The Problem of Immortality (1892)- Chapter 1 - by E. Petavel w Letter From Charles Secretan

Haute Combe, Lausanne (Switzerland),

February, 1892.

LETTER FROM PROFESSOR CHARLES SECRETAN.

I could not thank you too much for the thought which induced you to communicate to me the sheets of your plea in favour of an acquired immortality. Although I am not a competent judge in matters of exegesis, it yet appears to me clear that life must mean life and that death must mean death wherever the literal meaning is not absurd, and that a meaning cannot properly be declared absurd merely because it contradicts a dualism incompatible with all right understanding of real life. The idea of an immortality essential to spirit substance, making it impossible to assign to the existence of the creature either beginning or end, is a very near approach to pantheism, or else to polytheism.

The moral aspect of your doctrine is no less interesting to me. We need to believe in the end of evil, in the death of death, in the absolute triumph of God. The sentiment of justice implanted in our hearts by God himself does not allow us to accept an infinite punishment as the penalty of a finite fault. To pretend that the fault is infinite would be to attribute to ourselves an infinite power, and in any case the full capacity of doing the right, which is precisely what the defenders of such a system deny to us, claiming on that point the support of universal experience. They are thus also constrained to acknowledge that the perpetual existence of hell and of the damned is necessary to the perfection of the universe, to the manifestation of the divine perfections, which consequently are not summed up in love. The idea of God which underlies this system is not a moral idea, his government can no longer serve us as a model, and if we should wish to apply to it the moral ideas according to which he intends that we should regulate our conduct, we should arrive at the most shocking blasphemies.

Under the influence of tradition, I endeavoured in my youth to explain the possibility of eternal torments by the possible persistence of rebellion; but that infinite persistence in the bad use of a free-will always maintained is only an unrealizable abstraction. Besides, this conception, itself a considerable deviation from orthodoxy, had the serious disadvantage, from the properly religious point of view, of imposing upon the divine power an impassable barrier, since it might happen that after all the world would never be that which the divine goodness wishes it to be. No; contingent evil may be explained by the positive value of liberty, but the religious consciousness cannot be reconciled to the presence of evil, unless it is affirmed that it has had a beginning and that it will come to an end.

On the other hand, the final salvation of all sinners, with or without their will, is no less repugnant to the moral consciousness, and the preaching of it could not fail to be mischievous to sinners, who are always looking out for reasons why they should not yet change their manner of life. At one time I inclined towards this hope, certainly not imagining that God could ever allow a rebel to enter paradise, nor that for the sake of reaching an end he would convert the rebel against his will, but thinking that at last, by means of chastisement and patience, he would be able to lead all souls to conversion, thus subordinating the hour of the glorious consummation to the obstinacy of a single soul. It was not long before I perceived the moral weakness and the logical fault of this point of view, which at the same time asserts and denies the moral liberty of the creature.

I was, in fact, a predestined candidate for your doctrine, since I had always seen in evil not merely an insufficiency, a defect of being, like the logicians to whom we owe infernal metaphysics, but a direction of the will—that is to say, of the very being—towards annihilation. I reproach myself for having failed to carry out my principle to its logical consequence.

One word as to the gallery of ancestors and authorities that you lead us through. I do not see very clearly either the precise relation between the conditionalist doctrine and the connection of crime with atavism which was so pleasing to Edgar Quinet, nor the great advantage of counting Quinet among the number of your partizans.

I should like to caution you against the opinions of Professor Drummond. The great success of his work assuredly proves the existence in the religious public of a strong sense of the need to reconcile its convictions with science; but it seems to methat before bringing Christianity within the bounds of evolution, it is needful to bring the fall within those bounds. If Christianity belongs to science, it is not as a chapter in biology, but rather as a chapter in medicine. Jesus Christ was a physician; he remains our physician. The ideal of the natural man set forth by Professor Drummond is a false ideal; the natural man is not a being of an inferior species to the believer, the natural man is an invalid; and salvation is not offered to all with the reserve that a small number only are capable of receiving it. The system that makes of the elect a superior rank in the hierarchy of beings implies the most rigorous predestination and the express negation of human fraternity. Do not confound the survival of the worthiest with the survival of the fittest. Nature ends where liberty begins; there is no moral order without liberty. Christianity belongs to the moral order, and the conscience has perceived that predestination cannot be reconciled with the appeals of the Gospel. Your accidental agreement with Professor Drummond on the particular subject of your book cannot prevent you from seeing the profound difference which separates you.

On the other hand, the extracts that you have brought together fully authorize you to reckon Vinet among your precursors. If he did not formally teach the extinction of unconverted sinners, it was because he did not write dogmatics. Possibly he had not sufficiently defined his position; possibly he did not perceive clearly enough the supreme importance of the doctrine with which we are concerned, to feel himself obliged to produce it in the pulpit, thus breaking away from the faith of the Church.

It is well known how much reserve he imposed upon himself lest unbelief should use the divisions among Christians as a weapon against them. Besides, in order to judge Vinet it should never be forgotten, in the first place, that he was not a professor of theology, but of literature; and, in the second place, that he died before he was fifty. It is enough that conditionalism is the only possible conclusion from the premisses that he laid down.

In short, it seems to me that you effectually extinguish the eternal fires, which are no longer believed in, since, as you say, they are no longer preached, and to dissimulate while believing in them would be to incur a most fearful responsibility. You will doubtless win over the majority of universalists, who cannot but feel the danger of their doctrine, and who in your company find satisfaction on the most important point.

But, without ignoring men's eagerness to believe, and the fact that doubt is very often only the mantle which covers negation, I should be glad to find in your second volume a conclusive word to meet the case of those who deliberately hold themselves aloof from eschatological questions, they being persuaded that it is impossible to attain an idea of a future existence both precise and rational, and led away also by the idea that we ought to will to do right for the sake of right, without regard to personal consequences; a sentiment closely akin to the pure love which desires only to know God, and does not fear to lose itself in God.

Your purpose is to remove an obstacle placed on the threshold of the temple, which prevents the entrance of a large number. You would like, first of all, to constrain ministers to declare themselves openly on the question in dispute; it is to the Church that you speak, and if you succeed in leading it to a decision you will have gained an important point. When once the obstacle is removed, your fifth chapter appears to me, so far as an opinion can be formed on a single reading, to be an excellent summary of religion. But will you not say anything to those who remain outside the temple, in the graveyard; to those who—perhaps trifling, perhaps also wishing to lead a good life, thinking perhaps of God and trying to love him—are not at all anxious to quit this life, but for whom the prospect of complete annihilation is a subject rather of hope than of fear? Such people are often spoken of, and I have reason to think that they would not be spoken of if they did not exist.

These, my dear Sir, are the first reflections suggested to me by the reading of your volume, so full of fire and faith. Pray accept the expression of my most earnest desire for the success of your laudable efforts, and believe me always,

Very sincerely yours,

Charles Sceretan

THE PROBLEM OF IMMORTALITY.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF THE QUESTION.

I. Immortality is a problem which demands a dogmatic study—II. Importance of dogmatics too little recognized—III. Confusion in the traditional dogmatics, especially in relation to the future life—IV. Sketch of the three competing systems of eschatology—V. Recent progress made by the conditional theory—VI. This progress explained in the first place by the fact that Conditionalism is a return to the primitive Gospel—VII. Also, from the philosophical standpoint Conditionalism has been well received by some of the great thinkers of the day. The conditionalist solution deserves therefore to be studied, whether from the Biblical point of view or that of philosophy—VIII. Obstacles to be overcome.

I. Immortality is a problem which demands a dogmatic study.

SUBJECT of a thousand desires, man in his best moments has an especial thirst for immortality. This is, at the same time, the highest and the deepest of our aspirations. An imperious instinct urges us to seek a better and more durable life beyond the shifting scenes of our actual existence. A fountain is open for the quenching of our thirst, but it is not known to all; and many are drinking from the bitter cisterns of ecclesiastical tradition. To lead back to the fountain will be the aim of our study.

This is the most vital of all questions. It was a wise saying:

In all affairs the end should well be kept in view. 1

1 "En toute chose il faut considerer la fin." —La Fontaine.

What is to be our own last end? Are we really immortal? If so, in what measure are we? If not, can we attain immortality, and in what way should we seek it? Is the reign of evil to continue for ever? Are there to be eternal torments? These are so many enigmas to be solved, they command attention, as did those of the ancient Sphinx.

The implicit faith of the coal-heaver is sometimes held up for admiration. Simple and unquestioning, it is good for the coal-heaver, but knowledge imposes obligation. The instruction that we have received is a privilege which involves responsibility. Examining our faith, we should like to assure ourselves that it is well founded. In accordance with the exhortation of the apostle Peter, we desire to be in a position to give an answer to anyone who should ask for the reason of the hope that is in us. Now, in relation to immortality, the old foundations are overturned, and no man has a right to maintain an opinion without having thoroughly tested it. We ought to recognize it as our duty to make a searching examination of this question, which needs a course of dogmatic study. The undertaking is laborious, but can there be in this world a subject of inquiry more worthy of our attention?

II. Importance of dogmatics too little recognized.

We shall have to stem the tide of present-day opinion, which even in the Churches treats theology, and especially dogmatics, with disdain. It is said that these are stale and sterile studies, and some are disposed to assert that any doctrine is good provided that a good use be made of it. Theology is out of date; theologians are extractors of quintessences, the last representatives of a race happily dying out, almost fossils. Really religious people have come to the conclusion that theology is an unnecessary extra. Many a young pastor says glibly: "I no longer study theology; to study theology would be acting like those monks of Constantinople who were disputing about the light upon Mount Tabor when the Turks entered the city. The great need of our times is that, while maintaining the grand truths of the Gospel, we should set aside theories and devote ourselves to practical questions." In our opinion this is a disastrous tendency; by giving way to it, "numbers have slipped into the ruts of an unhealthy and obscurantist pietism, or else have become victims of those extravagant sects which seriously compromise the cause of religion by their eccentricities." 1

We are, in fact, fully convinced that the destiny of individuals, as of nations, may be traced mainly to their beliefs. Like unbelief, a dead faith leads to death, and erroneous belief produces disorder and perturbation; on the other hand, a living and healthy faith is a principle of health and life for individuals, and by the individuals for the whole body politic. Like theology, like people. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," said the prophet Hosea; and apparently it was to theological knowledge that he referred, the knowledge of religion. At the present time the Churches are turning their attention to social questions. This is to their credit, but the social ideal itself depends upon a certain theological conception of the Divinity.

