Dies iræ: the judgment of the great day viewed in the light of Scripture and conscience

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Preface

The greater part of the materials from whicli this book is composed, have be#i l^g before the author for some time ; and now that circumstances hare appeared to him to cOl for their publication, the occupations of a buej life have made it impossible for him to do more than roughly put his thoughts together in some little system. It must not be supposed that the writer disregards the Christian literature* of past ages, or the critical investigations of modem 'tiii^C because lie has so seldom referred to the one or th^ ol&er ; nor must it be imagined that he is altogether ignorant of the views and opinions of those from whom he differs, because he has abstained from reviewing or criticising their works. Daily growing stronger in the conviction that the Bible is the only safe guide in all religious matters, he has used the few hours that have been at his command in once more searching the Scriptures, that he might verify the conclusions already arrived at, after much thought and careful criticism. In making quotations, he has uniformly compared the translation with the original and with the context,

IV PKBFACE.

in ordii; to ascertain that the words properly imply what they are supposed to mean.

ifc is impossible that perfeiljt unanimity should prevail with regard to the present question, even among those who take the Scripture as their only guide. On some points, where he has found but little light, the author has spoken hesitatingly ; but he is not conscious of having shrunk from any part of the investigation on which the light of revealed truth could be thrown.

The author would gladly have left the whole work for other hands to carry out, for indeed the task has been beset with difficulties. Pirn lahor, sed periculosa prcBsumptio, All he can h^pe in offering this contribution to the Christian Church is, that some, who are sorrowftdly pondering over the present misery and the future doom of the vast mass of mankind, may be both relieved in mind, and also stimulated to wholesome activity, by the perusal of the following pages.

Thanks are due to two kind Mends who have carefully read each sheet, and of whose wise counsels and criticisms the author has largely availed himself.

May God pardon the infirmities of the writer, and guide the reader into all truth !

Clofpha/m Common,

CO-NTENTS.

Chapter I. Paob

. Gravity and Difficulty .of iit^e Subject 1

CHAf TEE II.

The Divine Glory' of Humanity . . . , , . 6

CHAPTER ni.

The True Nature of Sin . . . .11

CHAITER IV.

Men of all Ages and Dispensations Reserved for

Judgment . . . .18

CHAPTER V.

The Day of Judgment • . . .31

CHAPTER VI.

Principles on which the Judgment will be Conducted . 46

CHAPTER vn.

The Position of the Saints on the Day of Judgment . 81

CHAPTER vm.

The Nature of the Punishment of the Ungodly . 102

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE IX.

The Duration of the Punishment of the Ungodly . 117

CHAPTER X.

The Meaning of the word " Eternal " in the Old Testament ..... 128

r

CHAPTEE XI.

The Usage of the word "Eternal" in the New Testament ..... 144

CHAPTER Xn.

Is Annihilation the Destiny of the Ungodly P .150

CHAPTER xin.

Does Eternity of Punishment Involve Eternity of Sin P 162

CHAPTER XIV.

Gem there be any Proportion between the Sins of Time

and the Punishment of Eternity P . .169

CHAPTER XV.

The Greatness of the Gulf between the Saved and the

CHAPTER XVI.

Is the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment Consistent with

the Love of God P . . .187

CONTENTS. VU

CHAPTEB XVn.

Will the Pnnisliment of the Wicked be* a Triumph of

Evil over Good P . . .197

CHAPTEB XVlil.

The Principle of Retribution . .206

CHAPTEB XIX.

The Glory of Christ and the Beconciliation of all

Things • . .220

CHAPTEB XX.

Satanic Temptation and Human Besponsibility . 232

CHAPTEB XXI.

Election and Beprobation . . 239

• CHAPTEB xxn.

The Feeling of the Saved with Begard to the Boom of

CHAPTEB xxm.

Repentance after Death .... 264

CHAPTEB XXrV.

Summary and Conclusion . . . 274 f

This world I deem

Bat a beantifiil dream Of shadows, that are not what they seem ;

Where visions rise.

Giving dim surmise Of the things that shall meet our w^jpng eyes.

Soorflhe whole,

Like a parched up scroll, Shall before my amazed eyes uproll ;

And without a screen.

At one burst be seen The Presence wherein I have ever been.

Oh, who shall bear

The blinding glare Of the Majesty that shall meet us there P *

What eye may gaze

On the unveiled blaze Of the light-girdled throne of the Ancient of Days P

Christ us aid !

