three and thirty
days, making in all forty days ; but if she bear a
maid child, she is unclean for twice seven days, and
in the blood of her purifying six and sixty days, in all
eighty days ; that is double the time she is unclean
for a man child. For the woman is our nature,
which if it receive seed, that is the word of truth,
may bring forth a son, that is " the new man ; " in
which case nature, or the mother, which brings it
forth, is only unclean during the seven days of this
first creation, and then in the blood of purifying till
the end of the forty days, which always figure this
dispensation ; 2 for wherever Christ is formed in us,
there is the hope that even " our vile body " shall
be cleansed, when we reach the end of this present
1 Lev. xii. 1-5. A similar distinction of times is to be seen in
the cleansing of the leper; Lev. xiv. 7, 8, 9, 10, 20 ; and of those
who were unclean by the dead ; Numb. xix. 12.
2 The number " forty," wherever found in Scripture, always points
to the period of this dispensation, as the time of trial or temptation ;
e.g. Gen. vii. 1 ; Exod. xxiv. 18; Ezek. iv. 6; Deut. xxv. 2, 3 ;
S. Mark i. 13; Exod. xvi. 35; Numb. xiv. 33; 2 Sam. t. 4;
1 Kings xl 42 ; Acts i. 3 ; and xiii. 21, &c.

The Testimony of Scripture. 53
dispensation. But if, instead of bearing this " new
man," our nature only bear its like, a female child,
that is fruits merely natural, then it is unclean for a
double period, till twice seven days and twice forty
pass over it. Here as elsewhere the veil will I fear
hide from some what is yet revealed as to the vary
ing times when cleansing may be looked for ; but
even the natural eye can see that two different times
are here described ; and those who receive this as
the Word of God will perhaps believe that there is
some teaching here, even if they cannot understand
it. Those too, who believe that the Church was
divinely guided in the order and appointment of
the Christian Year, ought surely to consider what is
involved in the fact that the purification of the
woman after forty days is kept as one of the Church's
holy days, under the title of " The Purification of
St. Mary."1 The Church of course reckons among
her greatest days the conception and birth of that
New and Anointed Man, who by almighty grace
and power is brought forth out of our fallen human
nature; but she does not forget to mark also the
cleansing according to law, at the end of the mystic
forty days, of that weak nature into which the Eter
nal Word has come, and out of which the New Man
springs. There is like teaching in every time and
season of the law, and its days and years figure the
" ages " of the New Testament.
' Forty days after Christmas, that is on Feb. 2,

54 Tke Restitution of All Things.
The prophets repeat the same teaching, still fur ¦
ther opening out this part of God's purpose, in a later
age to visit those who are rejected in an earlier one,
and so to work through successive worlds or ages.
Thus though at the time they wrote Moab and Am
mon were under a special curse, and cut off from the
congregation of Israel, according to the words, "Thou
shalt not seek their peace or prosperity for ever,"
and again, " Even to the tenth generation shall they
not enter into the congregation of the Lord for
ever ; " 1 in obedience to which law both Ezra and
Nehemiah put away, not only the wives which some
Israelites had taken from these nations, but also the
children born of them ; 2 though the prophets fur
ther declare the judgment of these nations, that
" Moab shall be destroyed," 3 and " Ammon shall be
fuel for fire, and be no more remembered ;"4 yet they
declare also that " in the latter days the Lord shall
bring again the captivity of Moab and of the children
of Ammon."6 Similar predictions are made respect
ing Egypt and Assyria,6 Elam,7 Sodom and her
daughters,8 and other nations, who in the age of the
1 Deut. xxiii. 3, 6. Heb. D^IJ^J; LXX., eis riv aluva.
2 Ezra, x. 2, 3, 44 ; Neh. xiii. 1, 23, 25, 30
3 Jer. xlviii.. 42. 4 Ezek. xxi. 28, 32.
5 Jer. xlviii. 47, and xlix. 6. ¦ Isa. xix. 21, 25.
' Jer. xlix, 39.
8 Ezek. xvi. 53, 55. Compare with this S. Jude 7, where we are
told that Sodom is " suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'' (Gr.
rrvpbs aiuviov.) And yet of this very " Sodom and her daughters "
the prophet declares, that they shall " return to their former
estate."

The Testimony of Scripture. 55
prophets were " strangers to the covenants of pro
mise, having no hope, and without God in the world,"
who yet are called to " rejoice with God's people," '
and of whom even now an election, " though some
time far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." '
These nations in the flesh were enemies, and as such
received the doom of old Adam ; yet for them also
must there be hope in the new creation, according
to the promise, "Behold, I make all things new."8
For Christ, who, " being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened in spirit, went in spirit and preached
to the spirits in prison, which sometime were diso
bedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited
in the days of Noah,"4 is "Jesus Christ, (that is
Anointed Saviour,) the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever." 5
Such is the light which the law and prophets give
us as to God's purpose of salvation through succes
sive ages. But even creation and regeneration, both
works of the same God, tell no less clearly, though
more secretly, the same mystery. God in each shews
1 Deut. xxxii. 43 ; Rom. xv. 10. s Eph. ii. 12, 13.
3 Rev. xxi. 5.
4 1 S. Peter iii. 18-20.
• 5 Heb. xiii. 8. I may perhaps add here, that to me the scene
recorded in S. Matt, viii, 28-34, and in the parallel passages of the
other Evangelists, is most significant. Our Lord calls His disciples
to "pass over to the other side," and there heals "the man possessed
with devils, who had his dwelling among the tombs, exceeding fierce,
whom no man could bind, no, not with chains." Christ not only heals
all forms of disease in Israel, but casts out devils also on the other
side of the deep waters.

56 The Restitution of All Things.
how He works, not in one act, but by degrees,
through successive days or seasons. In creation each
day has its own work, to bring back some part of tbe
creature, and one part before another, from empti
ness and confusion, to light and form and order. All
things do not appear at once. Much is unchanged,
even after " light " and a " heaven " are formed upon
the first and second days.1 But these first works
act on all the rest, for by God's will this " heaven "
is a fellow-worker with God's Word in all the change
which follows, till the whole is " very good." 2 What
is this but the very truth of the first-born serving
the later-born ? So in the process of our regenera
tion, there is a quickening, first of our spirits, then
of our bodies, the quickening of our spirits being
the pledge and earnest that the body also shall be
delivered in its season.3 What a witness to God's
most blessed purpose ; for our spirit is to our body
what the spiritual are to this world. And just as
the quickening of our spirit must in due time bring
about a quickening even of our dead and vile bodies ;
1 Gen. i. 4-8.
2 The firmament was called "heaven," Q'aB'i or "tke arrangers,"
because it is an agent' in arranging things on earth. " This appel
lation was first given by God to the celestial fluid or air, when it
began to act in disposing or arranging the earth and waters. And
since that time the D»DB' have been the great agents in disposing all
material things in their places and orders, and thereby producing all
those wonderful effects which are attributed to them in Scripture, but
which it has been of late years the fashion to ascribe to attraction,
gravitation, &c." — Parkhurst, sub voce.
8 Eph. i. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 11.

The Testimony of Scripture* 57
so surely shall the quickening and manifestation of
the sons of God end in saving those earthly souls
who are not here quickened. Thus does the micro
cosm foretell the fate of the macrocosm, even as the
macrocosm is full of lessons for the microcosm.
But even had we not this key, the language of
the New Testament, in its use of the word which our
Translators have rendered " for ever " and " for ever
and ever," l but which is literally " for the age," or
" for the ages of ages," points not uncertainly to the
same solution of the great riddle, though as yet the
glad tidings of the " ages to come " have been but
little opened out. The epistles of St. Paul will prove
that the " ages " are periods, in which God is gra
dually working out a purpose of grace, which was or
dained in Christ before the fall, and before those
" age-times," 2 in and through which the fall is being
remedied. So we read, that " God's wisdom was or
dained before the ages to our glory,"3 that is, that
God had a purpose before the ages out of the very
fall to bring greater glory both to Himself and to His
fallen creature ; then we are told distinctly of the
"purpose of the ages,"4 shewing that the work of
renewal would only be accomplished through succes
sive ages. Then we read, that "by the Son, God
1 els aluva, and els aluvas aidvuv.
' xP^ooi altbvioi. — 2 Tim. i. 9 ; Tit. i. 2.
8 1 Cor. ii. 7 ; Tpb ruv tudvuv.
' Eph. iii. 1 1 ; Kara trp66eaiv riv aldvuv ; translated, in our Au
thorized Version, " the eternal purpose."

58 The Restitution of All Things.
made the ages,"1 for it was by what the Eternal
Word uttered and revealed of God's mind in each
successive age that each such age became what it
distinctly was ; each age, like each day of creation,
being different from another by the form and mea
sure in which the Word of God was uttered or re
vealed in it, and therefore also by the work effected
in it, the work in each successive age, as in the dif
ferent days of creation, being wrought first in one
measure, then in another, first in one part, then in
another, of the lapsed creation. Then again we read
of the " mystery which has been hidden from the
ages," 2 and again that " the mystery," (for he repeats
the words,) " which hath been hid from ages and
generations, is now made manifest to the saints, to
whom God hath willed to make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery ; which is, Christ
in you, the hope of glory."3 In another place the
Apostle speaks of " glory to God in the church by
Christ Jesus, unto all generations of the age of
ages."4 He further says, that Christ is set " far above
all principality, and power, and every name that is
named, not only in this age, but in the coming one ;"5
and again, that " now once in the end of the ages He
hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself;"6 and that on us "the ends of the ages
1 Heb. i. 2 ; and xi. 3. 2 Eph. iii. 9.
8 Col. i. 26.
* Eph. iii. 21 ; els ndffas ras yeveas rod aluvos ruv al&vuv.
" Eph. i. 21. 8 Heb. ix. 26 ; M <rvvre\etu ruv aliivuv.

The Testimony of Scripture. 59
are met ;" ¦ words which plainly speak of some of the
ages as past, and seem to imply that other ages are
approaching their consummation. Lastly, he speaks
of " the ages to come," in which God will " shew the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to
wards us through Christ Jesus." 2
Now what is this " purpose ofthe ages," which St.
Paul speaks of, but of which the Church in these
days seems to know, or at least says, next to nothing?
I have already anticipated the answer. The " ages"
are the fulfilment or substance of the " times and
seasons" of theSabbatic year and Jubilee under the old
law. They are those "times of refreshment from the
presence ofthe Lord, when He shall send Jesus Christ,
who before was preached ;"3 and when, in due order,
liberty and cleansing will be obtained by those who
are now in bondage and unclean, and rest be gained
by those who now are without their rightful inhe
ritance. In the " ages," and in no other mystery of
the gospel, do we find those "good things to come," of
which the legal times and seasons were the "shadow."4
Of course, as some of these " ages" are " to come,"
1 1 Cor. x. 11 ; ra re\i) ruv aldvuv Kari)vri)<rtv.
2 Eph. ii. 4-7. I may add here that in all the following passages
aiuv is used for this present or some other limited age or dispensa
tion : — S. Matt. xii. 32 ; xiii. 39, 40 ; xxiv. 3 ; S. Luke xvi. 8 ; xx.
34, 35 ; Rom. xii. 2 ; 1 Cor. i. 20 ; ii. 6, 8 ; iii. 18 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4 ;
Gal. i. 4; Eph. i. 21 ; ii. 2; vi. 12; 1 Tim. vi. 17; 2 Km. iv. 10;
Tit. ii. 12.
' Acts iii. 19. * Heb. x. 1.

60 The Restitution of All Things.
being indeed the "times and seasons which the Father
hath put in His own power," l we can as yet know little
of their distinctive character, except that, as being
the ages in which God is fulfilling His purpose in
Christ, we may be assured their issue must be
glorious. Yet they are constantly referred to in the
New Testament, and the book of the Eevelation more
than any other speaks of them,2 for this book opens
out the processes and stages of the great redemption,
which make up the Eevelation of Jesus Christ which
God gives Him ; and this Eevelation is not accom
plished in one act, but through the "ages" and "ages
of ages," foreshadowed by the " times" and " times
of times" of the old law, the " age-times," again to
use the language of St. Paul, in which the Lord is
revealed as meeting the ruin of the creature. And
the reason why we sometimes read of " ages," and
sometimes of " the age," when both seem to refer to
and speak of the same one great consummation, is,
that the various "ages" are but the component parts
of a still greater " age," as the seven Sabbatic years
only made up one Jubilee. But because the mind of
the Spirit is above them, men speak as if the varied
and very unusual language of Scripture, as to the
" ages" or the " age of ages," contained no special
mystery. They will see one day that the subject is

1 Acts i. 7.

1 Acts l. 7.
* Rev. i. 6, 18 ; iv. 9. 10 ; v. IS, 14; vii. 12 ; x. 6 ; xi. 15 ; xiv.
11 ; xv. 7 ; xix. 3 ; xx. 10 ; xxii. 5.

The Testimony of Scripture. 61
dark, not because Scripture is silent, but only because
men's eyes are holden.1
At any rate, and whatever the future " ages" may
be, those past (and St. Paul speaks of " the ends" of
some,) are clearly not endless ; and the language of
Scripture as to those to come seems to teach that they
are limited, since Christ's mediatorial kingdom, which
is " for the ages of ages," must yet be " delivered
up to the Father, that God may be all in all."2 And
the fact that in John's vision, which describes the
Eevelation of Jesus Christ, which God gives Him, our
Lord is called " Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending,"3 seems to imply an end to the
1 Every scholar knows that the expressions, tis robs aluvas, els
aluva aluvos, eis atuva aldtvuv, els robs aluvas ruv aluvuv, are unlike
anything which occurs in the heathen Greek writers. The reason
is, that the inspired writers, and they alone, understood the mystery
and purpose of the "ages." They, or at least tha Spirit which
spake by them, saw that there would be a succession of " ages," a
certain number of which constituted another greater " age." It seems
to me that when they simply intended a duration of many " ages,"
they wrote eis robs aluvas, or " to the ages." When they had in
view a greater and more comprehensive " age," including in it many
other subordinate " ages," they wrote eis aluva aldvuv, that is " to
the age of ages." When they intended the longer " age " alone,
without regard to its constituent parts, they wrote els aluva aluvos,
that is "to an seonial age " ; this form of expression being a Hebra
ism, exactly equivalent to els aluva aldviov : like " liberty of glory,"
for "glorious liberty," (Rom. viii. 21,) and "body of our vileness,"
for " our vile body." (Phil. iii. 21.) When they intended the several
comprehensive " ages " collectively, they wrote els robs aluvas ruv
al&vuv, that is " to the ages of ages." Each varying form is used
with a distinct purpose and meaning.
2 Compare Rev. xi. 15, and 1 Cor. xv. 24.
8 Rev. xxi. fi.

62 The Restitution of All Things.
peculiar manifestation of Him as King and Priest,
under which special offices the Eevelation shews Him,
offices which, as they involve lost ones to be saved
and rebels ruled over, may not be needed when the
lost are saved and reconciled. Would it not have
been better therefore, and more respectful to the Word
of God, had our Translators been content in every
place to give the exact meaning of the words, which
they render " for ever," or " for ever and ever," but
which are simply " for the age," or " for the ages of
ages ;" and ought they not in other passages, where
the form of expression in reference to these "ages"
is marked and peculiar, to have adhered to the precise
words of Holy Scripture ? I have already referred to
the passage of St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephe
sians, which in our Version is rendered " throughout
all ages, world without end," but which is literally,
"to all generations of the age of ages."1 But even
more remarkable are the words, in St. Peter's Second
Epistle, which our Version translates " for ever," but
which are literally " for the day of the age ;"2 the key
to which may perhaps be found in a preceding verse
of the same chapter, where the Apostle says, that
" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day."3 These and other
1 Eph. iii. 21.
2 2 S. Pet. iii. 18 ; eis rifiepav aluvos, which, I may add here, is an
exact literal translation of the words in Micah v. 2, D?1J) 'D'D,
and which in our Authorized Version are translated " from ever
lasting." ' Verse 8.

The Testimony of Scripture. 63
similar forms of expression cannot have been used
without a purpose. It is, therefore, matter of regret
that our Translators should not have rendered them
exactly and literally ; for surely the words which
Divine Wisdom has chosen must have a reason, even
where readers and translators lack the light to appre
hend it.
The " ages," therefore, are periods in which God
works, because there is evil and His rest is broken
by it, but which have an end and pass away, when
the work appointed to be done in them has been
accomplished. The " ages," like the " days" of
creation, speak of a prior fall : they are the " times"
in which God works, because He cannot rest in sin
and misery. His perfect rest is not in the " ages,"
but beyond them, when the mediatorial kingdom,
which is " for the ages of ages,"1 is " delivered up,"2
and Christ, by whom all things are wrought in the
ages, goes back to the glory which He had " before
the age-times,"3 "that God may be all in all."4
The words " Jesus Christ, (that is, Anointed Saviour,)
the same yesterday, to-day, and for the ages,"
imply that through these " ages" a Saviour is needed,
and will be found, as much as " to-day" and " yester-

1 Rev. xi. 15. 2 1 Cor. xv. 24.
" 2 Tim. i. 9 ; and Tit. i. 2 ; irpb x9^vaiv "iuvluv ; translated, in
our Version, "before the world began." The Vulgate translation
here is, " Ante ssecularia tempora," which is as literal a rendering
as possible.
4 1 Cor. xv. 28. " Heb. xiii. 8 ; eis robs aluvas.

64 The Restitution of All Things.
day." It will I think too be found, that the adjective1
founded on this word, whether applied to "life,"
"punishment," "redemption," "covenant," "times,"
or even "God" Himself, is always connected with
remedial labour, and with the idea of " ages" as
periods in which God is working to meet and correct
some awful fall. Thus the " seonial covenant,"2
(I must coin a word, to shew what is the term used
in the original,) is that which comprehends "the
ages," during which " Jesus Christ is the same," that
is, a Saviour ; an office only needed for the fallen,
for " they that are whole need not a physician." The
" seonial God," (language found but once in the New
Testament,3) refers, as the context shews, to God as
1 aldvios. 2 Heb. xiii. 20.
8 Rom. xvi. 25, 26. In this passage we read, first, of "the
mystery kept secret from the eeonial times," /xvoriipiov xptvois aluviois
treai.ymJ.evov, (translated in our English version, " Since the world
began,") and then of " the eeonial God," aluvtov 0eo5, " by whose
command this mystery is now made manifest." Is it not reasonable
to conclude that the same word, twice used here in the same sen
tence, must in each case have the same sense. But as applied to
" times," passing or past, monial cannot mean never-ending. In the
Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the epithet aldvios is only
applied to God four times, in one of which the corresponding QPltt
of the Hebrew is not to be found ; though in all the reference is
direct, either to " the age of ages," or to God's redeeming work as
wrought through " the ages." The passages are Gen. xxi. 33, where
after the birth of Isaac, the type of Christ, God is known by this
name Q?1V ?S ; then Isa. xxvi. 4, and xl. 28, in both which the
context shews the reason for the epithet; and lastly Job xxiii. 12,
in which passage the LXX. have given us aldvios for DTPS or
Elohim, in the original ; which name, as we see from a comparison
of Gen. i. and ii., (in the former of which God is always Elohim, in

The Testimony of Scnpture. 65
working His secret of grace through " seonial times,"
that is, successive worlds or " ages," in some of
which " the mystery has been hid, but now is made
manifest by the commandment of the seonial God,"
that is, (if I err not,) the God who works through
these " ages." And so of the rest, whether " redemp
tion,"1 "salvation,"2 "spirit,"3 "fire,"4 or "inheri
tance,"5all of which in certain texts are called "seonial,"
the epithet seems to refer to the same remedial plan,
wrought out by God through " worlds " or " ages."
And does not our Lord refer to this in the well-known
words, " This is life eternal,6 (that is, the life of the
age or of the ages,) that they may know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent"?7 Does He not say here, that to know the only
true God, as the sender of His Son to be a Saviour,
and to know that Son as a Saviour and Eedeemer,
mark and constitute the renewed life which is
peculiar to the ages ? iEonial or eternal life there
fore is not, as so many think, the living on and on for
ever and ever. It is rather, as our Lord defines it, a
life, the distinctive peculiarity of which is, that it has
the latter Jehovah Elohim,) refers to One who is working through
periods of labour to change a ruined world, until His image is seen
ruling it ; a title not loBt when the day of rest is reached, but to
which another name, shewing what God is in Himself, is then added.
In Exod. iii. 15, we read of God's Sm/ia aldviov, that is, His name as
connected with deliverance. I believe the word is never used but in
this connection. See further below, Note 1, page 66.
1 Heb. ix. 12. 2 Heb. v. 9. ' Heb. ix. 14. 4 Jude 7.
5 Heb. ix. 15. ° y aldvios (aril.
7 S. John xvii. 3. F

66 The Restitution of All Things.
to do with a Saviour, and so is part of a remedial plan.
This, as being our Lord's own explanation ofthe word,
is surely conclusive as to its meaning. But even had
we not this key, the word carries with it in itself its
own solution ; for " seonial" is simply " of the ages ;"
and the " ages," like the days of creation, as being
periods in which God works, witness, not only that
there is some fall to be remedied, but that God
through these days or ages is working to remedy it.1
1 As to the Old Testament use of the word " age " or " ages," (trans
lated "for ever "in the English Version,) a few words may be added
here. We have first the unconditional promise of God, that "the
seed of Abraham shall inherit the land for ever ; " D71J?? ; LXX.,
eis rbv aiSva; Exod. xxxii. 13. The same words are used of the
Aaronic priesthood; Exod. xl. 15; of the office of the Levites;
1 Chron. xv. 2 ; of the inheritance given to Caleb ; Joshua xiv. 9 ;
of Ai being a desolation ; Joshua viii. 28 ; of the leprosy of Gehazi
cleaving to his seed ; 2 Kings v. 27 ; of the heathen bondsmen whom
Israel possessed, of whom it is said, " They shall be their bonds
men for ever ; " Lev. xxv. 46. The same words are also used of the
curse to come on Israel for their disobedience : — " These curses shall
come on thee, and pursue thee till thou be destroyed ; and they shall
be upon thee for a sign, and upon thy children for ever ; " Deut.
xxviii. 45, 46. So of Ammon and Moab it is. said : — " Thou shalt
not seek their peace for ever ; " Deut. xxiii. 6 ; and again, " They
shall not come into the congregation of the Lord for ever ; "
Deut xxiii. 3 ; here D71S? IV- In all these and other similar in
stances, D?iy and its equivalent al&v mean the age or dispensation.
In Exod. xxi. 6, where the ear of the servant, who will not go free,
is bored, and he becomes a "servant for ever," (cb"\V'> LXX., eis
rbv aiuva,) the sense must necessarily be much more limited ; as
also in 1 Sam. i. 22. It is to be observed also that not only the
singular, D?1V, as in 1 Kings ix. 3, and 2 Kings xxi. 7, but the
plural, D'D^ll?, is used in 1 Kings viii. 13, and 2 Chron. vi. 2, in
reference to the temple at Jerusalem. The double expression,
HU1 a7Vn, is variously translated by the LXX. ; sometimes eis rbv

The Testimony of Scripture. 67
Be this as it may, the adjective, " asonial" or age
long, cannot carry a force or express a duration
greater than that of the ages or " seons " which it
speaks of. If therefore these " ages " are limited
periods, some of which are already past, while others,
we know not how many, are yet to come, the word
" seonial" cannot mean strictly never-ending. Nor
does this affect the true eternity of bliss of God's
elect, or of the redeemed who are brought, back to
live in God, and to be partakers of Christ's " endless
life," ' of whom it is said, " Neither can they die
aluva koi in, as in Dan. xii. 3, where it is used of those " that turn
many to righteousness ; " sometimes rbv aluva xai eV aluvos real eri,
as in Exod. xv. 18, where it is used of God ; sometimes eis rbv aluva
to5 aluvos, as in Psalm xiv. 2, where it is used .of Christ and His
kingdom ; while in Micah iv. 7, the same Hebrew words, hero
u?ty 11J1, are translated by the LXX., and here only, by the plural,
eus els robs aluvas. More commonly, however, D?1JJ "])] is rendered
simply eus tou aluvos by the LXX., as in Gen. xiii. 15, Joshua
iv. 7, and elsewhere. Lastly, in Dan. vii. 18, we have both the
singular and the plural form together, K*D^5? D^J? "1JH K»!?J? 1]1.
rendered by the LXX., e»s aluvos ruv aldvuv.
The adjective aldvios is used continually by the LXX., — in refer
ence to the Passover, Exod, xii. 14, 17, — the tabernacle service,
Exod. xxvii. 21, — the priestly office of the sons of Aaron, Exod.
xxviii. 43, — the meat-offering, Lev. vi. 18, — and other things of the
Jewish dispensation, all of which are called v6fitjiov aldviov. So in
Jer. xxiii. 40, we have aldviov 6vetb'etir[j.ov, and arifxiav aldviov, used
of the corrective judgments on Israel, whose restoration is also fore
told. I will only add that the very remarkable language of S.Paul,
(2 Cor. iv. 17,) taS' imepBoXfy els inrepBohiiv aldviov, seems intended
to add to the force of the word aldvios, which could scarcely be, if
aldvios meant eternal. Beza's comment here is, " seternitas ipsa
seternitate magis seterna." See too Corn, a Lapide, in loco.
1 See Heb. vii. 16. The word here used of Christ's resurrection-
life, which we share with Him, is attaT&hvros, translated in our
F 2

68 The Restitution of All Things.
any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are
the children of God, being the children of the resur
rection;"1 for this depends oh a participation in the
divine nature, and upon that power which can "change
these vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like
unto Christ's glorious body, according to the working
whereby He is able to subdue even all things unto
Himself."2 (3) It yet remains to shew that this purpose of
God, wrought by Him through successive worlds or
ages, is only accomplished through death and dis
solution, which in His wisdom He makes the means
and way to life and higher glory ; for it is " by death,"
and by death only, that He " destroys him that has
the power of death, that is the devil, and delivers
them who through fear of death were all their life
time subject to bondage."3 Nature everywhere reveals
this law, though the divine chemistry is often too
subtle to allow us to see all the stages of the trans
formations and the passages or "pass-overs" from life
to death and death to life, which are going on around
us everywhere. But the great instance cited by
our Lord, that " except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it
Version " endless " ; literally " indissoluble " ; a word never used in
Scripture respecting judgment or punishment, but only of that life
which is beyond all dissolution.
' S. Luke xx. 36.
2 Phil. iii. 21. See also 1 Cor. xv. 53 ; Rom. viii. 29 ; Heb. vii.
16 ; xii. 28 ; 1 S. Pet. i. 3, 4, 5 ; 1 S. John iii. 2.
8 Heb. ii. 15.

