Chapter I: Front Matter

LOVE'S FINAL VICTORY

_Ultimate Universal Salvation on the Basis of Scripture and Reason_

BY

HORATIO

An Orthodox Minister

"_That which is incredible to thee thou shalt not, at thy soul's peril, attempt to believe. Go to Perdition if thou must, but not with a lie in thy mouth. By the Eternal Maker, no."--Carlyle._

"_Is not Universal Salvation the Divine Corollary of Universal Atonement?"--Extract of a letter from the Author to an eminent Methodist minister in England._

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

DIFFERENT THEORIES.

Fear of Punishment--Early Impressions--Men of Piety and Learning--Facts and Figures--Mental or Material Fire--The Theory of Conditional Immortality--Why Invented--Moody--Divine Failure Impossible--Future Operations of Grace--Restoration--A Plea for Charity--Other Worlds--The Heathen--Devout Use of the Imagination.

II.

CRUELTY OF FORMER VIEWS.

Unconditional Election--Children of Believing Parents--An Arrogant Pretension--God's Own Children--The Heathen of All Time--A Baleful Shadow--Former Cruelty--Herbert Spencer--Dr. Farrar's Eternal Hope--A Lady With An Open Mind--Dr. Dawson's Larger View--The Universal Attraction.

III.

THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION.

No Definite Note of Warning--Preachers Afraid of Discipline--Divided As to Restoration or Extinction--Plea for Liberty--Liberalism of the Episcopal Church--Advance in Christian Unity--Dr. Edward White--Conditional Immortality--Endless Torment--If True Ought to Be Preached Morning, Noon and Night--Awful Penalty of Sin--Extinction--True Religion Is Reasonable--Enlarged Conceptions.

IV.

INFINITE JUSTICE.

A Strong Argument--Universal Atonement--Infinite Justice Satisfied--A Candid Methodist Minister--Can Man Commit An Infinite Sin?--Everlasting Punishment Could Not Be Rendered--Uses of Suffering--Punitive and Remedial--The Penalty Has Been Paid--Moral Effect--Mystery of Pain--Not Punishment but Chastening--Extending Our Outlook Beyond--Boundless Time and Space--Operations of Grace in the Next Life--Infinite Power--Infinite Mercy--Infinite Love--Incentive to Endless Praise.

V.

HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.

Our Limitations--Development--Our Capacity--Divine Foreknowledge--No Divine Failure--The Heathen--Unchangeable Dove--Union of Four Attributes--Eternal Wisdom--A Marvel of Coercion and Freedom--The Day of Divine Power--An Unfathomable Mystery--Future Revelations--Coming to Zion with Songs.

VI.

THEORY OF EQUALITY.

Abraham Tucker's View--Ingenious and Reverent--Variety of Endowment--Maximum of Happiness--Imparting and Receiving New Ideas--Compensations--Infinite Justice.

VII.

PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION.

Different Processes--The Case of Saul--Changed in a Moment--No Violence to Human Freedom--The Case of Nebuchadnezzar--Sudden or Slow--Basis of Warning--An Object Lesson--Function of Suffering.

VIII.

THE INTERMEDIATE STATE.

Meagre Details--Good Reasons Why--Extent of the Universe--Future Glory--Sin in Other Worlds--No Revelation--Future Abode of the Righteous--Solid or Ethereal--Impossible Revelations--Present Duties and Interests--Our Limitations--Necessity of Purification--Preaching to the Spirits in Prison--Stages of Progress--The Law of Gradual Development.

IX.

THE SPIRITS IN PRISON.

The Descent of Jesus Into Hades--Singular Reserve of Preachers--Purgatory--Dr. Gerhardt's Book--A Bodily Resurrection--The 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.