Is There Salvation After Death?; A Treatise on the Gospel in the Intermediate State

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1887. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. TESTIMONY OF PARTICULAR SCRIPTURES. Accepting as fundamental (he proposition that the question thus brought under discussion must be answered primarily, not by rational speculations or the impulses of feeling, or even by theologic affirmations or ecclesiastical verdicts, but from the testimonies of the Word of God, we may turn at once to that Word for instruction. Amid whatever perplexities the solemn problem respecting the state and experiences of the dead prior to the general judgment may involve, the only clear or comforting light must be that which shines upon us from this divine source. Taking up the biblical references called into service by those who advocate the dogma of future probation, we observe that they may be grouped roughly into two classes--those which are supposed to present or suggest this dogma in some particular aspect, and those which are supposed to justify it on more generic grounds as a truth which, though it may not be distinctly sustained by specific quotations, may still be accepted as in harmony with the general substance and spirit of Christianity. Following this classification, we may here study the problem in the light of particular Scriptures--expecting in a succeeding chapter to pursue the biblical inquiry still further along such more sweeping or generic lines. The particular Scriptures thus claiming primary attention may be grouped with sufficient accuracy under the seven following titles: Passages setting forth the fullness and freeness of the Gospel salvation, --suggesting, as is supposed, the inference that this full and free salvation may be extended in its range beyond the present world; Passages exhibiting in comprehensive form the readiness of God to forgive sin, --suggesting in like manner the inference that .