The Testimony of Scripture. 69
brings forth much fruit,"1 forces the blindest to con
fess that all advance of life is through change, and
death, and dissolution. The seed of the kingdom,
which is above all kingdoms, and the seed of the
Son, who is above all sons, does not, any more than the
seed of wheat or the seed of man, come to perfection
in a moment or without many intermediate changes,
but "goes from strength to strength,"2 from the
bursting of one shell of Hfe to fuller life, from the
opening of one seal to another, and " from glory to
glory,"3 till all is perfected. Christ has shewn us all
the way, from " the lowest parts of the earth,"4 from
the Virgin's womb, through birth, and infant swad
dling clothes, to opened heavens, through temptation,
and strong crying and tears, and the cross, and
grave, and resurrection, and ascension, till He sits
down at God's right hand to judge all things. And
the elect yield themselves to the same great law
of progress through death, and "faint not though
the outward man perish, that their inward man may
be renewed day by day."8 Others may think they
will be saved in another way than that Christ trod.
His living members know it is impossible. To them,
as the Apostle says, " to live is Christ ;"6 and they
cannot live His life without being " partakers of His
sufferings."7 Therefore "we which live are alway
1 S. John xii. 24. 2 Psalm Ixxxiv. 7.
3 2 Cor. iii. 18. 4 Psalm cxxxix. 15.
» 2 Cor. iv. 16. " Phil. i. 21.
' 2 Cor. i. 5 ; Phil. iii. 10 ; Col. i. 24.

70 The Restitution of All Things.
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal
flesh."1 Because this is so little seen, — because so
many take or mistake Christ's cross as a reprieve to
nature, rather than a pledge that nature and sin
must be judged and die, seeming to think that
Christ died that they should not die, and that their
calling is to be delivered from death, instead of by
it and out of it ;2 — because in a word the meaning of
Christ's cross is not understood, but rather perverted,
and therefore death is shrunk from, instead of being
welcomed as the appointed means by which alone
we can be delivered from him that has the power of
death, who more or less rules us till we are dead, for
"sin reigns unto death,"3 and only "he that is dead
is freed from sin ;"4 — because this, which is indeed
the gospel, is not received, or if received in word is
not really understood, even Christians misunderstand
what is said of that destruction and judgment, which
is the only way for delivering fallen creatures from
their bondage, and bringing them back in God's life
to His kingdom.
As this is a point of all importance, lying at the
very root of the cross of Christ and of His members,
and giving the clue to all the judgments of Him, who
1 2 Cor. iv. 11.
2 Our translators have sometimes rendered sk Sav&rov by the
English words "from death ; " as in Heb. v. 7 ; but the force of the
orisrinal is always " out of death."
8 Eom. v. 21. * Rom. vi. 7.

The Testimony of Scripture. 71
"killeth and maketh alive," who "bringeth down to
the grave and bringeth up,"1 I would shew, not the
fact and truth only, that for fallen creatures the way
of life is and must be through death, but also the
reason for it, why it must be thus, and cannot he
otherwise. For the cross is not a fact or truth only,
but power and wisdom also, even God's power and
wisdom ; 2 as power, meeting the craving of our
hearts for deliverance ; as wisdom, answering every
question which our understanding can ask as to the
mystery of this life. For both to head and heart
life is indeed a riddle, which neither the Greek nor
Jew, the head and heart of old humanity, could ever
fully solve, though each people by its special craving
shewed its wants ; the Jew, as St. Paul says, requiring
signs of power, for the heart wants and must have
something to lean upon ; the Greek, man's head or
mind, seeking after wisdom, for it felt the darkness
and asked for some enlightening. To both God's
answer was the cross of Christ, which gave to each,
to head and heart, what each was longing for ; power
to the one to escape from that which had tied and
bound it, for by death with Christ we are freed from
the bondage of corruption and from all that hinders
the heart's best aspirations ; wisdom to the other to
see why we must die, and what is the reason for all
present suffering.
As to the fact and doctrine, a few words may
1 1 Sam. ii. 6; Deut. xxxii. 39. 2 1 Cor. i. 18-24.

72 The Restitution of All Things.
suffice, for in one form or another it is the creed of
all Christendom, that for fallen man the way of life
is and only can be through death and judgment.
The cross the way to life — this is confessedly the
special teaching of the gospel. But what is the
cross ? Does Christ's death save us unless by grace
we die with Him ? Our Lord distinctly says, " If any
man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow me ; for whosoever will
save his life shall lose it ; and whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find it." ' " This is a faithful
saying, If we be dead with Him, we shall live with
Him : if we deny Him, He also will deny us."2 The
saint must say, " I am crucified with Christ, never
theless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."3
" We are debtors, not to live after the flesh, for if we
live after the flesh we shall die ; but if we through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall
live."4 In baptism therefore we profess our death
with Christ, that dying with Him we may also live
with Him.5
Such is the doctrine we all receive. But what
is the reason for it ? Why is the way of life for us
through the cross, that is through death ? Why
cannot it be otherwise ? If we see the way by which
man got away from God, we shall see the way of
his return, and why this must be through death ; for
1 S. Matthew xvi. 25. 2 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
8 Gal. ii. 20. 4 Rom. viii. 12 18.
* Rom. vi. 3, 4.

The Testimony of Scripture. 73
indeed the way, by which we came away from God,
must be retraced if by grace we come back to Him.
How then did man depart from God, and die to
Him, and fall from His kingdom ? By believing a
lie. By the serpent's double lie, — a lie about God,
that God grudges and is not true, and a lie about
man, that in disobedience he shall be as God, — the
divine life in man's soul was poisoned and destroyed,
and man was separated from God, and died to God's
world.1 And because to a being like man, made in
God's image, death cannot be the end of existence,
but is only a passing out of one world into another,
by this death to God man who is a spirit lost the
place which God had given him, the Paradise,
called by Paul " the third heaven,"2 and was driven
out, and fell into the kingdom of darkness, his in
ward life turned like sweet wine to sourest vinegar,
into a life of ceaseless aching restlessness ; to escape
which he turns to outward things, hating to come to
himself even for a moment, unconsciously driven by
his own inward dissatisfaction to seek diversion from
himself in any outward care, pleasure, or vanity;
while his body became like that of the beasts, subject
to the elements of this world, and to all the change
and toil which make up " the course of this world."
Such was the fall of man, and it explains why
death is needful for our return to God. Death is the
1 Gen. iii. 1-5.
2 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.- Paradise is the word used by the LXX. in
Gen. ii. 8, 9. Compare Rev. ii. 7.

74 The Restitution of All Things.
only way out of any world in which we are. It was
by death to God we fell out of God's world. And it is
by death with Christ to sin and to this world that we
are delivered in spirit from sin, that is the dark world,
and in body from the toil and changes of this outward
world. For we are, as Scripture and our own hearts
tell us, not only in body in this outward world, but
in our spirits are living in a spiritual world, which
surely is not heaven, for no soul of man fill regene
rate is at rest or satisfied ; and being thus fallen, the
only way out of these worlds is death : so long as we
live their life, we must be in them. To get out of
them, therefore, we must die : die to this elemental
nature, to get out of the seen world, and die to sin,
to get out of the dark world, called in Scripture "the
power of darkness." l And since the life of the one
is toil and change, and the life of the other is dissa
tisfaction and inward restlessness, we must die to both
if we would be free from the changes of this world,
and from the restlessness and dissatisfaction in which
by nature our spirits are. Christ died this double
death for us, not only " to sin," 2 but also " to the
elements of this world."3 And to be free, we also
must die with Him to both. Only by such a death
are we delivered.
In pressing this point however, that death is need
ful for the sinner's deliverance, I need scarcely add,
that death, alone, and without another life, is not and
1 Col. i. 13. 2 Rom. vi. 10. 'Col. ii. 20.

The Testimony of Scripture. 75
cannot of itself be enough to bring us back to God's
world. We need death to get out of this world and out
of the power of darkness ; but we also need and must
have the Hfe of God, which is only perfected in resur
rection, to Hve in God's world.1 Just as without the
life of this world, we could not enter this world, or
without the Hfe of hell, enter or live in hell; so
without the Hfe of heaven we cannot enter or live
there ; for we cannot live in any world without the
life of it. And therefore as the serpent's He kindled
the life of hell in man, before he could fall into the
power of darkness, so God's Hfe must be quickened
again in man, before he can live again in God's
kingdom. And, blessed be God, as the life, of hell
was quickened by a He, so the Hfe of God is quickened
by the truth, even by the Word of God, who came
where man was to raise up God's Hfe in man, in and
by which through a death to sin and to this world
man might be freed perfectly.2 In Christ the work
has been accomplished. In Him by God's Word and
Spirit God's life has been again raised up in man ;
and in the power of this Hfe man in Christ has died
both to sin and to the world, and so, through death,
resurrection, and ascension, by steps we yet know little
1 S. John iii. 3, 5.
2 Not without a deep and wondrous reason is "|{}>3 both Good-
news and Flesh in the Hebrew ; for by the one as by the other the
captive creature is reached and quickened. Great indeed is tho
mystery of the flesh of Christ, touching which there are indeed
many unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Tet the mystery is revealed from faith to faith.

76 The Restitution of All Things.
of, has come back out of darkness to God's right hand.
Through Christ the self-same work is yet accompHsh-
ing, to bring lost man by the same process to the same
blessedness. But whether in Christ, or in us, the
work is only wrought through death. Man to be
saved must not only be quickened by God's life, but
must also die to that which keeps him far from God.
And the way to bring about this death is God's
judgment, who, because He loves us, kills to make
aHve, and " turneth man to destruction," that He
may say, " Eeturn, ye children of men." •
And this explains why God alone of all teachers
bas had two methods, and must have them, namely,
law and gospel, which appear opposed, for law con
demns while the gospel justifies, each to meet one
part of our need and of the devil's double lie. Foi
man is yet held by both parts of this old lie, that God
grudges and is untrue, and that man by self-will may
be as God ; and he needs not only to have God's life
quickened again in him, whereby he may be prepared
to live in God's world, but no less to have the life of
hell and of this world slain in him, by which he may
be delivered out of that power of darkness and of
this present world, which hold him captive, that so
he may come back again to God's kingdom. To
meet the first, we have the promise or gospel, long
before the law, though only fulfilled after law has
done its work ; to meet the second, we have the law
1 Psa. xc. 3. See also Job xix. 10, and ix. 22.

The Testimony of Scripture. 77
which condemns, and proves that man is not as God,
but a fallen, ruined creature. By the one, God's life
is quickened in man ; by the other, through present
or future judgment, the helHsh and earthly life is
slain and overcome. Does not God love ? The
gospel is the answer. Is man as God ? The law
settles this. Christ's cross is the seal of both, reveal
ing that God is love, for He gives His Son for rebels ;
and that man is not as God, but a sinner under death
and judgment.
But while the law condemns and shews what man
is, this " ministry of condemnation," needful in its
place, is not and cannot be God's end. The gospel,
the " ministration of righteousness and life," is God's
proper work, and, therefore, as St. Paul says, " re
maineth ; " i but the law, the " ministration of death
and condemnation," God's " strange work," 2 is only
a means to the end, and therefore " to be abolished "
and " done away." 3 St. Paul's teaching on this point
is most express, though spite of his teaching, and spite
of the gospel, not a few even of the Israel of God
cannot yet steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. No less clear also is his witness as to
God's promise to Abraham's seed, that it is not and
cannot be altered or disannulled by the law, or by
that curse and wrath and judgment which the law
worketh.4 So in his Epistle to the Galatians, having
1 2 Cor. iii. 11. ' Isa. xxviii. 21.
8 2 Cor. iii. 11, 13.
* Rom. iv. 15: v. 20- vii. 9. 11: Gal. iii. 10, 19.

78 The Restitution of AU Thongs.
first shewn that God's promise to Abraham included
all nations, and that the law necessarily could only
bring judgment, he proceeds to argue that " this co
venant of promise which was confirmed before of God
in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty
years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the
promise of none effect ; for if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more of promise ; but God gave it
to Abraham by promise." l The law, which is and
must be judgment to men, is needed to slay and
overthrow them in their own eyes. But this killing
is to make alive. The judgment or condemnation
cannot in any case disannul the previous covenant.
"Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be
confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto."
Judgment therefore must issue in blessing, not bless
ing in judgment. But for most the veil is yet on
Moses' face, so that in looking at the " ministry of
condemnation" men cannot see " the end of the
Lord," and that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender
mercy.2 I have dwelt the more on this, because so few now
seem to see why for us the way of life is and must
be through death ; and because, if this be seen, God's
end and purpose and the reason of His judgments
wiU be more evident. God our Father judges to
save. He only saves by judging what is evil. The
evil must be overthrown; and through death God
1 Gal. iii. 8, 15, 17, 18.
1 2 Cor. iii. 13; S. James v. 11.

The Testimony of Scripture. 79
destroys him that has the power of death. A new
creation, which is only brought in through death, is
God's remedy for that which through a fall is held in
death and bondage. Therefore both the " earth and
heavens " must " perish and be changed." 1 There
fore God Himself " turns us to destruction " that we
may " return " as little children.2 And God's elect
accept this judgment here, that their carnal mind
may die, and the old man be slain with all his en
mity. The world reject God's judgment here, and
therefore have to meet it in a more awful form in the
resurrection of judgment in the coming world. For
while here, through the burdens and infirmities of
"this vile body,"3 our fallen spirit is more easily
broken, and we die to sin more quickly ; though even
here we need both fires and waters, to make us die to
that self-willed life which is our misery. Who can
tell how much harder this death may be to those, who,
having gone hence, have not the burden of " this
vile body " to humble the pride of that fallen spirit,
which, while unbroken, is hell, and which must die
in us if we would reach God's rest.
Such is the reason for salvation by the cross, that
is through death ; but the great illustration here
as elsewhere is to be found in the law, that appointed
"shadow of good things,"4 which in aU its varied
forms of sacrifice asserts the same great truth, that
only by the fire of God and through death can the
1 Heb. i. 10-12. 2 Psa. xc. 3.
" Phil. iii. 21 ; rb aSitui rys raireivdoeus. * Heb. x. 1.

80 The Restitution of All Things.
earthly creature be changed, and so ascend to God.
The offerings were indeed of different kinds, some of
a sweet savour, which were offered on the altar in
the tabernacle ; ' while others not of a sweet savour
were burnt on the earth, in some place outside the
camp of Israel;2 figuring the varied relations in
which men's works and persons might stand to God,
and the varying place and manner of their accept
ance by Him. But in either case, whether offered in
obedience voluntarily, or required penally for trespass
and disobedience, the offering ever was made by fire,
and so perished in its first form to rise in another,
as pillars of smoke before God. If then all this was
" the pattern of things in the heavens,"3 we have
another witness that a transformation wrought by
fire is yet being carried on in the true heavens, that
is the spiritual world. For no divine change can be
wrought even on God's elect, save by " passing
through the waters and through the fires" which are
appointed for us, waters and fires as real, though not
of this world, as those which burnt on the altar of
old, or moved in the laver of the tabernacle. Our
Lord can no more spare our nature than the animal
was spared of old by the priest who offered it. And
as He in His own body, made under the law, did
not shrink from, but fulfilled, the types of suffering,
so will He fulfil the same in the bodies of those who
are His members, that " being made conformable
1 Lev. i. ii. iii.
2 Lev. iv. v. vi. ' Exod. xxv. 40; Heb. ix. 23.

The Testimony of Scripture. 81 -
unto His death, they may attain unto the resurrec
tion from among the dead."1
In any case the way for all is through the fires,
for fire is the great uniter and reconciler of all
things ; and things which without fire can never be
united, in and through the fire are changed and
become one. Therefore every coming of Christ, even
in grace, is a day of judgment. Therefore there are
fires even for the elect both now,2 and in the coming
day ; 3 for " our God is a consuming fire ; " 4 and to
dweU in Him we must have a life, which, because it
is of the fire, for fire burns not fire, can stand unhurt
in it. Therefore our Lord " came to cast fire into
the earth," and desired nothing more than " that it
should be aHeady kindled ;"5 therefore He says,
" Every one shall be salted with fire, and every
sacrifice shall be salted with salt." 6 For this is the
very " baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire," 7 that
" spirit of judgment and of burning," promised by
the prophet, " with which the Lord shall purge away
the filth of the daughters of Zion, and cleanse the
blood of Jerusalem ; after which He will create on
every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and on all her
assemblies, a cloud of smoke by day, and the bright
ness of a flame of fire by night ; and upon all, the
glory shall be a defence ; " 8 for " He is like a refiner's
1 Phil. iii. 10, 11. ' 1 S. Pet. i. 7, and iv. 12.
8 1 Cor. iii. 13, 15. 4 Heb. xii. 29.
s. S. Luke xii. 49. • S. Mark ix. 49.
7 S. Matt. iii. 11. 8 Isa. iv. 4, 5.

82 The Restitution of All Things.
fire, and like to fuUer's soap ; and He shall sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purity
the sons of Levi as gold and silver are purged,
that they may offer to the Lord an offering of
righteousness."1 And as by the hidden fire of this
present life, shut up in these bodies of corruption, we
are able by the wondrous chemistry of nature through
corruption to change the fruits and flesh of the earth
into our blood, and from blood again into our flesh
and bone and sinew ; so by the fire of God can we
be changed, and made partakers of Christ's flesh and
blood. In and through Christ we have received this
transmutation;2 and through His Spirit, which is
fire, is this same change accomplished in us.3
1 Mai. iii. 3. Luther's well-known words are to the purpose here,
for though originally written by him as a test of prophets, they are
no less true in their measure of all who are taught of God : —
" Quaerendum num expert! sunt spirituales illas angustias, et nativi-
tates divinas, mortesque, infernosque. Si audieris blanda, tranquilla,
devota, (ut vocant,) et religiosa, etiamsi in tertium coelum sese
raptos dicant, non approbabis. Quia signum Filii Hominis deest, qui
est Basanos, probator unicus Christianorum, et certus spirituum
discretor. Vis scire locum, tempus, modum, colloquiorum divinorum.
Audi : — ' Sicut leo contrivit ossa mea,' et ' Projectus sum a facie
oculorum tuorum : ' ' Repleta est malis anima mea, et vita mea
inferno appropinquavit.' Tenta ergo, et ne Jesum quidem audias
gloriosum, ni videris prius crucifixum." — Epist. lib. ii. p. 42.
2 Rom. v. 1 1 ; rh\v KaraWayiiv.
y 3 It is surely a significant fact, that the two words, QDrl and
rV?3, used in Hebrew to express destruction, signify also, and are
used to express, perfection ; and that the word for a sacrifice by fire,
iIB^i is the same as that for a bride or wife ; e.g. Numb, xxviii. 6.
By this double sense a veil covers the letter, veiling yet revealing
God's purpose ; for His purpose to the creature is through destruction

The Testimony of Scripture. 83
And as with the first-fruits, so with the harvest.
The world to be saved must some day know the same
baptism. For " the Lord will come with fire," and " by
fire and by His sword will He plead with all flesh,
and the slain of the Lord shaU be many."1 The
promised baptism or outpouring of the Spirit must
be judgment, for the Spirit cannot be poured on man
without consuming his flesh to quicken a better
life ; 2 and " His sword, which cometh out of His
mouth," 3 is that Word, which kills to make aHve
again. God is indeed "a man of war;"4 but His
warfare and wrath, unHke the "wrath of man, which
worketh not the righteousness of God,"5 works both
righteousness and Hfe, and is set forth in that " war
fare of the service of the tabernacle," 6 by which that
which was of the earth was made to ascend to God
through fire a sweet sacrifice.
The view therefore which has been accepted by
some believers, as more in accordance with Scripture
to perfect it, and by fire to make it a bride unto the Lord. Eor a
kindred reason some of the angels are called Seraphim, that is
burning ones ; for like the Lord, whose throne is flames of fire, (Dan.
vii. 9, 10,) they also are as fire; as it is written, "He maketh His
angels spirits, His messengers a flame of fire." Heb. i. 7, and Psalm
civ. 4.
1 Isa. lxvi. 15, 16.
2 Isa. xl. 7 ; and compare Rev. viii. 6, 7, which describes the
effect produced by the breath or spirit of the Lord sounding through
the trumpets of the heavenly sanctuary.
8 Rev. xix. 13, 15. " Exod. xv. 3. s S. James i. 20.
6 See Numbers iv. 23, 30, &c, and viii. 24, 25 ; margin : and
compare 1 Tim. i. 18.
9 2

84 The Restitution of All Things.
¦ than the popular notion of never-ending torments,
that those who abuse their day of grace will, after suf
fering more or fewer stripes, according to the mea
sure of their transgressions, be utterly annihilated by
the " second death," • though a great step in advance
of the doctrine of endless woe, is not a perfect wit
ness of the mind of God, nor the true solution of the
great mystery. God has not made man to let him
fall almost as soon as made, and then, in a large pro
portion of his seed, to sin yet more, and suffer, and
be annihilated ; but rather out of and through the
fall to raise him even to higher and more secure
blessedness ; as it is written, " As in Adam all die,
so in Christ shaU all be made alive ; " 2 not all at
once, but through successive ages, and according to
an appointed order, in which the last even as the
first shall be restored by the elect ; for Christ is not
only the " First," but also "with the last,"3 and will
surely in the salvation of " the last " bring into view
some of His glories, not inferior to those which are
manifested in the salvation of " the first-born," who
are " His body."4 He is the " First," both out of life
and out of death,5 and as such He manifests a pecu
liar glory in His elect first-born. But He is also the
" Last," 6 and " with the- last," and as such He will

1 I refer to the view advocated in such works as Eternal Punisn-
ment and Eternal Death, by the Rev. J. W. Barlow ; and Endless
Sufferings not the Doctrine of Scripture, by the Rev. T. Davis.
2 1 Cor. xv. 22. " Isa. xii. 4. * Eph. i. 23.
'- Col. i. 15, 18. ' Isa. xliv. 7; Rev. i. 11, 17.

The Testimony of Scripture. 85
display yet other treasures hid in Him, for " in Him
are hid aU treasures,"1 and "riches unsearchable,"2
which He will bring to light in due season. Their
own conversion ought to give believers hopes of this.
But indeed the whole mystery of regeneration and
conversion, and the absolute needs-be for the cross,
in its true ground and deep reason, is so Httle seen
even by converted souls, — so ignorant are they, that,
as first-fruits, they are called, not only to be " fellow-
workers with God," 3 but to be a pledge and pattern
of the world's salvation, — that they misunderstand
the plainest words which are spoken as to God's deal
ings in judgment with those who miss the glory of
the first-born. For what is conversion but a pas
sage, first through waters, then through fires ; 4 a
change involving a "death unto sin and a new birth
unto righteousness ; " the death not annihilating the
fallen spirit, but rather being the appointed means
for bringing forth and perfecting the new life. And
though the harvest may, and does, need a greater
heat than the first-fruits, — the one being gathered in
autumn, in the seventh,5 — the other in spring, in the
first and third months,6 — there is but one way to
bring forth seed out of the earth, and but one means
of ripening that which is so brought forth. Nothing-
is done without the waters and the fires. Conversion
is only wrought through condemnation. The law
1 CoL ii. 3. 2 Eph. iii. 8.
8 1 Cor. iii. 9; 2 Cor. vi. 1. 4 Isa. xliii. 2 ; S. Matt-, iii. 11.
" Lev. xxiii. 39. 8 Lev. xxiii. 6, 10, 12, lfi, 17.

86 The Restitution of All Things.
condemns and slays us,1 not to annihilate, but to
bring forth a better life. And those souls, who do not
know this condemnation, never fully know the "jus
tification of life " 2 in resurrection. Why then should
the judgment of the " second death," which is the
working of the same ministry of condemnation on the
non-elect, be annihilation ? Will not the judgment,
because God changes not, in them, as in the elect,
be the means of their deliverance ? To me all Scrip
ture gives but one answer ; that there is but oneway;
" one baptism for the remission of sins ; " that " bap
tism wherewith we have to be baptized," and of which
we may each say with our Head, " How am I strait
ened until it be accomphshed;"3 that "burning
in us, which," St. Peter teaches, " is made to prove
us," and at which we should " rejoice, inasmuch as we
are thus partakers of Christ's sufferings ; " 4 that
" therefore we are buried by baptism into death ; " 5
and therefore we look to be " baptized with the Holy
Ghost and fire ; " 6 not surely to annihilate, but rather
through judgment to perfect us; and that, there
fore, and to the same end, those not so baptized here
must know the last judgment, and " the lake of fire,
which is the second death."7 And indeed if one
thinks of the language of the true elect, and of all
the " fiery trial " which they are called to pass
through, — when we hear them say, or say ourselves,
1 Rom. vii. 9-11. ' Rom. v. 18. s S. Luke xii. 60.
* 1 S. Pet. iv. 12 — rp iv bp.lv rtvpdaei, k.t.\.
5 Rom. vi. 4. « S. Matt. iii. 11. ' Rev. xxi. 8.

The Testimony of Scripture. 87
" Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in
the deeps ; thy wrath Heth hard upon me, and Thou
hast afflicted me with all thy waves," l — we shaU not
so easily misunderstand what is said of that judg
ment, which is required to melt the greater hard
ness and impenitence of the reprobate.2
It is therefore simply because God is what He is,
that He is, though love, and because He is love, the
curse and destruction of the impenitent. But as
even in this fallen world He is able, not only to turn
our blessings into a curse,3 but curses into bless
ings ; — as we see strength, and health, and wealth,
and talents, which are blessings, aU turned to curses
through disobedience ; and pain, and want, and
sorrow, and death, which are curses, turned to real
blessings ; — so in other worlds, because God changes
not, curses by Him may yet be turned to blessings ;
and they who now are turning blessings into a curse
may, and, I beHeve, will, find that God can make even
curses blessings. Paul's words should help us here.
He who could say, " To me to Hve is Christ," 4 and
whose ways were therefore a true expression of God's
mind, bids the Church " to deHver some to Satan,
for the destruction of their flesh and saving of their
spirit," 6 and further teUs us that he himself has done
this, and " deHvered" certain brethren "to Satan, that
they may learn not to blaspheme."6 Oh wondrous
1 Psa. Ixxxviii. 6, 7. 2 See Appendix, Note A. p. 169.
- Mai. ii. 2. ' PhiL i. 21.
0 1 Cor. v. ft. • 1 Tim. i. 20.

