Love's Final Victory. Horatio
Spirit World Requires a Spirit Body.
X.
DIVINE LOVE.
Infinite Being and Perfection—Grades of Being—Variety—Man's
Limitations—Moral Beings—Hopeless Surroundings—All Are the Children
of God—Righting the Wrongs of Time—"The Heart of the Universe Is
Love"—Eternal Conscious Torment Incredible—Conquering Power of
Love—Eternal Purpose Will Not Fail—Omnipotence in the Moral Realm—The
Divine Expression of Love—Universal Atonement Involves Universal
Salvation—Final Success of God's Designs—Will Evil Necessarily
Perpetuate Itself?—Triumph of Good Over Evil—Few Stripes or
Many—Reformatory Punishment—Bringing Good Out of Evil—Possibilities
of Redeeming Grace—The Ransomed of the Lord—Wrath but the Shadow of
Love—Former Eternity of Sinlessness—Wrath No Constituent of the Divine
Character—Pity and Indignation.
XI.
THE ATONEMENT.
Extent of the Atonement—The Dilemma of Universal Atonement and Partial
Salvation—Human Systems of Truth—Methodist Theology—Tradition and
Reason—Dr. Dale's View—No Divine Failure—Imperfection of All
Theological Systems—"Sufficient but Not Efficient"—Undeveloped
Possibilities—The Angel in the Apocalypse—Omnipotence Both in the
Physical and the Moral Realm—The Short Epoch of Time—Advance of
the Presbyterian Church in the United States—Individual
Congregations—Hardening Effects of the Narrower View—The Softening
Influence of Dreams—Divine Capacity of Suffering—Persistence of What
Is Good—Good Men Who Are Not Christians—Insanity—Blind Tom.
XII.
A FEEBLE NOTE OF WARNING.
The Creed of Eternal Torment—Do Ministers Really Believe It?—If They
Do, Why Not Say So?—No Decisive Note of Warning—Definite Missionary
Incentive Is Wanting—The Phrase, "Eternal Death," Often Used—Does It
Mean Annihilation, or Eternal Torment, or What?—Vague Reference to
Punishment Fosters Unbelief—An Age of Compromise—Professor Faulkner's
Testimony—The Idea of Restoration Would Fully Meet the
Difficulty—Honesty and Candor—Carlyle's Scathing Warning—Ultimate
Fulfilment of Prophecy—Eternal Songs.
XIII.
PROPHECIES YET TO BE FULFILLED.
Enlarging Vision—Promise to Abraham—A Host of Similar Promises—Many of Them Not Merely National—Their Fulfilment—Not Limited by the Short Epoch of Time—The Present Only One Part of the Divine Administration—Why the Revelation Was Not Given Sooner—Groping in the Twilight—Growing Illumination—A Time for Everything—Dazzle or Enlighten—Discoveries in Science are Really Revelations—Our Slowness in Receiving Spiritual Truth—Limitations of Great Men.
XIV.
TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.
The Unrevealed—Scripture and Reason—Bishop Butler's Dictum—Reverence
of Kepler—Moral Courage of Sir Oliver Lodge—Increase of Laxity—The
Spirit's Almighty Power—Supreme Authority of Scripture—The Proper
Sphere of Reason—Fate of the Heathen—Singular Reserve of
Preachers—Sin Is Abnormal—Union of Divine Power, Wisdom, and
Love—Reasonableness and Harmony—A Multitude of Scripture
Promises—Discipline Instead of Eternal Torment—Dr. Funk's View—The
Great Panacea for Unbelief—Ingersoll—No Divine Failure.
XV.
TESTIMONY OF REASON.
Divine Gift of Reason—Its Proper Sphere—No Dogmatism—Is Sin An
Infinite Evil?—Infinite Penalty Impossible to Be Rendered—Justice Can
Delay—Good Cannot Perish—Testimony of Dickens—Endless Punishment
Would Increase Moral Evil—The Divine Character Never Changes—Time but
a Short Epoch—Our Capacity of Development—Salvation of Infants—The
Insane—Imperfect Christians—Their Destiny—Good Unchristian Men—Where
Will They Go?—"All Souls Are Mine"—Worth Preserving—Fate of the
Heathen—Reclaimed in the Next Life—Human Freedom Never
Destroyed—Provision for All—A Dreadful Hymn—Divine Sacrifice Not in
Vain—Bringing Good Out of Evil—Final Triumph of Goodness—Sin Is
Abnormal—Will Therefore Cease—Law of Gradual Change—Sins of the
Mind—The Race Might Easily Have Been Intercepted—Endless Torment
Cannot Be Believed—The Mind's Affinity for Truth—True Punishment Is
Reformatory—Alleged Divine Cruelty—Agony of Eternal—Ingersoll and
His Shafts of Ridicule—Incentive to Good Works—Unfathomable Divine
Love—"Joy Cometh in the Morning"
XVI.
THE CASE OP SAUL.
Divine Methods of Reclaiming Men—"The Chief of Sinners"—Changed' in a
Moment—No Violence Done to His Freedom—Yet Sovereign Power—The
Mystery of Grace—View of McCosh—Supremacy of Conscience—Sir Isaac
Newton's Wonderful Alertness of Mind—Reason and Intuition—Capturing
the Most Incorrigible—Evil Environment—Suffering a Necessary
Factor—Agony of Remorse—Eternal Hope.
XVII.
ETERNAL SEPARATIONS.
An Everlasting Pang—David and Absalom—Strained Ideas of Late Momentary Repentance—King Solomon—King Saul—The Gracious Character of Sympathy—George Eliot's View—A Strong Argument for Restoration—Heresy of a Minister's Wife—A Minister's Orthodox View—Wonderful Goodness of a Criminal—Where Will He Finally Go?—Our Very Imperfect Friends—Glossing Over Their Faults When They Are Gone—Our Instinctive Hope for the Worst—Restoration the True Solution—A Final Era of Joy.
XVIII.
NOT REALLY BELIEVED.
Present Enthusiasm for Missions—Former Lassitude—The Basis of
Missionary Enterprise—Supposed Damnation of the Heathen—If Really
Believed Would