In the troubled times through which we are now passing, theology is indeed more than ever important, it is always the queen of sciences, and, from a scientific point of view, he who is not acquainted with it is ignorant of that which he most needs to know. The death of theology would be the greatest misfortune, but its revival would be the revival of religion, the revived religion would elevate morality, and that in its turn would elevate humanity.

When a ship is driven by a storm, and the crew are busily working at the tackling and the pumps, the officer in command does not allow himself to be distracted either by the noise of the waves or by the shouts of the sailors. It is his duty to consult attentively the chart, the compass, the chronometer, the barometer, the nautical tables, the stars, if any are visible; he will endeavour to take his observation, make his reckoning, and fix the latitude and longitude of his ship, in order, if possible, to avoid the dangerous rock. In the universal Church, this duty of the ship's captain is that which is specially incumbent upon the theologian.

In support of our view we will invoke the testimony of witnesses whose authority is beyond question. The late eloquent Pastor Bersier said not long ago to a minister of Lausanne, "What we especially need is a sound and strong doctrine." Pastor Recolin, of Paris, at the general conference of the Evangelical Alliance at Copenhagen, and the lamented professor Francis Bonifas, in the last article that he published, made the same avowal. 1 Adolphe Monod long ago protested, "in the name of reason and experience, as well as in the name of Scripture, against that contempt of doctrines which, so to speak, has itself become a doctrine."

Such as is the doctrine, said he, such is the disposition; as is the belief, so is the character; as are the principles in the mind, so are the sentiments in the heart. "Often, it is true, a man seems to contradict his belief by his life; but if that which he really believes be distinguished from that which he professes, he will always be found self consistent." After all, a man is not two men; he is always at bottom consistent with himself. There is a necessary and eternal harmony between his understanding and his will. His inclinations, his character, his morality are produced by his opinions, his principles, his doctrines, as a tree is produced by its seed; and as the seed of a tree is the whole tree, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit, in the sense that it contains the germ of which all these are the developement, so a man's doctrine is the whole man, feelings, inclinations, speech, actions, in the sense that it contains the principle of which all these are the application. Therefore, let no one say that he desires sanctification if he cares nothing about the doctrine by which it may be attained. He might as well say: I wish to gather grapes in my field, but it matters little whether I plant in it vines or thistles. What folly! Each fruit grows on its own tree, the grape on the vine, the fig on the fig-tree; and so every disposition has its corresponding doctrine, there is a doctrine that leads to vice, another that leads to virtue, another that leads to sanctification, and it is this which must be sought for. 2

1 In our last chapter will be found their declarations to this effect.

2 J. Pedezert, Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Protestant Theology at Montauban. Souvenirs et Etudes, Paris, 1888, p. 63, sq.

Similar views have been recently expressed by a pastor of Switzerland. He writes:

"Tell me what you believe and I will tell you what you are." This saying indicates what a mistake is made and what a terrible responsibility is assumed by those who presume to say that doctrines are of no importance, that morality is everything. Morality may be everything, but that proceeds directly from the convictions, as the child from the mother. This being so, the indifference to doctrine affected by some people is one of the most profound errors that can be imagined; if ever it should gain a footing in the Church, it would lead to moral paralysis. 1

A study of the past confirms this principle:

"Inquire of history; you will there perceive as an ever-recurring fact that everywhere and always the morals of the peoples have been in accord with their religious ideas. Such as is the divinity, such is the morality. Man has always a tendency to become like the object of his adoration. Vengeful gods who were honoured with cruel sacrifices, occasioned barbarous manners and favoured warlike passions. Notice, on the other band, how under the smiling sky of Greece the worship of the voluptuous divinities of the most poetic of peoples favoured the developement of the arts, but at the same time caused the corruption of morals. In our own days, look at the nations won by the sword of Mahomet to the religion of Islam: the fatalist doctrine, which is at the foundation of that religion, has produced in those peoples a stupid resignation which paralyzes all energy, prevents all progress, and envelopes them in an enervating kind of atmosphere. And that which we observe with regard to religions, is true also with respect to systems of philosophy. Each different manner of regarding God and man and their mutual relations produces its own special morality. It has been said that ideas govern the world; in order to be exactly correct, it should be said, religious ideas" 2

A few lines from the late M. de Pressense shall close this section; they very concisely express our conviction as to the point that we wish to establish. He says:

"History in every sense of the word is being prepared and elaborated upon those heights of thought where religious and philosophic evolution, silently at first, developes itself. It is there that may be found that parting of the waters which determines the great currents of history, carrying away with them men and things in a direction there determined." 3

1 Paul Chapuis, Evangile et Liberte, 24 Jan., 1890.

2 No more dogmas (Plus de dogmas), No. 478 of the Paris Religious Tracts.

3 Revue politique et litteraire, 12 April, 1884.

III. Confusion in the traditional dogmatics, especially in relation to the future life.

We are in need of a settled doctrine, for there is now no such thing. The Roman Catholic doctrine sleeps in the tomb of scholasticism; and on the other hand, primitive Calvinism is a doctrine that is no longer taught. Anarchy prevails in the doctrinal region, a veritable Babel of contradictory views. 1 Many teachers are drifting without being conscious of it, and in more than one group of the so-called orthodox their agreement is based upon misunderstanding. Our Protestant Churches especially lack an eschatology, a serious deficiency. Eschatology, the science of the last things, is the band of the sheaf, or, to use another metaphor, the keystone of thearch, we do not say the cornerstone, of Christian dogmatics. On this subject, however, uncertainty is the order of the day, and future judgement is a weapon scarcely ever used in present-day preaching. The law of mathematical justice which regulates eternal retribution seems to be utterly ignored, and even unknown. 2

1 In an account of a pastoral conference held at Dieulefit, in the Department of the Drome, in 1885, Pastor Auguste Andre made use of these terms "The outcome and moral of all this is, as I asserted without contradiction, that when we seek to obtain definite convictions from modern scientific sources, we know not what to think for ourselves, nor what to say to our people. That which now bears the name of Evangelical, theology is as yet only a transitory method. We do not want exaggerations on one side or the other, and, if I may be allowed the expression, we remain in a fix. . . . You have cleared the way which should lead to the new dogmatics; I beseech you then enable us speedily to reach the end.We are most anxious to find ourselves on solid and Christian ground, instead of under the shadow of a vanishing individualism."—Evangile et Liberte, 13 Nov.,1885.

On the 18th June, 1890, in a report presented to the local section of the Swiss Pastoral Society, at Lausanne, Pastor Vallotton spoke of the "chaos ofexisting dogmatics." M. Dandiran, professor of philosophy in the national Faculty, went even farther: according to him dogma as now formulated is effete, and the idea of authority which is at its base is ruined. Traditional dogmatics must be given up, and a new synthesis must be sought for. The reform needed is as important as that of the sixteenth century.—See Evangile et Liberte, 20 June, 1890.

2 The late Pastor Bastie, Honorary President of the Consistory and Moderator of the General Synod in 1872, had a deep sense of the necessity for a renewal of eschatology. Shortly before his death, in circumstances of great solemnity, he declared that in his view it was the most urgent need of the Reformed Church of France.

What has led to this abandonment of the old doctrine in general, and of the old eschatology in particular? The answer is given by Professor Charles Secretan in his admirable book on "Civilization and Belief." He tells us that Calvinism is abandoned because it "presents to us a hateful God." 1 John Stuart Mill had previously spoken of the traditional God as "this dreadful idealization of wickedness." 2 Calvinism, which in the sixteenth century was progress, is now behind the times. That is the reason why it is losing ground everywhere, but especially in France.

Since the eve of the Revolution of 1789, according to M. Paul de Felice, the number of French Protestants has diminished by more than a third, nearly a half. At that epoch they were a thirteenth part of the population, while now they would be only a thirty-sixth. 3

Another equally significant fact: the distinguished thinkers in France who during the last quarter of a century have passed from unbelief or from Roman Catholicism to the Protestant faith might be counted on the fingers of one hand. Will it be said that the fault is altogether in the human heart, which is "desperately wicked"? But Jeremiah made the same complaint as to the human heart nearly three thousand years ago, and that fact did not prevent the successes of the apostles, of the reformers, of the men of the revival of sixty years ago. Will it then be objected that if the thinkers reject Calvinism it is because the truth is hidden from the wise and prudent? But there was a time when Calvinism was pleasing to many of the wise and prudent. It must, then, be admitted that if Protestantism is no longer advancing it is because in its present form it fails to satisfy the needs of our time. 1

1 Civilization and Belief (La civilisation et la croyance ), Lausanne, Payot; p. 409. M. Secretan is the first philosopher of Switzerland, and one of the foremost philosophic writers in the French language; he is a corresponding member of the Institute of France, and of the Institute of Geneva; a striking demonstration was made in his honour in 1889, on the occasion of the completion of fifty years of his professorship at the Academy (now University) of Lausanne.

2 Essays on Religion, p. 113. See the protest of Rev. Charles Kingsley in chap. i. of Alton Locke, which is understood to contain some autobiographical details.

3 Christianisme au XIXe siecle, 1 Nov., 1888. See also the Cretien Evangelique, 1888, p. 564. Alsace-Lorraine is naturally excluded from these calculations.

This was the sad conviction of Vinet, as is proved by his correspondence. He wrote to Thomas Erskine:

"My hope in Christianity is all the more lively that it is undivided. In nothing else do I hope; but for me Christianity is not exclusively, nor even chiefly, that which has been preached to us these five-and-twenty years. That formula seems to me to be powerless and worn out so far as concerns the masses; it is a sixteenth-century dish rewarmed and again become cold. That which was original in Luther's time is so no longer. We are speaking to this century in a dead language. Many people around me and elsewhere are willing to accept the result, considering that Christianity is not the business of the masses; and I must admit that I do not know either in the past or the present a whole nation of converted persons; but it is none the less true that Christianity has worked upon the masses, that it has created a Christian civilization, a Christian world (though I know in what a restricted sense that must be understood); and I see that to-day the masses remain apparently unmoved by our efforts. But, unless I am very much mistaken, the new form of the old and eternal truth is in course of preparation in men's minds." 2

The fact is that the religious needs exist, and it is the suitable food that is lacking. As an indication of this state of things may be quoted the complaint of a well-known poet, Francois Coppee, of the French Academy. Formerly M. Coppee seemed indifferent to religious questions, but his recent poem, Une mauvaise Soiree, ends with a veritable cry of anguish. The author tells how he went one evening into a Socialist club and a Catholic church, and the priest's sermon roused his indignation more than the harangue of the communist orator.

