fire is a present fact. It pertains to this present economy of nature. This, indeed, is the real significance of the adjective which describes it. It is the aionion, the ageduring fire. It pertains specially to this order of nature and not to the ages to come. Its power then will be gone, for there shall be no more curse nor death (Rev. xxii. 3). It is therefore a present Son of Man, now exalted to Headship over all the forces of the Universe (Ephes. i. 20-23), seated on the throne of an ever-present judgment, and executing the law of this present system of Nature, whose voice we are to hear in the dread sentence, "Depart ye cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." This is the consignment not of a future host of resurrected dead, who are not here in view, but of the living generations of unrighteous men to that present abyss of dissolution which yawns beneath us all as a gulf of consuming fire. It is from this now-impending peril that His gospel is sent out with its glad tidings of rescue. Its gift of eternal life is the divine antidote to this death. And so great is the power of life now deposited in the new Source of Life to men, that "power has been given unto Him over all flesh," to give not only eternal life to a chosen seed who are to be associated with Him in His life-giving work (John xvii. 2), but also to raise up out of the abyss of death to lower orders of life (each) in his own time and order), the masses of mankind who have gone down into this pit (John v. 28, 29). Their resurrection, although it be to judgment and corrective discipline, is yet the result of His redeeming work and a manifestation of His triumphant power. And it violates the whole order of God's working in this plan of creation,

and the whole spirit and meaning of His Word in its dealings with these great problems of life and death, to view this recovery of the unjust dead as anything but a blessing, even though it bring with it new risks with the new opportunities of life.

Moreover this view of God's gracious purpose to recover men from the abyss of eternal fire into which they are cast by the law of Nature, as well as by the sentence of the Son of Man, is necessary to show how His goodness answers to His severity. The eternal fire is not master in this universe, only a servant. The devil wins no triumphs that are not turned into defeats by Him who was manifested to destroy him and his works. Not even death can hold his trophies. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. xx. 14). There is, indeed, before sinful men a fearful punishment. It is no light thing to die and to sink down, body and soul, into that abyss where burns the eternal dissolving fire. It is no small privation to be shut out from the light and life and blessedness of those of whom Jesus says, "They shall never taste of death." "I give unto them eternal life" (John viii. 52, x. 28). And wicked men, when raised, must still be adjudged unworthy of this life. And yet their recovery will prove the truth of what the book of Creation and the Book of God both teach, that the Eternal Life is master of the realm of Eternal Fire, that Love is stronger than wrath. To take away every element of hope from the resurrection of all but the small class who now receive Christ, is to limit His grace and power as the Prince of Life, and to deny that His gospel is glad tidings of great joy to all people.

NOTES ON CURRENT OPINIONS AND EVENTS.

DR. SHEDD's Book.—The gist of the issue we have raised with the doctrine taught in Prof. Shedd's book on "Endless Punishment" may be thus stated:

On page 104, we find these words: "The asserted extension of redemption between death and the resurrection cannot be placed upon the ground of right and justice; and the only other ground possible, that of the divine promise so to extend it, is wanting."

Now with the whole of this statement we agree. There is no warrant in scripture for the hope now widely entertained, that the period between death and resurrection extends the opportunities of this life, or that the work of redemption goes on. That is the hellperiod; the time of punishment.

But how about the period after the resurrection? We ask Dr. Shedd Are the unjust dead raised because of the redemption of mankind from death by Christ? Is there no "extension of redemption" here? Is their resurrection an untold calamity and a curse? Do the scriptures teach that for the sins of this life men will be cast into Hell twice, once before, and again after resurrection? Is he sure that the judgment scene in Matt. xxv. does not precede the resurrection, and that it includes all the dead nations from the dawn of history, resurrected to be damned a second time? If so, where is the proof? And how could the men before the flood, for example, be tried by the test, “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me?