Himself be our Shade, That in that dread day we be not dismayed.

Whytehead.

'^DIES IR^!"

^CHAPTER I.

GRAVITY And difficulty of thj. subject.

** When I thought to hnow this, it toas too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of Ood; then understood I their end." — Psalm Lxxni. 16, 17.

It is with an awakened conscience, and with a sense of the reality, the greatness, and the nearness of God, that we ought to enter upon such a discussion as we now venture to approach. No subject can excite more intense interest in the mind of man, than the consideration of his future destiny ; and yet it is just at this very point that reason, analogy, instinct, imagination, and hypothesis fail us. We resort to their aid in vaia "Where we seek for illumination we only find dimness and darkness. The more the subject is pondered over so much the more it baffles our penetration. We have no faculties of sufficient power to penetrate into the future ; and the witness of those which we have hardly agrees together. Under these circumstances we may

B

2 THE BIBLE THE ONLY GUIDE AS TO THE FUTURE.

well give up the investigation of details and confine ourselves to the determination of principles ; and for this purpose the only safe course is to abide literally and strictly by the teaching of the Scripture. Whatever Gk)d has revealed in His Word (and we here take it for granted that the Holy Scripture is His Word), that, and that alone must be our guide, whether we contemplate the future glory of the saved, or the future degradation of the lost

It can be no pleasure to a godly man to exaggerate the punishment of the ungodly. If he does it at all it is done unconsciously, through inaccuracy in expounding Scripture, or through a zealous desire to turn the sinner from the error of his ways, that he may lay hold of eternal life. Human preachers may err, and doubtless have erred, by drawing too much on their imagination, and by attempting to depict scenes which God has only sketched in dim outline. But if the disciple has made mistakes, the Master has not God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, and it is not conceivable that He would distort or exaggerate the final condition of the imgodly, for it is impossible for Him to lie ; we may therefore feel confident that whatsoever He has revealed to His servants, the Prophets and Apostles^ and whatever He has spoken by the mouth of His Son, is absolutely true, and will surely come to pass. It is to the Bible, then, that we must turn, if we

THE DOCTBIKE OF ETEKKAL PUNISHMENT. 3

would have a right understanding with regard to the final destiny of the ungodly.

So tax most Christiana are agreed. But when, in obedience to their convictions, men turn over the pages of the Word of God, and gather together, as they proceed, the passages in which the punishment of the wicked is described, they are staggered not only at the terrible doom which is to be pronounced, but alto and especially at the word which denotes the duration of that doom, — the word etemoL The punishment appears too great for men to bear ; it appears to be out of all proportion with the offence; it is inconceivable in its extent How is it consistent with the loving character of God ! Would it not be a triumph of evil over good ? Does it not take away &om the glory of Him who died for the sins of the whole world! Does not nature itself recoil from this word eUrrud, as applied to the sufferings of the wicked? Such are the thoughts that cross and recross our hearts, and that cause us many an hour of painful perplexity. Sometimes we have succeeded in driving them forcibly away, as if they were Satanic suggestions to imbeUei This method is convenient,, but not thoroughly satisfjftctory, for thought cannot be altogether stifled, though it may be kept down for a time. Sometimes we have argued the matter in our own minds, on general principles* We have reflected that we know very little about the nature of sin» about the necessities of divine

4 THE DOOTEINE OP ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.

law or of human existence, and about eternity itself. These arguments are safe> and wise, and good. They leave us free to exercise a reasonable faith in God, and they enable us to go forth with fresh earnestness to save our brethren, "with fear, plucking them out of the fire." At times, however, we are inclined to take a dififerent course. We cast about for some way of escape : we seek for some modified explanation of the terms used in the Scripture. Perhaps the word eternal does not mean what we mean by etemaL Perhaps annihilation, or extinction of consciousness, will answer all the requirements of Scripture. Perhaps the doc^ trine, as a whole, may be modified by the counterbalancing doctrines that God is love, that His threats are conditional, and that the time must come when every creature must be reconciled to God. By some such process we try to retain our faith in the authority of Scripture, and yet modify the doctrine of eternal punishment so as to admit of its being brought to a possible conclusion, either by the restoration of the lost, or by their being put out of their misery.

When there is diflference of opinion on such doctrines as redemption and election, and when hardly two independent students of prophecy are thoroughly agreed as to the character and order of the events which are to take place before " the end of all things," we ought not to be surprised that the terms in which Scripture has set forth the nature and duration of the punish*-

THE NEED OF FOBBEABAKCE. 5

ment of the wicked, are interpreted differently by different persons ; and it is our duty to exercise great forbearance towards others, whilst maintaining faitlifully and firmly what we believe to be the truth of God on the subject.

