power, does he come to sinful, doubting, sorrowing souls and try to lift them into a purer and serener atmosphere; but in the name of the world's Redeemer, for the sake of those who need healing and saving, by the power of the Almighty Spirit of grace and truth, does he labor to deliver those who have all their lifetime been subject to bondage, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

With a perfect God as the author of truth; with a perfect law, designed for the guidance of human life, in each and every phase of its experience; with the all-conquering power of love as the ruling motive in the divine government, the consecrated minister can come to his fellow creatures with the most sublime message ever delivered to man. In whatever condition of want or distress he finds men, he can confidently assure them of peace and satisfaction, if they will only turn trustingly to their heavenly Father; and, whether he succeed in turning the sinner away from his evil course, in bringing peace and trust to the sorrowing heart, in removing doubts from skeptical minds, in encouraging the weak and faltering disciples, or making still stronger those who are already" followers of God, as dear children," in it all he is lifting human life into a greater degree of harmony with the divine.

Finally, the secret of the true minister's power is two-fold: viz., 1, the divine source from which he draws all his truth and inspiration; 2, his own Christ-like personality. We hear it frequently asserted, that the pulpit is losing its power over the world; that its influence is waning, and that it will not need more than another century of "advanced thinking to make obsolete the vocation of the preacher. It is easy to make assertions, and all this kind of talk is nothing more. But it is of small consequence what this class of persons may think or say, or prophesy, so long as well-established facts indicate directly the contrary result. And the facts are, unless we have totally misapprehended them, that never in the history of the world, has the true preacher and faithful minister had the influence that he holds to-day. Not as a priest,

not as an infallible oracle of God, not as a dictator, nor as a mouth-piece for the people, does he hold the sway he once did, and thank heaven he does not. But, as an interpreter of the Divine will; as a humble servant of God; as a helper and comforter in trouble; as an educated and refined, yet vigorous moral power; as a leader in reforms, and a champion of every noble cause, the Christian ministry never held so high a place in public confidence as it does to-day. And so long as it continues to draw its inspiration from the only legitimate source, the Divine word of truth; and so long as it maintains a high Christian character in its personnel, it will go on "conquering and to conquer," in each succeeding generation.

When we consider that there are more than ninety-thousand Christian ministers in the United States, the most of whom give at least one hundred sermons and religious addresses each year, preaching upon the same general themes, drawn from the same book, and frequently from the same texts each one speaking essentially to the same audience through the year, and many of them through a term of years, we begin to gather some faint idea of the wide-spread influence of the preacher, and the permanent hold he has upon the people of this most independent of all nations. What other class of public speakers begin to command the public attention that the preachers do? What orator, with the most impressive manners; what lecturer, with the profoundest and most fascinating themes; what jurist or statesman, with all human history, law and government as subject matter of his discourse could hold the attention of the humblest and smallest congregation of worshippers, year after year, to which an obscure preacher of the Gospel speaks, with the Bible as his textbook?

It is because the world needs, and will continue to need Divine truth, that the Bible is not outgrown, after all these centuries of progress and achievement, and will not be outgrown so long as humanity is imperfect; and it is because divine truth uttered by the human voice, and embodied in the human form is the most effective way of proclaiming it to

men, that the living, active preacher is still needed, and will continue to be needed while sin and sorrow are in the world.

