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whole with the idea of a suspension of existence for thousands of years. This, we are bold to say, cannot be done.

IV. It may be thought to require more delicacy of treatment than we are master of, to introduce, with profit, among Universalists of our times, that eye-sore of a question, Whether the experience and character of our present life will have any effect upon us after death. It is, however, a question that cannot very well be avoided in the course of inquiry we are now pursuing,-to say nothing of the place it must always occupy in every religious mind. Why should we not look into it, not as partisans, but as reasonable men, and try to see what it amounts to, how much it involves, what bearing it has upon our common faith, and how the inspired teachers appear to have thought with respect to it. We shall venture on the attempt. If we treat the subject unfairly, or unkindly, or so unskilfully as to give offence, let the wrong be on our own presumptuous head, and go no farther.

We will observe that there is, at bottom, an agreement between Universalists on both sides of the subject, to a much greater extent than they seem commonly to be aware. If the question were, Whether the present life affects the future in any way, we suppose they would unanimously answer in the affirmative. For, we should have no future existence at all, but for the present. Now, this consideration, of itself, opens a very wide field of dependences, relations, and consequences, which we never can shut out from our thoughts, except in moments of systematic theorizing. At other times, we instinctively recognize them, and make use of them. Again: we suppose it is agreed among us that much of our experience, here, will have an influence upon us hereafter. The providential afflictions that we suffer, the chastisements that are inflicted upon us for our sins, and, in general, the whole system of discipline, made up of mingled good and ill, through which we are passing, are habitually spoken of by all Universalists as intended for our benefit, partly at least in the future state. As St. Paul says, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

So large a proportion, then, of the elements of our

present life will act upon the future. How is it with the remaining elements? if, indeed, we can find any left, that are not inextricably involved with these. For we must consider that the all-pervading system of discipline in which we are growing up and forming our characters, embraces the whole of our mortal experience, so far as it comes from without. And if we admit, what we all so earnestly claim as true, that our present discipline under God has a bearing upon our condition after death, it seems that our main question is already answered, in the gross, and answered unanimously. Let us, however, take it in its particulars. Let us take our personal conduct, or rather the character we form in life, and ask, Will this have any effect beyond the grave? We confess, we do not see how we can either answer in the negative, or pretend to ignore the conclusion, after answering the general question in the affirmative. To say that our treatment in God's providence, or our experience here, will affect the future, but that the character, which is formed under ít, will have no such bearing, appears to be absurd,—giving to outward circumstances a force that we deny to the internal reality. At the risk of seeming to be a little abstruse, we will observe, that the system of our present discipline does not act upon us, and is not so much as even recognized by us, except as it works within us and produces developements of an intellectual, moral, or passional kind, or of all kinds together. If we look at the case a moment, we think it will be plain enough, that affliction or comfort, pain or pleasure, joy or sorrow, good or ill, becomes such to us only by its effects upon us, by being felt by us, by working within us corresponding changes of the kinds we mentioned. Now, it is through such changes alone that either of them can benefit, or harm, or concern us in any way, here or hereafter. And when we say, that the discipline to which we are now subjected will affect us hereafter, it is the same as to say that the elements of character which it leaves with us, will work upon us in the next world.

We have suggested that there is, at bottom, a much greater agreement among Universalists on this subject, than they themselves commonly suppose. The very nature of the case compels us to agree in the main, and in our

