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there anything in the nature of the case to hinder its being completed in all believers when they are called into the scenes of the future world? Surely our limited. vision cannot penetrate the veil which hangs between us and the future so as to lay down in such a matter rules for the divine activity there. It is certainly going far beyond the legitimate province of man's unaided reason to say, as Dr. Briggs does, that "If our eternal weal or woe is to be determined by a private judgment at death the ultimate public judgment is reduced to a mere ceremony, confirming in public the judgment that had been privately given to the sinner centuries and possibly millenniums before" (p. 198). On this view of the case one might well doubt the propriety of any general judgment at all.

But we had supposed that there might be deeper reasons for that solemn event than those connected with the determination of the character of men after the manner of a competitive examination. From a variety of considerations we had been led to suppose that the general judgment is needed chiefly for governmental reasons. The solemn and imposing scenes of that day are for the instruction of the universe and not for the information of the individuals judged or of the Creator.

It is more and more evident that the views here advocated by Dr. Briggs concerning the continuance of the offers of grace after death are logically connected with the views regarding the other two doctrinal points which we have had under notice. The doctrine of continued probation is a corollary of Dr. Briggs's erroneous view concerning the natural inability of the human will. This so minimizes the sin which is committed merely under the light of nature, that the sins of the heathen world can be called small offences, and God can be represented as a tyrant if he does not indefinitely extend the offers of grace until equal advantages have been enjoyed by all. To maintain these positions as a part of the doctrinal system of revelation, it is necessary to tone down the interpreta

tion of a prominent and important class of Scripture texts, and in general to remove from Christianity many of the characteristics which mark it as a system of grace and an historical religion. The Scriptures seem to teach that the main revelations of the divine will have been limited to a few epochs in human history, and that large responsibility for the spread of these truths and the propagation of the principles of the gospel is from generation to generation laid upon those who enjoy the ordinary means of grace. That is, the propagation of the Christian religion is by a truly historical process in which the natural means are pressed to the utmost in conjunction with an orderly system of supernatural co-operation and aid. Thus the Bible, as an objective fact of revelation, has attained in Protestant countries its supreme importance, and has been at once the inspiration and regulator of all Christian activity. In the formation of true Christian faith, the Bible is supreme, not secondary. It is a serious mistake to confound the ordinary operations of the Spirit with those of a specific character which were bestowed upon the men chosen to be the immediate recipients of the great revelation.

Nor can we close without a single word concerning the important bearing of the doctrine of continued probation upon the activities of the church. If the doctrine is true, of course it should be accepted. But its influence is likely to be so serious, that, if it is a false doctrine, one incurs grave responsibility who either advocates it, or from indifference allows it to pass unchallenged. It is not, indeed, the same as the papal doctrine of purgatory, though some of the ill-guarded statements of Professor Briggs would seem to show that in his own mind there is a close affinity between the two; since he rejects the idea of a fixity in man's destiny after death and before the general judgment on the ground that "it would assign the rewards and penalties centuries before they were earned" (p. 198), thus removing the rewards of the judg

ment day from the realm of grace to that of works. This, also, his doctrine of sanctification would seem to do. Without, however, pressing this point of similarity, we cannot refrain from emphasizing the fact that Protestants have purchased their freedom from bondage to the papal doctrine of purgatory and of prayers for the dead at a great price, and it would be a sad mistake to surrender this vantage-ground without long and serious consideration. Just as surely as effect follows cause will this burdensome yoke of Catholicism fall upon the necks of Protestant churches if they accept the views advocated by Dr. Briggs concerning the middle state, unless in connection with them there is a general abandoning of their doctrine of prayer. So long as any body of people continue to believe that God hears and answers prayer for legitimate objects, and that the advantage of prayer is more than that arising from the subjective influence on him who offers it, they will continue to pray for the dead, if the dead are supposed to be still on probationary ground. In view of the history of the subject in the papal church it is needless to dwell upon the corruptions which go hand in hand with this unscriptural and most pernicious doctrine. The urgency of the Bible is all for the living. By so much as believers shall be burdened with the care for the souls of the dead, will they be hindered from bestowing effort upon those within their reach.