1 After these lines were written we met with an article by M. Menegoz which confirms them. He says: "M. Dreyer is affrighted at seeing the cultivated classes forsaking the Gospel, whereas in ancient times as well as at the Reformation epoch the Gospel attracted the best thinkers. What is the cause of this desertion? Must it be sought in the worldly spirit of our century?

Certainly the worldly spirit draws away the soul from God; but among those who turn their backs upon the Church there are spirits profoundly religious, souls thirsting for righteousness and truth. How is it that these men of high aspirations reject the Church and Christianity itself, or that which they suppose to be Christianity? Long experience has led M. Dreyer to the conviction that these men are driven away by the old dogmatic formulas which

ecclesiastical tradition has identified with the Gospel, with the Christian faith. This unhappy identification of dogma with the faith is producing most disastrous ravages in our cultivated classes. This state of things urgently

demands a remedy. . . . If not willing to fail in her mission, the Church ought to endeavour to give satisfaction to these religious cravings, without giving umbrage to the claims of reason."—E. Menegoz, Annales de bibliographie

theologique, 25 Jan., 1890, pp. 2, 3.

2 Lettres d'Alexandre Vinet, No. ccxxi.

Alas! the doctrine preached in the Church was thoroughly Calvinistic, and may be traced back to St. Augustine. The priest promised to the elect only:

A distant paradise that tires the thought.

For all the rest, the God of kindly love,

In constant anger for a single fault,

For human weakness pitiless, decreed

The unjust, monstrous curse, eternal pain,

I know not what absurd and futile hell.

The poet thus concludes:

I left the church more sad than I went in.

The stars shone bright, the night was yet sublime,

And as I raised my anxious eyes to heaven,

Where, looking at me with their light serene,

Thousands of peopled worlds moved on in space,

I felt a mortal anguish seize on me.

Alas! alas! in both the club and church

In these few moments had appeared to me

The wanderings wild of reason and instinct,

And old despair of man's intelligence.

Then where is the true law?

Where certain faith?

What should I hope, what think and what believe?

My reason fails within its prison walls.

A need persistent of our helpless soul,

Justice, is absent from our lower world;

A man must be or freethinker or slave.

For all that seems at first to be a truth

Is like the Dead Sea fruits that look so fine,

But when the stranger puts them to his mouth,

Are full of ashes and have bitter taste.

The spirit is a vessel, doubt a sea,

A boundless sea, and bottomless withal.

In view of that night-sky where all those stars

Were fixed like silver studs in azure blue,

A deadly sadness seized me, and I asked

The silent Sphinx, the Isis under veil,

If thus it was in all those starry worlds. 1

The poet's voice has found an echo in the article of a Parisian journalist: "We have now no chapel wherein to kneel, no faith on which to lean, no God to whom to pray. Our heart is empty, our soul bereft of ideal and of hope. You who have the happiness of believing in a sovereign." 1

The French words are as follows:

Un lointain paradis dont le nom seul ennuie.

Quant aux autres, le Dieu d'amour et de borne,

Pour une faute unique a jamais irrite,

Leur gardait, sans pitie des faiblesses humaines,

L'inique et monstrueuse eternite des peines,

On ne sait quel absurde et ridicule enfer. . . .

Je sortis de l'eglise encore plus attriste.

Les astres scintillaient, la nuit etait sublime

Et, levant mes regards anxieux vers l'abime,

Ou, langant jusqu'a moi leurs sereines clartes,

Vibraient les milliards de mondes habites!

Je me sentis atteint par une horrible angoisse.

Helas! helas! au club comme dans la paroisse

Venaient de m'apparaitre, en ces quelques moments,

L'instinct et la raison dans leurs egarements

Et le vieux desespoir de la pensee humaine.

Oh donc est la loi vraie? Ou donc la foi certaine?

Qu'esperer? Que penser? Que croire? La raison

Se heurte et se meurtrit aux murs de sa prison.

Besoin inassouvi de notre ame impuissante,

Du monde ou nous vivons la justice est absente.

Pas de milieu pour l'homme: esclave ou revolte.

Tout ce qu'un prend d'abord pour une verite

Est comme ces beaux fruits des bords de la Mer Morte,

Qui, lorsqu'un voyageur a sa bouche les porte,

Sont pleins de cendre noire et n'ont qu'un gout amer.

L'esprit est un vaisseau, le doute est une mer,

Mer sans borne et sans fond ou se perdent les sondes.

Et, devant le grand ciel nocturne ou tous ces mondes

Etaient fixes, pareils aux clous d'argent d'un dais,

J'etais triste jusqu'a la mort et demandais,

Au Sphinx silencieux, a l'Isis sous ses voiles,

S'il en etait ainsi dans toutes les etoiles.

From the Revue des Deux Mondes, 11 Sept., 1887.

Ruler, pray him to reveal himself to us, for we hunger and thirst to suffer and to die for a belief and for an idea. 1

M. Emile Faguet, who may rightly be called "one of the princes of the younger criticism," declares that this century is closing as it began, with a very evident revival of the religious spirit, "by a return to the Christian idea."

After a long night march, the light that was not expected to reappear shines on the horizon, the faces are turned towards this bright dawning, and the most coldly hopeless recognize that they suffered chiefly from an unsatisfied hunger after faith and hope. This desire for faith, the most imperious of all desires, has caused many an eloquent cry to rise to heaven since Luther exclaimed: "What is righteousness, and how can I have it?"

M. Melchior de Vogue tells that recently at St. Petersburg two well-dressed young men, commercial clerks apparently, presented themselves at one of the religious meetings instituted by Lord Radstock, and that addressing the unknown speaker in the tone of the street mendicant begging for bread, they earnestly cried to him: "Oh, make me believe! make me believe!" So too there are among us at the present time countless young men who are asking to be wrenched away from their negations. 2

M. Jules Lemaitre (a leading French literary critic) on his part has searched for the causes of this psychological phenomenon; his reflections have all the greatervalue as they cannot be suspected of prejudice. He has expressed his views thus: "That to which Russian writers are led by the spontaneous movement of their religious and thoughtful minds, by the study of simple hearts, and by the spectacle of infinite sufferings and infinite resignation, we attain as I think by the bankruptcy of analysis and criticism, by the sense of the void caused in us thereby, and by the immense extent of the unexplained which they leave in the world. For these or other the New Times in the Signal of May, 1890; and an equally interesting article by reasons it would seem that a softening of the human soul is taking place in this latter end of the century, and that we may be about to witness (who know?) a revival of the Gospel." 1

Everyone knows the hideous bankruptcy that alarmed Mirabeau. That of which M. Jules Lemaitre here speaks is much more terrible. M. Bourget has shown the horror of it in his novel entitled "The Disciple", which is a severe lesson for the upholders of determinism. Through denial of moral freedom the pupil is led to practical results of such an odious character that the teacher no longer dares to maintain his favourite doctrine. The working of his thought results in a lamentable contradiction; troubled, tortured by remorse, he feels the need of prayer, and his tears flow beside the corpse of his too faithful disciple. We note in passing that the absurd hell of the Abbe Martel is to a great extent responsible for the unbelief of the unhappy Greslou. 2

1 From Christianisme au XIXe siecle, 1 Nov., 1888.

2 Le Temps, May, 1887; article quoted in the Semaine Religieuse of Geneva, 11 June, 1887.—For further details see three articles by M. Reveillaud on Signs of M. Lacheret in Christianisme au XIXe siecle for 31 July the same year.

M. Eugene Melchior de Vogue, that eloquent "interpreter of present-day aspirations," has become, as it has been well said, the apostle and director of the minds which are endeavouring to regain the heights without running in the common ruts. At a banquet given by the Association of Students at Paris not long ago, he spoke of the two special tendencies of contemporary youth: a preoccupation with the ideal or the mysterious, and a decided taste for action. He also said: "It is necessary to believe, there is nothing so good as to believe. You feel the need of action; that is a virtue, but action should be guided by a principle. What principle? That of faith." Such language may well charm a youthful audience full of generous and noble aspirations, but it would not suffice for minds of a certain order; and for these M. Anatole France has replied in the Temps: "I admit that it is good to believe, but it is also necessary to have something to believe."

1 Revue politique et litteraire, 12 Feb., 1887.

2 Pages 116-126.—The Revue des Deux Mondes of 15 Aug. and 11 Sept., 1890, contains a drama which is a sort of pendant to the novel above mentioned. The title of the drama is Neither God nor Master (Ni Diem ni maitre), its author being M. George Duruy, a University professor and a novelist of considerable merit. It depicts the conversion of a free-thinking doctor, who, laid aside by illness, abandoned by his unbelieving friends, and consoled by the devoted attention of a truly Christian woman, opens his heart to divine grace. Such a publication is also a sign of the times. The Imitation of Jesus Christ is not often quoted at length in a drama.

We understand the scepticism of M. Anatole France. His remark pointedly indicates the urgent need for a creed that can bear the bright light of full publicity.

To return to the verses of M. Coppee, it is evident that the author's despair is caused by the fact that the traditional Churches, both Catholic and Protestant, present God in a false light. Orthodox eschatology brings discredit upon Christianity. A dead fly will poison a whole vase of perfume; the dead fly must be removed. The stone that bars the way of faith must be put aside. God has to be revindicated. The clock of the Churches is too slow for the dial of the century. The Churches present to the world a caricature of the Divinity, and then they are astonished that the world fails to bow before their caricature! God might say to the obstinate adherents of tradition, as to the Jews of the Old Covenant: "My name continually all the day is blasphemed because of you." 1 The France of to-day seems positively decided to perish rather than accept the God of Torquemada or of Calvin. Gods such as these have too long been the occasion of bitter zeal; they are half pagan, and should be replaced as speedily as possible by the true God of the primitive Gospel. The nets of the old doctrine being broken, we need to sit down awhile on the shore to mend

them.

Having had the privilege of meeting M. Coppee, we took occasion to express our sympathy, and made it our duty to set before him the true God of the Gospel. The poet assured us that he had not the least feeling of hostility to such a God. This he has since then made clear to the world, by writing his touching and profoundly Christian drama: Le Pater.