Some of us pray constantly that God may " have mercy upon all men," and that He may send His blessing upon "all sorts and conditions of men." Our sympathies as Christians are drawn out towards the whole human race, for all are by nature brethren, and all need the same salvation. No fault therefore can be found with those who search the Scriptures diligently to see if any distinctions are drawn between the privileges and responsibilities of various classes of men. Whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope ; and we may rightly investigate the nature and extent of that hope, and may note what God has left unsaid, as well as what He has thought proper to reveal But we are exceedingly blameworthy if, when we have done this, we do not rest content, strong in the conviction that human reason is not a fair judge of those things which are only partially brought within its ken, whereas all Scripture comes from the inspiration of Him who sees the end from the beginning.

May God in His mercy guide us by His Holy Spirit, at every step which we take in the following discussion !

<c

Chapter II. The Divine Olory Op Humanity

As certam also of your ovm poets have said. For we a/re aXso His

offspring.*^ — ^Acts xvii. 28.

We are daily learning more and more of the littleness of man, and of the greatness of God. The earth on which we dwell, is but a speck in the universe. Myriads of material orbs are silently and swiftly rolling through infinite space, each weighed in the balance by the Master-hand, and all maintained in their courses by His imerring and unchanging ordinance. What a magnificent conception of Gk)d's nature may be gathered &om the contemplation of the heavens ! What power, what wisdom, what wiU, what authority must be centred in Him who "telleth the nimiber of the stars, and caUeth them aU by their name ; " '' who ruleth over all from the beginning;'* "who laid the foundation of the earth, that it should not be moved at any time ; '* who set all the host of heaven in their places, and appointed to all their courses !

We know not what mysteries there may be in God's dealings with the heavenly bodies. We cannot tell whether any world but the globe on which we live, contains inhabitants. Possibly God has reserved this privil^e for earth. Possibly the heavens are intended to set forth the glory of God, by showing His infinity, His comprehensiveness, His power, and His love of order ; and the firmament showeth His handiwork on a large scale only ; whilst it is the honour and the privilege of earth to be the scene of higher and clearer manifestations of the Divine character.

Certainly earth has its mysteries and its wonders. Even regarded merely from a physical point of view, it has its catastrophies, its convulsions, its upheavings, and its depressions, all arranged and appointed (must we not acknowledge it?) by the will of the Almighty* As we regard the physical history of the earth, we learn something of " the goodness and severity of (Jod,** and we instinctively stand in awe and tremble before Him ; for the Lord is great and terrible, and the earth is full of His judgments.

But after all, the great mystery is man. Lord of earth, by virtue of his mental and spiritual endowments; gifted with thought and imagination which can soar aloft into infinity, and can penetrate beyond the confines of time ; bearing the traces of the Divine in his faculties and aspirations ; acknowledging, at least in his better moments, some connection with that Being

8 . MAN THB REVEALER OF GOD.

who is tlie Fountain of aO. existence, and who is the Father of all spirits, yet living too often in a course which his titiest self abhors, hating his fellow man, and ignoring his heavenly Father ; spending a crooked and miserable existence upon earth, and then tottering feebly to the grave.

: Strange that we see most of Grod in that nature which alone dares to set Him at defiance, and that we must search among the ruins of humanity, if we would find the chief elements of divinity. The heavens tell of God's greatness, and the feather or the blade of grass reminds us that His care extends to the minutest details of existence ; but it is in Man, the Mechanic, the Poet> the Lawgiver, the Judge, the King, the Physician, the Friend, the Father, that we can discern most of the essential outlines of the nature and character of God. Every noble faculty, every aspiration after good, every pure and lovely feeling is a " living epistle " of God, which may be " known and read of all mea" " He that planted the ear, shall He not hear ? He that formed the eye, shall He not see ? *' He that endued man with personality and consciousness and will, doth He not contain in Himself the essential elements of personal consciousness, and the power of choice and of determination ? He that has put into man's heart an instinctive hatred of injustice, and a shrinking from that which is impure, is He not just, and pure, and holy t He that made love the

. • *

DESIGN OF HUMANITY. 9

•

deepest^ strongest motive in human life^ and the greatest purifier of human character, must not love be of the very essence of His nature ? " Nature conceals God, but man reveals Him; and as long as man carries a particle of true humanity about him, there is a chink in his fallen nature through which the sunshine of God's countenance may stream in upon his souL