88 The Restitution of All Things.
ways of God ! Souls are taught not to blaspheme, by
being deHvered to Satan ; and the spirits of Christian
brethren are saved, and their flesh destroyed, by
being put into the hands of God's adversary. What
does this not teach us as to God's purpose towards
those whom He also delivers to Satan, and disciplines
by evil, since they will not learn by good. " Whoso
is wise and wiU observe these things, even they shall
understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." •
I cannot even attempt here to trace the stages or
processes of the future judgment of those who are
raised up to condemnation ; for if " the righteous
ness of God is Hke the great mountains, His judg
ments are a great deep ; 2 but what has here been
gathered from the Word of God, as to the course
and method of His salvation, throws great light on
that " resurrection of judgment," 3 which our Lord
speaks of. Of the details of this resurrection, of the
nature and state of the bodies of the judged, — if in
deed bodies in which there is any image of a man,
and therefore of God, (for man's form bears God's
image,4) then are given to them, — and of the scene
of the judgment,— very little is said in Scripture ;
but the peculiar awfulness of the little that is said
shews that there must be something very fearful in
it. And indeed, when one thinks of the eternal law,
"To every seed its own body,"5 one can understand
how terrible must be the judgment on all that grows
1 Psa. cvii. 43. 2 Psa. xxxvi. 6. 8 S. John v. 29.
• 1 Cor. xi. 7. 6 1 Cor. xv. 38.

The Testimony of Scripture. 89
in a future world from the seed which has been
nourished here of self-love and unbelief; a judgment
in comparison with which any present pain is light
affliction. It is thus described: — "And I saw a
great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the
books were opened ; and another book was opened,
which is the book of life : and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them ; and they were
judged every man according to their works. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death." ! And yet, awful as it is, who
can doubt the end and purpose of this judgment, for
" God, the judge of all," 2 " changes not," 3 and
" Jesus Christ " is still " the same, yesterday, to-day,
and for the ages." 4 And the very context of the pas
sage, which describes the casting of the wicked into
the lake of fire, seems to shew that this resurrection
of judgment and the second death are both parts
of the same redeeming plan, which necessarily in
volves judgment on those who wiU not judge them
selves, and have not accepted the loving judgments
and sufferings, which in this Hfe prepare the first-
' Rev. xx. 11-14. " Heb. xii. 23.
8 Mai. iii. 6. 4 Heb. xiii. 8.

90 The Restitution of All Things.
born for the first resurrection. So we read, — " And
He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make
all things new. And He said unto me, Write : for
these words are true and faithful. And He said unto
me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin
ning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst
of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shaU inherit all things ; and I will be
his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful,
and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idola
ters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone ; which is the
second death." • What does He say here but that " all
things shall be made new," though in the way to
this the fearful and unbelieving must pass the lake
of fire. And does not the fact that the threatened
judgment comes under, and is part of, the promise,
" I make all things new," shew that the second death
is not outside of or unconnected with it, but is rather
the appointed means to bring it about in some cases.
Those who overcome inherit all : they are God's sons
and heirs. Like Abraham, they are " heirs of the
world;"2 "the world is theirs,"3 to bless it. But
the judgment of the wicked, even the second death,
is only the conclusion of the same promise, which,
under threatened wrath, as in the curse of old upon
1 Rev. xxi. 5-8. * Rom. iv. 13. 8 1 Cor. iii. 22.

The Testimony of Scripture. 91
the serpent, involves the pledge of true blessing.1
What but this could make Paul, who so yearned
over his brethren that he " wished himself accursed
for them," " have hope," not fear, " that there should
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
unjust." 2
The " second death"3 therefore, so far from being,
as some think, the hopeless shutting up of man for
ever in the curse of disobedience, will, if I err not,
be God's way to free those who in no other way than
by such a death can be delivered out of the dark
world, whose life they live in. The saints have died
with Christ, not only " to the elements of this world,"4
but also "to sin,"5 that is, the dark spirit-world. By
the first they are freed from the bondage of sense ;
by the second, from the bondage of sin, in all its
forms of wrath, pride, envy, and selfishness. The un
godly have not so died to sin. At the death of the
body therefore, and still more when they are raised
to judgment, because their spirit yet lives, they are
still within the Hmits of that dark and fiery world,
the Hfe of which has been and is the life of their
spirit. To get out of this world there is but one
way, death ; not the first, for that is passed, but the
1 Gen. iii. 14-19. " How mysterious are God's ways. . . Neither
to Adam nor to Eve was there one word of comfort spoken. The
only hint of such a thing was given in the act of cursing the serpent.
The curse involved the blessing." —The Eternal Purpose of God, by
A. L. Newton, p. 10.
2 Compare Rom. ix. 3, and Acts xxiv. 15. * Rev. xx. 14.
4 Col. ii. 20. " Rom. vi. 10.

92 The Restitution of All Things.
second death. Even if we have not Hght to see this,
ought not the present to teach us something as to
God's future ways ; for is He not the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever ? We know that, in inflicting
present death, His purpose is through death to destroy
him that has the power of death, that is the devil.
How can we conclude from this, that, in inflicting
the second death, the unchanging God will act on a
principle entirely different from that which now
actuates Him ? And why should it be thought a
thing incredible that God should raise the dead, who
for their sin suffer the penalty of the second death ?
Does this death exceed the power of Christ to over
come it ? Or shall the greater foe still triumph,
while the less, the first death, is surely overcome ?
Who has taught us thus to limit the meaning of the
words, " Death is swallowed up in victory " ? Is God's
" will to save all men " [ limited to fourscore years,
or changed by that event which we call death, but
which we are distinctly told is His appointed means
for our deliverance ? All analogy based on God's
past ways leads but to one answer. But when in
addition to this we have the most distinct promise,
that " as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be
made aHve," — that " death shall be destroyed," — that
" there shall be no more curse," but "all things made
new," and " the restitution of all things ; " — when we
are further told that " Jesus Christ is the same,"
1 1 Tim. ii. 4.

The Testimony of Scripture. 93
that is a Saviour, " yesterday, to-day, and for the
ages ; " — the veil must be thick indeed upon man's
heart, if spite of such statements " the end of the
Lord" is yet hidden from us.
To me too the precepts which God has given are
in their way as strong a witness as His direct pro
mises. Hear the law respecting bondmen,1 and stran
gers,2 and debtors,3 and widows and orphans,4 and the
punishment of the wicked, which may not exceed
forty stripes. " lest if it exceed, then thy brother
should seem vile unto thee ;"5 yea even the law re
specting "asses fallen into a pit:"6 — hear the pro
phets exhorting to " break every yoke," to " let the
oppressed go free," and to " undo the heavy bur
dens :"v — hear the still clearer witness of the gospel,
" not to let the sun go down upon our wrath," 8 to
" forgive not until seven times, but until seventy
times seven,"9 " not to be overcome of evil, but to
overcome evil with good : " l0 to " walk in love as
Christ has loved us," and to " be imitators of God
as dear children : " n — see the judgment of those who
neglect the poor, and the naked, and the hungry,
and the stranger, and the prisoner; 12 — and then say,
Shall God do that which He abhors? Shall He
command that bondmen and debtors be freed, and
' Deut. xv. 12-15. 2 Exod. xxii. 21 ; Lev. xix. 33, 34.
3 Deut. xv. 1, 2, 9. ' Exod. xxii. 22 ; Deut. xxiv. 17.
5 Deut. xxv. 2, 3. " Exod. xxi. 33, 34 ; and xxiii. 4, &
7 Isa. lviii. 6 " Eph. iv. 26.
9 S. Matt, xviii. 22. « Rom. xii. 21.
» lu/Miral &eoS, Eph. V. 1, 2. " S. Matt. xxv. 41-43.

94 The Restitution of All Things.
yet Himself keep those who are in worse bondage
and under a greater debt in endless imprisonment ?
Shall He bid us care for widows and orphans, and
Himself forget this widowed nature, which has lost
its Head and Lord, and those poor orphan souls which
cannot cry, Abba, Father ? Shall He limit punish
ment to forty stripes, " lest thy brother seem vile,"
and Himself inflict far more upon those who though
fallen still are His children ? Is not Christ the
faithful Israelite, who fulfils the law ; and shall He
break it in any one of these particulars ? Shall He
say, " Forgive till seventy times seven," and Himself
not forgive except in this short life ? Shall He com
mand us to " overcome evil with good," and Himself,
the Almighty, be overcome of evil ? Shall He judge
those who leave the captives unvisited, and Himself
leave captives in a worse prison for ever unvisited ?
Does He not again and again appeal to our own
natural feelings of mercy, as witnessing " how much
more" we may expect a larger mercy from our
" Father which is in heaven " ? ' If it were other
wise, might not the adversary reproach, and say,
Thou that teachest and judgest another, teachest
Thou not thyself? Not thus will God be justified.
But, blessed be His Name, He shall in all be justified.
And when in His day He opens " the treasures of
the hail,"2 and shews what sweet waters He can bring
1 S. Matt. vii. 6-1 1 ; and compare Psa. ciii. 8-14.
2 Job xxxviii. 22. The two questions of the book r.f Job are,
How can man, and How can God, be justified? Job's complainings.

Popular Objections. 95
out of hard hailstones ; when He unlocks " the
place where light now dwells " shut up, and reveals
what light is hid in darkness and hardness, as we
see in coal and flint, those silent witnesses of the
dark hard hearts, which God can turn to floods of
light ; when we have " taken darkness to the bound
thereof,"1 and have seen not only how " the earth is
full of God's riches," but how He has "laid up the
depths in. storehouses ; " 2 in that day when " the
mystery of God is finished," and He has " destroyed
them which corrupt the earth," 3 — then shall it be
seen how truly God's judgments are love, and that
" in very faithfulness He hath afflicted us."4
§ III. Popular Objections.
I have thus stated what I see of God's purpose
and way ; and it is, I beHeve, the key to all the dif
ficulties and apparent contradictions of Holy Scrip
ture on this subject. There are, however, certain
current objections, which have weight with those
in substance, amount to this, — How can God be justified in treating
me as He does ? His three friends, who cannot answer this, urge
him rather to ask, How can man be justified ? Elihu answers this
latter question ; and God then answers Job's question by asking him
if he knows what God can bring out of things which at present are
dark and crooked. Job's question is not the sinner's question, but
that of the " perfect man ; " (ch. i. 8.) a question not unacceptable to
God, who declares of Job's three friends, that "they have not
spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job."
ch. xiii. 8.
1 Job xxxviii. 19, 20. 2 Psa. civ. 24 ; and xxxiii. 7.
8 S>v. xi. 18. 4 Psa. exix. 75.

96 The Restitution of All Things.
who tremble at God's Word. It is said that this
doctrine is opposed to the voice of the Church, to
Eeason, and above all to Holy Scripture. If this
last be true, the doctrine cannot stand. God's Word
is the final appeal on this and every other subject.
For the rest, if the Church speak with God, woe to
those who disobey her. But if by reasonings or
traditions she make void the Word of God, "let
God be true, and every man a liar." l
Let us look at these objections : —
(1) First, it is said that the Church has never
held, but on the contrary has distinctly condemned,
this doctrine. But is this true ? Where then, I ask,
and when, has the Catholic Church ever authori
tatively condemned this view of restitution? At
what council, or in what decrees, received by East
and West, shall we find the record and the terms of
this condemnation ? Of course I am aware that indi
viduals have judged the doctrine, and that since
Augustine's days the Western Church, led by his
great authority, has generally received his view of
endless punishment. I know too that Theophilus of
Alexandria, the persecutor of Chrysostom,2 and then
Anastasius of Eome, who, according to his own confes
sion, until called upon to judge Origen, knew little or
nothing about him,3 and later on the bishops at the
" home synod " summoned by the patriarch Mennas
' Rom. iii. 4.
* For details, see Neander, Church Hist. vol. iv. pp. 474-476.
8 Id. ibid. p. 472.

Popular Objections. 97
at Constantinople, the latter acting under court in
fluence, two hundred years after his death, con
demned Origen.1 But so have certain bishops in
council asserted Transubstantiation, and condemned
all those who on this point differed from them ; and
yet it would be most untrue to say that the Uni
versal Church asserted this doctrine, or that a rejec
tion of it involved a rejection of the Christian faith.
It is so with the doctrine of endless torments. It
can never be classed imder " Quod semper, quod
ubique, quod ab omnibus." Many have held it ; but
the Catholic Church has nowhere asserted it ; while
not a few of the greatest of the Greek Fathers dis
tinctly dissent from it.2 The Creeds received by East
and West at least know nothing of such a doctrine,
and in their assertion of " the forgiveness and remis
sion of sins," seem rather to point to another belief
altogether. But suppose it were otherwise, — suppose it could
be shewn that the Church, instead of asserting " the
forgiveness of sins," had taught the reverse, and had
1 Both Neander and Gieseler shew, that this condemnation of
Origen was passed, not at the 5th General Council of Constanti
nople, in 553, as some have supposed, but at the "home synod"
under Mennas, in 641. See Neander, Church Hist. vol. iv. p. 265 ;
and Gieseler, Eccl. Hist. Second Period, div. ii. ch. 2, § 109 ; and
notes 8 and 20. And even this " home synod," though under court
influence it condemned some of Origen's views, would not consent
to condemn the doctrine of Restitution, spite of the Emperor's
express requirement that this doctrine should be anathematized.
2 See Appendix, Note B., pp. 174 — 190, for extracts from
Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa,
and many others. H

98 The Restitution of AU Things.
judged the doctrine of restitution,— grant further,
what I admit, that the Church generally has seen,
or at least has taught, comparatively Httle, especially
of late, respecting universal restoration, — what does
this prove, if, though yet beyond the Church's light,
the doctrine is reaUy taught in Holy Scripture ?
Many things have been bid in Scripture for ages.
St. Paul speaks of " the revelation of the mystery,
which had been hid from ages and generations ; " '
some part of which at least, though hidden, had
been " spoken by the mouth of all God's holy pro
phets since the world began." 2 There are many
such treasures hidden in Scripture, open secrets
Hke those in nature which are daily opening to us.
But when have God's people as a body ever seen or
received any truth beyond their dispensation ? Take
as an instance Israel of old, whose ways, " ensamples
of us," 3 prefigure the Church of this age. Did they
ever receive the call of the Gentiles, or see God's
purpose of love outside their own election ? A few
all through that age spoke of blessings to the
world, and were without exception judged for such
a testimony : — " Which of the prophets have not
your fathers slain ? " Was God's purpose to the Gen
tiles therefore a false doctrine : or, because His
people did not receive it, was it not to be found in
their own Scriptures ? The doctrine of " the resti
tution of all things " is to the Church what " the
1 Rom. xvi. 25, 26 ; Eph. iii. 6. 2 Acts iii. 21.
8 1 Cor. x. 6 ; ri/inu rumv.

Popular Objections. 99
call of the Gentiles" was to Israel. And if the
Church, Hke Israel, can see no truth beyond its own,
and has judged those who have been witnesses to a
purpose of love far wider than that of this age, —
which is not to convert the world, as some suppose,
but only " to take out of the nations a people for
God's name,"1 — is God's purpose, though declared
in Scripture, to be damned as false doctrine, simply
because the Church is blind to it ? Is Israel's path
to teach us nothing? Are men's traditions as to
God's purpose to be preferred to His own unerring
Word ? When I see the Church's blindness at this
day, almost unconscious of the judgment which is
coming on it, — when I see that if I bow to the
decisions of its widest branch, I must receive not
Transubstantiation only, but the Immaculate Con
ception also, — the last of which cuts away the whole
ground of our redemption, for if the flesh which
bore Christ was not ours, His Incarnation does not
profit us, — I can only fall back on that Word, which
in prospect of coming apostasy is commended to
the man of God, as the guide of his steps and the
means to perfect him.2 It is indeed a solemn thing
to differ with the Church, or like Paul to find one
self in a " way which they call heresy," simply by
" beHeving," not some but, " all the things which
1 Acts xv. 14. Compare S. Matt. xxiv. 14 : — " This gospel shall
be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations."
2 2 Tim. iii. 14-17. Compare the connexion of this passage with
the opening words of the chapter. E 2

100 The Restitution of All Things.
are written in the law and in the prophets." l But
the path is not a new one for the sons of God. All
the prophets perished in Jerusalem.2 And, above
all, the Lord of prophets was judged as a Deceiver,3
by those whom God had called to be His witnesses.
The Church's judgment, therefore, cannot decide a
point like this, if that judgment be in opposition
to the Word of God.
But is it possible that Christians should have
been allowed to err on so important a point as the
doctrine of future judgment ? Would our Lord Him
self have used, or permitted others to use, words
which, if final restitution be true, might be under
stood as teaching the very opposite ? I say again,
look at the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Has,
or has not, one large section of the Church been
suffered to err as to the meaning of words, which
are at the very foundation of her highest act of
worship ? Did not our Lord, when He said, " Take,
eat, this is my body," 4 know how monstrously the
words would be perverted ? Yet though a single
sentence would have made any mistake almost im
possible, He did not add another word. Why?
Because the very form in which the Word is given
is part of our discipline ; and because without His
Spirit, let His words be what they may, we never
really understand Him. Transubstantiation is a
mistake built on Christ's very words ; and the doc-
1 Acts xxiv. 14. ¦< S. Luke xiii. 33, 34.
8 S. Matt, xxvii. 63. « 8. Matt. xxvi. 26.

Popular Objections. 101
trine of endless torments is but another Hke misun
derstanding; which not only directly contradicts many
other Scriptures, but practically denies and falsifies
the glorious revelation of Himself, which God has
given us in the gospel, and in the face of Jesus
Christ. Both shew the Church's state. And though
thousands of God's children have held, not these
only, but many other errors, the fact, instead of.
approving their errors, only proves the grace of
Him, who spite of such errors can yet bless and
make His children a blessing.
(2) It is further said that the doctrine is opposed
to Eeason. Several arguments are urged by those
whose opinions are entitled to the most respectful
attention. I confess I care little to answer these,
because to me the question simply is, " What saith
the Scripture ; " because, too, I know that those who
urge these reasons would instantly abandon them,
if they beHeved Scripture spoke differently; for I
am sure I may answer for them and say, that no
reasons if opposed to Scripture would weigh with
them ; because, too, if it be made a question of rea
soning, as much may be said against as for the doc
trine of never-ending punishment. Still, as some
of these reasons are perplexing simple hearts, I may
notice those which are most often heard.
(i) The first is, that this doctrine militates against
the atonement, for if all men shall at length be
saved, God became man to redeem from that which
is equally remedied without it. Surely, Christ did

102 The Restitution of All Things.
not die to save us from nothing. But never will
any believe the redemption by Christ, who do not
believe in hell also.1
Now what does it say for the state of the Church,
when men can argue, that if all are saved at last by
Christ, they are saved as well without redemption.
The objection only proves the confusion of thought
which passes current for sound doctrine, and how
little the nature of the fall, and the redemption by
Christ, are really understood. What the Scripture
teaches is, that man by disobedience and a death to
God fell from God under the power of death and
darkness, where by nature he is for ever lost, as
unable to quicken his soul as to raise again his dead
body ; that in this fall God pitied man, and sent His
Son, in whom is life, to be a man in the place where
man was shut up, there to raise up again God's life
in man, to bear man's curse, and then through death
to bring man back in God's life to God's right hand ;
that in His own person, Christ, the first of all the
first-fruits, as man in the Hfe of God, broke through
the gates of death and hell ; that those who receive
Him now through Him obtain the life by which they
also shall rise as firstfruits of His creatures ; that
" if the firstfruits be holy, the lump is also holy,"
and that therefore "in Christ shall all be made alive."
But how does it follow hence that those who are not
firstfruits, if saved at all, are saved without Christ's
1 Pusey's Sermon on Everlasting Punishment, p. 29 ; and Cazenove's
Essay on Universalism, p. 13.

Popular Objections. 103
redemption ? Christ is and must be the one and only
way, by which any have been, or are, or can be, saved.
But if when we were " dead in sins " and " children
of wrath, even as others," God's Word could quicken
and deHver us out of the horrible pit, that we might
be " firstfruits of His creatures," why should we say
He cannot bring back others out of death, though
they miss the glory of being "firstfruits?" To say
that if this be true, God became man to redeem us
from what is equally remedied without it, and that if
"in Christ all are made alive," their life is not through
Christ's atonement, but independent of it, is simply
misapprehension of the whole question. But the
objection shews how much, or how little, is under
stood even by masters of Israel.
The other part of the objection, that " none
believe in redemption who do not believe in hell,"
is true, and shews why some at least are only saved
by being " delivered to Satan." For none are saved
till they know or beHeve their ruin. Like the Pro
digal, we must come to ourselves before we come to
our Father.1 If therefore yet bound by the lie, " Ye
shall be as Gods," men will not believe their fall, and
that there is, and that their souls are in, a dark world,
the necessary result is they cannot believe in redemp
tion, for till they beHeve their fall they will neither
believe nor care for deliverance. If they will not
believe it, they shaU know it. And if belief in hell
1 S. Luke xv. 17, 20.

104 The Restitution of All Things.
makes beHef in redemption possible, what if the
knowledge of hell should also lead those, who will
not believe, to the knowledge of their state and of
their need of Christ's redemption ?
(ii) It is further argued, that, if grace does not,
judgment cannot, save man. How can damnation
perfect those whom salvation has not helped ? Can
hell do more for us than heaven ? What more could
God do for us, that He has not done for us ? l
The answer to this lies simply in what has been
said above, as to the reason why the way of Hfe for
us must be through judgment. We are held captive
by a lie. One part of that lie is that we are as Gods.
The remedy for this is to shew us that we are ruined
creatures. Till we believe or know this, we cannot
return to God. Judgment, therefore, to shew us
what we are, is as needful as the grace which meets
the other part of the serpent's He, and shews what
God is. Therefore God kills to make alive. There
fore He turns man to destruction, that He may say,
Eeturn, ye children of men. Therefore He delivers
even Christians to Satan, for the destruction of their
flesh, that so they may learn what grace has not
taught them. If we want further examples, Nebu
chadnezzar shews us how judgment does for man
what goodness cannot. Loaded with gifts, through
self-conceit he loses his understanding. The remedy
is to make him as a beast. Then as a beast he learns
1 Pusey's Sermon, pp. 9, 10.

Popular Objections. 105
what as a man he had not learnt.1 Let the nature
of the fall be seen, and the reason why we are only
saved through judgment is at once manifest. Grace
saves none but those who are condemned ; nor till we
have felt " the ministry of death and condemnation"
do we fully know " the ministry of life and righteous
ness." The firstfruits from Christ to us are proofs,
that by death, and thus alone, is our salvation per
fected. UnbeHevers, who will not die with Christ,
are lost, because they are not judged here. God
cannot do more than He has done for man. Law
and Gospel are His two covenants. But why may not
the Lord, seeing that He is " Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, to-day, and for the ages," by the ministry
of death and condemnation in another world do for
those, who have not here received it, that same work
of judgment to salvation, which in the firstfruits is
accompHshed in this present world ? Blessed be His
name, we know He will subdue all things unto Him
self ; and though our sin can turn His blessings into
curses, He can no less turn curses into blessings, by
that same power which through death destroys the
power of death.
(iii) But it is further objected, that this doctrine
gives up God's justice;2 for if all are saved, there
will be no difference between St. Peter and Nero,
virgins and harlots, saints and sinners.3
' Dan. iv. 29-34. 2 Cazenove's Essay, pp. 22-24.
8 Jerome, on Jonah iii. 6, 7 ; quoted from Huet's Origeniam, in
Pusey's Sermon, p. 29.

106 The Restitution of All Things.
This again is misapprehension or worse. God's
justice is given up, because He saves by judgment.
The conclusion is absurd ; but it arises from the
common notion, that we are saved by Christ from
death, instead of by it and out of it. What Scripture
teaches is, that man is saved through death ; that the
elect, being first quickened by the word, and then
judging themselves or being judged in this world,1 by
a death to sin are freed from Satan ; that others, not
so dying to sin, remain in the life and therefore under
the curse and power of the dark world, and are there
fore delivered to Satan to be punished, to know,
since they will not believe, their fall, and their need
of God's salvation. But all this simply asserts the
justice of God, that if men will not be judged here,
they must be in the coming world.
For the rest, the statement that according to this
view no distinction is made between St. Peter and
Nero, virgins and harlots, saints and sinners, is not
only untrue, — for is there no distinction between
reigning with Christ and being cast out and shut up
in hell with Satan ? — but is too like the murmur of
the Elder Son at his brother's return,2 to need any
answer with those who know their own hearts. It is
the old objection of the Pharisee and Jew, who
thought God's truth would fail if sinners of the Gen
tiles shared their good things ; an objection deeply
rooted in the natural heart, which is slow to beHeve
that an outwardly pure and blameless life needs as
' 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32. 2 S. Luke xv. 29, 30.

Popular Objections. 1 07
much the blood of the cross as the most depraved
and open sinner. The objection only shews where
they are who urge it ; and whatever support it may
seem to have from a part of God's Word, — as a part of
God's Word, taken against the rest, seemed to justify
the Jew, and was indeed the very ground on which he
rejected the call of the Gentiles, — more Hght will
shew that it rests on partial views, and on a system
atic disregard of all those truths of Scripture, which
are beyond the dispensation. Some day we shall see,
that " all have come short,"1 that as to sin and failure
"there is no difference between the Jew and Greek,"2
that the elect are " by nature children of wrath, even
as others,"3 that if saved at all, first or last we must
be " saved by grace ; " 4 and this truth will justify
all God's ways, " who hath concluded all in unbelief,
that He might have mercy upon all." 5
(iv) The last argument I notice is that from ana
logy. It is said that as unnumbered creatures in this
world fail to attain their proper end, as a large pro
portion of seeds never germinate, as many buds never
blossom or reach perfection, so thousands of our race
may also miss their true end, and be for ever cast
aways. " For as the husbandman soweth much seed
upon the ground, and planteth many trees, and yet
the thing that is sown good in his season cometh not
up, neither doth all that is planted take root ; even
1 Rom. iii. 23. 2 Rom. x. 12. 8 Eph. ii. 3.
1 Eph. ii, 8, 6 Rom. xi. 32.