1 Isaiah lii. 5 and Rom. ii. 24. Cf. Ezekiel xxxvi. 23.

IV. Sketch of the three competing systems of eschatology

In the field of Christian eschatology three rival systems dispute the ground: the traditional dogma, Universalism, and Conditional Immortality. We do not now speak of the systematic doubt which would set aside all system.

At the very foundation of the traditional theory we find the doctrine, of Platonic origin, which endows our first parents and all their descendants with imperishable personality; hence the triple effect of that which is called the fall: 1st, the death of the body; 2nd, that of the soul, by which is meant a moral separation from God; and 3rd, eternal death, which is said to be a conscious life in the endless torments of hell. By the fact of original sin, every man is supposed to be born subject to this triple doom.

It will at once be seen that in this theory the word death is employed in two contradictory senses. When it relates to the body, it designates the cessation of life, but when predicated of the soul, it bears the contrary signification of the perpetuation of life.

The hell of the Roman Catholics is still crowded with the tortures of a barbarous antiquity: gridirons, immense caldrons of brimstone and molten lead, and red-hot pincers. Horned demons, urged on by Satan their chief, chase the damned and inflict upon them a thousand torments. Centuries elapse, but eternity remains, and without any cessation executioners and victims make the vast prison resound with frightful howlings. These grotesque horrors do not figure in Protestant eschatology, yet there, too, along with the much misunderstood term hell, are retained some of the elements of the Roman Catholic notion. Protestants who are faithful to the traditional orthodoxy believe, or think they believe, in the existence of a place into which the wicked will be cast, not to be destroyed, but to suffer for ever the torments of unquenchable fire in the company of the devil and his angels, with rage in the heart and blasphemy on the lips.

According to the Universalist theory, as well as the so-called orthodox, the human soul is born in possession of absolute immortality, but there will not be eternal torments even for the greatest culprits The infinite power of God, in accord with an equally infinite mercy, will overcome the resistance of human liberty. Final salvation is inevitable,every sinner will eventually obtain admission to paradise.

The third doctrine is that of Christian Conditionalism. From this point of view man is a candidate for immortality. Perpetual life becomes the portion of the man who, by faith, unites himself to God. The immortalization of man is the—purpose of the divine incarnation. The life of the obstinately wicked is transitory; even although prolonged beyond the tomb, it must finally be extinguished.

There is a Conditionalism which is philosophic rather than Christian, according to which the immortality of the conscient creature is not compulsory, but depends upon the good use of moral freedom. Such was the Conditionalism of the Stoics, and in later days that of the Socinians, of Spinoza in his last works, of Locke, of J. J. Rousseau, of Madame de Stael, of William von Humboldt, of Edgar Quinet, of Charles Lambert, and of Victor Hugo. The Conditionalism specifically Christian, which we hold, teaches that immortality depends upon the moral and spiritual union of the human soul with the God-man. 1

The supporters of this doctrine believe it to be exegetically in conformity with the letter and with the spirit of the Scriptures, in conformity also with the analogy of the faith and with universal analogy. They proclaim the good news of immortality offered to everyone who, uniting himself heart and soul to Jesus Christ, becomes transformed into his image. But it is possible to fail of this salvation; sin gnaws and kills the soul which makes no effort at self-control. Every sinner is threatened with moral suffocation; he is on the way to lose the very reason of his existence—nay, more, he has in principle already lost it, and must speedily regain it under penalty of death eternal.

Our purpose is to defend and to recommend this doctrine of attainable immortality, which in France is little known and is entitled to be rescued from the oblivion in which, like many another truth, it has long been buried. Risen from its tomb only a few years ago, it has already in various countries conquered the conspiracy of silence, and has secured a place in the very sunlight of publicity; it has its recognized organs and its literature; it declares itself in the universities and seats of learning; proclaimed by great preachers, it has won the respect even of the most hostile and the attention of the most careless. By transforming the notion of God's character, it gives rise to the hope of a renewal of Christian dogmatics.

1 For information as to Philosophical Conditionalism, see a recent article in the great dictionary of Larousse, entitled Conditionnalisme.

The clearness and straightforwardness of this doctrine give it a great advantage; it needs no alleviations, no dissimulations. The traditional dogma seems, on the contrary, to be ashamed of itself—it lives upon reservations. At the present time it hides itself, it becomes extenuated, volatilized. A modern Proteus, it is not to be caught. Through numerous alterations and ameliorations it will soon be nothing more than the soporific doctrine of a forced salvation, the final and vulgar fate of all, even the most worthless, who will attain it, whatever they may do or fail to do. 1

Modern orthodoxy borders upon Universalism, and Universalism also dreads the light; it is an esoteric doctrine, needing a semi-obscurity, and reticence on the part of preachers. By suppressing the necessity for effort, it deprives life of motive power. In place of the tiger of the middle ages, we have the siren by whose melodious voice souls are seduced and drawn into the depths of the abyss. 2

V. Recent progress made by the conditional theory—

The hypothesis of the native, inalienable, and absolute immortality of every human soul is the mother of the two doctrines which we have to oppose. We believe that hypothesis to be false, antiphilosophical, antibiblical. It is not found in the teaching of the earliest Fathers of the Church. In our own time we can quote against it some of the chief theologians of contemporary Germany. The idea of an immortality to be acquired is at the centre of the system of Rothe, who has been called the most powerful dogmatician of our century. It is also found in the religious philosophy of Weisse. 1 To Dr. Hermann Schultz now professor at the University of Gottingen, we owe a profound study of the true foundations of Christian teaching concerning immortality. 2 If we are rightly informed, no one has attempted a refutation of this book, and the author has maintained the same views in his recent Dogmatics. 3 They are also found in the system of Ritschl and his numerous followers, in the dogmatics of Twesten, and in the works of the venerable Professor Gess, formerly General Superintendent of the ecclesiastical province of Posen. 4

Long ago Rothe said: "It is no longer maintained that the human soul possesses immortality by virtue of a supposed simplicity of substance." 5 "It is admitted," says Matter, "that the ontological argument is powerless to demonstrate the persistence of the personality." 6 If the new edition of Herzog's "Theological Encyclopoedia" be consulted, it will be seen that in his study of the subject, Dr. Runze does not trust to the old metaphysical evidences. 7 He holds that personal immortality can only result from a living faith in the living God. The love of God is our sole guarantee against the extinction which threatens contingent creatures. The believer feels the effects of God's love, and is therefore sure of his immortality; his assurance is not based upon a syllogism.

1 Die philosophische Geheimlichre von der Unsterblichkeit des menschlichen Individuums, Dresden, 1834.—Chr. H. Weisse's Psychologie and Unster-blichkeitslehre, etc., by Dr. Rud. Seydel, Leipzig, 1869.

2 Die Voraussetzungen der christlichen Lehre von der Unsterblichkeit, Gottingen, 1861.—See in Supplement, No. I., an analysis of this important work.

3 Grundriss der evangelischen Dogmatik, Gottingen, 1890.

4 In the preface to his French translation of Life in Christ (L'Irnmortalite conditionnelle, ou la vie en Christ ), by Edward White, M. Byse has quoted various declarations of German theologians in support of our point of view, to which we refer the reader.

5 Dogmlatik, Heidelberg, 1870, vol. iii., p. 158.

6 A. Matter, Encyclopedie des Sciences religieuses, at the word Immorialite.

7 At the word Unsterblichkeit .—Dr. F. Brandes states very clearly the true foundation of Christian certitude respecting immortality. The believer, feeling himself a son of God, is confident that God could not allow his child to perish. "Our reconciliation in Christ! That is the foundation of all our certainty, and as such it should always be declared in the Christian Churches. There is no other foundation, and herein is the saying true, that we can lay no other than that which is laid (1 Cor. iii. 11). 'He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life,' because in him he has his reconciliation with God." From an article entitled Des Christen Gewissheit in Beireff des ewigen Lebens (The Christian's certainty with regard to eternal life), in Theologische Studien and Kritiken, 1872, p. 550.

This kind of view is generally admitted in Germany. It hardly fits in with the traditional dogma of eternal torments, but unhappily the German theologians do not always carry out to their practical consequences the principles which they themselves lay down, and doctrinal reform scarcely reaches beyond academic circles. It is otherwise, however, in Anglo-Saxon countries, where thousands of voices, lay as well as ecclesiastic, are impatiently demanding a revision of the ancient confessions of faith.

In the Churches of England and America there has been a considerable movement. The circulation of the Christian World, the most popular of English religious newspapers, was greatly increased when a discussion of this subject was admitted to its columns. Hundreds of volumes and pamphlets have been published of late years on both sides of the question, and a number of journals or reviews are almost entirely devoted to the defence of the doctrine of Conditional Immortality. 1

The principle of Conditionalism had been already advocated more or less by the philosophers Hobbes and Locke, the theologian Dodwell, 2 the hymn-writer Watts, and Archbishop Whately. For a long time confined to the thinker's study, it is now on the way to become thoroughly popular, thanks to the concurrence of a number of eloquent preachers: Rev. Edward White, of whom we shall have more to say, Dr. Dale of Birmingham, Rev. W. H. M. Hay Aitken, and in the United States, Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of the Christian Union and successor to Henry Ward Beecher, who himself accepted the same point of view.

1 Mr. E. Abbott, librarian of Harvard University, has published a catalogue of works relating to the soul and its destiny: some 5,000 volumes or pamphlets.

2 Dodwell unhappily compromised his position by making immortality dependent upon the ceremony of baptism as administered by the authorized representative of an Episcopal Church.

Among the supporters of Conditionalism in America may be mentioned: Revds. L. C. Baker of Philadelphia, L. W. Bacon of Norwich, Connecticut, H. L. Hastings of Boston, T. S. Potwin of Hartford, C. H. Oliphant of Methuen, Dr. W. R. Huntington, and among those deceased, Professor Hudson, Rev. Horace Bushnell towards the end of his career, and Rev. J. H. Pettingell. 1 In England its defenders include Revds. S. Minton-Senhouse, H. Constable, late prebendary of Cork, C. A. Row, prebendary of St. Paul's, J. B. Heard, W. T. Hobson, H. S. Warleigh, W. Griffith, and J. F. B. Tinling, various missionaries to heathen countries, the well-known Hebrew scholar Dr. Perowne, now Bishop of Worcester, chief editor of the Cambridge Bible for schools and colleges, and Greek scholars like Dr. Mortimer, formerly Head Master of the City of London School, and Dr. Weymouth, author of a critical edition of the Greek New Testament. 2 Special mention is due to two lay theologians, the late Henry Dunn and Dr. T. Clarke of Interlaken. 3

1 L. C. Baker, The Mystery of Creation and of Man, Philadelphia, 1884; The Fire of God's Anger, 1887; Words of Reconciliation, a monthly magazine. L. W. Bacon, The Simplicity that is in Christ, sermons, New York and London, 1886. H. L. Hastings, Pauline Theology . T. S. Potwin, The Triumph of Life, New York, 1886. Ch. H. Oliphant, The Extinction of Evil, the introductory chapter, Boston, 1889. C. F. Hudson, Debt and Grace, New York, 1862: this precious arsenal of dogmatic lore ought to be reprinted; Christ our Life, 1863, etc. J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, Philadelphia, 1882; The Unspeakable Gift, third edition, Yarmouth, Me., 1886.