ordinary moods. For we cannot think of a future life that is sufficiently connected with the present to be of interest to us, and worth our caring for, without admiting, sometimes unconsciously perhaps, that the thousand-fold chain of cause and effect runs through, unbroken, from one to the other. Our common-sense, our instinctive longing for assurance of an immortality that shall be properly ours, withholds us from severing the chain at death; for we feel, if we do not actually consider, that to do so, would leave all beyond as utterly dead to us, as the sundering of the web of nerves at a joint would leave the remainder of the limb a useless appendage. The need we have, in our afflictions, of looking forward to eternity for the fruits of the pain and anguish that we or our friends now suffer, keeps the connexion open in our minds, even though it get a little obstructed in our formulas. And besides this, the very grounds of our faith in the salvation of all men, through the mission of Jesus Christ, the frequent occasion we have to enforce the Scripture teachings that it is he who shall reconcile all things to God, the stress we lay on the argument that he, "who gave himself a ransom for all," shall perfectly accomplish his undertaking, these oblige us habitually to recognize such a communication of influences from the present to the future, as is broad enough for all the energies of the kingdom of Christ to pass onwards with increasing efficacy into the next world, and there to complete their work. To shut up that communication, or to ignore it, would cut us off at once from the possibility of maintaining Universalism on the Christian principle, that is, as the result of Christ's mission. Now, we would ask, whether these are not, with all Universalists, the great under-currents of thought that are ever flowing on in their minds, down deep beneath the particular dogmatical formulas they construct at the surface? We think it is the case. Whenever they give free course to the stronger tides of their faith, when the fountains of their hearts break up at the presence of mourners or of the dying, when their souls overflow in the hopes of immortality, or when, expatiating on the conquests of the Redeemer, they exult in the glories of the universal dominion he shall achieve, then it is that we hear these thoughts uttered alike by them all. And may we suggest how im

portant it is to maintain these profounder sentiments unimpaired, in which so much of the vitality of our faith lies. If we preserve these in their free action, it is comparatively of little consequence how we decide the question of temporary rewards and punishments hereafter.

To us, however, the New Testament seems to recognize the fact that the responsibilities of our present life reach into the future, and that the character which we form, here, will affect us at our entrance on the immortal state. Such, we think, is the natural import of what St. Paul says to Timothy, in prospect of his own speedy death. "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Tim. iv. 6-8.) It is well known that, in part of this passage, St. Paul borrowed his expressions from circumstances belonging to the Grecian games: the "fight," the "course," the "crown," and the "Judge." His meaning evidently is, 1. That the time of his death was very near,- -as in fact it proved to be; he felt that he had already "finished his course. 2. That " a crown of righteousness" was now laid up for him, ready to be given him after his departure, or death,-as a crown was given to the victors in the Grecian games after the end of their course. 3. That it would be conferred upon him in consideration of the course he had run, and of his having "kept the faith;" it would be given him by the Lord as "the righteous Judge." 4. That a similar crown would also be conferred upon "all them who love the appearing" of Christ. We may observe that it makes no difference, in respect to the subject now before us, whether we understand "that day," and the "appearing" of Christ, to be his coming at the end of that generation, when St. Paul was dead, or his coming at some period more distant, say, at the general Resurrection.

If we follow our own judgement, we must here introduce, also, the text in Rev. xiv. 12, 13. "Here is the patience of the saints; they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice

from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, [rather, from now, onwards;] Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors: and their works do follow them." Their "labors," from which they would thus rest, were the persecutions they suffered in the terrible scenes foreshadowed in the preceding part of the chapter. It was a time when the patience, or endurance, of the saints would be tried to the utmost, so that it would be to them a blessed privilege to die, and escape the persecutions yet to come; especially as their works of obedience and faith would "follow with them," (such is the true rendering.) We have, indeed, seen other interpretations, which cost more labor; but to us they do not seem to lie easy on the passage.

Does not the New Testament teach, also, that even Christ himself was crowned with a peculiar exaltation, after death, in consideration of the self-sacrifices and sufferings to which he obediently submitted while upon earth? He "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow," &c. (Philip. ii. 7-10.) "Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom; thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Heb. i. 8, 9.) If this retrospective rule was observed in the case of the Master, it doubtless holds good in respect to the followers; as is implied by St. Paul in the passage quoted from 2 Timothy.

On the other hand, the consequences of a disobedient and impenitent life seem also to be traced into the future state. We have an instance in the case of "the spirits in prison," who were disobedient in the days of Noah. For it is evidently the thought of St. Peter, that the disadvantage, under which they continued down to the time of Christ, was occasioned by their former obstinacy. And after they had heard the gospel, they were still to be

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