It is evident that God has kid His hand upon man for some great purpose. Fallen though he is from that resemblance to his heavenly Father, with which the head of the race was endued, there is still something marveUous about him,— something which distinguishes him from the rest of creation, — something to which God may yet appeal, and through which he may be trained up, amid the roughnesses of earth. For what? For death ? Alas ! we need no training for the grave, which we share with the beasts that perish, nor for corruption, which we inherit in common vdth the autumn leaves. No : He who inhabiteth eternity hath put into our bosoms the germ of a more sublime existence. His heart yearns over us as over lost children, and His design with regard to man is the same now as ever it has been, — that He may bring many sons unto glory, and that His own eternal Son, who hath existed in all ages in the bosom of His Father, may be the First-born among many brethren. This sublime truth, if it does not unravel all the

10 DESIGN OF HUMANITY.

secrets of the Past solves the mystery of Eedemption, and opens a door of glorious hope for the Future, beyond the grava

Every man is bom to play his part in the world^s history, whether it be but for a few minutes, or for a hundred years. His actions, though never so trifling, are links in the chain of human existence, and threads in the web of a great world-drama, wherein eternal principles are being realized, and divine purposes carried out. The actor, when he leaves the stage at night, passes away to his own home in his proper character. And we, too, shall pass away from earth : we shall bid farewell to business and pleasure, to the friends we have loved, to the houses we have dwelt in, to the clothes we have worn, and to the body which has Kved with our life, and grown with our growth. The sombre veil of death hides the rest from our view. One by one men are passing through. They never come back to tell us what is beyond, and if we seek to know what our sensations will be at the moment when the mourners are gathered round our lifeless form, we seek in vain. Two things only are clear to every honest conviction throughout the world : that man's existence cannot, must not terminate in death ; and that our condition hereafter must depend, at least in some measure, on our life here.

Chapter III. The True Nature Of Sin

'* / have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled

against mc" — Is. i. 2.

The Scriptures are heavily laden with the story of the sin of man, and of the consequent wrath of God. If the Bible contained nothing else, it would be the most gloomy book ever put into man's hand ; but running side by side with the revelation of God's wrath, we discern a revelation of His love, and of His graca These words, tvrath and love, are no mere figures of speech, when applied to God: the human feelings which we call by these names, if stripped of all that is selfish, mean, and impure, are fair representations of the feelings with which God regards the sinner. Man is God's creature and His child, and so He loves him. Man is also a sinner, and so He is angry with him. Thus there is a complexity of emotion in the^ heart of G^d towards His human creatures, and there is a consequent complexity of result. As a father deals with

12 SIN BEGABDED AS FAILURK

his erring and stubborn child, so does God deal with man. If this truth was never clear before, the New Testament has made it clear ; it is one of the foundation truths of the Gospel, and is fruitfiil in practical instruction to every one who will accept it.

The more we analyze what Scripture tells us of the sin' of man, and the more we confirm that analysis by a comparison of our own hearts, so much the more vivid is our impression of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The very word sin^ both in the Hebrew* and Greek is instructive, for it signifies " a missing of the mark:" a coming short of the true intention and purpose of existence, a failure in respect to that for which man was created. Every sinful act and thought and word, goes athwart the original design of God, and causes us to drift ever further and further from the course which was once marked out for us. And so St. Paul says, " All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God " (Eom. iii. 23) : that is to say, all have

^ It has been thought unnecessary to cumber the pa^ with critical discussions on the Hebrew words by which the inspired writers have been led to describe the nature of sin. The author ventures to refer his readers to an article on *' Sin and its punishment," contributed by him to "Fairbaim's Bible Dictionary." Few things are more remarkable and interesting about the Bible than the fact that the more closely we investigate the very words in which the Bible (especially the Old Testament) was written, so much the more clearly do we perceive the richness and truthfulness of the inspired writings, even in the minutest details.

SIN BEGABDED AS BEBELUON. 13

failed of obtaining that glorious position in relation to God, wWch they were designed to occupy. Humanity is the one part of God's creation on which the word failwre must be stamped, and that simply owing to the fact that man was gifted with a faculty which put failure within his reach : namely, free choice.