1 08 The Restitution of All Things.
so it is of all them that are sown in the world ; they
shall not all be saved." ¦
Now that countless creatures in their present
form fail to reach that perfection, which some of
their species reach, and which seems the proper end
of it, is a fact beyond all contradiction. Present na
ture is both the witness and mirror of man's present
state. But to say that nature out of this failure or
destruction cannot and does not bring forth other and
often fairer forms of life, — that what here fails of its
due end is therefore wholly lost, or for ever shut up in
the imperfect form in which it dies and fails here, —
is opposed to fact and all philosophy. While there
fore it may be fairly argued that many of our race
fail to attain that perfection which is reached by
some as the end of this present life, analogy will never
prove that those who miss this are hopelessly de
stroyed, or for ever held in the ruined form or state
which they have fallen into. If this indeed were the
conclusion to be drawn from the failure of some seeds,
why not go further and argue that since death over
comes every form of life in this world, death and not
life must be the final ruler of the universe ? A sad
and most partial reading this of the great mystery.
The truth is, nature is a mirror of the two unseen
worlds. Every form of death, all disease, decay, and
failure, every fruitless seed, each ruined life, is the
shadow of hell, and of the working of that spirit
1 2 Esdras viii. 41.

Popular Objections. 109
which destroys and mars God's handiwork. On the
other hand aU life and joy, every birth, all that
quickens and supports and helps the creature, is a
reflection of the world of Hght, and a witness that
God is meeting the disorder. Even death itself, as
seen in nature, does not declare annihilation or never-
ending bondage in any given form of evil. Quite the
reverse. Nature says, matter cannot perish : it may
seem to perish, but the apparent death is only change
of form ; the change, call it death or what you will,
being indeed the witness of present imperfection, but
not of eternal bondage in that form, nor of destruc
tion or annihilation when that form perishes. Nature
must be strangely read to draw this lesson from it ;
but in this argument the conclusion depends upon the
extent or limit of our view, and our capacity to read
the book of nature, imperfect readings of which will
always lead us, as in the phenomena of sunrise and
sunset, to conclusions the very opposite to reality.
Analogy, so far from proving that the lost are for
ever shut up in the form of evil where they now are
or may be, declares not only that all things may be
changed, but that what to sense appears destroyed
and worthless, may contain shut up in itself what is
most beauteous and valuable. Think of the precious
things which chemistry brings out of refuse, — of the
flavours, scents, and colours, which are every day
being extracted from what appears worthless. Who
can tell what may yet be wrought by fire ? Fire
can free and transform what water cannot touch.

110 The Restitution of AU Things.
All things shaU be dissolved by fire.1 And even
those most fair and least corruptible, as the precious
stones, which are the shadows of the things of Christ's
kingdom,2 shaU, Hke that kingdom, one day give up
their present beauty for a higher glory, that God
may be all in all.
(v) The greatest difficulty perhaps of all is that
which meets us from the existence of present evil.
¦" The real riddle of existence," says an acute thinker,
" the problem which confounds aU philosophy, aye,
and all religion too, so far as religion is a thing of
man's reason, is the fact that evil exists at all; not
that it exists for a longer or a shorter duration. Is
not God infinitely wise and holy and powerful now ?
And does not sin exist along with that infinite
holiness and wisdom and power ? Is God to become
more holy, more wise, more powerful, hereafter ; and
must evil be annihilated to make room for His per
fections to expand ? " 3 No doubt the existence of evil
is a difficulty; but surely this kind of reasoning
about it proves too much ; for by the same reason
ing it might be shewn, that God could never have
done anything. Was He not " infinitely wise and
holy and powerful" when "the earth was without
form and void " ? Why then should this state
ever have been changed by Him tui " aU was very
good"? Why should not the darkness, which
once reigned, have remained for ever? Was the
1 2 S. Peter iii. 12. 3 Exod. xxviii. 17-21 ; Rev. xxi. 19-21
8 Mansel's Bampton Lectures, leet. vii. p. 222.

Popular Objections. Ill
change needed " to make room for God's perfections
to expand " P And why, when the earth was again
corrupt, should God judge it with a flood ; and then
again bring it forth from its destruction? Why
Bhould He work for the deHverance of His people in
Egypt, or " triumph gloriously" over their oppressors?
Was He not " all wise, all holy, and all powerful,"
even while His people were oppressed ? Did He be
come " more holy and wise and powerful " by their
deHverance ? If such reasoning as this is good, why
should we look either for a day of judgment or the
promised times of restitution? Why, but because,
mysterious as the fact is, there has been a fall. All
things do not continue as they were from the begin
ning. And therefore the Father "worketh hitherto," '
nor rests tiU " aU things are made new,"2 and " every
thing is very good."
And as to evil, granting that its existence is a
difficulty, is it one which is so utterly incomprehen
sible ? Is it not plain that the knowledge of evil is
essential to the knowledge and experience of some
of the highest forms of good ; and cannot even man's
reason see that sin may be a means of bringing
even into heaven a meekness and self-distrust and
knowledge of God, which could be gained in no other
way ? Does not all nature shew that while the origin
of evil is unspeakable, death and corruption may
both be means to bring in better things ? The seed
1 S. John v. 17. 2 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Rev. xxi. 5.

112 The Restitution of All Things.
falls into the ground, and dies, and becomes rotten ;
but the result is a resurrection with large increase.
So the juice of grapes or corn is put into the stiU,
and thence by decomposition and fermentation, both
forms of corruption, is evolved a higher and more
enduring purity and spirituality. The existence of
evil therefore is not so much the difficulty, as the
question, whether, if evil be essential now, it may
not be always needful for the same end. And to this
question our reason as yet can give no answer. Scrip
ture however has an answer, that, though a fall has
been permitted, evil shall have an end, and the crea
ture through God's wondrous wisdom even by its
faU be raised to higher glory. Scripture distinctly
teaches that " the creature was made subject to
vanity, not by its own will, but through Him who
subjected the same in hope ; because the creature
itself also shaU be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious Hberty of the children
of God." ' What St. Paul says too of an election of
grace before the foundation of the world, according
to a predetermined purpose of redemption through
Christ's precious blood,2 proves that God's purpose
involved and could only be wrought out through a
fall, for without a fall' there can be no redemption.
And the fact that God, with the fuU foreknowledge
of man's sin, chose yet to encounter all this sin, with
its attendant misery, out of it to bring forth and give
> Rom. viii. 20, 21. 2 Eph. i. 4-12.

Popular Objections. 113
to man His own righteousness, shews that in His
judgment it was worth while to suffer the evil in
order to arrive at the appointed end. Evil therefore
must subserve some good purpose — otherwise God
could never permit it, or say, " I form peace, and I
create evil." J And though as yet we cannot fully see
why evil is allowed, what we know of God and of
His ways, that there is perfect wisdom and economy
in every part of them, assures us that there can be no
error or mistake, even in that which seems to cause
the ruin of the creature. Meanwhile those who be
Heve that some now bound by death by it are being
brought into more perfect and secure blessedness, by
such a creed practicaUy assert that present evil need
not be eternal, since in some at least it shall be done
away. If in some, why not in all ? Besides, even
supposing we could not teU whether evil might or
might not be done away, — supposing it were proved
that it would exist for ever, as essential to the train
ing of certain creatures,— this existence of evil for ever
would be a very different thing from the idea of the
infinite or never-ending punishment of a finite being.
But, thank God, we are not left to guesses. Pro
phecy announces a day when there shaU be no more
curse or death, but aU things made new. In this
witness we may rest, spite of the fact and mystery
of present evil.
(vi) I have thus noticed what Eeason is supposed
* Isa. xiv. 7.
I

114 The Restitution of All Things.
to say against the doctrine of final restitution. But
to me this is a question only to be settled' by the
Word of God ; for with our knowledge or lack of
knowledge of all the mystery of our being, we are
not in a position to argue this point, or to say exactly
what is, or what is not, reasonable. What saith the
Scripture ? This is the question, and the only ques
tion I care to ask here on this subject. At the same
time I confess that the restitution of all things, so
far from appearing to me unHkely or unreasonable,
seems, spite of the mystery of the origin and exist
ence of evil, more consistent with what we know of
God than the doctrine of never-ending punishment.
To say that sin, assuming it to be opposed to God,
has the power of creating a world antagonistic to
God as everlasting as He is, attributes to it a power
equal at least to His ; since, according to this view,
souls whom God willed to be saved, and for whom
Christ died, are held in bondage under the power of
sin for ever ; and all this in opposition to the Word
of God, which says that God's Son " was manifested
that He might destroy the works of the devil," ¦ who,
if the so called orthodox view be right, will succeed
in destroying some of the works of the Son of God
for ever. When I think too of God's justice, which it is
said inflicts, not only miUions of years of pain for
each thought or word or act of sin during this short
1 1 S. John, iii. 8.

Popular Objections. 115
Hfe of seventy years, — not even millions of ages
only for every such act, but a punishment which
when millions of ages of judgment have been in
flicted for every moment man has lived on earth is
no nearer its end than when it first commenced ;
and aU this for twenty, forty, or seventy years of sin
in a world which is itself a vale of sorrow ; — when I
think of this, and then of man, his nature, his weak
ness, all the circumstances of his brief sojourn and
trial in this world ; with temptations without, and a
fooHsh heart within ; with his judgment weak, his
passions strong, his conscience judging, not helping
him ; with a tempter always near, with this world to
hide a better ; — when I remember that this creature,
though faUen, was once God's child, and that God is
not just only, but loving and long-suffering ; — I can
not say my reason would conclude, that this creature,
failing to avail itself of the mercy here offered by
a Saviour, shaU therefore find no mercy any more,
but be for ever punished with never-ending tor
ments. Natural conscience, which with all its faiHngs is
a witness for God, protests against any such awful
misrepresentation of Him. For even nature teaches
that aU increase of power lays its possessor under an
obligation to act more generously. ShaU not then
the Judge of aU the earth do right ?1 Shall we say
that sinful men are selfish and guilty, if with wealth
1 Gen. xviii. 25.
I 2

1 1 6 The Restitution of A 11 Things.
and power they neglect the poor and miserable ; and
yet that God, who is eternal love, shall do what even
sinful men abhor and reprobate ? For shall we, if one
of our chUdren fall and hurt itself, or be lost to us
for years, bitterly reproach ourselves for want of care,
and be tormented with the thought that with greater
watchfulness we might have saved the child, — shall
we if at last he is found, even among thieves, a
sharer of their crimes, still love him as our own
chUd, make every possible excuse for him, and do
all we can to save him, — shall we, though he be
condemned, plead for him to the end, urging the
strength of those temptations with which he has
been so long surrounded, — and shall not God have at
least the like pity for His lost ones ? Has He left
any of His children in peril of being for ever stolen
from Him ? Can He, if through the seduction of a
crafty tempter some wander for awhile, be content
that they should remain miserable slaves for ever
lost to Him ? He would not be a wise man who
risked even an estate, nor a good man who obliged
any one else to do so. Can God then ever have
exposed His children to the risk of endless separation
from Him ? AU the reason God has given me says, God
could not act thus ; and that if His children are for
ever lost, He even more than they must be miserable.
But, as I have said, we have, thank God, a better
guide than our reason, even God's blessed Word,
with its "more sure" promise; and because that
Word declares man's final restitution, and that God

Popular Objections. 117
wiU seek His lost ones "till He find them,"1 and
that therefore a day shall come when " there shall
be no more curse or death," I gladly accept God's
testimony, and look for life and rest, spite of present
death and judgment and destruction.
(3) But it is said, certain texts of Holy Scripture
are directly opposed to the doctrine of universal
restitution. That they seem opposed is granted. We
have already seen that, taken in the letter, text clashes
with text on this subject. All those texts which speak
of " destruction" and "judgment" are explained by
what has been said above as to the way of our sal
vation, and that by death alone God destroys him
that has the power of death. Those passages also
which speak of the " lost," as for example St. Paul's
words at the commencement of his epistle to the
Eomans, that " as many as have sinned without law
shall perish without law, and as many as have sinned
in the law shall be judged by the law,"2 are not the
declaration of the final lot of any, but of the state of
all by nature, till through union with Christ they
are made partakers of His redemption. In this lost
state some are held far longer than others, and there
fore are in a special sense " the lost,"3 as compared
with the firstborn, who are made partakers of the first
resurrection. But all the saved have once been lost ; 4
1 S. Luke xv. 4, 8. 2 Rom. ii. 12.
B 2 Cor. iv. 3 ; robs airoWviievovs, sometimes translated " them
that perish," as in 1 Cor. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 15.
* S. Luke xv. 24, 32.

118 The Restitution of All Things.
for the Son of Man is come to seek and save that
which was lost.1 The fact therefore that of these lost,
some are lost for a longer or a shorter period, proves
nothing against their final restoration ; for the Good
Shepherd must " go after that which is lost, until He
find it."
There are however other passages which are reHed
on as unquestionably affirming never-ending punish
ment. That they do teach us that those who here
reject the gospel do by their present rejection of
Christ lose a glory, which, if now lost, is lost for
ever, and do further bring upon themselves a judg
ment of darkness and anguish unspeakable, is, I
believe, the positive teaching of the New Testament.
Once let us, who hear the gospel, while we are in
this life seU our birthright, and then though like
Esau we may cry " with a great and exceeding bitter
cry," the glory of the first-born is for ever gone from
us, and we shall find no place or means for reversing
our choice, though when too late we seek to do so
carefully with tears. Once lost, the birthright is for
ever lost. But I do not on this account believe that
even the Esaus have therefore no blessing ; for I
read, " By faith Isaac blessed both Jacob and Esau
concerning things to come ;"2 and so while the tarth-
right is for ever lost, Esau yet has hope as " con
cerning things to come," and will one day get a
blessing, though never the blessing of the despised
1 S. Luke xix. 10. » Heb. xi. 20.

Popular Objections. 119
birthright. Only if we here suffer with Christ shall
we reign with Him ; only if Hke Him we lose our
Hfe, shall we save it for the kingdom. Still these
solemn texts, which speak of grievous loss, do not, I
beHeve, countenance or teach the current doctrine
of never-ending torments. I confess I cannot
perfectly explain aU these texts. The exact sense
of some of them may yet be open to question.
But aU who are famiHar with Biblical controversies
know that this is not a difficulty which is peculiar to
the question of eternal punishment, for there is
scarcely a doctrine of our faith which at first sight
does not seem to clash more or less with some other
plain scripture ; the proof of which is to be seen in
the existence of those countless sects, which have
divided and yet divide Christendom. And when J
remember how the opening of God's method of sal
vation has already solved for me unnumbered diffi
culties, — when I think how the further mystery of
the firstborn unveils yet deeper depths of God's
purpose, — I can well believe that what yet seems
contradictory will with further Hght be found to be
in perfect accordance with the tenour of the gospel.
And just as evU in Nature and Providence, which is
inexplicable, does not shake my faith that God is
love, or that Nature and Providence are the work of
One Supreme Intelligence, who is overruling all
apparent anomaUes in accordance with an unerring
scheme of perfect love and wisdom : so the yet un
solved difficulties of Scripture do not shake my faith

120 The Restitution of All Things.
in that purpose of God which plainly is revealed to
us. One part of God's Word cannot really contradict
another. Let us then look at the texts which are chiefly
reHed on as teaching the doctrine of everlasting
punishment. It is remarkable that they are in every
case the words of our Lord Himself.
(i) There is, first, the passage respecting the sin
against the Holy Ghost, which our Lord declares
'' shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in
that which is to come."1 From this it is concluded
that the punishment for this sin must be never-
ending. But does the text say so ? The whole
passage is as foUows : — " Wherefore I say unto you,
all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Spirit 2
shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever
speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be
forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in
this age,3 nor in the coming one." These words, so
far from proving the generally received doctrine, that
sin not forgiven here can never be forgiven, distinctly
assert, — first, that all manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men, — secondly, that some
sins, those, namely, against the Son of Man, can be
1 S. Matt. xii. 32 ; S. Mark iii. 29 ; S. Luke xii. 10. The words
in S. Mark, which our version renders, " hath never forgiveness," in
the original are, oIik %xei &<peoiv eis rbv aluva.
2 t) rov irvetfiaros 0\a(TtpTip.ia. a aldv.

Popular Objections. 121
forgiven, apparently in this age, — and thirdly, that
other sins, against the Holy Ghost, cannot be for
given either here or in the coming age ; which last
words surely imply that some sins not here forgiven
may be forgiven in the coming age, the sin or blas
phemy against the Holy Ghost not being of this
number. This is what the text asserts : and it explains
why God has so long withheld the general outpouring
of His promised Spirit; for man cannot reject or speak
against the Spirit, untU the Spirit comes to act upon
him. God has two ways of teaching men ; first by
His Word, the letter or human form of truth, that is
the Son of Man, in which case a man may reject
God's call without knowing that he is really doing
so ; the other, in and by the Spirit, which convinces
the heart, which therefore cannot be opposed without
leaving men consciously guilty of rejecting God.
To reject this last cuts man off from the Hfe and
Hght of the coming world. This sin therefore is not
forgiven, "neither in this age, nor in the coming
one." But the text says nothing of those " ages to
come," 1 elsewhere revealed to us ; much less does it
assert that the punishment of sin not here forgiven
is never-ending. When therefore we remember how our Lord has
taught us to forgive, "not until seven times, but
until seventy times seven;"2 and when we see the
length and breadth of this commandment, that it
is bidding us forgive as God forgives, not only tiU
' Eph. ii. 7. 2 S. Matt, xviii. 22.

122 The Restitution of AU Things.
seven times seven, that is the " seven times seven
years," which make the Jubilee,1 but " unto seventy
times seven," that is a decade of JubUees, the mystic
" seventy weeks," which " are determined to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciHation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the MostHoly;"2 — words
which surely have had an inceptive fulfilment in the
first coming of our Lord, but which, like so many
other prophecies of His coming and kingdom, wait
until another coming and another age for a yet more
glorious accompHshment ; — when we remember that
this is the forgiveness which God approves, we may be
pardoned for beHeving that the threatening, " It shall
not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in the coming
one," does not measure or exhaust the possibilities of
God's forgiveness. " I believe" indeed " in the Holy
Catholic Church, the resurrection of the body, and the
life everlasting ;" but I also " beHeve in the forgive
ness of sins," even to the end, as long as God is a
Saviour and there is any sin to need forgiveness.
(U) Again we are referred to the text, " The
wrath of God abideth on him,"3 as another proof of
never-ending punishment. But the words do not prove
it. The context is, " He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shaU not see Hfe, but the wrath of God abideth
1 Lev. xxv. 8. 2 Dan. ix. 24.
• 8. John iii. 36.

Popular Objections. 123
on him." The passage speaks of man's state by
nature and grace, and of the results of being pos
sessed by faith or unbelief. Faith receives eternal
Hfe : unbelief rejects it ; and man so long as he is in
unbeUef cannot see life, but has God's wrath still
resting on him. But an unbeHever, though, whUe
he is such, God's wrath abides upon him, may pass
by faith out of the wrath to Hfe and blessedness. If
it were not so, aU would be lost ; for the lie of the
serpent has possessed us aU, and we are all " by
nature chUdren of wrath even as others." This text
therefore cannot bear the sense some put upon
it. If it could, no man once an unbeHever could
have any hope of life or deliverance. All gospel-
preaching would be in vain, if the unbeliever
could not become a believer. That this text how
ever should be quoted on this subject is significant,
and shews the measure of Hght which has decided
this question.
(Ui) Far more difficult is the very awful passage
which speaks of hell, " where their worm dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched." 1 But both the context
of the passage, and the Old Testament use of the
words, convince me that the ordinary interpretation
cannot be the true one. As to the context, the words
which are reHed on as teaching the doctrine of never-
ending punishment are directly connected by the
conjunction "For" with a general statement as to
1 S. Mark ix. 42-50.

1 24 The Restitution of All Things.
sacrifice. The whole passage runs thus : — " And
whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that
believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into
the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off ; it
is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than
having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched ; ! where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot
offend thee, cut it off ; it is better for thee to enter
halt into life, than having 'two feet to be cast into
hell, into the fire that nevel shall be quenched;
where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it
out ; it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of
God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast
into hell-fire ; where their worm dieth not, and the
fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted
with fire, and every sacrifice shaU be salted with salt.
Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his saltness,
wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in your
selves, and have peace one with another." Take
the ordinary interpretation, and there is no con
nection between never-ending punishment and the
law here quoted respecting salt in sacrifice. But as
spoken by our Lord the fact or law respecting the
Meat-offering is the reason and explanation of what
is said respecting hell-fire,— " For every one must
1 rb irvp rb turfieffTOV.

Popular Objections. 125
be salted with fire, and every sacrifice must be salted
with salt."
Here as elsewhere the law throws Hght on the
gospel, nor can these words be understood until the
exact nature of the offering which our Lord refers to
is apprehended. Salt, in its nature sharp and biting,
yet preserving from corruption, was expressly re
quired in every Meat-offering;1 this Meat-offering
itself being an adjunct to the Burnt-offering, and,
Hke it, not a Sin-offering, but a " sweet savour," and
offered for acceptance ; 2 the Burnt-offering shadow
ing the fulfilment of man's duty toward God ; the
Meat-offering, his duty toward his neighbour ; both
of which have been fulfiUed for us in Christ, and are
to be fulfiUed by grace in us His members, as it is
written, " That the righteousness of the law might be
1 Lex. ii. 13.
2 The offerings appointed by the Lord were (as I have already
noticed,) divided into two distinct classes, — first, the sweet-savour
offerings, which are all offered for acceptance ; and secondly, those
offerings which were not of a sweet savour, and which were required
as an expiation for sin. The first class, comprising the Burnt-offer
ing, the Meat-offering, and the Peace-offering, were offered on the
brazen altar which stood in the court of the tabernacle. The
second class, the Sin and Trespass-offerings, were not consumed on
the altar, but were burnt on the earth without the camp. In the
first class the faithful Israelite gives a sweet offering to the Lord ;
in the other the offering is charged with the sin of the offerer. In
the Burnt-offering, the Meat-offering, and the Peace-offering, the
offerer came for acceptance as a worshipper. In the Sin and Tres
pass-offerings, he came as a sinner to pay the penalty of sin and
trespass. Unless this distinction and the general law of the offer
ings be understood, the force of our Lord's words as to the " salting
with fire " will not be apprehended.

126 The Restitution of All Things.
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit."1 The passage which we are considering
begins with this, man's duty to his neighbour, and
the peril of offending a little one. " It were better
that a millstone were hanged about one's neck, and
that the Hfe which offends were even destroyed,
than that we should offend or hurt one of these little
ones." Then comes the exhortation to sacrifice
" hand," or " foot," or " eye," lest we come into the
worse judgment, which must be known by those who
wUl not judge themselves. " For," says our Lord,
thus giving the reason for self-judgment, "every
man," whether he likes it or not, if he is ever to
change his present form and rise to God, " must be
salted with fire." This may be done as a sweet-
savour to God ; though even here " every sacrifice is
salted with salt," — for even in wUling sacrifice and
service there is something sharp and piercing as
salt, namely, the correction which truth brings with
it to those who will receive it. But if this be not
accepted, the purgation must yet be wrought, not as
a sweet-savour, but as a sin-offering, where the
bodies are burnt as unclean without the camp ;
" where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched;" (the " worm" aUuding to the consumption
of those parts which were not burnt with fire;) " for"
in some way " every man must be salted with fire,"
even if he be not a sweet-savour " sacrifice," which
1 Rom. viii. 4.

Popular Objections. 1 27
is " salted with salt." But all this, so far from teach
ing never-ending punishment only points us back to
the law of sacrifice, and to the means which must be
used to destroy sin in the flesh, and to make us ascend
in a new and more spiritual form as offerings to
Jehovah. And the Old Testament use of the words, " The
fire shall not be quenched," is still more conclusive
against the common interpretation. The words occur
first in the law of the Burnt-offering, where we
read " The fire shaU ever be burning upon the altar :
it shaU never go out ;" — Hterally, " it shaU not be
quenched,"1 — the words being exactly the same as
those our Lord quotes here. Here, beyond all ques
tion, the words can have nothing to do with never-
ending punishment, or indeed with wrath of any
kind ; for the Burnt-offering was one of the " sweet-
savour" offerings : they speak only of the one means,
namely, the " fire of God," by which that which was
offered to and accepted by Him as " a sweet savour "
could be made to ascend upon His altar, in token of
its acceptance by Him. To keep this fire ever alive
was one of the priest's first duties, typifying the
preservation of that spiritual fire which it is Christ's
work as Priest to kindle and keep alive, for by it
alone can we " present our bodies a living sacrifice."2
The other places where the words occur are the follow
ing. They are twice spoken of the overthrow of the
1 Lev. vi. 13 ; irvp ov fffieffQ-htTerai.
2 Rom. xii. 1, and compare S. Luke xii. 49.

128 The Restitution of All Things.
first Jewish temple built by Solomon:1 then of
Edom ;2 then of Jerusalem,3 and of the house of the
king of Judah,4 and the forest of the south ;5 and
lastly in the passage here quoted by our Lord from
the prophet Isaiah,6 which speaks of the punish
ment of the wicked at the period of the latter-day
glory. In all these cases the words express such a
destruction as was figured in the Sin-offerings, which
were cast out and burnt without the camp as unfit
for God's altar. These are the only places in the
Old Testament where the words occur, and in every
instance except the last they manifestly cannot, and
confessedly do not, involve the idea of endless suffer
ing. Why in this one place only is a sense to be
put upon the words, which is not only untenable in
every other similar passage of the Old Testament,
but would make one part of Scripture contradict
another. (iv) But the passage which is perhaps most often
quoted on this question is that which speaks of the
life of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked
alike as "everlasting": — " These shall go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life
eternal."7 The word here used, and which in our
Version is translated " eternal" and " everlasting," is
in either case the same in the original.8 Hence it is
1 2 Kings xxii. 17, and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 25.
2 Isa. zxxiv. 10. 8 Jer. vii. 20, and xvii. 27.
4 Jer. xxi. 12. » Ezek. xx. 47.
* Isa. lxvi. 24. ' S. Matt. xxv. 46.
¦ aldvios.