ARTICLE IX.

CRITICAL NOTES.

I.

RECENT WORKS ON THE ATONEMENT.'

BY THE REV. GEORGE F. MAGOUN, D. D., GRINNELL, IOWA.

IN an account of the Baptist work in Sweden by P. A. Nordell, D. D., (New York Examiner) it is stated, that the Baptist churches there are one in doctrine, and that "a constant struggle has been maintained against the numerous and influential Free Church, which, in point of doctrine, corresponds very closely with the Andover wing of American Congregationalism, but is marked by a far more enthusiastic religious activity." A vague American echo of Waldenstroem appears in a late number of the Andover Review,— "The Blood of Jesus Christ: the New Testament Doctrine," by Lyman Abbott, D. D. He makes three points vs. the evangelical view: (1) The blood of Jesus Christ in the New Testament is the life of Christ. His character, not the drops that fell on Calvary, but "his individuality, his personality." The world is saved, not by a "plan of salvation," but "by Christ himself." This leaves out any propitiating work of Christ for men, and substitutes therefor a mere exhibition of himself, producing a mere subjective effect in us. It goes farther from the New Testament than Waldenstroem's theory of blood-contact with spirit, and in the direction of Jamieson. (2) His character as “transmittible [?]" is represented by Christ's blood, like heredity in physical life, a character received by men "almost unconsciously," the "blood of God, as it were [?]" (like qualities inherited along the lines of pedigree), by which we are "adopted into the very generation of Divinity." (3) But this "transmitted life is poured out for us," as well as made a part of our own nature." Not by something suffered eighteen hundred years ago, but by His "life, personality, character, divinity," "poured out [into ours?]." Here again, in indefinite, elusive, misleading form, the mysticism of Jamieson reappears. It is plumply denied that we are saved by any thing vicarious, whether expiation, substitution, or atonement, for these words do not occur in the New Testament. But it is noteworthy that "propitiation," which is in the New Testament, both word and idea, is ignored. For the clear and gracious meaning which Paul J [This is a note to page 23, received too late for insertion in its proper place.-EDs.]

and John give to it, we have the indefinite speculative theory referred to above, with its perversion of Scripture terms, and nullification of their legitimate signification. But no one has directly and successfully emptied Scripture of the idea of divine propitiation for human sin. It is the stem and trunk of the whole doctrine of substitutionary, vicarious, expiatory atonement, and refuses to surrender its dominant place in the gospel.

II.

PAULINE AUTHORSHIP OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

BY THE REV. GEORGE W. GILMORE, BROOKLYN, N. Y., LATE OF KOREAN ROYAL COLLEGE, SEOUL, KOREA.

THE writer of this article has lately been engaged in a study of the "hypothetical period" of the New Testament. In the course of his investigations excursions into fields other than the one immediately under study were suggested. One inquiry thus opened was, What light would be afforded on the question of the Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews by a comparison of the conditional sentence as found therein and in some writing generally conceded to be by St. Paul? This might prove somewhat new, as not a great deal of stress has been laid on a purely grammatical argument. Of course the results would not be decisive. But if they proved to be in the direction indicated by other arguments, the evidence would be cumulative, and thus contribute something towards a final settlement; while if opposed, some reason why usage should differ might be found, or else the indication would be that conclusions already reached might have to be modified. It was gratifying to find that though the differences were not always great, yet all pointed in one direction, and that one corroborative of the general consensus against Pauline authorship.

It is, of course, understood that the argument based on this study is purely grammatical, and entirely distinct from the lexical argument usually employed in the discussion of this question. It depends on the forms of sentences, not on the words employed.

Seven forms of conditions are found, temporal conditions and indefinite relatives with ȧv in the protasis being considered apart from the "vivid future" and "present general" conditions, for greater clearness, although they can be classed under those forms. The book chosen for comparison was the Epistle to the Romans, because the character of the contents more nearly coincides with that of the Epistle to the Hebrews, while the extent of the text is not much greater. The text used was that of Westcott and Hort, in which Romans occupies about twenty-six pages, and Hebrews twenty-one.

Professor Goodwin's classification of the hypothetical period, and, in the main, his terminology, will be used.

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