2 S. Minton-Senhouse, The Glory of Christ, London, 1869. H. Constable, The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment, sixth edition, C. E. Brooks, Malvern Link. C. A. Row, Future Retribution, London, 1887. J. B. Heard, The Tripartite Nature of Man, third edition, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh. W. T. Hobson, M. A,, Conditional Immortality, London, 1889. W. Griffith, The Entire Evidence of Evangelists and Apostles on Future Punishment and Immortal Life, London, 1882. J. F. B. Tinling, The Promise of Life, London, 1881. J. M. Denniston, ThePerishing Soul, London, 1870, etc.

3 Mr. Henry Dunn, The Destiny of the Human Race: A Scriptural Inquiry, London, Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; The Churches: A History and an Argument, 1872; Christianity irrespective of Churches, 1873: a French translation of this work has been published, with the somewhat too sweeping title, Le Christianisme sans Eglises, Paris, Sandoz and Fischbacher, 1878. T. Clarke, M. D., A Gauntlet to the Theologians, London, 1888; The Fate of the Dead, London, 1889.

In a separate group we may place the names of several scientific celebrities: Sir George G. Stokes, Secretary and late President of the Royal Society, Professor Bonney, President of the Geological Society, Professors Adams and Geikie, and in Scotland Professor Tait, Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, one of the authors of The Unseen Universe. 1

Professor Stokes occupies the chair of Newton at Cambridge and he represents the University in Parliament. His discoveries in relation to the refrangibility of light have made him famous He is also a Churchman, a lay theologian. On the 30th March 1890, he gave a lecture at the Finsbury Polytechnic on persona identity. Supported by the authority of three Anglican Bishops he denied the absolute immortality of the human soul. The daily newspapers reported these declarations, which made an impression that has not yet died away.

In the front rank of professed theologians we have names Dr. Dale, who is certainly one of the principal representatives of English nonconformity, and a pillar of evangelical Christianity His lectures on The Atonement received unstinted praise from The Record, which is proverbial for its intolerance. Seven editions of these lectures were published in four years.

At the risk of compromising his high position. Dr. Dale has not hesitated to make known the convictions to which he had been led by his study of the question of Conditional Immortality. In his acceptance of that doctrine The Scotsman of Edinburgh has seen "a sign of the times."

Some years ago the North American Review, the oldest in the United States, the Christian Union of New York, the Contemporary Review of London, and the Homiletic Magazine, publishes "Symposiums" 2 on the subject. Their success was so great that

some of these numbers had to be reprinted several times An elaborate symposium has recently appeared in America entitled That Unknown Country, 3 in which fifty-one separate contributors maintain the most divergent opinions. Buddhism Confucianism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, and Roman Catholicism are represented, Cardinal Manning speaking for the Vatican.

1 Having been forcibly struck by the ideas of Mr. White, this author soon accepted them, and gave them currency in his Paradoxical Philosophy.

2 By Symposium is meant a series of articles in which various writers of different opinions treat the same subject from their several points of view.

3 A volume containing 943 pages, large 8vo, Springfield, Mass., 1889.

Scotland has been looked upon as an impregnable citadel of the traditional dogma, but various recent events show that it is not so. Even beyond the Tweed ecclesiastical obscurantism has lost ground. A revision of the Westminster catechism is demanded on all sides. Most of the theological professors and nearly all the younger ministers of the Free-Church have joined in the demand. Those of our opponents who look to Scotland for guidance should prepare themselves to face about. 1

Then who has not heard of the book entitled Natural Law in the Spiritual World? 2 The author, Henry Drummond, is lecturer on science in the Free Church College at Glasgow; he has been associated with the evangelist Moody. More than a hundred thousand copies of his book have been sold. We shall see that its tendency is essentially Conditionalist.

A friend of Professor Drummond, Rev. Marcus Dods, D.D., has recently been called to the post of professor of New Testament exegesis in the Free Church Faculty at Edinburgh. This appointment is also a symptom of the fermentation now going on. Professor Dods thinks, as we do, that the evangelical Churches are in some measure responsible for the progress of atheism in our days. He maintained this opinion at the Pan-Presbyterian Congress in London.

Not long since the well-known preacher Dr. Philipps Brooks, of Boston, said: "We are on the verge, I believe, of a mighty revolution" in theology. 3 In a book published in 1889 under the title Whither? the Rev. C. A. Briggs, D.D., editor of the

1 The Westminster Confession has lately been notably modified by the English Presbyterians. Revision is under consideration by the Presbyterian Churches in the United States also. "At a recent meeting in Glasgow a Doctor asserted that the Westminster Confession of faith had ceased to be the heart of Scottish theology. Quoting the words of a friend, he added, 'The confessions of faith are already in their coffin, in a very short time they will be in their grave. Scotland will soon not only be free, but will take the lead among the free. That which is called high Calvinism is openly repudiated by all who think and reflect, even in the Churches where it is still the official creed.'" J. F. Astie, Preachers: What they are, and what they ought to be; Revue de theologie et de philosophie, Nov., 1887, p. 665.

2 London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1883. This work has been translated into French by C. A. Sanceau, and published by Fischbacher, of Paris, under the title, Les lois de la nature dans le monde spirituel, with introduction by Eug. Reveillaud. A second edition of this translation has appeared.

3 Words of Reconciliation, 1890, p. 125.

American Presbyterian Review, declares that the necessity of reform is felt especially in the region of eschatology; he says: "All the faults of traditionalism converge at the point of eschatology, at which the entire Church is in a condition of great perplexity." 1 The proceedings against the five Andover professors, the threatened division in the American Board of Missions, the withdrawal of Mr. Spurgeon from the Baptist Union, are so many signs precursors of the coming renovation. In a discourse delivered at Boston before a thousand pastors, members of the Evangelical Alliance, Dr. Parker, of London, declared not long ago that among his colleagues in the Independent Churches none now preach the doctrine of eternal torments.

Even the Methodist body, that rear-guard of dissent, has been moved; it has softened down the expressions in the chapter of one of its catechisms relating to the final doom of the wicked. 2

Dr. Dale has characterized in a few words the present situation of the British Churches. He says: “I believe that for the moment the main current of opinion is running strongly in favour of universal restoration; but that doctrine seems to me to be so destitute of all

solid foundation that it is impossible for it to remain as a permanent article in the faith of the Church. I believe that in a few years the main body of opinion in the Free Churches, at least, in this country, will be in favour of that suspense of judgement which very many recommend; and I cannot but believe that, after that, the main body of opinion will be found substantially on the side of the doctrine of Life in Christ of which Mr. White has so long been the champion.” 3

Mr. White's name brings us to the starting-point of this controversy in its present stage in the English-speaking countries.

1 Whither? A theological question for the times, by C. A. Briggs, D.D., New York, Scribner, 1889, p. 195.

2 The leaders of the body of Primitive Methodists appear to find themselves in great perplexity. Heretofore they summarily expelled anyone who expressed doubt as to eternal torments, but the doubters have become so numerous that, in order not to depopulate the churches, a compromise has been invented: doubters may remain, but must not rank higher than teachers in the Sunday School. See Christian World, 24 July, 1890.

3 See in Supplement No. II. a fuller statement of the views of Dr. Dale.

Like Dr. Dale, Mr. White is a minister of the Congregational denomination. His book Life in Christ, published in 1846, forced upon public notice once more a truth which, although never without defenders, had long been obscured under a veil of false philosophy. But in vain did he appeal to the Bible and to the sacred right of free inquiry; he and his book were both tabooed, and he was enabled to taste plentifully of the unspeakable delight of suffering for a good cause. Endowed with a large measure of bodily and mental vigour, and sustained by a robust faith, Mr. White has outlived the storm.

While always faithful to his convictions, Mr. White has carefully avoided making a separate sect, having throughout his career maintained as close a connection as was possible with the Congregational body. Quitting the small country church of which he had been pastor some eleven years, he undertook the arduous work of evangelization in a populous London suburb. To this work he devoted thirty-six years of his life. Grown old in harness, he has now retired from the pastorate, but continues the ministry of preaching. His views have stood the test of experience; they have enabled him to cope successfully with the unbelief which, to so large an extent, has permeated the working classes. In his chapel at Kentish Town has often been seen that rare spectacle—a full audience of artizans. In his special addresses to this class, so difficult of access, Mr. White uses the freedom of speech that characterized the utterances of the apostles. In his ministry, this messenger of the good news is not encumbered with the fetters still worn by so many evangelists; his teaching neither revolts the conscience nor lulls it to sleep. To the human soul dying of thirst and of inanition, he presents Jesus Christ, the fountain of new life, the tree of life, the perpetual sustenance of the traveller wandering in the desert. In a word, his teaching is the revelation, in its most authentic form, of life and immortality in the Gospel. 1 The Church over which he so long presided has been distinguished by exceptional activity in mission and philanthropic labours. Latterly Mr. White's colleagues have recognized the excellence of his work, not only choosing him as one of the Merchants' Lecturers, but also placing him in the chair of the Congregational Union for the year 1886.

The third edition of Mr. White's book consisted of ten thousand copies. Dr. Dorner of Berlin, one of the most pious and learned professors of contemporary Germany and a competent judge, if such exists, had the highest esteem for this work; he described it as "a scientific work, very weighty, serious, and profound." 1

The movement of ideas bears some analogy to that of the currents in the atmosphere. The progress of meteorology has made it possible to predict the drift of the wind towards a given point. The time could be foreseen when the controversy agitating the Anglo-Saxon Churches would make its way to the Continent of Europe. That time has arrived, and we are in the midst of it.

