| Show GLADSTONE ON FUTURE LIFE T thoughts and sentiments sentiment upon religious topics by right bight ron HOD W E Ula gladstone detone should be of special interest to 10 all who are looking forward to a life after thir when a man on his journey towards eternity has come la in so BO close proximity to the border line that he be ordas canas it were discern in the distance dis taace the contours rising before him and when blo bla career ban baa been that which characterizes mr Glad Glade stones tones be ie 19 entitled to be board beard with marked at tent ton lon tion hla his words wards are not those of a theorist nor those of a more mere of existing creeds they are likely to carry the reader as aa near the verge of eternal truth troth as aa it in ia possible lot for uninspired utterances te to conduct mortal moo men in the june number of the north american review mr gladstone dis die cusses the future lite and the cori con of man alan therein 12 tae closing sentences of this essay are especially significant because they reveal an u unmistakable mistakable i tendency on the part oi 01 the be author towards toward a doctrine not generally looked upon as orthodox the writer points out that the anal fate of the wicked and of the righteous is only cloney in part disclosed 11 and that some more light on this sul out eject Is to be expected referring to bishop butlein But Bu leie remark that the future Is the foundation of all our hopes bores and fears that ate are really worthy of consideration he in the shadow of this glorious teaching lay the inevitable que question suon what shall be the abe lot of those who reject it ii this thib question waa small and remote for the elect souls in the upper room set met upon pursuance ol of the truth and the right but it gradually grew large and larger still for the church as ic ft spread from land to land and obtained the worlds confessed or professed allegiance the provision for meeting this ibis question was ready to hand it lay in a certain sense outside the gospel and was anterior to it like the other laws of our human nature and of the government of the world by its author but this law like all other antecedent and perpetual laws was acknowledged by the goel grayel the law ot of indignation ion and wrath tribulation and anguish g upon every soul of man that boeth evil yet acknowledged with a sorrow which is shown by the comparatively fluctuating or shadowy manner in which this sad gad reverse of the picture is handled tt e inseparable but obscure under side so to speak of the great foundation stone atone of peace and happi happiness nebs I 1 how much do we know of the lot of the perversely per verely wicked they disappear into pain and sorrow the veil drops unon them in that condition every indication cai ion of a further change is withheld so that if it be designed it has not been made known and is ia nowhere incorporated with the divine teaching whatever else pertains to this sad subject is withheld from our too curious and unprofitable gaze the specific and limited statements supplied to us are alter after all ail only expressions in particular form of immovable and universal laws on the one hand of the irrevocable union between suffering and sin ein on the other hand band of the perfection of the most high both of them believed believe ct in full but only in part disclosed and having elsewhere it way may be their plenary manifestation in that day of the restitution of all things for which a groaning and tr availing creation yearns the venerable vea erable author on the one h band and falls to find in the written word any intimation of a possible change of toe the condition of those who dle die unrepentant pen tant on the other hand he is not prepared prep areu to state that the scriptures do ao reveal that no chango change to is possible and this is a marked retreat from the creeds that have prevail led for cen can tune his position Is somewhat similar to that of the eminent theological scholar dr angus who in a lecture before some students on thle topic once said I 1 can find no valid ground tor for the supposition that the words eternal and eternity used in connection with the sufferings of sinners hereafter admit of any other than the common interpretation but I 1 can state slate here what I 1 would not care to say elsewhere that if god in his mercy should have decreed to terminate their sufferings suffering eol 1 could not say may that hat I 1 had been deceived for it is in barely possible that the terms in which the scriptures refer to these things denote a limited duration of existence here are two competent witnesses testifying to the fact that in their judgment the of the creeds concerning end endless lefis damnation are not unquestionably supported by holy writ mr gladstone testimony is particularly important he finds that all the scripture declarations are only expressions of the universal law that sin and misery go together but he be also finds references to a day of the restitution of all things for which a groaning and tra travail velling lne creation yearns sa s1 it seems seem to us that when the truth is once admitted that the Script scriptures utes do not state that the condition of sinners Is 18 unalterably fixed at the moment of death the way is prepared for the grand arit ciple proclaimed in this age that salvation to is offered also on the other side of the veil to mr view the unrepentant sinner disappears lo in pain and sorrow 66 every FAvery indication of further change is withhold withheld Is iii there anen in the scriptures no statement to the effect that the mercy of god en dureth enu ureth forever fo are we not taught that the gospel goepel is in being proclaimed to the dean dead and that ordinances are performed for them does not one of the last scones scenes of the great world drama consist in derth and hades up their dead indications there certainly are of a change even behind that veil of pain and brrow but it will be admitted readily that bat without some further ople plenary daryll manifestation the subject would be one extremely obscure as an to deta detally detal lh lc so was the whole go pol plan of salvation to those who depended on DO nothing thing but bat the written worn word to in the mosaic moba to cl j a P eleft t I 1 0 a v wit without h out a plenary manifestation atonement junti and resurrection would have remained almost unknown revolution revelation to la progressive to the last dispensation was reserved to shed abed a more perfect light upon the important subject salvation for the dead and when the principle to la once under stood it will be found to be in perfect harmony with all that has haa been revealed previously concerning the redemption of the human race |