God's moral law, like His physical law, though it has many ramifications, is very simple, for it is contained in one word — love. As there is a correlation of physical forces, so there is of spiritual forces, and love is the master of the whole. fTor is it difficult to see the reason of this, — for God is love : that is to say, love is the predominating characteristic of His nature, and the moral law was simply directed to keeping hini like to God in this respect. The first sin, which was the parent of all sin, was distrust in God's love, and a consequent disobedience to His commandment Self then and there took that place in the heart which God ought always to have occupied, and thus the current of heavenly life and love was stopped within the souL Here was sin : a failure, not in God, but in one of His noblest conceptions, — ^man.

Sin must also be regarded as rebellion. Most solemn and touching is the utterance of God, by the mouth of Isaiah (L 2 — 5) : " Hear, heavens, and give ear, earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth its owner, and the ass

14 SIN BEOABDED AS BEBELUOK.

his master's erib : but Israel doth not know, my people doth not considOT." Here God appeals to the brate creation, as condemning the chosen people by their simplest instincts. He speaks aloud to heaven and to earth in His complaint, as if it were no use to give further warnings or exhortations to IsraeL This nation, which had once been the glory of all the world, is described as a ''sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lobd, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward/' And so hopeless is their cas€^ that the Lord asks, "Why shoxdd ye be stricken any more ? Te will revolt more and more." Israel is in these respects, as in so many others^ a representative nation, and its rebellion and stubbornness is a mirror in which we may each see the character of our own natural heart. God holds a position of authority over every man as Maker, Buler, and Father ; and the conscience is the witness in every possessor of human nature, that the will of God is to be paramount in our lives and actions. Every time that we choose the evil and refuse the good, we are acting the part of rebels, and deliberately setting up ourselves and our pleasures in the place of God. But the Lord our God is a jealous God, and these acts of rebellion cannot go unnoticed or unpunished. It is no light thing that man should recognize His voice and H!is call in a less

OTHEB ASPECTS OF SIN. 15

degree than the beasts recognize their owners and their masters. Man has evidently put himself into a terribly fedse position with regard to God, and has done grave dishonour to Him whom all the hosts of heaven adore without ceasing.

There are many other aspects in which God regards the sin of man. It is transgression ^ of His laws, it is distrust of His love, it is a perversion of the faculties with which He has endued man, it is the degradation of a noble nature which He has created, it is the forming an alliance with that which is seen and transitory, to the neglect of those things which are unseen and eternal ; but, after all, the essence of the matter lies here, — ^that man is a failure, and that his life is the life of a xebeL And shall not the Lord visit for these things} Can the care of myriads of worlds be so important in His sight as the conduct of those who were intended to share His likeness, and to set forth His character? Is He too high and too great to be Qcciq>ied with the sins and troubles of humanity ? Is the mechanical obedience of the heavenly orbs» and the spiritual obedience of the angelic throng, so satisfying that the human race may be permitted to go on sinning with impunity? At times we may be

^ For proofs of these definitions see the Hebrew words referred to in the artide on "Sin and its punishment," in ''Fairbaini's Bible Diction^."

16 DOES SIN GO UNPUNISHED?

inclined to answer in the affirmative, and there seems considerable ground at first sight, for the supposition that God leaves the sinner to his own devices, that He hideth away His face, and will never see the evil that is being wrought under the sun. Sin seems indeed to bring some punishment with it. Death itself is a terrible proof of God's just abhorrence of sin. All the social and family troubles of humanity spring out of sin, and may be regarded as in some measure a punishment for it. If a man sins against his ovoi fliesh, he is sure to suflfer sooner or later in his flesh. If a man sins against society, he will imdoubtedly suffer before long from the hands of society. We cannot lightly disregard the laws of nature or the laws of man ; but we may violate the law of God, we may ignore His existence, we may deliberately defy His authority, we may take His name in vain, we may even worship other gods, and yet no special evil seems to happen to us. We eat, and drink, and sleep^ and awake, like other men. God does not come down and openly reprove us for our rebellion ; He does not avenge His own cause in the sight of heaven and earth, and so we are tempted to say, " Tush ! the Loed seeth not, neither doth the God of Jaxjob regard it." It is certainly true that rebellion against God, as such, is allowed to go on in this world apparently unnoticed and unchastised : but God is not so indifferent as we may suppose. Are not all these things written in His

DOES SIN GO UNPUiaSHBD? 17

book? Is there not a day of reckoning yet to come ? May He not have set our iniquities before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance ? It is so. Nothing has escaped His attention The secrets of every heart shall be revealed hereafter, and "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."