An excellent translation of Mr. White's book was published by M. Charles Byse in 1880, 2 replacing with advantage a little volume that we had issued eight years previously under the title La Fin du mal ou l'immortalite des justes et l'aneantissement graduel des impenitents. 3 This modest little book was like the swallow, which does not make the summer but tells of its coming.

1 "Ich finde, es 1st eine schr respectable, ernste and grundliche, wissen-schaftliche Arbeit." Letter to M. Byse.—Professor van Osterzee also in his Religious Philosophy speaks of Mr. White's book as a work "of great importance." Mr. White attributes much of his success to the fact that he has constantly presented his conviction as a doctrine of life in Christ, the correlative doctrine of punishment taking only a subordinate place, and to his persistent use of the language of Scripture in relation to that doctrine. [Note by the Translator. ]

2 Edouard White, L'Immortalite conditionnelle ou la Vie en Christ, ouvrage traduit de l'anglais sur la 3me edition, par Charles Byse, 8vo, Paris, Fischbacher, 1880.

3 Paris, Fischbacher, 1872, 214 pages, 16mo. This volume contained an essay presented to the Theological Society of Neuchatel on 12 July, 1870. An English translation was published in London in 1875, under the title, The Struggle for Eternal Life, London, Kellaway. It has reappeared in a volume entitled The Extinction of Evil, published by Rev. C. H. Oliphant, Boston, 1889. We had previously touched upon the subject in a lecture on The Law of Progress, published in 1869.

A veteran of the movement known as the earlier revival, M. Ami Bost, was, we believe, the first to formulate Conditionalism in the French language. He prepared a pamphlet entitled The Fate of the Wicked in the other Life (Le Sort des Mechants dans l'autre vie, 32 pages, 8vo, Paris, Grassart, 1861). This was the last of his writings, a worthy completion of a career devoted to the propagation of truth; unhappily the sale of it was prevented, and its light remained under the bushel, it is even doubtful whether it was noticed by a single newspaper.

In France, as in England, Mr. White's book has proved a powerful leaven. It has given occasion for interesting discussions at various annual conferences of pastors: in 1880 at Marseilles, introduced by Pastor Edw. Delon; in 1883 at Castres, where a paper was read by Professor Bruston; in 1884 at Montpellier, M. Babut presenting the report; 1 at the general conference of French pastors at Paris in 1885, when M. Byse submitted a statement which was afterwards published as a pamphlet, entitled Notre Duree (Our Duration ). 2 In the discussion that followed the reading of this work there was not a single speech in support of the traditional dogma. In the following year M. Byse gave a course of lectures on the subject at Lausanne, closed by a sort

of theological tournament. Public debates, in which various views were represented, took place also at Geneva and Neuchatel. A whole series of essays have appeared in the columns of the periodical press. 3 Candidates for the ministry in the eight Protestant faculties of the French-speaking countries have published numerous theses dealing with the same theme. 4

1 The papers of Messrs. Bruston and Babut appeared in the Revue theologique of Montauban, 1885.

2 Notre Duree. What says the Bible of Conditional Immortality? Report read at Paris the 21 April, 1885, at the general conference of pastors. Paris, Fischbacher.

3 Revue theologique, 1876-1880; Critique religieuse, 1879-1885; Cretien evangelique, 1881, 1882; Alliance liberale, 1882; Evangile et liberte, 1887, etc.

4 We give the titles of those which have come to our knowledge; they are for the most part conditionalist. N. Devisme, On the fate of the wicked in eternity. Montauban, 1869. E. Houter, The perfectibility of man after death. Valence, 1872. G. Soulier, Final restoration and the destruction of the wicked, Lausanne, 1873. J. Delisle, The doctrine of retribution in the Old Testament, Lausanne, 1874. E. Atger, On personal survival, Nimes, 1877. E. Herding, Essay on immortality in Christ, Toulouse, 1883. J. Bach, Study of the idea of the Kingdom of God in the synoptic Gospels, Laigle, 1883. P. Poincenot, Essay on immortality, Laigle, 1884. T. D. Malan, Eternal torments, Geneva, 1884. A. Westphal, Flesh and Spirit: An essay on the developement of these two notions in the Old and New Testaments, Toulouse, 1885. E. David, Study of conditional immortality from the Biblical and philosophical points of view, Lausanne, 1885. F. Milhac, Essay on the religious ideas of Locke, Geneva, 1886. L. Vivien, The doctrine of Final Restoration, Neuchatel, 1888. J. Wuithier, After Death according to the Jews, Neuchatel, 1890, etc.

It is, in fact, evident that a real thaw has begun in the domain of eschatology. No one now openly maintains the old orthodoxy. Several theologians of high standing have declared themselves in favour of Conditionalism; others, more numerous, are only waiting for a suitable opportunity. Messrs. Auguste Sabatier, Charles Babut, D. H. Meyer, Cesar Malan, jun., Ad. Schaeffer, president of the consistory of Colmar, have all published works which place them in the category of defenders of this point of view. 1

The movement has extended to Italy, where Signor Oscar Cocorda has published a remarkable volume entitled Pro Iminortalitate; L'Immortalita Condizionata ed il Materialismo. 2

In Holland, too, Conditionalism has found a champion in the person of Dr. Jonker. We earnestly desire to see a translation of his masterly studies. 3 This may seem a great array of names; in truth, names are not proofs, but, as it has been well said, "they represent proofs," 4 and they may produce a favourable presumption in impartial minds.

1 A. Sabatier, Memoire sur la notion hebraique de l'esprit, Paris, Fischbacher, 1879. Ch. Babut, L'enseignement de St. Paul sur la vie future, Revue theologique, 1885. D. H. Meyer, Le Christianisme du Christ, Paris, Fischbacher, 1883. Cesar Malan, Les Brands traits de Phistoire religieuse de l'humanite, 2nd ed., Paris, Fischbacher, 1885; Manuel d'instruction relgieuse, 1888. Ad. Schaeffer, De la certitude de la vie future, Paris, Fischbacher, 1879; Au declin de la vie, 1883; Le Bonheur: Esquisse d'une apologie rationnelle du Christianisme, 1887; Un Reveillon, Paris, Grassart, 1888. An English translation of the volume Au declin de la vie has been published by F. A. Freer, under the title Sunset Gleams, and a German translation, entitled Auf der Neige des Lebens. The Reveillon is a charming story, which we specially recommend to young people.

2 A volume in large 8vo, 304 pages, Tipografia Alpina, Torre Pellice, 1883. L'Ape biblica, periodico mensile, Pinerolo.

3 Four articles in the Review of which he was one of the founders, Theologische Siudien, Utrecht, 1883, 1884.

4 M. Francis Chaponniere, Eglise Libre, of 9 Feb., 1883.

VI. This progress explained in the first place by the fact that Conditionalism is a return to the primitive Gospel.

We have spoken of a renewal, a new spring-time of theology. To what is the simultaneous developement of so many similar germs in various countries to be attributed? The explanation is to be found, we believe, in the religious revival which, now and again breaking away from mere routine in the matter of interpretation, has assigned an honourable place to the impartial study of the Holy Scriptures. Biblical philology is a more rigorous science than is generally supposed. As the same texts form the recognized authority in all Protestant countries, an impartial exegesis must eventually reach everywhere the same conclusions. The day will come when the most tenacious traditionalists will have to pass through the Caudine forks of the authorized grammars and dictionaries.

Conditionalism has been regarded as a system of preconceived opinions, and even as a foreign importation. The recital of a personal experience will enable me to meet these accusations. It was a simple lexicological observation that led me into this line of thought. Formerly I preached the doctrine of eternal torments, and I therefore have this advantage over my opponents: that I know their point of view through having shared it, while they have not usually devoted much study to that which I defend.

It was the year 1854; I had just been admitted a student of the theological faculty at Neuchatel, when the president of the commission directing the studies gave me as text of a first sermon this saying of Jesus Christ: "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 1 The translation of the venerable Ostervald was at that time a sort of Protestant Vulgate, its version was: "Fear him who can cause the loss of the soul," etc. (qui peut perdre l'ame ). 2 This expression perdre l'arne led me astray; it was at that time generally held to mean to torment the soul for ever, and I naturally made my sermon an echo of the traditional dogma. Yet it was this very text that became the starting point of my doctrinal evolution. One day in consulting Alexander's Lexicon I noticed that the verb in the original Greek (apolesai ) signifies primarily to destroy. This was a ray of light. "To destroy the soul!" Then the soul must be perishable, I said to myself; and I very soon saw the whole Bible illuminated by this new light. At the same time I was utterly ignorant that unconditional immortality had ever been questioned within the churches of Christendom. Not one of our professors had ever spoken to us of Conditionalism; nothing was known either of the name, which is of quite recent origin, or of the thing.

1 Matthew x. 28.

2 The more recent versions of Rilliet, Lausanne, Oltramare, and Segond translate: faire perir l'ame. So also do those of Machet, Arnaud, the revised Ostervald, and Reuss. That of Darby has: Craignez celui qui peut detruire et l'ame et le corps. The old versions of Ostervald and Martin are so inexact that they ought never to be quoted in biblical controversies. It has been said that if

Conditionalism be true Jesus ought to have said: "Fear him who is able to kill (tuer ) the soul," as if kill were a stronger expression than destroy (faire perir). Such is not, however, the opinion of Dr. H. Cremer, a philologist of the first rank. He says that destroy is a synonym of kill, strengthening the notion expressed by that verb. Moreover Jesus calls Satan a murderer (man-killer) John viii. 44; and it is not only the body but the soul also that Satan kills. Again it is said that the lord of the vineyard will miserably destroy (apolesai ) the unfaithful husbandmen, Matt. xxi. 41. That evidently signifies that he will have them put to death, or killed.

Some years later I went to London, where I was received into the house of an aged lady who has left a blessed memory among the poor and suffering of the great metropolis. I mean Mrs. Ranyard, the founder of the system of Bible women. She allowed me the use of her library, in which I met with a book bearing the title: Life in Christ: Four Discourses. This was an admirable exposition of the point of view at which I had secretly arrived. The author was the Rev. Edward White. "Do you know him?" I inquired of my hostess. "He is my brother," she replied. She introduced me to him, and that was the beginning of a most intimate friendship.

"When a man happens to be right," said M. Guizot, "he is often more right than he thinks." In my new convictions I have found very much beyond all that I could foresee. They have been to me from time to time a stimulant, a restraint, a hope, and a consolation. They have taken possession of my heart after having captivated my imagination, and I have gradually discovered that they are also defensible from the point of view of philosophy.