Popular Objections. 129
argued, that " whatever be the meaning of the word
in the case of the lost, the same must be its meaning
in the case of the saved ; and our certainty of never-
ending bHss for penitent believers is gone, if the
' word bears not the same signification in the case of
the impenitent and unbelieving." 1
This at first sight seems to have some weight.
Yet if it can be shewn, (as we have shewn,2) that the
word here used is in other Scriptures applied to what
is not eternal, we may be pardoned for thinking it
cannot mean eternal here ; the rather as, if it did,
this text would contradict other plain statements of
the same Scripture. Nor, as I have said, does this
affect the true eternity of bliss of the redeemed,
which is based on participation with Christ in His
risen Hfe, and is distinctly affirmed in other plain
Scriptures, such as, " Neither can they die any more,
but are children of God, being children of the resur
rection."3 The truth is that this word describes not
the quantity or duration, but the quaUty, of that
of which it is predicated. I need not here repeat
the proofs of this. But I may add that the word
which in this passage we translate "punishment,"4
and which in its primary sense means simply " prun
ing," is that always used for a corrective discipline,
which is for the improvement of him who suffers it.
1 Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated March
14, 1864, p. 7. A similar statement is to be found in the Pastoral
Letter of the Archbishop of York, p. 14.
2 Pp. 57-68, above.
8 S. Luke xx. 36. ' ic6\a<rts.
K

130 The Restitution of All Things.
Those who hold the common view of the endlessness
of punishment are obhged to confess this ;l and this
of itself proves that their doctrine is untenable ; for
any punishment, be it for a longer or a shorter time,
would not be corrective discipline, but quite another
thing, if it left those who were so corrected unim
proved and lost for ever. May we not then from this-
very passage prove, that, while they are doubly blessed
who go away at the first resurrection into eternal Hfe,
1 " Of the two words, ri/uopla and K6\aais," (says the present Arch
bishop of Dublin, in his Synonyms of the New Testament, p. 30,) " in
ri/xupta, according to its classical use, the vindictive character of
the punishment is the predominant thought ; it is the Latin ' ultio';
punishment as satisfying the inflicter's sense of outraged justice, as
defending his own honour, and that of the violated law ; herein its
meaning agrees with its etymology, being from ri/xii, and oZpos, 6pdu>,
the guardianship or protectorate of honour. In ic6\iuris, on the
other hand, is more the notion of punishment as it has reference to
the correction and bettering of him that endures it ; (see Philo, Leg.
ad. Cai. § 1.) it is ' castigatio,' and has naturally for the most part
a milder use than riftupia. Thus we find Pkto (Protag. 323 e) join
ing no\d<reis and vovOerfoeis together : and the whole passage to
the end of the chapter is eminently instructive as to the distinction
between the words ; . . . . with all which may be compared an in
structive chapter in Clement of Alexandria, (Strom, iv. 24 ; and again
vii. 16,) where he defines Ko\d<reis as pt,epina\ iraiSelai, and ri/iupta as
kokov avTandSocts. And this is Aristotle's distinction. (Bhet. i. 10.)
... It is to these and similar definitions that Aulus Gellius refers,
&c. (Nod. Att. vi. 14.) "
Having thus clearly stated and proved what the etact meaning of
k6\oo-is is, the Archbishop proceeds as follows : — "It would be a very
serious error however to attempt to transfer this distinction in its
entireness to the words as employed in the New Testament ; " that is,
it would be a serious error to give the word its proper sense. To
such shifts are even learned and good men driven by their traditional
views respecting endless punishment.

Popular Objections. 131
they are not wholly unblessed whom the Lord yet
cares to punish ; ' the rather as He has shewn us, from
the first fall tiU now, that His changeless way is to
make even the curse a blessing.
(v) Another text often quoted on this question is,
— " Good were it for that man, if he had not been
bom."2 This it is said is a proof of never-ending
punishment, since it would be good to be born, if,
even after ages of suffering, men could at last be
restored to see God. Surely the words declare an
awful doom : an awful warning too they are to those
now near Christ. And yet as in the doom pronounced
upon our first parents, which as far as it was ad
dressed to them had not one ray of light or word of
promise in it, — for all that God said to the woman
was sorrow, pain, humiliation ; all that He said to
the man was curse, death, ruin, desolation ; and
only in His curse upon the serpent was any promise
of the woman's seed given,3 — this woe upon Judas,
which seems as dark as night, may yet consist with
purposes of mercy, of which in these words we find
no intimation. The fall of Judas, even as that of
our first parents, which in God's wisdom opened a
way for the fulfilment of that " purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began,"4 spite of its attendant judgment may not
only bring in higher good, but Hke Israel's fall,
which has been "the riches of the world,"5 may
' Heb. xii. 6, 7. 2 S. Matt. xxvi. 24.
8 Gen. iii. 14-19. 4 2 Tim. i. 9. 5 Rom. xi. 12.
k 2

132 The Restitution of All Things.
even end in the restoration of the faUen one to more
secure blessedness. It is surely significant that one
and the same awful prophecy is by the inspired
writers of the New Testament applied to Judas and
Israel.1 If therefore the one is not a type or figure
of the other, the two are in some way connected
most intimately. And yet Israel, of whom it is said,
" Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see,
and bow down their back alway," (words which in
the Psalm immediately precede the passage which is
quoted by St. Peter in reference to the traitor Judas,)
though hated for awhile, and "as concerning the
gospel enemies for our sakes, are yet beloved for the
fathers' sakes,"2 and shall be restored one day, and
" brought up out of their graves,"3 " for the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance."4 And
so the betrayer here, of whom the same passage is
quoted, " Let his habitation be desolate, and let no
man dweU therein," and whose "fall," like Israel's, has
been the " riches of the world," may yet more shew
the Lord's riches. It is no unreasonable inference,
that, as the same prophecy applies to both, their ends
shall not be wholly dissimilar. Certainly some of
the threatenings upon Israel, — such as, " I wiU utterly
forget you, and I will forsake you;"6 nay even
1 Compare Psalm lxix. 23, 25, with Rom. xi. 10, and Acts i. 19,20.
The same passage is applied by S. Paul to Israel, and by S. Peter to
Judas. ¦ Rom. xi. 28.
8 Ezek. xxxvii. 12. 4 Rom. xi 29.
6 Jer. xxiii. 39. See the yet stronger language in Deut. xxx. 18.

Popular Objections. 133
such words as those of our Lord Himself, " If thou
hadst known in this thy day the things which belong
to thy peace ; but now are they hid from thine
eyes,"1 — if less awful than the woe pronounced on
Judas, are dark enough, had no other light been
poured on them. And so these words to Judas might
forbid all hope, were there no other words of the
same Lord to make us hope for all men. It is
because there are such words, that I hesitate to put
a sense upon this woe on Judas, which shall make it
contradict other no less true and weighty words of
the same Saviour.
Let us then look again more closely at these
words. While surely applying first to Judas, like all
Christ's words they have a wider meaning. In the
passage referred to, — " The Son of Man goeth, as it
is written of Him ; but woe to that man, by whom
the Son of Man is betrayed : it had been good for
that man if he had not been born," — two men, and
only two, are spoken of; the " Son of Man," and
" that man ".by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
Are not these in substance " the old man " and " the
new," " man " and " the Son of Man," of whom the
one is always the betrayer of the other. Of these
the one is the man of sin, the son of perdition, who
cannot be saved, but must die and go to his own
place ; for flesh and blood cannot inherit the king
dom, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1 S. Luke xix. 42.

L34 The Restitution of All Things.
Good had it been for this man, if he had not been
born ; but better is it that he has been born, that
God might bring in better things.1 Good had it
been, if there had been no sin and faU, but better is
it that there has been a fall, " for where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound." 2 The evil shall work
for good, and pass away ; while the results shaU be
for ever glorious. For all that rose in Adam falls in
Christ, even as aU that fell in Adam rose again in
Christ. The evil is only for awhUe. " I have seen
the wicked in great power, and spreading himself
abroad like a green bay-tree ; yet he passed away,
and lo, he was not : yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found."3
(vi) There is yet another text sometimes quoted
on this subject. The words to the Eich Man in hell,
that " there is a great gulf fixed, so that they cannot
pass who would come from thence,"4 are said to shut
out all hope for a lost soul, when it has once entered
into the place of torment. But is it so ? Disciples have
before now misunderstood the Lord. The question
is, Are those, who thus interpret these words, under-

1 It ought not to be overlooked, too, that in the passage under
consideration, " Good were it for that man if he had not been born,"
the word we translate " good " is xa\bv, not i.ya86v. This surely is
not by chance. And I think I see an obvious reason for the choice of
the word KaAbv here rather than ayaBiv. The xahbv may be missed,
while the ayaQbv may by Almighty grace be yet obtainable
2 Rom. v. SO.
8 Psa. xxxvii. 36, 36.
4 S. Luke xvi. 26.

Popular Objections. 135
standing or only misunderstanding this most solemn
parable ? What is its aim ? It is a similitude of
something ; for all the parables are similitudes, even
though, like the the parables of the Prodigal Son, and
the Unjust Steward, both of which are in direct con
nection with this one, they are uttered, as is usual
with St Luke, Hke simple narratives, always begin
ning with, " A certain man," or " There was a certain
man." Of what, then, is this parable of the Eich
Man a similitude ? Whom does the Eich Man repre
sent? Who is the poor neglected beggar full of
sores, to whom the very dogs without shew more pity
and kindness than the Eich Man ? Both the con
nection of the parable, and its particulars through
out, shew that its awful warning is addressed, not so
much to the godless world, as to those who here en
joy the greatest privileges. Observe the particulars
stated respecting the Eich Man. He was one of
Abraham's seed, one who even in heU could not for
get his election, but stUl cried, " Father Abraham."
He was " clothed in purple and fine linen," the rai
ment of the kingdom, and, as a child of the king
dom, he "fared sumptuously every day,'" while Lazarus,
whose name means simply " needing help," was lying
at his door a mass of sores, loathsome and in want,
and yet uncared for and unpitied by him who enjoyed
so many blessings. Who are these two men ? If,
with Augustine and other great teachers of the early
Church, we take the dispensational view, the Eich
Man is the Jew ; the poor beggar at his gate is the

136 The Restitution of All Things.
lost Gentile.1 In the one we see the children of the
kingdom, who as such were clothed in purple and
fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and yet
cared nothing for the Gentile world which lay close
at their door in spiritual want and wretchedness : in
the other we have the Gentile world, lost, full of
sores, and lacking everything. The one, even in
hell, yet claiming to be Abraham's seed, and of
whose brethren Abraham says himself, " They have
Moses and the prophets," and " If they believe not
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per
suaded though one rose from the dead ; " the other,
brought through death, as dead sinners, into God's
rest, into those very privileges of which the good fare
and fine raiment of the Eich Man were but the type
and figure. Such substantially is surely the lesson of
this parable, though I could never confine it, or any
other parable of our Lord's, to the old Jew and Gen
tile only, first, because " no prophecy of Scripture is
of private interpretation," and also because the Jew,
as Abraham's son, is himself the type of those who
by grace have now been brought into the place of
children of the kingdom, whUe the poor Gentile beg
gar is yet the pattern of those, who, though full of
sores, are yet the " poor " and the " mourners," whom
Christ calls " blessed," and who " shall be comforted.%
What the parable teaches therefore is just that truth,
which the elect are so slow to beHeve, that the child-
1 Augustin. Qucest. Evang. ii. 38, 39 ; Greg. M Horn. 40, in

Popular Objections. 1 37
ren of the kingdom, if unloving, shall spite of aU
present privileges be cast into outer darkness, while
lost ones, now without, shall through death come in
and rest with Abraham. The Jews would not believe
it in their day. How could God be faithful if they
were cast out ? The children of the kingdom now,
those who judge their state Godwards, not by their
love, that is their Hkeness to their Lord, but by their
privileges, by the fact that God has given them such
rich and precious blessings in Christ Jesus, are slow
to beHeve, that, spite of their blessings, they may be
cast out. Yet this is the solemn teaching of the
parable. It is one of Abraham's seed who is in heU ;
one of the elect people, and not a poor outcast.
And yet " the great gulf fixed," which severs those
who once were nigh but are now cast out, though ut
terly impassable for man, is not so for " Him who
hath the key of David, who openeth and no man
shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, who
hath the keys of death and hell ; " l and who, as He
has Himself broken the bars of death for men, can
yet " say to the prisoner, Go forth ; to them that are
in darkness, Shew yourselves." 2 Who are we, to say
that the gulf, impassable to man, cannot be passed
by Christ, or that He cannot bring the last prisoner
safely back, even out of the lowest prison ? As well
might we argue that because " the Ethiopian cannot
change his skin, or the leopard his spots," 3 — because
1 Rev. i. 18, and iii. 7. 2 Isa. xlix. 9.
8 Jer. xiii. 23.

1 38 Tiie Restitution of All Things.
the evil man can never by his own act make himself
good, — therefore God can never change him. The
firstfruits are a proof what God can do. I know
what He has done for the elect, who were " by nature
children of wrath, even as other men ; " J and He has
said, " 0 death, I will be thy plagues ; 0 hell, I will
be thy destruction;"2 and therefore this parable,
awful as it is to me, as one who by grace am now
called to eat of the fat things of God's house and
wear the fine raiment, — because it shews how all
these blessings may be abused, and only aggravate
my condemnation, if I am selfish and unloving, —
yet by no means proves that, awful as the judgment
is, there is no hope for those who suffer it. There
surely is hope for the Jews, though of them, and as
a warning to them, this word was first spoken. And
so surely, because God is God, there yet is hope, even
for those who shall suffer the sorest judgment.3
1 Eph. ii. 3. 2 Hos. xiii. 14.
8 I subjoin what Stier, one of the most approved and spiritual
of modern commentators, and himself an advocate of the doctrine
of endless punishment, says respecting this parable. Having shewn
that this hell and torment of the Rich Man cannot refer to " the
place and condition of the eternally damned," as it only describes
the state before the resurrection, ( Words of the Lord Jesus, vol. iv.
p. 222 : there is more to the same effect, p. 233,) he says of Abra
ham's words, " The repelling answer hints at the justice and well-
adjusted design of love in the torments which for the present " (the
italics are Stier's) " are rigidly fixed." (Id. ibid. p. 209.) He then
sums up the general teaching of the parable as follows : — " The
enigma of the buried Rich Man, unrightly called wicked, and of
Lazarus, covered with sores and with contempt, is -well worth the
attentive notice of all whom we too readily term worthy and estim-

Popular Objections. 139
Meanwhile Abraham's words have surely a solemn
lesson for those "brethren of the Eich Man who
have not yet come into the place of torment." " They
have Moses and the prophets : let them hear them ;"
and " If they believe not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded though one rose from
the dead." We can apply all this to the brethren
of the Jew, who would not believe or imitate God's
love to Gentile sinners, even though the Friend of
sinners, whom they had condemned, rose from the
dead and gathered sinners to Him. But does it
able people. It is especially intended for them. The external riches
are a figure of the internal, and the sores, by which the body is
purified, signify something analogous in regard to the soul 
Those who are warned in this parable . . . are the proud sitters in
our most holy Christian sanctuary. How many a Menkenian," (this
would be better understood in England if he had said, " a Darbyite,")
 "clothes himself in such priestly and royal attire, looking
down upon the poor around who can go no higher than to pray for
the forgiveness of sins ! . . . Such people have repented once, and
therefore they are Abraham's children. But they have gradually
come to neglect daily repentance and contrition, till the complete
old man emerges out of their regenerate state once more, and now
acts his pride in the garments of a Christian  Happy the
sinner whose sins break out for his spiritual healing. Thrice
happy would that proud and rich sinner be if he could become in
time a poor Lazarus in God's sight, before his rich garments are
torn off, and his full table disfurnished for ever. Woe to the con
verted sinner, if the poison still remaining should break out in the
disease of spiritual pride, and he too should become a rich man."
(Words of the Lord Jesus, vol. iv. p. 248.) And he adds in a note,
" In the carnal-spiritual life a man lives in honour and joy, and is
clothed in purple like the Rich Man. Dying to this higher life of
carnality he becomes poor, hungry, full of sores and tribulations,
like Lazarus." (Id. ibid. p. 249.) This witness is true. May
Abraham's sons give ear to it.

140 The Restitution of All Things.
not equally apply to those who at this day, though
children of the kingdom, through their blind self-
love are in danger of the second death, and who will
not hear of any possible resurrection for any out of
it ? Is it not written, " They have Moses and the
prophets : let them hear them " ? What do Moses
and the prophets say of the redemption of the lost,
and of those whose inheritance does not come back at
the Sabbatic year of rest, but only at the Jubilee ?
What says the law in all its teaching as to the first-
fruits, and in its appointments for cleansing and re
demption to be wrought at different seasons ? And
what say the prophets as to the restoration of Sodom
and her daughters, and other lost ones, who when they
wrote were " aliens to the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope,
and without God," who yet in due time should be
visited ? What is the answer when Moses now is
quoted on this point, or when some promise from
the prophets is referred to ? " Oh, we cannot take
types or shadows for proof ; and these words quoted
from the prophets are so obscure that we can base
no certain doctrine on them." So the brethren of the
Eich Man will not hear. But if they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded
though one came to them even from the second death.
(vu) But all this, it is said, is opposed to the
obvious sense of Scripture ; and Scripture having been
given for simple and unlettered men, the simplest
sense must be the true one : at all events any sense

Popular Objections. 141
which is not obvious cannot be relied on. This objec
tion is urged by some as though it were unanswer
able. But is the so-called obvious sense of our Lord's
words always the right one ? Let any one consider
the New Testament quotations from the Old,. and
say whether the passages so quoted are appHed or in
terpreted in their obvious sense. Have we not seen
also that again and again, as in our Lord's words
respecting leaven, and eating His flesh, and buying
a sword, and the sleep of Lazarus, and the destroy
ing and rebuilding of the temple, — not to speak of
His usual parabolic style, which was expressly used
to hide even wliile it revealed heavenly mysteries,1
— the so-called obvious or literal sense is beyond all
question not the true one. Besides the difficulty oh
this point, as we have seen, is that Scripture seems
to bear two different testimonies, here saying that
the wicked shall be condemned and perish; there
declaring that all death shaU be done away. God's
two ministrations of law and gospel, and the reason
for each, if we understand His purpose in them, ex
plain the difficulty. But understood or not, the fact
remains, that Scripture on this point contains appa
rent contradiction. Those therefore who speak so
gHbly of " the obvious sense of Scripture " forget how
many texts must be ignored, before the doctrine of
never-ending punishment can be shewn to be the
mind of God. What, to take one instance, is the
1 S. Matt. xiii. 10-14.

142 The Restitution of AU Things.
"obvious meaning" of such words as these : — "Death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that
had not sinned after the simiHtude of Adam's trans
gression, who is a figure of Him that was to come. But
not as the offence, so also is the free-gift. For
if through the offence of one the many be dead,
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto the many. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift ; for the judgment was by one
to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification. For if by one man's offence death
reigned by one ; much more they which receive abun
dance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by
the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
Hfe. For as by one man's disobedience the many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
the many be made righteous. Moreover the law
entered that the offence might abound ; but 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, by
Jesus Christ our Lord." l What, I ask, is the " ob
vious meaning " of these words ? Can a partial sal
vation exhaust the fulness of the blessing which St.
Paul declares so unequivocally ? Must we not dis-
1 Rom. v. 14-21.

Popular Objections. 143
tort his teaching if we try to make it say that the
redemption in Christ is less wide in its results than
the fall of Adam ? Is not the argument of the pas
sage just the reverse ? Does not the Apostle, by his
repeated " much more," 1 shew again and again that
the redemption and salvation is far greater than the
ruin? The language seems chosen to obviate the
possibility of misapprehension. Why then not re
ceive the teaching in its plain and obvious sense ?
Because other words of Holy Scripture speak just as
plainly of a " wrath to come " and a " lake of fire "
for " ages of ages." And the Church's children, since
her fall, having like Israel of old despised prophesy-
ings, and lacking therefore the necessary Hght, which
this "key of knowledge"2 would have given them,
have cut the knot they could not untie, by denying
one half of Scripture to uphold the other half; choos
ing, as was natural, (for men under law can only
know God as inflicting its penalty,) that half which
spoke of condemnation. For indeed the Word alone
wiU never open out God's mind. We may even be
hardened by the letter in some wretched misappre
hension. Only by His Spirit can we really under
stand God's thoughts. Thus, and thus only, can we
be " made able ministers of the New Testament ; not
of the letter, but of the spirit ; " able to shew how
while " the letter kiUeth, the spirit giveth life. " 3
For it is in Scripture as in the books of Nature and
1 Verses 15, 17, 20. « Luke xi, 52.
s 2 Cor. iii. 6.

144 The Restitution of All Things.
Providence. Sense-readings will never solve the
difficulty. Who, as he looks for the first time at
death, would beHeve, that this and this only is the
way to fuller, better, life ? The fact is, it is not
enough to have a revelation. We need eyes also and
hearts to read that revelation. And those, who have
most studied any of the books which God has given
us, know that so far from the obvious sense being in
every case the true one, all our sense-readings are
more or less fallacious and untrustworthy, and must
be corrected again and again, if we would possess the
real truth. Some have proved this in one field,
some in another. All must prove it if they will
go onward to perfection.
(viii) There is yet one other objection. It may
be said, — If you go so far as to hope for the final
salvation of all men, irrespective of what they have
done or have been here, why not go further, and say
that devils may be saved, for if Old Adam can be
redeemed, why not lost spirits also ? Have not bad
men the devil's nature in them ? Are they not caUed
"the children of the wicked one"?1 Is not the
same evil nature in all God's children, till it is
slain ?2 Yet has not the Lord died for all, that by
His death He might destroy that evil nature and
deliver them ? And if this nature can be slain and
changed3 in us, why not in Satan and the fallen
' S. Matt. xiii. 38. * Eph. ii. 3.
8 Notice the language, "perish and be changed," used in reference
to present nature, in Heb. i. 11, 12.

Popular Objections. 145
angels ? ShaU the Jews be saved, whom our Lord
calls "serpents" and "vipers,"1 and of whom He
says, " Ye are of your father the devil,"2 " How can
ye escape the damnation of heU ;" and shall God
have no salvation for those, who, though now lost,
have once been " perfect in beauty, fuU of wisdom "?3
Was not Satan " the anointed cherub, which cover-
eth, with every precious stone upon him ;" and is he
not, though " his heart was Hfted up because of his
beauty, and he has corrupted himself by reason of
his brightness,"4 yet a fallen son, against whom
"even Michael, the archangel, durst not bring a
railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."s
Where do we read that there can be no hope for
such? Is it not rather distinctly written, that
though " the Lord shall punish the host of the high
ones which are on high, and they shall be gathered
in a pit and shut up in prison, yet after many days
they shall be visited"?6 Are not therefore "the
dragons and the deeps" called to "praise the
Lord ; "7 yea, are not " the depths laid up in store
houses"?8 And who is that king who builds the city
of confusion, who has God's prophet for his servant
and his teacher, who for his pride is as a beast till
seven times pass over him, who yet at last regains
his reason and his kingdom ;9 that king of whom the
1 S. Matt, xxiii. 33. 2 S. John, viii. 44.
8 Ezek. xxviii. 12. * Ezek. xxviii. 14-17.
5 S. Jude 9. " Isa. xxiv. 21, 22.
i Psa. cxlviii. 7- 8 Psa. xxxiii. 7. " Dan. iv. 34-87.
L

146 The Restitution of All Things.
Lord says, " Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath
devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me
like an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like
a dragon, he hath fiUed his belly with my delicates,
he hath cast me out"?1 The "Lord shall indeed
slay the dragon that is in the sea,"2 and " by death
destroy him that has the power of death, that is the
devil ;"3 but who can tell but that as death is the
way of Hfe for us, so also it may be with that first
great offender, who " robbed his father, and said, It
is no transgression."4 Who but Adam and Lucifer
are the two thieves crucified with Christ? And
though to one only was it said, "To-day shalt thou
be with me in paradise,"5 what proof have we that
the other shall never find mercy ? Was not the
blood of the Lamb of God shed on the cross to
" take away the sin of the world "?6 If so, what is
the sin of the world ? When did it commence ?
And why is not the sin of " the prince of this
world"7 to be included in " the sin of the world "?
Is not Christ " the Head of all principality and
power," 8 as well as " Lord both of the dead and
living."9 Nay more, is not even the Church called
with her Head to "judge angels"?10 And if the
judgment of the earth shall be its restoration,11 why
1 Jer. Ii. 34. 2 Isa. xxvii. 1.
" Heb. ii. 14. ' Prov. xxviii, 24.
5 S. Luke xxiii. 43. * S. John i. 29.
7 S. John xiv. 30. " Col. ii. 10.
8 Rom. xiv. 9. I0 1 Cor. vi. 3.
11 Psa. xcvi. 10-13, and xcviii. 3-9.

Popular Objections. 147
should not the judgment of angels in like manner be
their restoration, according to the promise, " By Him
to reconcile all things unto Himself, whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven "?1
To all this, I have nothing to say in reply ; nay
more, I confess I cannot see that God would be dis
honoured by such a conclusion of the great mystery.
" For if," as Paul says, " the ministration of con
demnation be glory, much more shall the ministra
tion of righteousness exceed in glory."2 And when
I think of the change which can be wrought in us, —
when I see that man contains all worlds, and is indeed
the hieroglyphic of the universe, — that not only the
seen and unseen, matter and spirit, time and eternity,
but hell and heaven, and the life of each, as well as
the life of earth, all are in him ; when I see that
Lucifer and Adam, the two first great offenders, the
one in his male, the other in his female, property, are
but the prototypes of the two roots of evil in us, the
one of our fallen spirit, the other of our fallen soul
and body, and that in the elect, who are first-fruits,
this hellish life can be transformed, that the selfish,
envious, proud, and wrathful spirit, which hated God,
can by a death to sin be brought back to God's image,
and that this vile body, after all its abominations
and uncleannesses, can be changed like to Christ's
glorious body, according to the power whereby He is
able to subdue even all things unto Himself ; when
1 Col, i. 20. 2 2 Cor. iii. 9,
l2

148 The Restitution of All Things.
I know that He who has this power is Love, I for
one cannot Hmit what God shall do in grace, or say
that this or that lost one shall for ever be cut off from
His mercy. This at least is certain, that the seven
nations of Canaan, whom Israel was called to judge,
that they might possess the land beyond Jordan, are
the appointed figure in Scripture of those " wicked
spirits in heavenly places," l with whom the Church's
conflict is throughout this present age. Yet in a
later age they shared a common mercy, and one at
least of this cursed race displayed a faith not to be
found in Israel.2 If they, so cursed, and to be
judged without pity, could yet find mercy in a later
age, shall not our enemies also, with whom we fight
with the sword of the Spirit, in due time through
judgment find mercy ?3 And though the Church of
this age, which, brought up Hke Jonah out of the
beUy of hell, may like Jonah be angry, because the
judgment threatened has not fallen as it expected,
God will justify His mercy to that vast assembly,
where there are, as He says, so many who cannot
discern between their right hand and their left, not
to speak of those who are as beasts before Him.4
§ IV. Concluding Remarks.
Such then I believe is the testimony of Scripture
as to the purpose and way of God our Saviour. That
¦ Eph. vi. 12. 2 S. Matt. xv. 22-28.
8 See Appendix, Note C, p. 190. 4 Jonah iv. 11.

