The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-11-20

Few words of Scripture have been SO
tortured and emptied Of their signiti-
canoe as these. It Is one Of the most
precious passages of scripture, and 1t in
wolves no ambiguity, except such as is
created by the scholssticism OF preju-
diced theology. 1t stands almost alone
| In the Scripture; not indeed In the CLEAN
OF light which it throws across the awful
| darkness Of che destiny of sin, but in
| the manner In which 1t reveals to US the
source from which that CLEAN of light
| has been derived.
For II language have any meaning
this language means that Christ. when
his spirit descended into the lower world,
proclaimed the message Of salvation to
the once impenitent dead.
"In the first. indeed of two illusions
to this truth the preaching Is formally
| limited to those who had died In the del.
uge. This Is due to two causes. Peters
mind is full of the deluge as type of
the worlds lustration, first by death and
then by deliverance; just as baptism is
type Of death unto sin and the new life
unto righteousness. Also he is thinking
of Christ's comparison OF the days OF
Noah to the days Of the Son of Man. But
1t is impossible to suppose that the an.
tedeluvian sinners, conspicuous as they
were for their wickedness, we're the only
ones Of all the dead who were singled out
to receive the message of deliverance.
That restricted application Is excluded
by the second passage. There the Apos-
tie shows that he had only referred TO
those who persisted in the deluge as strik-
ing represent tives Of world otsinners,
judged as regards men in the flesh, but
living az regards God in the spirit.
For. in referring to the judgment which
awaits the heather, he attempers the
awful thought OF their iniquities and Of
the future retribution which awaited
Thorn by saying, that with aview to this
very state of things the Gospel was
preached to the desd;-in order that.
however terrible might be the judg
ments which would befall their human
nature, the hope OF some spiritual share
In the divine life might not be forever
excluded at the moment of death.
"Of the effects of the preaching moth
ting lie said. There Is no dogma either
OF universalism or of conditional-immor-
| tality. All details, as in the entire
eschatology Of Scripture. are left dim
and indefinite. But no honest man who
goes to Holy Scripture to seek for truth,
instead of going to try and find whatever
errors he may bring to it as part of his
theological belief, can possibly deny that
there is ground here to mitigate that
element of the popular teaching OK
Christendom against which many Of the
greatest saints and theologians have
raised their voices.
IF Christ preached to dead men who
were once disobedient, then Scripture
shows US that the moment Of death does
not necessarily involve final and hope.
less torment for every sinful soul.
"Of all the Ilunt weapons of ignorant
controversy employed against those to
whom has been revealed the possibility
Of larger hope than is left to mankind
by Augustine or by Calvin, the bluntest
Is the charge that such hope renders
null the necessity for the work OF Christ.
AS il it were not this very hope which
gives to the love of Christ Its mightiest
effectiveness. We thus rescue the work
having failed to achieve Its end for the
vast majority of those for whom Christ
died. By accepting the light thus
thrown upon the descent into HE'LL We
extend to those Of the dead who have
not finally hardened themselves against
1t, the blessedness Of Christ's atoning
work. We thus complete the divine, all
comprehending circuit of Gods univer.
sal gracs!
ain these passages, as has been truly
said we may see the expansive para
phrase and exuberant variation of the
original Pauline theme of the universal.
ism Of the evangelical embassage of
Chriet and Of his sovereignty over the
world; and especially of the passage In
the PHILIPPIANS, where all they that are
| In heaven and on the earth and under
the earth, are enumerated as classes of
the subjects of the exalted Redeemer."
The preponderance Of the so-called
orthodox Interpretation In standard
commentaries may we'll be Offset by this
Interpretation, unsurpassed In scholar.
ship, by one who cherishes the larger. IL
not the universal, hope.
The passage on which the exhor-
tatlon of our lesson passage is based iii.
1922 is this. in Noyes' translation: For
it is better. II it be the will of God. that
ye suffer for well-doing than for evil
doing. For Christ also suffered once
for sins, the righteous one for the un-
righteous, that he might bring you to
God, being put to death in the flesh. but
made alive in the spirit; In which he
also went and preached to the spirits in
prison. who were disobedient In times
past, when the long suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the
ark was preparing wherein few. that
is, eight souls, we're saved by water;
which in it's aptityne hantiam Ia noW