VII- Also, from the philosophical standpoint Conditionalism has been well received by some of the great thinkersof the day. The conditionalist solution deserves therefore to be studied, whether from the Biblical point of view or that of philosophy.

In the next chapter we will give some declarations of the eminent metaphysicians who have testified to the philosophic character of Conditionalism. For the present we will simply mention a few names, for example: in Germany, Professor Lotze; in France, Messrs. Renouvier and Pillon; in Switzerland, Professor Charles Secretan.

Unique prerogative! Christian Conditionalism has found grace before the severe philosophy of the school of duty, of which M. de Pressense quite lately said: "More than ever we need such a philosophy, for no other can have equal power to draw away our youth from sceptical dilettantism as well as from materialistic evolutionism." 1 The chiefs of the neo-criticism have given a gracious reception to the idea of an attainable immortality; they have considered it to be in conformity with practical reason, and it has become the unhoped-for pledge of reconciliation between theology and philosophy. The articles of M. Charles Renouvier dealing with the subject are like a treaty of peace between reason and the religious sentiment, those two rival powers whose hostility sets man at enmity with himself. At the request of M. Renouvier, we presented the theological aspect of the same subject in the Critique religieuse. We would here again thank our venerable friend for having provided us with such an opportunity of submitting, unfettered and without reserve, for the examination of the best thinkers, a conviction which is as dear to us as life itself, dearer, indeed, seeing that it is a question of the salvation not of an individual but of

a great number.

In his book already quoted on Civilization and Belief, Professor Charles Secretan explains the reasons why he too inclines to believe in an immortality that may be won.

1 Revue Ckretienne, 1890, p. 157.

These two patriarchs of French philosophy, M. Renouvier representing the philosophy of duty and M. Secretan representing that of liberty, 1 are excellent sponsors for Conditionalism, which, although apparently new-born, was in fact previously living in the cradle of the Gospel.

It is a curious coincidence that the doctrine which we maintain has obtained recruits even among the adherents of the experimental method. There are, in fact, Christian evolutionists who are opposing, not without success, the incomplete evolutionism of the materialists. More consistent and more logical than many learned Darwinists, they require that the evolution of each man should go on so as to bring him nearer to the likeness of Jesus Christ, the model man. Professor Drummond, of Glasgow, has been already mentioned; Dr. Armand Sabatier, professor in the Faculty of Science at Montpellier, 2 and M. Leenhardt, assistant professor of natural history at Montauban, 3 are inclined in the same direction.

In the same class we may include another thinker, belonging to the old Bernese aristocracy, M. Henry de May, whose death took place in 1871. The Bibliotheque universelle of Lausanne published in 1885 four suggestive articles by M. Byse on M. de May and his book entitled The visible and invisible Universe, or the Plan of the Creation (L'univers visible et invisible ou le plan de la creation ). 4 This book contains a philosophy of nature. In the author's view there is an exact correspondence between the material and the spiritual universe. The visible creation is the exact counterpart of the invisible universe.

It is a divine book wherein we may discover the secrets of the higher world...

As the dewdrop trembling on a blade of grass reflects now the silver moon, now the morning glow, and now the various colours of the meadow, so our planet is a mirror destined to reflect in our eyes the harmony of all things, the vastness of space, and the eternity to come. By different ways Messrs. de May and Drummond have reached conclusions which are identical. They are two Christian positivists who, unknown to each other, starting from the same principle, have both arrived, as by a common accord, at the idea of Conditional Immortality.

1 Messrs. Renouvier and Secretan were born within a few days of each other: the former on New Year's Day, 1815, the latter the 19th January of the same year.

2 Dr. Armand Sabatier, Essais d'un naturaliste transformiste sur quelques questions actuelles, 6th Essay, on Creation, physical evil, moral evil, death. Critique philosophique, 31 Dec., 1886, and 31 Jan., 1887. See especially pages 51, 60, 65, 71, 74. The author is now preparing a work entitled Essais sur la morale de l'evolutionnisme chretien.

3 Quelques refexions sur les rapports du christianisme et des sciences. Discourse delivered at the opening of the scholastic year at the Faculty of Montauban on the 6 Nov., 1884, by Prof. F. Leenhardt. Revue theologique, 1884.

4 Un positiviste chretien. Bibliotheque universelle, 1885. These articles have been reprinted as a pamphlet, entitled Henry de May, un posiliviste chretien, Nyon, Switzerland, Kallenberg, 1889.

According to Professor Drummond, the law of laws, the law which completes the universe and gives it perfect harmony is the law of continuity. There is not only analogy between the sensible and the spiritual worlds, but each law of which we can show the existence here below is like a line which extends indefinitely beyond the circle of our experience, throughout all economies; in other terms: every law of nature is universal. Twenty years earlier the Bernese philosopher had expressed the same conviction when he wrote: "The laws remain invariable, it is only the elements that change."

"Every life," said M. de May, "is changeable and destructible; the human soul, like all souls, is changeable and mortal. The life of a soul depends upon its conduct." To this idea M. de May attaches extreme importance. Notwithstanding a few contradictory passages, which may be explained by the difficulty of the subject and the long time occupied in the elaboration of his system, this recluse of the Black Forest rejects on the one hand the Platonic dogma of a natural and inalienable immortality of all human souls, and on the other hand the theological dogma of a damnation consisting in torments absolutely eternal. This important law of the mortality of souls involves the necessity of regeneration. Entrance into a world can only take place by a birth; we therefore need to be born anew in order to become citizens of the kingdom of heaven. This is exactly the teaching of Jesus Christ. He came to offer to all men and to deposit in the heart of believers the germ of that celestial life, to place within our reach that lost immortality which we were incapable of reconquering by our own efforts. Those who freely and resolutely unite themselves to God in filial submission participate in his eternal existence. 1

1 Charles Byse, Henry de May, passim .

Professor Drummond has somewhat less explicitly indicated similar views; he says:

"The soul, in its highest sense, is a vast capacity for God... without God it shrinks and shrivels until every vestige of the divine is gone; and God's image is left without God's Spirit. One cannot call what is left a soul; it is a shrunken, useless organ, a capacity sentenced to death by disuse, which drops as a withered hand by the side, and cumbers nature like a rotted branch (p. 110). It ought to be placed in the forefront of all Christian teaching that Christ's mission on earth was to give men life. 'I am come,' he said, 'that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.' And that he meant literal life, literal, spiritual and eternal life is clear from the whole course of his teaching and acting. To impose a metaphorical meaning on the commonest word in the New Testament is to violate every canon of interpretation and at the same time to charge the greatest of teachers with persistently mystifying his hearers by an unusual use of so exact a vehicle for expressing definite thought as the Greek language, and that on the most momentous subject of which he ever spoke to men. It is a canon of interpretation according to Alford, that 'a figurative sense of words is never admissible except when required by the context' (p. 235). 1 Reuss defines the apostolic belief with his usual impartiality when—and the quotation is doubly pertinent here—he discovers in the apostle's conception of life, first, 'the idea of a real existence . . . an imperishable existence'" (p. 236)."

1 History of Christian Theology in the Apostolic Age, vol. ii., p. 496.

The professor's position in the midst of a very orthodox and keen-scented public has induced him to introduce a saving clause. He says (p. 117): "Should anyone object that from the scientific standpoint the opposite of salvation is annihilation, the answer is at hand. From this standpoint there is no such word." Professor Drummond repudiates the term annihilation, but he admits the fact that the individuality of the obstinate sinner will be destroyed. This subtle distinction between destroy and annihilate had the advantage of throwing dust in the eyes of the sleuth-hounds of orthodoxy, it probably increased the success of the book a hundredfold; but it does not prevent us from claiming the author as on our side. His standpoint implies and postulates the suppression of the incorrigible rebel, but that is exactly the supreme chastisement in the view of the Conditionalist. We know fullwell that no atom, no substance is annihilated, but that does not affect the case; it is a question of the maintenance or suppression of a person. The personal consciousness is the man. What can be the value for the individual of any possible remainder or detritus, even if of an immaterial nature, when once the personality is destroyed?

Even in the camp of the rationalist Christians Conditionalism has met with sympathy. Pastor Gerold, a recognized representative of that tendency, has acknowledged it. He says:

"The doctrine of attainable immortality has a grand moral aspect; it puts life eternal, so to speak, within man's reach. We are free either to ascend to the eternal life or to descend to the eternal death; immortality is not imposed upon anyone... Without pronouncing an opinion as to the fate of those who die impenitent, let us from this solution of the problem of the future retain the incontestable truth that those only can be sure of immortality who here on earth have laid hold on eternal life." 1

On the ground of exegesis, the theologian Scholten, who has been called the father of independent theology in Holland, has reached exactly our conclusions. He says:

"According to the Bible, the life which the sinner loses is his very existence. The dry branch that is burnt is an image of the annihilation of the sinner. What will remain of his person? Will it be his spirit? but, born of the flesh, the sinner does not possess the life of the spirit; his flesh? but that is destined to perish with the world and its lusts." 2

A journal of rationalist tendency states that: "The Conditionalist theory realizes a progress and marks a step towards the union of all Christians." 3

It is thus permissible to believe that in Conditionalism is to be found the meeting-point of the four main spiritualistic tendencies of our time: biblical Christianity, rationalist Christianity, Kantism, and evangelical transformism.

1 Le Progres religieux, 27 Aug., 1881.

2 L'Evangile de Jean, vol. i., p. 47.

3 Le Protestant, a journal of the rationalist Protestants, 27 March, 1886.

In his most recent attack, one of our principal opponents, Professor Frederick Godet, went so far as to admit that the Conditionalist solution was the most defensible from a purely rational point of view. 1

1 "What are we to think of this reasoning? We cannot but be struck by its

plausible aspect. And without the light of Christian revelation it would seem to

me difficult to arrive at any other conclusion."—That Unknown Country, p. 405.