Concluding Remarks. 14H
it will be judged as false doctrine by those, who, like
Israel of old, can see no purpose of God beyond their
own dispensation, is as certain as that Israel slew the
prophets, and rejected' the counsel of God toward
sinners of the Gentiles ; that it will be hateful also
to fallen spirits may be seen from the way in which
proud souls in every age rebel against the gospel.
Their thought is that they shall continue for ever.
Very humbling is it to think that all their pride and
rebellion must be overthrown. Even with true
souls, who have been teaching another doctrine, there
must be special difficulties in receiving a truth which
proves them to have been in error. Now therefore,
as of old, Samaritans know Christ as " Saviour of the
world,"1 while masters of Israel reject Him in this
character. For teachers to learn is to unlearn ; and
this is not easy. Nor can we expect that those,
who occupy the chief seats in the synagogue, will
readily descend from them and humble themselves,
not only to take the place of learners, but to be
reproached for doing so. How can masters of Israel
eat their own words ? Even those who are willing to
be taught are fearful. The consciousness that they
are liable to err, and may be deceived, makes them
cling to that which they are accustomed to. All
these things, and stiU more our natural hard thoughts
of God, are against the spread of the doctrine set
forth in these pages. But if it be God's purpose, it
1 S. John iv. 43.

1 50 The Restitution of All Things.
shall stand, and each succeeding age shall make it
more manifest. God will at last surely cure all men
of their mistrust of Him.
Meanwhile He says, " He that hath my word, let
him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff
to the wheat ? saith the Lord."1 I do not fear
therefore that the declaration of God's righteousness
and love will lead men, as some suppose, to think
less of Him. " We are saved by hope ;"2 not by
fear. It is the lie, that He is a destroyer and does
not love us, which has kept and yet keeps souls from
Him. And though some argue that the doctrine of
final restitution, even supposing it to be true, ought
not to be whispered, except with great reserve,
because men will abuse it, I cannot but think their
prudence unwise, and that the truth, when God has
revealed it, may be trusted to do its own work. Of
course this truth, like every other, may be abused.
What good thing is there which may not be per
verted? The Bible and the gospel itself may be
wrested to men's destruction, and Christ Himself be
made a savour of death to those He died for. But
surely this is no reason for locking up the Bible or
the gospel, or for keeping back or denying any truth
which God has graciously revealed to us. And when I
think of past objections to the gospel, that if grace is
preached, men wiU abuse it and sin that grace may
more abound, — when I remember how the doctrine of
1 Jer. xxiii. 28. 2 Rom. viii. 24.

Concluding Remarks. 1.51'
justification by faith has been opposed, on the ground
that it must undermine all practical godHness, —
when I see how God's election, clearly as it is
revealed in Holy Scripture, is denied by some, who,
wiser than God, think that such a doctrine must be
perilous to man and opposed to God's love and truth,
— I have less faith in the supposed consequences of
any doctrine, assured, that, if only it be true, its
truth must in the end justify it. I rather believe
that if the exactness of final retribution were under
stood, if men saw that so long as they continue in
sin they must be under judgment, and that only by
death to sin are they deHvered, they could not per
vert the gospel as they now do, nor abuse that preach
ing of the Cross which is indeed salvation.
I cannot but think too that this doctrine of final
restitution would meet much of the hopeless scepti
cism which is abroad, and which is certainly increased
by this dogma of never-ending punishment. Men
turn from the gospel and from the Scriptures, not
knowing what they contain, offended at the announce
ment, which shocks them, that God who is love con
signs all but a " little flock," the " few who find the
narrow way," to endless misery. Even true believers
groan under the burden which this doctrine, as it is
commonly received, must lay on aU thoughtful and
unselfish minds. " For my part," says Henry Eogers,
" I fancy I should not grieve, if the whole race of
mankind died in its fourth year. As far as we can
see, I do not know that it would be a thing much to be

152 The Restitution of All Tilings.
lamented."1 "The same gospel," says Isaac Taylor,
"which penetrates our souls with warm emotions,
dispersive of selfishness, brings in upon the heart a
sympathy that tempts us often to wish that itself
were not true, or that it had not taught us so to
feel."2 Even more affecting are the words of Albert
Barnes, as a witness to the darkness of the ordinary
orthodox theology : — " These and a hundred difficul
ties meet the mind, when we think on this great
subject; and they meet us when we endeavour to
urge our fellow sinners to be reconciled to God, and
to put confidence in Him. I confess for one that
I feel these, and feel them more sensibly and power
fuUy the more I look at them, and the longer I live.
I do not know that I have a ray of light on this
subject, which I had not when the subject first
flashed across my soul. I have read to some extent
what wise and good men have written. I have looked
at their theories and explanations. I have endea
voured to weigh their arguments, for my whole soul
pants for Hght and relief on these questions. But I
get neither ; and in the distress and anguish of my
own spirit, I confess that I see no Hght whatever. I
see not one ray to disclose to me the reason why sin
came into the world, why the earth is strewed with
the dying and the dead, and why man must suffer to
all eternity."3 Professor Henry Rogers, in Greysen's Letters. Letter vii. to
C. Mason, Esq., vol. i. p. 34,
2 Isaac Taylor's Bestoration of Belief, p. 367.
8 Albert Barnes' Practical Sermons, p. 123.

Concluding Remarks. 153
Such confessions are surely sad enough ; but they
do not and cannot express one thousandth part of the
horror which the idea of never-ending misery should
produce in every loving heart. As Archer Butler
says, "Were it possible for man's imagination to\\
conceive the horrors of such a doom as this, all \\
reasoning about it would be at an end; it would
scorch and wither all the powers of human thought."1
Indeed human Hfe would be at a stand, could this
doctrine of endless torment be realized. Can such a
doctrine then be true ? If it be, let men declare it
always and in every place. But if it be simply the
result of a misconception of God's Word, it is high
time that the Church awake to truer readings of it.
It is not for me to judge God's saints who have
gone before. Their judgment is with the Lord, and
their work with their God. But when I think of the
words, not of the carnal and profane, but even of
some of God's dear children in that long night, when
"the beast" which looked "Hke a lamb, but spake
as a dragon," had dominion,2 — when I find Augustine
saying, that "though infants departing from the
body without baptism will be in the mildest damna
tion of all, yet he greatly deceives and is deceived
who preaches that they will not be in damnation,"
meaning thereby unending punishment ;3 or Thomas
1 Sermons, Second Series, p. 383.
* Rev. xiii. 1 1.
* "Potest proinde recte dici, parvulos sine baptismo de corpore
ententes in damnations omnium mitissima futuros. Multum autem

154 The Restitution of All Things
Aquinas, that " the bliss of the saved may please
them more, and they may render more abundant
thanks to God for it, that they are permitted to gaze
on the punishment of the wicked;"1 or Peter
Lombard, that "the elect, while they see the un
speakable sufferings of the ungodly, shall not be
affected with grief, but rather satiated with joy at the
sight, and give thanks to God for their own salva
tion ;"2 or Luther, that "it is the highest degree of
faith to believe that God is merciful, who saves so
few and damns so many ; to believe Him just, who of
His own will makes us necessarily damnable;"3 —
when I remember that such men have said such things,
and that words like these have been approved by
Christians, I can only fall down and pray that such
a night may not return, and that where it yet weighs
on men's hearts the Lord may scatter it.
fallit et fallitur, qui eos in damnatione praedieat non futures," &c. —
De peccatorum mentis, lib. i. cap. 16, § 21. Augustine constantly
repeats this doctrine.
1 " TJnumquodque ex comparatione contrarii magis cognoscitur,
quia contraria juxta se posita magis elucescent ; et ideo ut beatitudo
Banctorum eis magis complaeeat, et de ea uberiores gratias Deo
agant, datur eis ut prenam impiorum perfecte videant." — Summa,
Part iii. Suppl. Qusest. 94, Art. i.
2 " Egredientur ergo electi ad videndum impiorum cruciatus, quos
videntes non dolore affieientur, sed laetitia satiabuntur, agentes
gratias de sua liberatione, visa impiorum ineffabili calamitate." —
Sentent. lib. iv. distinct. 5, G.
8 " Hie est fidei summus gradus, credere ilium clementem, qui
tam paucos salvat, tam multos damnat, credere justum, qui su4
voluntate nos necessario damnabil.es facit," &c. — De servo arbitrio,
§ 23, Opp. torn. iii. foi. 176. Jhenas, 1557.

Concluding Remarks. 155
For it is not unbelievers only that are hurt by
such teaching. Those who believe it are even more
injured. For our views of God re-act upon ourselves.
By an eternal law, we must more or less be changed
into the Hkeness of the God we worship. If we think
Him hard, we become hard. If we think Him careless
of men's bodies and souls, we shall be careless also.
If we think Him love, we shall reflect something of
His loving-kindness. God therefore gave us His
image in His Only-Begotten Son, that " we with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
might be changed into the same image." 1 What
that image was the Gospels tell. In word and deed
they shew that " God is love ; " " bearing all things,
beheving all things, hoping all things, enduring all
things ; never faiHng," 2 when all around Him failed ;
to the end, as at the beginning, the life and hope of
lost sinners. Oh blessed gospel — " He who was rich
yet became poor, that we by His poverty might be
rich."3 He "who was in the form of God, and
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet
made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the
form of a servant, and was made in the Hkeness of
men." 4 He came from life to death, from heaven to
earth : " because we were in the flesh, He came in
the flesh," s to bear our burden for us ; to take our
shame and curse and death, that He might break
1 2 Cor. iii. 18. 2 1 S. John iv. 8, 16 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 7,
8 2 Cor. viii. 9. * Phil. ii. 6, 7.
s Heb. ii. 14; 1 S. John iv. 3.

156 The Restitution of All Things.
our bonds, and bring us back, in, and with, and for,
Himself, to God's right hand for ever. How He did
it, with what pity, truth, patience, tenderness, and
love, no eye but God's yet sees fully. Our unlike-
ness to Him proves how little we have seen Him ;
for " we shall be like Him when we see Him as He
is." l Yet what some have seen has made them new
creatures. Men who lived for self have " laid down
their lives," 2 yea have " wished themselves accursed
for their brethren,"3 because His spirit possessed
them, and therefore they could not but spend and
be spent, like Him they loved, to save lost ones.
Will the coming glory change aU this ? Will Christ
there be another Christ from what He was here ?
Can He there look on ruined souls without the will
to save ; or is it that in glory, though the will is
there, the power to save is taken from Him ? And
will the glory change His members too, — change
them back to love their neighbour as themselves no
longer ? Shall a glimpse of Christ now make us
long to live and die for others ; and when, by seeing
Him as He is, we are made like Him, shall our wil ¦
lingness to die and suffer for the lost be taken from
us ? Will this be being made like Him ? If what is
so generally taught is the truth, — and I can scarcely
write it, — Christ there will be unlike Christ here : He
will, -if not unwilling, be yet unable, to save to
the uttermost. Nay more, — so we are taught, —
> 1 S. John iii. 2. ! IS. John iii. 16. 8 Eom. ix. 3.

Concluding Remarks. 157
instead of weeping over the lost, as He wept here,
He will feel no pang, while myriads of His creatures,
if not His children, are in endless torment. Then at
least He will not be " Jesus Christ, the same yester
day, to-day,. and for ever."1 Is this blasphemy?
Then who teaches it ? Surely men cannot know
what they are doing when they teach such doctrine.
Do they not see how, because it is a He, it hardens,
and must harden, even converted souls who really
believe it ? For if with Christ in heaven it wUl be
right to look on the torments of the lost unmoved,
and to rest in our own joy, and thank God that we '
are not as other men, the same conduct and spirit
cannot be evil now. Many shew they think so. The
world is lost, and they are saved ; but they can live
now, as they hope one day to Hve with Christ, so
rejoicing in their own salvation, that they have no
pity for the crowds, who, if not yet in hell, are going
thither aU around them. Even true believers are
injured more than they are aware, just in propor
tion as they really believe in never-ending torments.
If not almost hopeless about the removal of any very
subtle or persistent form of error, they shew that
they have Httle faith in the power of unwearying love
to overcome it. Why should they not allow some evil
to remain if the Lord of all permits it for ever in His
universe; or how should they expect to overcome
evil with good, when, according to their creed, God
' Heb. xiii. 8.

158 The Restitution of All Things.
Himself either cannot or will not do so through ages
of ages ? Why should they not therefore after a few
brief efforts leave the wilful and erring to their fate,
since the God of patience Himself, according to
their gospel, will leave souls unchanged, unsaved,
and unforgiven for ever ? With their views they
can only judge the evil : they do not believe that it can
be overcome by good, or that those now captive to it
can and must be delivered by unfailing love and truth
and patience. Even the very preaching of the gospel
is affected by this view ; for men are hurried by it
into crude and hasty work with souls, — unlike Him ,
who " stands at the door and knocks," 1 — by which
they often prematurely excite and thus permanently
injure the proper growth of that "new man," whom
they desire to bring forth. Blessed be God, His grace
is over all ; and He is better than His most loving
children think Him ; and our mistakes about Him,
though they hurt His people and the world, can
never change His blessed purpose. And His Word,
— and men would see this if they searched it more, —
in the " law of the first-fruits," in the " purpose of the
ages," and in salvation through " the cross," that is
through dissolution ; above all in the face of Jesus
Christ, tells out the truth which solves the great
riddle, and shews why man must suffer while he is in
sin, that through such suffering and death he may
be brought back in Christ to God, and be re-made in
His Hkeness. 1 Rev. iii. 20.

Concluding Remarks. 159
I conclude as I began. The question is, What
saith the Scripture? If these hard views of God,
which so many accept, are indeed the truth, let men
not only believe them, but proclaim them ceaselessly.
If they are, as I beHeve, only misconceptions of the
truth, idols of man's mind, as false and contrary to
the revelation God has made of Himself in Christ as
the idols of stone and wood and gold and silver were
to the law of Moses, may the Spirit of our God ut
terly destroy them everywhere, and change our dark
ness into perfect day. No question can be of greater
moment, nor can any theology which blinks the ques
tion meet the cravings which are abroa'd, and which
I cannot but believe are the work of God's Spirit.
The question is in fact, whether God is for us or
against us ; and whether, being for us, He is stronger
than our enemies. To this question I have given
what I believe is God's answer. And my conviction
is that the special opening of this truth, as it is now
being opened by God Himself, everywhere, is an evi
dent sign and witness of the passing away of present
things, and of the very near and imminent judg
ment of apostate Christendom. A time of trial
and conflict plainly is coming, between a godless
spiritualism on the one hand, and on the other a
so-called faith, which has lost all real experience
of spirit-teaching and spirit-manifestations, whose
professors therefore have nothing to fall back on
but a letter or tradition, which, however true, will
in carnal hands be a poor defence against a host of

160 The Restitution of All Things.
lying spirits. Alas for those who in such a trial,
while calHng themselves the Lord's, know nothing
of hearing His inward voice or of being taught by
His Spirit. But He yet says, " He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith." His grace, if
sought, is still sufficient for us. May He more
fully guide us into His own truth, and as a means
open to us yet more His Holy Scriptures, which,
like the world around, contain unknown and undis
covered treasures, even the unsearchable riches of
Christ, which are laid up for lost creatures.
I remain, Yours most truly,
ANDEEW JUKES.

Postscript. 161

POSTSCEIPT.
P.S. — I add one or two extracts from William
Law, which bear more or less directly on the subject
of the preceding pages. Speaking of the fall, he
says, —
" I have thus shewn the glory of man's original
state in Paradise, and the lamentable change that
the faU has brought upon him. From a divine and
heavenly creature he is so wretchedly changed as to
have inwardly the nature and dark fire of the devils,
and outwardly the nature of all the beasts, a slave of
this outward world, Hving at aU uncertainties amongst
pains, fears, sorrows, and diseases, till his body is
forced to be removed from our sight and hid in the
earth. And the reason why even the most profligate
persons do not fully know and perceive their soiUs to
be in this miserable state, is because the soul, though
thus faUen, was still united to the blood of a human
body, and therefore the sweet and cheering Hght of
the sun could reach the soul, and do that for it in
some degree, and for some time, which it does to the
darkness, sharpness, sourness, bitterness, and wrath,
which is in outward nature ; that is, it eould enlighten,
sweeten, and clear it in a certain degree. But as this
is not its own Hfe, that is, does not arise in the soul
itself, but only reaches it by means of the body, so if
¦the soul hath in this present time got no light of its
M

162 The Restitution of All Things.
own, when the death of the body breaks off its com
munion with the light of this world, the soul is left
a mere dark, raging fire, in the state of devils. If
therefore the light of this world were to be at once
extinguished, aU human souls that are not in some
real degree of regeneration would immediately find
themselves to be nothing but the rage of fire and the
horror of darkness.
Now though the light and comfort of this outward
world keeps even the worst of men from any con
stant, strong sensibiHty of that wrathful, fiery, dark,
and self-tormenting nature, which is the very essence
of every fallen, unregenerate soul, yet every man in
the world has more or less frequent and strong inti
mations given him that so it is with him in the in
most ground of his soul. How many inventions are
some people forced to have recourse to, to keep off
a certain inward uneasiness which they are afraid of,
and know not whence it comes. Alas, it is because
there is a fallen spirit, a dark aching fire within them,
which has never had its proper relief, and is trying
to discover itself and calling out for help at every
cessation of worldly joy.
Why are some people, when under heavy disap
pointments or some great worldly shame, at the very
brink of distraction, unable to bear themselves, and
desirous of death of any kind ? It is because worldly
light and comforts no longer acting sweetly upon the
blood, the soul is left to its own dark, fiery, raging
nature, and would destroy the body at any rate,

Postscript. 163
rather than continue under such a sensibility of its
own wrathful, self- tormenting fire.
Who has not at one time or other felt a sourness,
wrath, selfishness, envy, and pride, which he could
not tell what to do with or how to bear, rising up
without his consent, casting a blackness over all his
thoughts, and then as suddenly going off again, either
by the cheerfulness of sun and air, or some agreeable
accident, and again at times as suddenly returning
upon him ? Sufficient indications are these to every
man that there is a dark guest within him, concealed
under the cover of flesh and blood, often lulled asleep
by worldly Hght and amusements, yet such as will
in spite of everything shew itself, and which, if it
have not its proper cure in this life, must be his tor
ment in eternity. And it was because of this hidden
heU within ns that our blessed Lord said when on
earth, and says now to every soul, ' Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.' For as the soul is become this self-tor
menting fire only because the birth of the Son of God
was extinguished in it by om- first parents, so there
is no other possible remedy for it, either in heaven
or earth, but by its coming to this Son of God to be
born again of Him.
Oh, poor unbeHevers, that content yourselves with
this foundation of heU in your nature, or either seek
for no salvation, or, what is worse, turn your backs
with disregard on the One Only Saviour that God
Himself can help you to, think not of saving your-
M 2

1 64 The Restitution of All Things.
selves : it is no more in your power than to save the
faUen spirits that are in hell. And talk not of the
mercy and goodness of God. His mercy is indeed
infinite, and His goodness above all conception ; but
then the infiniteness of it consists in this that He
offered this Saviour to mankind, because in the nature
of things nothing less than this Saviour could redeem
them. Therefore to choose to rely upon some other
goodness of God beside that which He has offered
to us in Jesus Christ, is the most dreadful mistake
that can befall any man, and must, if persevered in,
leave him out of the possibility of any kind or degree
of salvation. For as the Son of God is the bright
ness and glory of the Father, so no soul made in the
likeness of God is capable of any degree of bright
ness and glory but so far as the birth of the Son of
God is in it : therefore to reject this birth, to refuse
this method of redemption, is to reject aU the good
ness that the Divine Nature itself hath for us." l
" And yet the Love that brought forth the exist
ence of all things changes not through the fall of its
creatures, but is continually at work to bring back all
fallen nature and creature. AU that passes for a time
between God and His fallen creature is but one and
the same thing, working for one and the same end,
and though this is caUed * wrath,' and that called
* punishment,' ' curse,' and ' death,' it is all from the
beginning to the end nothing but the work of the
first creating Love, and means nothing else, and does
1 Grounds of Christian Regeneration, pp 11-15.

Postscript. 1 65
nothing else, but those works of purifying fire, which
must and alone can burn away all that dark evil
which separates the creature from its first-created
union with God. God's providence, from the fall to
the restitution of all things, is doing the same thing
as when He said to the dark chaos of faUen nature,
' Let there be Hght.' He still says, and will continue
saying, the same thing, tUl there is no evil of dark
ness left in nature and creature. God creating, God
iUuminating, God sanctifying, God threatening and
punishing, God forgiving and redeeming, are all but
one and the same essential, immutable, never-ceasing
working of the Divine Nature. That in God, which
illuminates and glorifies saints and angels in heaven,
is that very same working of the Divine Nature.
which wounds, pains, punishes, and purifies, sinners
upon earth. And every number of destroyed sinners,
whether thrown by Noah's flood or Sodom's brimstone
into the terrible furnace of a Hfe insensible of any
thing but new forms of misery until the judgment
day, must through the aU-working, all-redeeming
love of God, which never ceases, come at last to
know that they had lost and have found again such
a God of love as this.
And if long and long ages of fiery pain and tor
menting darkness faU to the share of many or most
of God's apostate creatures, they will last no longer
than tiU the great fire of God has melted aU arro
gance into humility, and all that is self has died in
the bloody sweat and all-saving cross of Christ, which

166 The Restitution of All Things.
will never give up its redeeming power till sin and
sinners have no more a name among the creatures
of God. And if long ages hereafter can only do
that, for a soul departing this life under a load of
sins, which days and nights might have done for a
most hardened Pharaoh or a most wicked Nero whilst
in the body, it is because, when flesh and blood are
taken from it, the soul has only the strong apostate
nature of fallen angels, which must have its place in
that blackness of darkness of a fiery wrath that burns
in them and in their kingdom.
To prevent this and make us children of the re
surrection, Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of
God, came into the world, and died, and rose again
for us. . . . Does not this speak plainly enough what
it was that man lost by his fall, namely, the birth of
the Son of God in his soul ? And therefore it was
that the Son of God alone, and He only by the cross,
could be man's Eedeemer." ¦
" For in very deed the new birth is a new man,
whether Christ for us, or Christ in us, which is
formed by the Divine Word. And this new man
is ' he that is born of God and cannot sin,' because
he has no sin in his nature. This is ' he that over-
cometh the world,' because he is of a divine nature,
and is both contrary to the world, and above it. This
is he who can alone ' love his brother as himself,'
because the love of God abideth in him. The old
natural man is of this world, and enlightened only
1 Address to the Clergy, pp. 171-173, slightly abridged.

Postscript. 1 6?
with the light of this world : he is shut up in his
own envy, pride, and wrath, and can only escape from
these by the cross of Christ, that is by dying with
Him. This is the 'self that our Saviour calls on
us to deny — this is the ' self that we are to ' hate'
and ' lose,' that the kingdom of God may come in
us, that is, that God's will may be done in us. All
other sacrifices that we make, whether of worldly
goods, honours, or pleasures, are but small matters
compared to that death of self, spiritual as well as
natural, which must be made before our regenera
tion hath its perfect work." '
" Let no one therefore take offence at the opening
of this mystery, as if it brought anything new into
reHgion ; for it has nothing new in it ; it alters no
point of gospel-doctrine, but only sets each article of
the old Christian faith upon its true ground, pressing
nothing more than this, namely the necessity, if we
would be saved, of the opening of the life of God
within us, and of a death to that life of self which
keeps us far from God. Suffer me therefore once
more to beseech you, as I have so often said, not to
receive this mystery as a mere notion, nor, as the
world has for the most part done with the Bible, to
make it a matter of opinion or speculation. This
and every other doctrine is useless, and worse than
useless, unless it teaches that Truth can have no real
entrance into you except so far as you die to self and
to your earthly nature. The gospel says all this to
1 Grounds of Christian Regeneration, pp. 69 and 99.

168 The Restitution of All Things.
you in the plainest words, and the mystery only
Bhews you that the whole system of the universe says
the same thing. To be a true student Or disciple of
the mystery is to be a disciple of Christ; for it
calls you to nothing but the gospel, and wherever
it enters, either into the height or depth of nature,
it is only to confirm those words of Christ, ' He that
followeth me not, walketh in darkness,' and ' Unless
a man deny himself, and forsake all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple.' This is the philosophy
opened in this mystery. It is not to lead you after
itself, but to compel you by every truth of nature to
turn to Christ, as the one Way, the one Truth, the
one Life and Salvation of the soul ; not as notionally
apprehended or historically known, but as experi-
mentaUy found, living, speaking, and working, in
your soul. Eead as long or as much as you will
of this mystery, it is all labour lost, if you intend
anything else by it, or would be anything else from
it, but a man dead to sin and to the world, that
you may live unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord."1 1 Way to Divine Knowledge, pp. 255-258, abridged.

APPENDIX.

Note A.
Scripture use of the words " death " and " destruction."
The opinion of the annihilation of the wicked, which bas at
different times been held by some, as a refuge from the doctrine
of never-ending punishment, is not only opposed to the whole
analogy of our regeneration, which shews how death and
judgment are the only way of life and deliverence for a fallen
creature, but also so directly contradicts what is said of "death "
in Scripture, that it is difficult to conceive how it could ever
have been accepted by believers. Even before the reason of
the Cross is seen, the very letter of Scripture, one might have
thought, would have kept men from concluding that the
" death," " destruction," and " perishing," of the wicked means
their non-existence or annihilation. For what is " death " ?
What is " destruction " ? How are these words invariably used
in Holy Scripture P
First, as to "death," are any of the varied deaths, which
Scripture speaks of as incident to man, his non-existence or
annihilation ? Take as examples the deaths referred to by
St. Paul, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the
Epistle to the Romans. We read, (chapt. vi. 7,) " He that is
dead is freed from sin." Is this " death," which is freedom from
sin, non-existence or annihilation ? Again, where the Apostle
says, (chapt. vii. 0,) " I was alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died," — was
this " death," wrought in him by the law, annihilation ?