Beyond this statement then we assert that the redemption of all mankind from death and Hell, is a matter of "divine promise.” And that great promises to all the families of the earth are involved in Christ's redeeming work, which can be fulfilled only through and after their resurrection from the dead. And, moreover, we assert that although this is one of the deep secrets of God's word, "sealed up among His treasures," it is just as truly there, and as fully, as was the truth about the death and resurrection of the Christ, albeit the whole generation of religious people in His day were blind to it, and

even His own disciples did not perceive it until after He had opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.

DR. BACON'S CASE.-A correspondent sends us from Toronto the following from Scotch Presbyterian sources, as bearing upon the point raised by Dr. Bacon, before the Presbytery, that "subscription" is a matter too sacred for anything but the most scrupulous candor.

From Dr. Guthrie's address when elected Moderator of the Assembly in 1862: • May her ministers ever be men whom no earthly advantage will tempt to sign what they do not believe, and no earthly loss will deter from avowing what they do believe." Words worthy to be inscribed in letters of gold upon every Seminary and Synod Hall.

Dr. Chalmers in one of his publications declares: "Deliver me from the narrowing influence of human lessons, from human systems of theology. Teach me directly out of the fullness and freeness of Thine own Word. Hasten the time when, unfettered by sectarian intolerance, and unarmed by the authority of man, the Bible shall make its rightful impression upon all, the simple and obedient readers thereof calling no man master, but Christ only."

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A friend writes:

"

'I cannot help thinking that a really correct view of the state of the dead helps us out of much that otherwise is somewhat difficult, or apparently confused. The Spirit, if I may reverently so say, weighs His words. What makes Him so continually use the word 'sleep' and 'slept,' but because they are the most fitting words to express the truth? Sleep implies life; the term is entirely opposed to the gross view of annihilation which is so repugnant to the better instructed and thoughtful student of the word. But sleep likewise as surely implies unconsciousness, out of which resurrection awakes the man. 'Eyeípw is one of the main words used, and its primary usag is to arouse up,' properly from sleep. The normal condition of sleep is unconsciousness; and it is the healthiest condition, out of which man awakes refreshed far more than when he has dreamed. I question whether dreaming is not the exceptional condition of sleep, and engendered by a deteriorated state of body, a state compara

tively unknown to the ancients before the flood, I should think from their enormous longevity. It implies restlessness of the physical system, not rest, as all experiences tells us. Moreover the organs of consciousness, reflection, imagination, memory, etc., are necessary for a conscious state of existence. But life has fled from them in the case of the dead. The spirit, i. e., of life, has returned to God, who gave it, and the man returns to dust, for out of the ground or earth, i. e., as a womb, man was taken, and to it he returns, as Job states (ch. i. 21) in harmony with Jehovah in Gen. iii.

With regard to I Peter iii. 19-21, to which you allude and which is synchronous, and I might say synonymous with 1 Tim. iii. 16, seen of' or rather appeared unto angels' as a part of the 'mystery,' it has no bearing upon human beings at all, I think. The reference is to spirits, not men, who sinned in Noah's day, i, e., the 'sons of God' cohabiting with the daughters of men,' the former term in the Old Testament occurring six times, and invariably referring to celestial beings. To those, giving us an insight into a greater view of God's grace, Christ went after being quickened in spirit, i. e., after resurrection."

We have not space to notice all the important matters our friend suggests. The two main points are:

1. The unconscious state of the dead. He rejects, as do we, that gross view which virtually puts all men out of existence between death and resurrection. At the same time he holds that even the saints sleep away the interval in a dreamless sleep.

We have only to say that the common sense of most English readers will still infer from such scriptures as Luke xvi. (parable of Dives and Lazarus) that the souls of even the wicked do not go into immediate unconsciousness. And therefore, some such explanation as we have at different times suggested is required, viz., that the soul as distinct from spirit pertains to embodiment, and as of finer essence than the body, does not die with it; although it is destructible (Matt. x. 28), and death is its final doom. And beyond there must be such a survival of the outcast spirit as shall preserve identity, although we need not suppose that, in its ejection out of manhood, it retains a human consciousness and personality. This would satisfy the scripture representation of the man as dead, and yet retain such a basis for his future existence as is required by the fact that he will be raised again. And, as regards the righteous, neither the common nor the spiritual sense of most Christians will