VIII. Obstacles to be overcome.

On looking round we note that the battle in which we are engaged is half won, but it is only half won. To cease preaching the blasphemous doctrine of eternal torments is not enough: that doctrine needs to be replaced by teaching that will be at the same time more in accordance with the Bible, more moral, and more scientific. Only that which is well replaced is thoroughly destroyed, and, as we have seen, a system of dogmatics without eschatology is like a building without a roof, liable to be damaged by every change of weather. The fear of future punishment is now no more than a crumbling barrier, and in the moral life of many a soul, a false optimism

being the fashion of the day, all is going from bad to worse. A member of the Supreme Court at Washington has perceived and indicated this fault. He said to a pastor:

"You ministers are making a fatal mistake in not holding forth before men, as prominently as the previous generation did, the retributive justice of God. You have fallen into a sentimental style of rhapsodizing over the love of God, and you are not appealing to that fear of future punishment which our Lord and Master made such a prominent element in his preaching. And we are seeing the effects of it in the widespread demoralization of private virtue and corruption of public conscience throughout the land." 2

With Jesus Christ we also demand the fear of "Him who can destroy both soul and body." The fact is that the Churches, which are passing through a period of intellectual feebleness, recoil from the necessary effort. The most zealous are deterred by a blind conservatism. They are not willing to discuss that teaching which Reuss called "the favourite doctrine of all orthodoxies." 3 As an illustration of the existing deadlock may be cited the work of M. Ernest Naville on The Problem of Evil, in which there is not a word as to the eventual fate of the victims of evil. That leaves manifestly an immense blank.

1 "What are we to think of this reasoning? We cannot but be struck by its plausible aspect. And without the light of Christian revelation it would seem to me difficult to arrive at any other conclusion."—That Unknown Country, p. 405.

2 The Christian, May 9, 1890.

3 History of Christian Theology in the Apostolic Age, 1852, vol. ii., p. 257.

Not long ago a Genevese pastor set forth in a humorous article the programme of rules of conduct imposed upon their spiritual leaders by many Continental Churches, just the converse of that which is required elsewhere. According to him: "The pastors must not make themselves familiar with the scientific theories and the philosophical speculations of the present day, nor even with the consequences that these may lead to in theology and religion. They must not be acquainted with modern criticism, and must take care not to acquaint their people with the latest results of critical investigations. They must be careful not to construct a new theology upon the ruins of the old. They are expected to avoid all application of Christian principles to burning questions, and all attempts to solve the delicate problems of the age." 1

1 That which is not required of the pastors. Semaine Religieuse, of Geneva, 8 Feb., 1890.

On the other hand, the rationalists who have only two dogmas: God and the immortality of the soul, naturally dread an inquiry which would perhaps diminish by a half their already sufficiently poor religion.

Placed thus in face of a coalition of opposing forces, between the traditionalist hammer and the universalist anvil, Conditionalism would seem, humanly speaking, to have a gloomy prospect. It certainly rejoices the hearts of those who receive it, but in respect of worldly affairs it has caused them only worry and annoyances; they have been kept in quarantine, they have been so isolated and exposed to so many affronts that nothing but the sentiment of a sacred duty has kept there to the fore. They have even been accused of seeking to "please men." This accusation is indeed a climax. If such had been their ambition, would they have professed a doctrine which, to adopt the expression of the Jews at Rome in relation to the Gospel, "is everywhere spoken against"? Because of his Conditionalism M. Byse, in all other respects irreproachable as a pastor, was treated as a heretic by the Missionary Church of Belgium. 1 In England and America similar cases have occurred, and in France preachers who are Conditionalists are obliged to tone down their teaching. In the Union of the Free Churches an estimable pastor who denied endless torments found himself obliged to gain his living by labour in the fields.

In this controversy, in spite of all our efforts, offensive insinuations have been persistently introduced. One highly-placed theologian has even assured us that certain persons are only waiting for the death of its first champions in order to embrace Conditionalism. In other terms, they reject a truth because it has been previously embraced and proclaimed by others with whom they are not in sympathy. If that were so, it would only remain for us to pray that God would withdraw us from this world where all our efforts to serve him seem to produce a contrary result. Seriously, however, we would entreat the critics to let alone the humble advocates of the doctrine and join us in the endeavour to solve the great problem. 2

Come what may, "truth is great and will prevail"; 3 the name of the truth in the Scriptures of the New Covenant is the unforgettable; 4 it baffles the most skilfully-planned conspiracies. Vainly do men bury it under heaps of error and falsehood, sooner or later it breaks forth from its grave and reigns, even over those who had buried it. If Conditionalism has truth on its side, it will one day share in the victory.

1 The injustice of this conduct was indicated at the time in a pamphlet, to which no reply has been made, entitled Le Peril de l'Evangelisme, a statement presented to the Society for Theological Science at Geneva, 1883. M. L. Durand, formerly pastor at Liege, who had cast doubt upon the correctness of the pamphlet, was obliged to acknowledge that he had been mistaken.

2 With this object the critics ought to begin by expounding their own views. We are often left in entire ignorance of the opinion of our opponents on the point in question. They do not state it precisely; it is left in obscurity. This is no doubt a convenient method, controverting a definite view of immortality without taking the responsibility of any theory. The critic keeps himself out of sight so completely as to be intangible. He reminds us of Homer's gods, who, while taking part in the strife of the combatants, themselves remained invulnerable.

3 Esdras iv. 41.

4 He Aletheia.

Some eight years ago M. de Pressense said that "the best minds in all the evangelical Churches are divided as to Conditional Immortality." 1 At the same period an article in the Semaine Religieuse of Geneva declared that this doctrine attracted "an ever-increasing number of theologians and independent thinkers," and that it was "a hundred times more acceptable than final restoration or eternal torments." 2 During the last few years the adhesions to Conditionalism have become so numerous that the day is almost within sight when it will be accepted by all the best minds referred to by M. de Pressense. When that time arrives there will no longer be any question of Conditionalism, or Universalism, or Traditionalism, but only of the glorious and pure primitive Gospel, which has been too long obscured by human inventions. We repudiate the name of innovators with which we are often reproached. It is with Conditionalism as with Protestantism, which is hastening the day when there will be no further need to protest.

1 Revue chretienne, Nov., 1882.

2 9 Dec., 1882.

Protestantism has had to combat the obstinacy of the Romish Church, the most sectarian, the most haughty, and the most backward of all the sects. Conditionalism has a better chance of success. While it professes to continue the work of the Reformation, and to return to apostolic teaching, too long forgotten, while it invokes the Bible and free inquiry, while it has eloquent advocates to plead its cause, the religious newspapers are obliged to make way for it, professors of dogmatics pay attention to it, pastors and people are anxious to listen to the public exposition of the doctrine. This state of things cannot long be maintained, Conditionalism must soon be either generally accepted or rejected. For the present the discussion continues; if it is wearisome we ought not to complain. Protestantism was born of discussion; if it were now to repudiate discussion it would be repudiating its own mother. Will our opponents try to place themselves at our point of view? The traditional dogma, in a mitigated form it is true, is maintained by a great number of zealous laymen. Very few pastors attempt to set them right. In our eyes this dogma is a calumny upon the heavenly Father, it makes the divinity of Jesus Christ almost a superfluity, it

discredits the Gospel; it seems to us to have against it the Scriptures, the earliest Fathers of the Church, the conscience and reason. On the other hand, the doctrine of the assured final salvation of all men finds many supporters. This doctrine, too, seems to us false, and not less dangerous. Exposed to the attacks of the upholders of these two theories, and earnestly desiring to edify. Conditionalism is obliged to use at the same time both the sword and the trowel. If it were to keep silence, its adversaries would use that silence as a weapon against that which we believe to be a salutary truth. Strong convictions have never kept silence.

The French translation of Mr. White's book appeared in 1880. It has ploughed a broad and deep furrow, but after the plough comes the harrow 1 to break the clods turned up by the ploughshare. While presenting afresh in its essential features the thesis already developed by our venerable predecessor, we shall endeavour to remove the misunderstandings which are still common. It will be seen that some of our opponents would be Conditionalists if they were consistent with them selves. As the basis of our work we have taken the notes of a course of lectures delivered at the University of Geneva in 1886, and at the Academy of Neuchatel in 1887. That course was attended by pastors, theological students, and simple laymen; many ladies, too, were present. We have, therefore, reason to hope that our book may be understood by all persons who interest themselves in the grand problem of the future life.

The Supplement is more especially for the use of professional theologians. It contains various extracts and articles which may serve to support our argumentation.

An unexpected contrast: the philosophers have shown themselves generally sympathetic, the opposition has come from, among the Churches, both Catholic and Protestant. 2

1 A harrow forms part of the armorial bearings of the Petavel family. [Note by the translator.]

2 Passing beyond the limits of Protestantism, this controversy has shaken even the immobility of the Roman Catholic Church. Father Gratry accepted the principle of Conditionalism. In his view there are men "who are constantly going down towards non-existence with the consciousness of their increasing inanity and of their continual advance towards nothingness." See Ferraz, Histoire de la philosophie en France au XIXme siecle, p. 415.

To these, therefore, we submit our reply, but we desire to reach beyond the Churches, and to win that large and increasing class of literary men, the head and heart of a people for whom we have a profound affection. Many among them, groaning under their scepticism, are stretching out their hands in desperation towards an unknown God. We desire to present to them the Gospel taken at the fountain-head, the most precious thing that we know. This testimony of our affection will surely be acceptable to them. More than any other modern people, the French have the noble passion for glory, honour, and immortality." 1

1 Romans ii. 7. The Abbe Meric, in his work entitled L'autre vie, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1880; the Rev. Father Felix, S. J., in his volume L'eternite, Paris, 1888; and the Very Rev. Father Monsabre in his Conferences de Notre Dame de Paris, Lent, 1888, have all three, more or less, touched upon the study of Conditionalism.

In order to satisfy that passion they make astonishing sacrifices. "Non omnis moriar," I shall not utterly die; this saying of Horace seems to sum up their aspirations. The horror of utter death is with them a powerful motive; it is the highest form of the instinct of self-preservation, and to it we can make our appeal. But many noble spirits have gone sadly astray. They may be seen exhausting themselves in heroic efforts to hand down to posterity—What? The few letters that compose their name? An illusory and even derisive triumph, if he whose name endures no longer exists. By dissipating this illusion, by setting before men the true glory, honour, and immortality, Conditionalism may serve to reawaken the religious sentiment in France. Worldly glory is a smoke which is quickly dissipa ted, along with the intoxication that it procures; the true immortality is that of the person. This is the inestimable treasure which the Gospel puts within the reach of everyone who desires it, in a doctrine which, without contradicting our reason, completes the teaching of the most eminent philosophers. This we shall proceed to expound, as it presents itself to us in the purity of the primitive texts. Our zeal in the accomplishment of this task will be in proportion to the sadness caused by the frivolity of the multitude in respect of their eternal future, the involuntary blasphemy of the traditional theology, and the blind optimism which smilingly lulls so many souls into a fatal slumber.