170 The Restitution of All Things.
Again, where he says, (chapt. viii. 6,) "To be carnally minded
is death," is this death non-existence or annihilation ? And
again, when he says, (chapt. viii. 38,) " Neither death nor lifa
shall separate us," is the "death" here referred to annihila
tion ? When Adam died on the day he sinned, (Gen. ii. 17,)
was this annihilation P When his body died, and turned to
dust, (Gen. v. 5,) was this annihilation ? Is our " death in
trespasses and sins," (Eph. ii. 1, 2,) annihilation P Is our
" death to sin," (Rom. vi. 11,) annihilation P When the
" corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies," (S. John
xii. 24,) is it annihilated; or is St. Paul right in saying,
(1 Cor. xv. 37,) "That whiah thou sowest is not quickened
except it die ? " Do not these and similar uses of the word
prove beyond all question, that whatever else these deaths
may be, not one of them is non-existence or annihilation P Is it
then the " second death " only that is annihilation P On what
grounds, I ask, are we to assign a sense to this particular death
which confessedly the word " death " has not and cannot have
elsewhere ? Where is the proof that there is and can be no
resurrection from the second death ?
The truth is, death for man is simply an end to, and separa
tion from, some given form of life which he has lived in,
Death to God is separation from His world of light, by the de
struction, through the lie of the serpent, of the divine life of
light and love in us. Death to sin, the exact converse of this,
is the separation from the world of darkness, by the destruction,
through the truth, of the dark life of unbelief and self-love.
The death wrought by the law is the end of, and separation
from, our fallen carnal life of self-sufficiency ; while what is
commonly called death, namely the death of the body, is
simply our separation from the outward world, in which we
live, as partakers of its outward life, while we are in the
body. Once let us see that there are three worlds, each
having its own life, — a light world, a dark world, and this
outward seen world, — and then what is said in Scripture of
the new birth, or of the varied deaths we pass through, becomes
at once self-evident. For the only way into any world is by a
birth into it, even as the only way out of any world is by a

Appendix. Note A. 171
death to it. We have by sin died to God's light-world, to fall
into and live in a spirit-world of darkness. We must by the
truth, that is by Christ, die to this dark spirit-world, to return
to live in God's light-world. The outward birth and death of
the body, and its life, have only to do with the outward
seen world.
For this reason it is that the word " destruction," as used
in Scripture, never means annihilation. Take for instance the
words of the xcth Psalm, " Thou turnest man to destruction :
again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men." Can
"destruction" here be annihilation? Is it not rather that
dissolution which must take place if fallen creatures are ever to
be brought back perfectly to God's kingdom. So, again, Job
says, (chapt. xix. 10,) " He hath destroyed me on every side,
and I am gone "; and again, (chapt. ix. 22,1 "This one thing I
said, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." But does he
mean to say that he is brought to non-existence, or that the
" perfect " will be so destroyed that they will exist no longer ?
So, again, St. Peter says, (2 Ep. iii. 6,) " The world that then
was perished." So, again, of the present heavens and earth it
ia said, (Heb. i. 11, 12,) "They shall perish, . . . and be
changed." So, again, both of Israel and Jerusalem it is said,
(Deut. xxx. 18; Jer. xii. 17; xv. 6;) that they shall be
" destroyed " and "perish." But does any one suppose that
therefore they will be annihilated ? So, again, as to the ex
pression, " them that perish," sometimes translated " the lost ";
(see 2 Cor. iv. 3 ; 1 Cor. i. 18 ; 2 ('or. ii. 15 ;) do we not know
that these " lost," though they " perish," still exist, and exist
both as " lost " ones and as " saved " ones, as text on text will
testify abundantly. So as to the righteous, in the well-known
passage of Isaiah ; (chapt. lvii. 1 ;) " The righteous perisheth,
and no man layeth it to heart"; — is this "perishing" non
existence P So, again, where we read, in Psalm Ixxxiii. 16 — 18,
" Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O
Lord: let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let
them be put ta shame and perish ; that men " (literally " they,"
for the word " men " is not in the Original,) " may know that
Thou, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over al]

172 The Restitution of All Things.
the earth ; " — men are to be " confounded for ever and perish/
that they may know Jehovah." So as to the question, " Wilt
Thou shew wonders to the dead P Shall the dead arise and
praise Thee P Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the
grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction P " — is the true
answer, Yes, or No ? Is not the " losing " or "destruction" of
our fallen life the only way to a better one P Does not our
Lord Himself say more than once, (S. Matt. x. 39 ; xvi. 25 ;
S. John xii. 25 ; ) that the way to " save our life," or " soul,"
is to "lose it," or " have it destroyed," in its fallen form, that
it may be re-created P
These last words should of themselves settle this question,
for in one place, (S. Matt. x. 39,) they occur in immediate
connexion (see verse 28,) with those other well-known words,
as to " fearing him who can destroy both body and soul in
hell," which are constantly quoted by some to prove, as they
think, that "destruction " must be non-existence. And yet,
in the very closest connexion with these words, our Lord
repeats this self-same word, " destroy," (in our Authorized
Version translated " lose '' — it is the word u*<>A\v/(t, on which
some build so much,) to express that death and dissolution of
the soul, which, so far from bringing it to non-existence, is the
appointed way to save it. Christ saves it, as we have seen, by
death ; for being fallen into sin, what is needed is " that the
body of sin should be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin." (Rom. vi. 6.) The elect, that is the first-fruits,
are the living proof of this. A " new man " is created in them,
and the " old man " dies and is destroyed, while yet he in
whom all this is done remains through all the same person.
It may be, and is, a riddle, like " dying, and behold we live i
having nothing, and yet possessing all things "; yet it is only
the riddle of the Cross, that "by death God destroys him
that has the power of death." Therefore, though destruction,.
like death, may be, and is, a ceasing from some particular form
of life which has been lived in by man, yet it is never non
existence absolutely ; rather it is the means to bring the fallen
creature into a new life, a chaos being ever the necessary con
dition for a new creation.

Appendix. Note A. 173
As for the argument, founded by some on the word avoWvfu,
that because it is one of the strongest in the Greek language
to express destruction, therefore that destruction must be
irremediable, the simple answer is, that the question is not
whether the destruction is great, but whether God is not still
greater, and therefore whether He is not able even out of the
destruction to bring forth better things. This at least is cer
tain, that both in the New Testament and in Classical Greek,
the word in question is used of those who though " destroyed "
are yet "saved." To the passages already quoted from the
New Testament I will only add one more : — "The Son of Man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost:" (rr&oai ro
airo\in\6g : S. Luke xix. 10.) As an example of the Classical
use of the word, I give the following from one of the Greek
poets, (quoted by Justin Martyr, De Mwarchid, cap. 3 ; and by
Clement of Alexandria, Strom, lib. v. cap. 14,) bearing on this
very question of the restoration of tbe lost : —
Kat yap Ka& tiSrjv $vo rpijiovg vo/ilZopev,
Miav dttcaiwi'j \arepav dSiKiiiv bdbv.
Kdireira auiau ndvQ' & vpoaff diribXtoEV.
And the New Testament use of the word irwjw proves that it
describes, not so much preservation from future or threatened
judgment, (in which case njptw would be used, as in S. John
xvii. 15, Rev. iii. 10, Jude 1, 1 Thess. v. 23, &c.) but rather
deliverance out of some present and oppressing evil. So we
read, (S. Matt. ix. 21, 22,) " And the woman said within her
self, if I may but touch His garment, aufHiaopai, I shall be made
whole," that is restored to health ; " and the woman t<rw0>j, was
made whole," that is restored to health, " from that hour."
So again, (S. Mark v. 23,) " And Jairus besought Him greatly,
saying, I pray Thee, lay Thy hands upon her, onwc. <ri"$ii, that
she may be healed." So too, (S. Mark vi. 56,) " And as many
as touched Him, iadZ,ovTo, were made whole." So too, in re
ference to Lazarus, (S. John xi. 12,) " Lord, if he sleep, m«0i|-
otrai, he shall do well," that is, he shall he restored to health.
See also S. Luke viii. 36 ; xviii. 42 ; Acts iv. 9 ; S. James v.
15 ; &c. See also what is said of our Lord, (Heb. v. 7,) that

174 The Restitution of All Things.
'' in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers unto
Him that was able to save Him from death," moluv avrov is
n„vd.r„v, (literally "out 0/ death,") "He was heard in that He
feared." But He was not preserved from death, but delivered
out of it. Our salvation also, like our Lord's, for we are His
members, is not from death, but by it, and out of it.

Nora B.
Extracts from the Fathers.

The following extracts from some of the greatest of the
Greek Fathers will sufficiently shew what were their views on
this subject.
I give an extract from Origen first, as, though not the
earliest, he is the best known advocate of the doctrine of Uni
versal Restitution. He writes as follows: (Comment, in Epist.
ad Rom. lib. viii. cap. xi.) — " Qui vero verbi Dei et doctrinee
evangelicse purificationem spreverit, tristibus et poenalibus puri-
ficationibus semetipsuji reservat, ut ignis gehennse in crucia-
tibus purget quem nee apostolica doctrina nee evangelicus
sermo purgaverit, secundum illud quod scriptum est, Etpurifi-
cabo te igne ad purificationem. Verum hsec ipsa purgatio, quse
per poenam ignis adhibetur, quantis temporibus, quantisve
SEeculis, de peccatoribus exigat cruciatus, solus scire potest Ille
cui Pater omne judicium tradidit. . . . Veruntamen meminisse
semper debemus quod prsesentem locum Apostolus quasi
mysterium habere voluit, quo scilicet hujusmodi sensus fideles
quique et perfecti intra semetipsos velut mysterium Dei silentio
tegant, nee passim imperfectis et minus capacibus proferant."
That is, — " But he that despises the purification of the word
of God, and the doctrine of the gospel, only keeps himself for
dreadful and penal purifications afterwards ; that so the fire of
hell may purge him in torments whom neither apostolical doc
trine nor gospel preaching has cleansed, according to that which
is written of being ' purified by fire.' But how long this

Appendix. Note B. 1 75
purification which is wrought out by penal fire shall endure,
or for how many periods or ages it shall torment sinners, He
only knows to whom all judgment is committed by the Father.
. . . But we must still remember that the Apostle would have
this text accounted as a secret, so that the faithful and perfect
may keep their perceptions of it as one of God's secrets in
silence among themselves, and not divulge it everywhere to the
imperfect and those less capable of receiving it."
We find the same doctrine still more fully stated by
Origen, in his work De Principiis, lib. i. c. 6, § 1, 2, where he
quotes Psalm ex. 1, 1 Cor. xv. 25, S. John xvii. 20-23, PhiLii.
10, and other passages of Scripture, in support of it. At the
same time he did not deny, Contr. Celsum, lib. vi. c. 26, that
the doctrine might be dangerous to the unconverted. He
therefore, on the principle of reserving some things from those
who might abuse them, speaks in Horn, xviii. in Jerem. § 1, of
"the impossibility of being renewed except in this world."
Yet in the very next homily, Horn. xix. in Jer. § 4, he calls
the fear of everlasting punishment, (according to Jer. xx. 7,)
diraTti, that is " a deceit," though it is beneficial in its results,
and is brought about by God Himself as a pedagogical artifice
"For many wise men, or such as were thought wise, having
apprehended the truth, and rejected the delusion, respecting
the divine punishments, gave themselves up to a vicious life,
while it would have been much better for them to believe as
they once did in the undying worm and the fire which is not
quenched." It is, I believe, owing to this principle of reserve in com
municating certain points of religious knowledge, that we find
comparatively so little on the subject of Restitution in the
public writings of the early Fathers. For, in accordance- with
the Apostle's words, " Which things we speak," and again,
" We speak wisdom among them that are perfect," (1 Cor. ii.
6, 13,) they felt that they might " speak " to mature and well-
instructed souls things which it would not be wise to " write "
for all.But to pass on to a second witness to the doctrine of Resti
tution. Clement of Alexandria, who, in the 5th and Oth

176 The Restitution of All Things.
books of his Stromata has written so fully on this subject of
reserve, — see especially book 6, chapter 16, — in his notes on
the Epistle of St. John, (Adumbrat. in Ep. i. Johan., printed
at the end of his Treatise, Quis dives salvetur, p. 1009, Potter's
Edit.) has these words : —
" Nee solum autem, inquit, pro nostris peceatis Dominus
propitiator est, hoe est fidelium, sed etiam pro toto mwndo.
Proinde universos quidem salvat, sed alios per supplicia eon-
vertens, alios autem spontanea assequentes voluntate, et cum
honoris dignitate, ut omne genu fieotatur Ei, ceelestium, terres-
trium, et infernorum, hoc est, angeli, homines, et animse, quae
ante adventum Ejus de hac vita, migravere temporali."
That is, "The Lord, he says, is a propitiation, 'not for
our sins only,' that is, of the faithful, ' but also for the whole
world.' Therefore He indeed saves all universally ; but some
as converted by punishments, others by voluntary submission,
thus obtaining the honour and dignity, that ' to Him every
knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth,' that is angels, and men, and souls who
departed this life before His coming into the world."
Other writers of the Alexandrian School might be here
cited as holding substantially the same doctrine.
The following passage from Theophilus of Antioch, a.d,
168, is perhaps even more striking ; (Ad Autolychum, lib. ii,
c. 26:) Kat tovto 5k 6 Gebg fitydXijv evepyeo'tav nap's^x* r<£ avQpu)Tctp9
to pi) ciaptlvcu avrov eig tov aiuiva ev dfiapria ovra9 dXXd r,oo7ry
Tivl iv bfioiwfiaTi k%optffpov IZ'tfiaXev avrov Ik tov rrapa5tiaov9
birojQ did rrjg kwiTifJiiag raKTtp airoTttrag xpovtp riyv dfiapriav teal
iraidtvQeig e% vaHpov dvaKXtjGy. Aio Kai irXacrGkvrog dvGpunrov
tv rtp KoiTfiqt TOVTtpy pvorrtptojdwg sv ry Tevkati ykypaizTai^ wg dig
avrov iv Tip TrapaStiotp TtGkvrog' 'iva to fikv uiraX y 7rtTrXrjptau.Evop
nrk IriGij* ro 8k Stvrtpov piXXy irXrjpovaOai fierd rrjv dvdaraaiv
Kai Kpiotv* Ov firjv d\Xd Kai KaQawip Gtcevog tl9 iirdv rrXaaQkv
airiav rwd tTXVj dvax^v&)Erai9 r} avairKarroETatj eig to ysvkffGat
Kaivbv Kai 6XoKXi]pov* ourw yiverat Kai r*f dvGpwirt^ Sid Qavdrov*
dvvdfiei yap rkGpavcjrat9 'iva Iv ry dvaordaei vytqg tvpe6y9 Xsyuj 8k
dff7ri\o£, Kai 6iKaioc9 Kai dOdvarog,

Appendix. Note B. 177
That is, "And God shewed great kindness to man, in this,
that He did not suffer him to continue being in sin for ever ;
but, as it were, by a kind of banishment, cast him out of
Paradise, in order that, having by punishment expiated, within
an appointed time, the sin, and having been disciplined, he
should afterwards be recalled. Wherefore also, when man
had been formed in this world, it is mystically written in
Genesis, as if he had been twice placed in Paradise ; so that the
one was fulfilled when he was placed there, and the second will
be fulfilled after the resurrection and judgment. Nay further,
just as a vessel, when on being fashioned it has some flaw, is re
moulded or re-made, that it may become new and entire ; so
also it happens to man by death. For he is broken up by
force, that in the resurrection he may be found whole, I mean
spotless, and righteous, and immortal."
Irenaeus, a.d. 182, holds the same view, of death being a
merciful provision for a fallen creature. His words, (Contr.
Hcer. lib. iii. c. 23, § 6,) are : —
" Quapropter et ejecit eum de paradiso, eta ligno vitas longe
transtulit ; non invidens ei lignum vitse, quemadmodum quidam
audent dicere, sed miserans ejus, ut non perse veraret semper
transgressor, neque immortale esset quod esset circa eum pecca
tum, et malum interminabile et insanabile."
That is, " Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise,
and removed him far from the tree of life, not because He
envied him the tree of life, as some dare to assert, but because
He pitied him, [and desired] that he should not continue always
a sinner, and that the sin which surrounded him should not be
immortal, and the evil interminable and irremediable."
Origen has the same doctrine, (Horn, xviii. in Jerem.) as
have others of the Fathers.
To the same effect is the whole work of Athenagoras,
A.D. 177, On the Eesuirection. The argument throughout is so
connected that it is not easy to make a brief extract. The
following concluding sentence of the work may however suffi
ciently shew the general doctrine : (De Resurr. c. xxv.)
lovrov $' ii, avayKt/g 'tro/itvov, Sel n-dvriuc ytv'etsSai ruv
vacpuQkvruv ii Kai iravrn SiaXvlUvrmv aivpdruv avaoraoiv, Kai
N

178 The Restitution of All Things.
rotic avroig dvUpmirovg morrjvai irdXw. . . . ravrtjg yap yevo/tEvric
Kai rb ry Qvoel tuiv dvQpwirwv TrpooQopov tiraKoXovQti reXog. TfXog
Se Z,uyqQ tpfpovog Kai Xoyucrjg Kploeiog o{ik av aadprot rig Ei7rotv rb
rovroig cnrtpioiraarttig ovvSiatuvl^av, olg fiaXiera Kai rrpoiruig 6
QvoiKbg cvvrjp^ioarai Xoyog, ry re Oeitipitf rov ovrog Kai rSiv EKtivtp
dtdoypkviav diravtrroig liraynKktaQaC k&v oi iroXXot roiv avQpti)7ru}Vt
IfiiraOsarEpov Kai afodporepov roig ryde TrpoairtTrovBorsg, doro\oi
tovtov SiareXuxriv. Ov yap aKvpoZ rqv Koivr)v airoKXrjpiotnv rb
irXrjOog rwv diroTrnrTOvrotv tov irpooij/covrog avTolg rEXowc, i8ia-
Zovarjg rrjs lirl rovroig UZsrdaEiog, Kai ryg eKaarip tjvppLtrpovpiEvijg
iiirep rwv ev r) KaKwg fitfiiuipkviov TipijQ }j SUrjc.
That is, " And as this follows of necessity, there must by
all means be a resurrection of the bodies which are dead or
even entirely dissolved, and the same men must be formed
anew. ... for if this takes place, the end befitting the nature
of men follows also. And the end of an intelligent life and of
a rational judgment, we shall make no mistake in saying, is
to be occupied uniuterruptedly with those objects to which
the natural reason is chiefly and primarily adapted, and tc
delight unceasingly in the contemplation of Him who is, and
of His decrees; notwithstanding that the majority of men,
because they are affected too passionately and too violently by
things below, pass through life without attaining this object.
For the large number of those who fail of the end that belongs
to them does not make void the common lot, since the examina
tion relates to individuals, and the reward or punishment of
lives ill or well spent is proportioned to what each has done."
We find the same doctrine just hinted at in Gregory of
Nazianzus ; (Orat. Quadrag. §. 36. p. 664, Ed. Paris. 1630.)
Oioa (cat rcvp oil KaQaprqpiov, dXXd KoXaariipioi', tire Sooo/it-
tikov .... eiTE rb rfroipaap.ivov rip 8ia(36Xtp, .... iirt 3 irpb
Trpouuiirov Kvpiov TropEvtrai, Kai tovtwv 'in fofitptiirepov, o rip
axotp'irip OKd>\t]Ki awr'eraKrai, firj ofiivvvpivov, dXXd SiaiwvtZov
roig 7rovr}poig. Tldvra y&p ravra atpavLvrncrjg ion Svvdfieuig* h
pt) rb fiXov Kavrav&a votiv rovro ipiXavSpunrorepov, Kai rov
Ko\nZ,ovTOQ lira%i(iiQ.
That i3, " There is another fire, I know, not for purging,
bus for punishing; whether it be of that kind by which Sodom

Appendix. Note B. 179
was destroyed, .... or whether that prepared for the devil,
.... or that which goes before the face of the Lord, and
which, more to be dreaded than all, is conjoined with the un
dying worm, which is not quenched, but lasts perpetually, (or
through the ages) for the wicked. All these are of a destructive
nature. Unless even here to regard this as done in love is
more in accordance with (God's) love to man, and more worthy
of Him who punishes."
Gregory of Nyssa speaks more clearly ; (Dial, de Anima et
Resurrect, torn. iii. p. 227, Ed. Paris. 1638.)
Xpr) yap itdvry Kai irdvroig HZaiptBijvai work rb Katcui' Ik rov
ovrog' .... liruSfi yap i-Zio rj)g TTpoatpkotoig -r) xaKia elvai ipvatv
oiiK E^tt, 'orav rrdaa irpoaipeoig iv rip Biif yivqrat, tig iravreXrj
dipaviojxov ij KciKia pi) ^oiprjaet, rip ptiliv airrjg ditoXiupSijvai
Soxeiov ; k. t. X.
And again, (Cateehet. Orat. cap. 26, torn. iii. p. 85,) Christ
is spoken of as rov re dvOpioirov rrjg Kaxiag iXev&epwv, Kai aiirov
rrjg KaKiag eiipErrjv iwtxtvog.
That is, — " For it is needful that evil should some day be
wholly and absolutely removed out of the circle of being.
.... For inasmuch as it is not in the nature of evil to exist
without the will, when every will comes to be in God, will
not evil go on to absolute extinction, by reason of there being
no receptacle of it left."
And again, in his Catechetical Orations, (chapter 26,)
Christ is spoken of as " the One who both delivers man from
evil, and who heals the inventor of evil himself."
Both the passages, and their contexts, are well worth
turning to. Referring to them Neander says, (Church JSist.
vol. iv. p. 455,) " We may notice here another after-influence
of the great Origen upon individual church-teachers, . . .
as for example on Didymus, and Gregory Nazianzen. Though
in the writings of Didymus, which have come to our knowledge,
there are no distinct traces to be found of the doctrine of
Restoration, (dwoKaraoraau;) yet in his work De Trinitate,
published by Mingarelli, (Bologna 1769,) an intimation of
this kind may be found in his exposition and application of the
passage in Philipp. ii. 10, where, in reference to the xaraxdovia
K 2

1 80 The Restitution of All Things.
as well as the i-xiyua, he speaks of ' every knee bowing at the
name of Jesus:' (lib. iii. c, 10.) But this particular doctrine
was expounded and maintained with the greatest ability in
works written expressly for that purpose by Gregory of Nyssa.
God, he maintained, had created rational beings in order that
they might be self-conscious and free vessels for the communi
cations of the original fountain of all good. All punishments
are means of purification, ordained by divine love to purge
rational beings from moral evil, and to restore them back to
that communion with God which corresponds to their nature.
God would not have permitted the existence of evil, unless
He had foreseen that by the Redemption all rational beings
would in the end, according to their destination, attain to the
same blessed fellowship with Himself."
Now when it is borne in mind that Gregory of Nazianzus
presided at the Second General Council, and that to Gregory of
Nyssa tradition ascribes all those additions to the original Nicene
Creed, which were made at the same Second General Council,
and which we now recite as portions of it, (Nicephor. Eccl.
Hist. lib. xii. c. 13,) — when we remember the esteem in which
the name and works of this same Gregory of Nyssa have ever
been held, both during his life and since his death, and that he
was referred to both by the Fifth and Seventh General Coun
cils, as amongst the highest authorities of the Church, (Tille
mont, MSmoires, torn. ix. p. 601,) — we shall be better able to
judge the worth of the assertion, which is sometimes made, that
the doctrine of final restitution is a heresy.
Diodorus of Tarsus, the tutor of Chrysostom, in his work
on the Incarnation, (De QSconomid,) may also be cited as hold
ing the same view ; as also Theodore of Mopsuestia, the most
distinguished critic of the Syrian School ; (Comment, in Evang.)
The passages are given in Assemanni Biblioth. Orient, torn. iii.
part. i. pp. 323, 324.
Here perhaps I ought to add, that, while the doctrine of
Universal Restoration was clearly held by the above-named
Fathers, two even earlier Christian writers, Justin Martyr and
Irenaeus, seem to have held the doctrine of the annihilation of
the wicked. Justin Martyr, in his First Apology, c. viii., says

Appendix. Note B. 181
indeed that the wicked will undergo "everlasting punishment ;"
but elsewhere, (in Dial. c. Tryph. c. 5,) he plainly says, that
" those who have appeared worthy of God die no more, but
others are punished as long as God. wills them to exist and be
punished" — lor' hv aiirug Kai ilvai Kai KoX&ZeoOai o Qtbg 6kXy.
Irenaeus has the same language. "The Father of all," he
says, "imparts continuance for ever and ever to those who
are saved ; for life does not arise from us, nor from our own
nature, but is bestowed according to the grace of God. He
therefore who shall keep the life given to him, and render
thanks to Him who imparted it, shall receive also length of
days for ever and ever. But he who shall reject it, and shew
himself ungrateful to his Maker, deprives himself of continuance
for ever and ever '' — ipse se privat in saeculum sasculi perse-
verantia. (Contr. Hceres. lib. ii. c. 34, § 3.) We find the same
doctrine also in the Clementine Homilies, (Som. iii. 6.)
It is instructive also to notice how Augustine, the great
champion of the doctrine of endless punishment, writes oi
those who held Universal Restoration. He says, (De Civ. Dei,
lib. xxi. c. 17.) —
"Nunc jam cum misericordibus nostris agendum esse video
et pacifice disputandum, qui vel omnibus illis hominibus quos
justissimus Judex dignos gehennae supplicio judicabit, vel qui
busdam eorum, nolunt credere poenam sempiternam futuram,
sed post certi temporis metam pro cujusque peccati quantitate
longioris sive brevioris eos inde existimant liberandos."
That is — "And now I see I must have a gentle disputation
with certain tender hearts of our own religion, who are un
willing to believe that everlasting punishment will be inflicted,
either on all those whom the just Judge shall condemn to the
pains of hell, or even on some of them, but who think that after
certain periods of time, longer or shorter according to the pro
portion of their crimes, they shall be delivered out of that state."
Augustine's "gentle disputation," thus introduced, occupies
several succeeding chapters of the same book. In chapter 18 he
alludes to some of the passages, such as Psalm lxxvii. 7-9, on
which these "tender hearts" rested their hopes, and to the
view, then held by some, (see chapters 18 24, and 27,) that