We close these reflections with a quotation from Rev. Paxton Hood's recent work, "The Vocation of the Preacher; "The pulpit is a Christian institution; Gibbon, the satirist, the historian and the slanderer of early Christianity, says, The custom of preaching which seems to constitute a considerable part of Christian devotion, had not been introduced into the temples of antiquity, and the ears of monarchs were never invaded by the harsh sounds of popular eloquence until the pulpits were filled with sacred orators, who possessed some advantage unknown to their profane predecessors.' Such is Gibbons' sarcastic way of stating the fact of the rise and origin of preaching in the world. It was derived from no precedent nor example in the schools of Greece and Rome; it emanated from the example and commission of our Lord. In the brief period during which Julian the Apostate cast down the youthful church, and permitted the empire, in the language of Gibbon, to breathe the air of freedom, of literature and of paganism, Julian himself sought to institute preaching for the purpose of teaching the doctrine of paganism and idolatry. Of course such an institution for paganism would be, must be impossible. Preaching is an eminently spiritual power; as its spiritual functions fade, it dies down into the merest machinery. Paganism and Atheism are little better than exhausted air-receivers. The wings of faith and noble speech can find no vivacity nor movement. But in all the ages of Christianity and especially all the more living ages, it (the pulpit) has been the ægis, the palladium, and almost, it may be said, the oracle of the church."

Rev. S. P. Smith.

1887.] CHRISTIAN CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENDLESS PUNISHment. 459

ARTICLE XXIX.

The Christian Consciousness and Endless Punishment.

THE Conclusions affirmed or suggested by a preceeding essay on the Christian Consciouness generally considered, in the last January number of this Review, may be thus re-stated:

While truth is one and unchangeable, an individual's conceptions of the truth vary with his mental furniture or standpoint. In other words, and more specially, the residuum of our religious experience determines in a large degree the contents of our theology. This residuum, being the work of the Holy Spirit in us, may be and ought to be used as an authority in the interpretation of the Bible or of any other work of the Holy Spirit. In fact it has ever been the chief power in the elaboration and application of religious truth. It give rise to the Christian mode of apprehension, which in these days has been recognized as a distinct faculty, and has received a name, "The Christian Consciousness." On all sides men have objected. But their objections have been found in the name alone, or have orignated in a misunderstanding of the intention of it, or again in some abuse of the faculty. For practically there is a psychological necessity of using the faculty to some extent, and of relying upon it with some degree of confidence, whether we confess it or not. Indeed, when acting nominally in its own province, and without restraint, the faculty is infallible. It comes to pass, however, in the progress of the church toward truth not before recognized, that this faculty seems to render different verdicts in different people. We may therefore take evidence as to which verdict is really Christian, and which on the other hand is due to some of the various biases that have been rengent in us. Any proposition (old or new) alleged to be a product of the Christian consciousness must in general sustain the following tests: is it consistent with itself ith the Bible, and with undoubted truths? Is it found in all Christian times? Is it prominent in the best Christians, and in modern times?

Can the adverse verdicts be explained

on grounds other than Christian? In addition to these there may be other tests, proper to the special subject considered.

The purpose of the present essay is to inquire what is the verdict of the Christian consciousness on the doctrine of endless punishment. What in this doctrine is indicated in the various manifestations of the Christian character- thought, feeling, conscience, whatever in a man is Christian? I shall begin with the historical part of the subject, and for the sake of brevity shall be confined to generalizations and typical examples.

The church of the first three centuries in the East was a specially pure and almost ideal church; and its testimony is therefore of special value. According to some historians this church taught the doctrine of universal restoration. Other historians differ on the question of the dogma; but they are mostly agreed that the dominant influence was that of the schools of Alexandria and Antioch which were Universalist; and in general that the doctrine of the everlasting punishment of the wicked did not enter largely into their life as Christians. It was sometimes preached as a threat, but it was not implied in the main principle of their theology; nor was it regarded as a thing to be desired or worked for or prayed for. In other words the Christian consciousness generally was clearly opposed to the doctrine of endless damnation and in favor of Universalism.

Afterward the church in the East became the state church, and one great source of its purity and dignity—namely the persecution it had suffered-was removed. Then the multitudes crowded in, and brought their paganism with them; and gradually the church declined until in a few more centuries the empire in the East became, as another has said, "one of the most despicable forms that civilization has yet assumed." Parallel with the disappearance of true Christianity, Universalism also disappeared-a fact of some value as negative evidence for the same conclusion as before.

The early church of the West is commonly regarded as a less pure form of Christianity. For the preceeding civilization