182 The Restitution of All Things.
the saints would be the instruments for saving all. His main
reply, in chapter 23, is that the punishment of the wicked,
according to S. Matt. xxv. 46, is as everlasting as the kingdom
prepared for the righteous. The passage is worth turning to.
To me one chief point of interest in it lies in the evidence it
affords, that the views which Augustine combats were in his
day held, and could be defended, by true Catholics, " nostri
misericordes," even in the West, and that Augustine only pro
poses "gently to dispute," "pacifice disputandum," with
them. I may add that in another place also, (Enchirid. ad
Laurent, c. 29,) Augustine refers to the " very many " (imo
quam plurimi,) in his day, " who, though not denying the
Holy Scriptures, do not believe in endless torments."
Even Jerome, at the end of his Commentary on Isaiah, (lib.
xviii. in cap. lxvi.) could write : —
" Porro qui volunt supplicia aliquando finiri, et licet post
multa tempora tamen terminum habere tormenta, his utuntur
testimoniis: Quum intraverit plenitudo gentium, tunc omnis
Israel salvos fiet. Et iterum : Conclusit Deus omnia sub peccato,
id omnibus misereatur. Et rursum : Benedicam te, Domine,
quoniam iratus es mihi. Avertisti faeiem a me, et misertus es
mei. Dominus quoque loquitur ad peccatorem : Quum ira
fur oris fuerit, rursus sanabo. Et hoc est quod in alio loco
dicitur: Quam grandis midtitudo bonitatis tuce, Domine, quam
abscondisti timentibus te. Quae omnia replicant, asseverare
cupientes, post cruciatus atque tormenta, futura refrigeria :
quae nunc abscondenda sunt ab his quibus timor utilis est, ut,
dum supplicia reformidant, peccare desistant. Quod nos Dei
soli us debemus scientiae derelinquere, cujus non solum miseri-
cordiae sed et tormenta in pondere sunt, et novit quem, quomodo,
et quamdiu, debet judicare. Solumque dicamus, quod humanae
convenit fragilitati : Domine, ne in furore too arguas me, neque
in ira tud corripias me."
That is, — " But further, those who maintain that punish
ment will one day come to an end, and that torments have a
limit, though after long periods, use as proofs the following
testimonies of Scripture : — ' When the fulness of the Gentiles
shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved ; ' and again,

Appendix. Note B. 183
' God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might have
mercy upon all ; ' and again, ' I will praise Thee, 0 Lord, for
Thou wast angry with me ; Thou hadst turned thy face from
me ; but Thou hast comforted me.' The Lord Himself also
says to the sinner, ' When the fierceness of my wrath hath
passed, I will heal him.' And this is what is said in another
place : — ' Oh, how great is thy goodness, which Thou hast laid
up for them that fear Thee.' All which testimonies of Scrip
ture they urge in reply against us, while they earnestly assert
that after certain sufferings and torments there will be restora
tion. All which nevertheless they allow should not now be
openly told to those with whom fear yet acts as a motive, and
who may be kept from sinning by the terror of punishment.
But this question we ought to leave to the wisdom of God
alone, whose judgments as well as mercies are by weight and
measure, and who well knows whom, and how, and how long,
He ought to judge."
To these testimonies I add one more from Facundus, bishop
of Hermiane, who was chosen by the bishops of Africa to
represent them at Constantinople in their protest against an
edict of Justinian's, which seemed to them to impugn the
judgment of the Council of Chalcedon ; and of whose writings
Neander says, (Church Hist. vol. iv. p. 274,) that they are
" eminently characterized by qualities seldom to be met with
in this age, — a freedom of spirit unshackled by human fear, and
a candid, thorough criticism, superior in many respects to the
prejudices of the times." The passage is interesting too, as
shewing that when Facundus wrote, other bishops besides him
self regarded those who held the doctrine of the final salvation
of all men to be " most holy and glorious teachers." Facundus
(Pro defens. trium capit. lib. iv. c. 4 ; in Sirmondi's Opera
Varia, torn. 2. p. 384. Ed. "Venet. 1728,) says,—
" His omnibus accedit et confessio Domitiani Galataa Ancy-
reneis olim episcopi. . . . Nam in libello quem ad Vigilium
scripsit, conquerens de his qui contradicebant dogmatibus Ori
genis, asserentis animas humanas ante corpora in quadam beata
vita, praeextitisse, et omnes quae fuerint aeterno supplicio des-
tinatae in pristinam beatitudinem, cum diabolo et angelis ejus,

184 The Restitution of All Things.
restitui ; dicit etiam haec : ' Prosiluerunt ad anathematizandos
sanctissimos et gloriosissimos doctores, sub occasione eorum
quae de praeexistentia, et restitutione mota sunt dogmatum ; sub
specie quidem Origenis, omnes autem qui ante eum et post
eum fuerant sanctos anathematizantes.' "
That is,—" To all this is also to be added the confession of
Domitian of Galatia, formerly bishop of Ancyra. . . . For in
the book which he wrote to Vigilius, where he is complaining
of those who contradicted the doctrines of Origen, — who main
tained that the souls of men had pre-existed in some state of
blessedness before they came into bodies, and that all those
who were doomed to the eternal punishment should, together
with the devil and his angels, be restored to their former state
of blessedness, — he says, ' They have hastily run ont to anathe
matize most holy and glorious teachers on account of those
doctrines which have been advanced concerning pre-existence
and restitution ; and this indeed under pretext of Origen, but
thereby anathematizing all those saints who were before and
have been after him.' "
These passages shew how widely the doctrine of Universal
Restoration was held in the Church during the Second, Third,
Fourth, and Fifth Centuries. I will now give two or three
extracts, which might easily be multiplied, as evidencing the
views of many of the Fathers, not only as to God's end in
punishment, and the purification of all by fire, but also as to
the ministry of Christ and His elect after death to the departed.
First, as to God's end in punishment, — Clement of Alexan
dria (Strom, lib. vii. cap. 16,) says, — KoXdJei irpbg rb xPV"ipov
Kai Koivy Kai icia rulg KoXat,opivoii; : that is, " He punishes for
their good those who are punished, whether collectively or
individually." Clement continually repeats the same doctrine:
see Strom, lib. i. cap. 27 ; lib. vii. cap. 2, and cap. 6 ; Peedag.
lib. i. cap. 8.
So too Theodoret (Horn, in Ezech. cap. vi. vers. 6,) says, —
"Efoti-e rr)g ripiapiag rag airiag' larpiKug yap 6 <piXdv6pu>irog koX&Xei
&eo-!t6ti]c 'iva rravay rrjg aotfidag rbv ipopov' ravra yap rrdvrat
0)jo-i, 7roiw, Knt rf/v iprjfiiav tVdlw, Iva ajShou) rr)v mpi ra tiSaiXu
paviav Kai Xvrrav. That is, " He shews here the reason for

Appendix. Note B. 185
punishment ; for the Lord, the lover of men, torments us only
to cure us, that He -may put a stop to the course of our iniquity.
All these things, He says, I do, and bring in desolation, that I
may extinguish men's madness and rage after idols."
Then as to the baptism by fire, — Gregory of Nazianzus,
in a passage where he is alluding to the Novatians, (Orat.
xxxix. § 19, p. 690. Ed. Paris. 1778,) says, — Ovtoi piv otiv, il
piv fiovXoivro, Trjv riptrepav bSbv xai Xpiorov, fit Si pi), rrjv kavriov
izopEvioQiaoav ' rv%bv IkeX Tip rrvpi ^aTrrioOrjoovrai. rip TtXtvraup
Pairriopari, rep Irn-n -ovhireptp Kai paicporsp . , o lo9Ui dig ypprov rf\v
vXi\v, Kai Sairavif vdorig Kariag KoviporrjTa. That is, "These, if
they will, may go our way, which indeed is Christ's ; but if
not, let them go their own way. In another place perhaps they
shall be baptized with fire, that last baptism, which is not only
very painful, but enduring also ; which eats up, as if it were
bay, all defiled matter, and consumes all vanity and vice."
So too Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. pro Mortuis, ad. fin. p. 634,
Ed. Paris. 1638,) says, — 'Qg &v ovv Kai r) i^ovaia pkvoi ry fiioEi,
Kai rb kukov diroysvoiro, ravTtjv EvpEv i) aoipia rov Qtov rrjv
iirivotav, to idoai tov dvOpiorrov iv dig «/3o*X?y(?ij ysvtoOai, 'iva
ytvodptvog tuiv KaxSiv (bv iirEQvpijaevj xai Ty rrEipq. pa9aiv dia
av©' otwv TjX\d%tTof iraXivdpoprjoy did rrjg emQvpiag EKOvaiwg irpbg
rriv irpiiiTTjv paKapi6ri)Ta. . . . r\Toi Kara rrjv rxapovaav Z,iin)v Sid
npooEvxrjg Kai QiXoooQiag EKKaQap'-iEig, i) pETa rrjv evQ'evSe pEravd-
oraoiv Sid rrjg rov KaQapoiov irvpug x^vtiaQ, That is, — "Where
fore that at the same time liberty of free-will should be left to
nature and yet the evil be purged away, the wisdom of God
discovered this plan, to suffer man to do what he would, that
having tasted the evil which he desired, and learning by expe
rience for what wretchedness he had bartered away the blessings
he had, he might of his own will hasten back with desire to the
first blessedness, . . . either being purged in this life through
prayer and discipline, or after his departure hence through the
furnace of cleansing fire."
So too Ambrose, (Serm. xx. § 12, in Psalm, cxviii. p. 1225,
Ed. Paris. 1686.) — " Omnes oportet per ignem probari, quicun-
que ad Paradisum redire desiderant ; non enim otiose, scriptum
est, quod, ejectis Adam et Eva, de Paradisi sede, posuit Deus in

186 The Restitution of All Things.
exitu Paradisi gladium igneum versatilem. Omnes oportet
transire per flammas, sive ille Johannes Evangelista sit, quem
ita dilexit Dominus, .... sive ille sit Petrus qui claves ac-
cepit regni coelorum, &c." That is, — " It is necessary that all
should be proved by fire, whosoever they are that desire to re
turn to Paradise. For not in vain is it written, that, when
Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, God placed at the
outlet a flaming sword which turned every way. All therefore
must pass through these fires, whether it be that Evangelist
John whom the Lord so loved, .... or Peter, who received
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, &c."
So again, (in Psalm, i. § 54, p. 763, Ed. Paris. 1686,) he
says, — " Salvator duo genera resurrectionis posuit, ut Johannes
in Apocalypsi dixit, Beatus qui habet partem in primd resurrec-
time; isti enim sine judicio veniunt ad gratiam. Qui autem
non veniunt ad piimam resurrectionem, sed ad secundam
reservantur, isti urentur donee impleant tempora inter primam
et secundam resurrectionem : aut si non impleverint, diutius
in supplicio permanebunt." That is, — " Our Saviour has ap
pointed two kinds of resurrection, in accordance with which
John says, in the Apocalypse, ' Blessed is he that hath part in
the first resurrection ' ; for such come to grace without the
judgment. As for those who do not come to the first, but are
reserved until the second, resurrection, these shall be burnt,
until they fulfil their appointed times, between the first and
the second resurrection ; or, if they should not have fulfilled
them then, they shall remain still longer in punishment."
The same views are constantly stated by Origen ; (Horn.
vi. § 4, in Exod. ; Horn. xxv. § 6, in Num. ; Horn. iii. § 1,
in Psalm, xxxvi. 14 ; and elsewhere ;) and in more general
terms by Clement of Alexandria ; (Strom, lib. vii. c. 6.)
As to the ministry of Christ and His elect after death to
the departed, several of the Fathera speak very distinctly.
Clement of Alexandria (Strom, lib. vi. cap. 6, p. 763, Ed.
Potter,) says, — bioTrtp 6 Kuptoj EvriyyEXiaaro Kui rotj iv lioov,
k. T. X. Further on, in the same chapter, he says, Kai ot
d7r6aroXot KaQdrrtp ivravda, ovruig k'o;kei (in hades) rovg il; iQvuiv
iiriri]Seiovg Eig ejnorpafr)v ivriyyEXioavro, *. r. X. That is,

Appendix. Note B. 187
" Wherefore the Lord preached the gospel to them also who
were in hades, &c. . . . And His apostles also, as here, so
there also, preached the gospel to those of the heathen who
were ready to be converted." After which immediately fol
lows a quotation from the Shepherd of Hermas, (lib. iii. cap. 16.)
to the same effect.
We have the same doctrine stated again by Clement, in the
second book of the Stromata, and the ninth chapter ; (p. 452,
Ed. Potter ;) also, by Ignatius ; (Epist. ad Trail, cap. ix.) and
by Irenaeus ; (Hem: lib. iv. cap. 22.) and by Justin Martyr ;
(Dial. c. Tryph. cap. 72.)
The following passage from Gieseler, (Eccl. Hist. vol. i.
§ 82,) will shew that these views have not been confined to
followers of Origen. He says, — "The opinion of the inde
structible capacity for reformation in all rational creatures,
and the finiteness of the torments of hell, was so common even
in the West, and so widely diffused among opponents of Origen,
that though it might not have sprung up without the influ
ence of his school, yet it had become quite independent of it."
My own conviction, the result of some acquaintance with
the Fathers, is, that the doctrine of Universal Restitution was
held by many who in their public teaching distinctly asserted
endless punishment. To take the great and good Chrysostom
as an example. If we only looked at his statements as to the
end of punishment, we should say that he must also hold
Universal Restoration. For his doctrine is, that " if punishment
were an evil to the sinner, God would not have added evils to
the evil ; " that " all punishment is owing to His loving us,
by pains to recover us and lead us to Him, and to deliver us
from sin. which is worse than hell." (Hom. ix. in Ep. ad
Bom. v. 11. See also Hom. v. § 13, de Statuis, and Hom. iii.
§ 2, in Ep. ad Philem. i. 25.) Yet in his sermons he re
peatedly states the doctrine of everlasting punishment ; (e.g.
Hom. ix. § 1, 2, ot Ep. 1. ad Cor. iii. 12 ; Hom. x. § 6, in
Ep. 2. ad Cor. v. 10; and Hom. viii. § 2, in Ep. 1. ad Thess.
iv. 15 ; &c.) His view however of what he calls an " oeconomy,"
(that is some particular line of conduct, whether of God or
man, pursued for the benefit of certain other persons,) that

188 The Restitution of all Things.
" those who are to derive benefit from an ceconomy should ba
unacquainted with the course of it : otherwise the benefit of
it will be lost; " (Comment, in Galat. ii. 5, 6;) and the strong
feeling which he often expresses as to the evil of communicat
ing certain higher truths to the uninitiated ; (e.g. Hom. xl.
§ 2, in Ep. 1. ad Cor. xv. 29 ; and Hom. xviii. § 3, in Ep. 2.
ad Cor. viii. 24 ;) go far to explain why in sermons ad
dressed to the multitude he has spoken as he has on this
subject. We know however, that, spite of his popular lan
guage as to everlasting punishment, among the accusations
brought against him when he was summoned to the Synod of
the Oak, one distinct charge was his Origenism. It is certainly
significant, that, in his 39th Homily on the 1st Epistle to the
Corinthians, he alludes to the opinion of those who asserted
that St. Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. 28, taught an dvalpEoig r!jg Kamas,
without answering it.
So again with Ambrose. Not only are there passages, in
his book De Bono Mortis, which, as it appears to me, can never
be reconciled with the doctrine of never-ending punishment,
but the whole drift of the book is in an entirely opposite
direction. For he asserts that " death is the end of sin ; "
(cap. iv.) that, even with the wicked, " it is worse to live to
sin than to die in sin ; for, while the wicked man lives, he
encreases his sin : if he dies, he ceases to sin." (cap. vii.) The
whole 4th chapter is to prove, that " death is altogether good,
as well because it is the end of sin, as because it redeemed the
world." In a word, according to Ambrose, sin is the great evil,
while what we call death is God's means to deliver man from
the evil ; " for those who are unbelievers descend into hell,
even while they live : though they seem to live with us, they
are in hell." (cap. xii.) But all this is directly opposed to the
popular notion of future punishment, which regards the second
death as hopeless, endless torment.
A thoughtful reader too cannot but be struck with the way
in which in their controversies with the Manichees and others,
who held the eternity of two opposing principles of good and
evil, the advocates of the truth, that there is but One God,
only prove their point either by asserting that all evil still one

Appendix. Note B. 189
day cease, or else by arguing that evil is really nothing. Thus
in the Debate between Manes and Archelaus, (a.d. 277,) the
truth that there is but One God, and He a good one, is only
sustained against the Manichean view by the declaration that
all evil may and will cease. "When," asks Manes, (§ 17,)
" will that happen which you tell of? " " I am only a man,"
replies Archelaus, " and do not know what will come : never
theless I will not leave that point without saying something
on it." He afterwards says, (§ 29,) " Therefore it (death) has
an end, because it began in time ; and that is true which was
spoken, ' Death is swallowed up in victory.' It is plain there
fore that death cannot be unbegotten, seeing that it is shewn
to have both a beginning and an end." (Routh's Beliq. Sacr.
vol. v. p. 1 11. Ed. Oxon. 1848.) The argument of Athanasius
is, that evil in its own nature is nothing. " Those things,"
he says, " are, which are good : those things are not, which
are evil. And good things have being, because their patterns
are in God, who truly is ; but evil things have not being,
because, nothing in themselves, they are the fictions of men."
And again, "As a substance, and in its own nature, evil is
nothing; the Creator has made all things." (Orat c. Gentes, c.
4, & 6. Opp. torn. i. pp. 4, 6.) Basil has the same doctrine : —
"Evil is no real thing, but a negation or privation." (Hom.
Quod Deus non est auctor malorum, c. 5.) Gregory of Nyssa
also uses very similar language. (Orat. Catech. c. 28.) And
so too Augustine, replying to the Manichees, says, " Who is
so blind as not to see that evil is that which is opposed to the
nature of a thing ? And by this principle is your heresy re
futed ; for evil, as opposed to nature, is not a nature. But you
say that evil is a certain nature and substance. Then what is
opposed to nature struggles against it and would destroy it.
So that which exists tends to make non-existence. For nature
itself is only what is understood, after its kind, to be some
thing. . . , If then you will consider the matter, evil consists
in this very thing, namely in a defection from being, and a ten
dency to non-being." (De Moribus Munich, lib. ii. § 2, & 3.)
We find the same doctrine also in his Confessions : (lib. vii. c. 12.)
But if this be so, what becomes of Augustine's doctrine of

1 90 The Restitution of all Things.
never-ending punishment, which surely is never-ending exist
ence in evil P
So much then as to the views of some of the greatest
teachers ofthe Early Church. After Augustine's time, partly
through his great authority, but even more in consequence of
the general ignorance both of Greek and Hebrew, which for
centuries prevailed in the Western Church, and which kept
men from reading the Scriptures in the original languages, the
doctrine of Universal Restoration was well-nigh silenced in the
West until the revival of learning in the 16th century. My
own impression is that the doctrine of Purgatory, properly so
called, which gradually grew up from the 5th to the 7th cen
tury, in contradistinction to the earlier view of purifying fire
held by Clement of Alexandria and Origen, was a natural
result of the efforts of Augustine and others to silence the
doctrine of Restitution. In the 9th century, however, John
Scotus Erigena once again, and in the most decided way, bore
witness to the hope of Universal Restitution. Having at an
early age visited Greece, he brought back with him into the
West a system of doctrine which was the fruit of a careful
Btudy of the Greek Fathers, particularly of Origen, Gregory of
Nyssa, and Maximus. For a brief but good account of this
writer's teaching, I may refer the reader to Oxenham's Catholic
Doctrine of the Atonement, Second Edition, pp. 151-154, or to
Neander's Church History, vol. vi. pp. 254-260. Since the Re
formation many of our English divines, — among the Puritans,
Jeremiah White and Peter Sterry, — and in the English Church,
Richard Clarke, William Law, and George Stonehouse, — in
Scotland, Thomas Erskine of Linlathen and Bishop Ewing, —
and among those on the Continent, Bengel, Oberlin, Hahn, and
Tholuck, — have been believers in final restitution.
I may perhaps add here that it is confessed by the highest
authorities of the Roman Church, that the opinion of the miti
gation or intermission of the sufferings of the damned, which
has been held by some, is nowhere condemned by the Catholic
Church. Dr. Newman in his Grammar of Assent, p. 417, has
quoted, without contradiction, and apparently with sympathy,

Appendix. iHote U. 191
the following passage from Petavius, (De Angelis, ad. fin.) —
" De bac danmatorum saltern hominum respiratione, nihil adhuc
certi decretum est ab Ecclesid Catholicd; utpropterea non temere
tanquam absurda sit explodenda sanctissimorum Patrum hoc
opinio; quamvis a communi sensu Oatholicorum hoc tempore
sit aliena." It ought not to be forgotten also, that our English Church,
having in her original Forty-two Articles had a Forty-first,
declaring of " Millenarians," that they " cast themselves head
long into a Jewish dotage," and a Forty-second, asserting, that
" All men shall not be saved at length," within a very few
years, in Elizabeth's reign, struck out both these Articles.
Surely this is not without its significance. The Creeds, which
are received both by East and West, not only make no mention
whatever of endless punishment, but in their declaration of
" the forgiveness of sins " seem to teach a very different
doctrine.

Nora C.
On Hebrews ii. 9, 16,
The possibility of the recovery of fallen angels is said to be
absolutely negatived by the Apostle's words, in Hebrews ii. 16,
that our Lord " took not on Him the nature of angels." Angels
therefore, it is argued, cannot be restored.
But is it true that our Lord has never taken the nature of
angels ? What then is taught in such Scriptures as Gen. xxii.
15, 16; xlviii. 16; Judges vi. 12, 14, 22, 23; xiii. 21, 22; Isa.
Ixiii. 9 ; Zech. iii. 1 ; Mai, iii. 1 ; Acts vii. 38 ; Col. ii. 10 ;
&c. ; where our Lord is shewn to have appeared before His
Incarnation as an angel ?
In the next place, is it true that the verse in question
really says that our Lord "took not on Him the nature of
angels ? " To answer this we have only to turn to the
Original, where (as the marginal note of our Authorized Version
shews even to an English reader,) the words, oi ydp irriXapr.
BdvErai, translated in the Authorized Version "took not on Him

192 The Restitution of All Things.
the natwe of," are seen to be simply, "is not laying hold of";
the statement being, that Christ is not now laying hold of
angels, but only of the seed of Abraham.
That this is the meaning of imXapjidvtTai may be shewn
from countless passages, such for example as S. Matt. xiv. 31 ;
S. Luke ix. 47 ; Acts xvi. 19 ; xxiii. 19 ; Heb. viii. 9. See
also the LXX. in Gen. xxv. 26 ; Exod. iv. 4 ; and Judges xvi.
3, 21, &c. This verse therefore gives no support whatever to
the doctrine based on the translation (corrected in the margin)
of our Authorized English Version.
There is however a passage in the same second chapter of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, if we take what appears to
have been the original reading, teaches, as Bengel and others
have shewn, a very different doctrine. I allude to the 8th and
9th verses, where our Version reads, " that He by the grace of
God should taste death for every man." It is not generally
known that an older reading is, " that He should taste death for
all excepting God"; xupk Stui instead of Yapirt Beov. This is
the way Ambrose, a.d. 370, quotes the verse ; and long before
his time, when Origen wrote, AJ>. 203, this was the usual
reading, though in his Commentary on S. John (torn. i. § 40,)
he allows that " in some copies," (iv noi dvnypdipoig,) the other
reading was also then to be met with. The ancient Syriac
Version too has followed the reading xo>pig QeoT,, The follow
ing notes on the passage, from Cornelius a Lapide, — who
gives us Ambrose's exposition, — from Origen, and lastly from
Bengel, shew how strong the evidence is in favour of ywpt'j 0£ov.
Cornelius a Lapide's note is as follows : — " Nota. Pro xaPlTl,
id est, gratid Dei, Theodoretus, Theophylactus, et (Ecume-
uius legunt xapk Otov, id est, sine Deo, vel excepto Deo, addunt-
que, ita corruptum esse hunc locum a Nestorianis ; hine enim
illi probant in Christo duas fuisse personas, et Deum ab
homine fuisse separatum. Verum ante Nestorium Ambrosius,
(lib. de fide, cap. 4,) legit quoque ro sine Deo; sicque
explicat: ' Christus pro omnibus sine Deo, id est, excepto Deo,
mortem gustavit, q.d. Christus pro omnibus, etiam angelis,
non autem pro Deo ipso, (Deum enim excipio,) mortuus est.

Appendix. Note C. 193
Non quasi angeios redemerit Christus, sed quod angelos
hominibus reconciliarit, eorumque laetitiam et gloriam auxerit,
dum sedes eorum, ex quibus collapsi erant daemones, pei
homines restauravit et replevit.' " Which explanation of the
words shews that Ambrose accepted the reading, xwpk foo",
though he would draw another conclusion from it.
Origen constantly quotes the passage, with the reading
xaolg 8eov ; e.g. Comment, in Johan. torn. i. § 40 ; (vol. iv. p. 41.
Ed. Delarue, Paris, 1733-59;) and again torn, xxviii. § 14;
(vol. iv. pp. 392, 393.) And again in his Comment, in Epist.
ad. Bom. lib. iii. § 8 ; (vol. iv. p. 513.) And again lib. v. § 7,
of the same ; (p. 560.) In quoting the verse in his Commentary
on the Epistle to the Bomans, (lib. v. § 7. pp. 559, 560,) he
says, "Requiritur sane, si in solis hominibus superabundet
gratia, in quibus abundavit aliquando peccatum ; et an in nullo
superabundet gratia, nisi in quo abundavit peccatum ; an et in
aliquibus potest superabundare gratia, in quibus nunquam vel
abundaverit vel fuerit peccatum. Et si quis illud aspiciat
quod dicit Apostolus, quia padficavit Christus per sanguinem
mum non solum quts in terris sunt, sed et quce in ccelis, et illud,
Ut sine Deo pro omnibus gustaret mortem, putabit et ibi
similiter aliquem abundantiam fuisse peccati, ut nihilominus
etiam gratiae superabundantia fieret."
Bengel too evidently prefers the reading x^pk. Having ¦
pointed out, (Gnomon, in loco,) how nearly identical the
teaching of verses 8 and 9 is with that of 1 Cor. xv. 17, where,
as he observes, "in treating of the same Psalm, the same
verse, and the same words, ' All things put under Him,' the
Apostle states, that the ' All ' admits of one most evident and
proper exception, saying, ' It is evident that He is excepted
which did put all things under Him,' " — Bengel goes on to say,
that " the same exception is made in this passage, only here it
is as to those for whom He tasted death. ' For all, excepting
God.' " He then thus sums up in favour of the reading x^pig
tftoD : — " Nunc quaeritur, utra lectio genuina est. Non ignoro,
xdpiri plausibilius esse, quam x<"pi-e. Et sine labore ullo a me
impetrarem, ut hoe missum facerem, et illud amplecterer.

194 The Restitution of All Things.
Sed ubi de verbo Dei, ubi de unico Dei verbulo agitur, nil
temporis causS, statuere debemus. Facilius xMPk in x«Plri>
quam %dptn in xwpk librariorum sedulitas, planiora omnia
quaerens, mutavit: et tamen xuPk remanet in monumentis
antiquis, multis, gravibus. Neque lectionem hanc, neque in-
terpretationem hie a nobis propositam, quisquam, ut spero, ex-
agitabit • lectori tamen integrum est, rem amplius expendere."

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