Mercy And Judgment by Canon F.W. Farrar

May 15th, 2008

MERCY AND JUDGMENT

A Few Last Words On Christian Eschatology With Reference to Dr. Pusey's, "What Is Of Faith?"

By F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S.
Late Dean of Canterbury

katakagcatai eleoc kricew c
"Mercy boasteth over Judgment", Ja. ii. 13

London
Macmillan and Co., Limited
New York : The Macmillan Company
1904
All rights reserved

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,
Bread Street Hill, E.C., and Bungay, Suffolk

First Edition, 1881. Reprinted, with corrections, 1881. Re-issued, 1892. Reprinted, 1894, 1904.

Put into electronic form by Tentmaker Ministries and Publications, Inc. Copyright 200 May not be reproduced without permission.

TO ALFRED TENNYSON, ESQ., POET LAUREATE, &C., &C., WHO, AMONG HIS MANY HIGH SERVICES TO ALL THAT IS PURE IN CONDUCT AND GREAT IN THOUGHT, WILL ALSO BE REMEMBERED BY POSTERITY AS THE POET OF "THE LARGER HOPE," THESE PAGES ARE, BY HIS OWN KIND PERMISSION, MOST GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

"I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." (Olam vaed, "for ever and beyond.") Ps. 1ii. 8.

"His mercy is everlasting." Psalms passim.

"Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Micah vii. 18, 19.

"Mercy is dear to God, and intercedes for the sinner, and breaks his chains, and dissipates the darkness, and quenches the fire of hell, and destroys the worm, and rescues from the gnashing of teeth. To her the gates of heaven are opened. She is the queen of virtues, and makes man like to God, for it is written, 'Be ye merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful.' She has silver wings, like the dove, and feathers of gold, and soars aloft, and is clothed with the divine glory, and stands by the throne of God; when we are in danger of being condemned she rises up and pleads for us, and covers us with her defence, and folds us in her wings. God loves mercy more than sacrifice." St. Chrysostom.

"Judicium cum misericordia copulatum est, at veritas judicii miseratione Dei temperetur." S. Ambrose, Beati Immaculati, xx. 4.

"Justitia Dei et misericordia non sunt duae res, sed una res. . . Misericordia est erga miseros, bonitas erga quoslibet." Petr. Lombard, Sentent. iv.; Dist. xlv. C. D.

TABULAR ANALYSIS.

CHAPTER I.

PREFATORY AND PERSONAL, pp. 1-15.

	PAGE
"Eternal" Punishment not denied	1
The Sermons on "Eternal Hope"	2
Treatment of disputed questions in the pulpit	3
Alleged vehemence of tone	5
"Above what is written"	5
Modifications of popular opinion	7
Supposed "inconsistencies"	7-9
Explanation of terms which have been misunderstood	10-12
"Antinomies" of Scripture	12
Concluding remarks	13-15

CHAPTER II.

THE OPINIONS OF MANY FATHERS, SAINTS, AND DIVINES IN ALL AGES, HAVE BEEN MORE HOPEFUL THAN THOSE OF THE CURRENT TEACHING, pp. 16-57.

	PAGE
Four unauthorised accretions to Catholic eschatology	16, 17
The Author's agreement with Dr. Pusey	18-20
The Author's agreement with many who in all ages have embraced "the larger hope"	21
St. Clemens of Alexandria	21
Eusebius of Gaul, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine , St. Paulinus	22
St. Methodius, Theodoret, Sibylline Books, St. Isidore, Johannes Scotus Erigena, Theophylact	23
St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Curio	24
Weigel, Suarez, Episcopius, Petavius	25
Jeremy Taylor, Henry More	26
Cudworth, Bishop Ruse	27
Bishop Burnet, Spencer, Dr. White, Sir Issac Newton	28
Bishop Butler, Bishop de Pressy	29
Archbishop Wake, Dr. Issac Watts, Emery, Dr. Johnson, Macknight, Schleiermacher	30
Dr. Chalmers, Perrone, F. W. Robertson, Dean Alford	31
Canon Kingsley, Rev. Dr. Guthrie, Dean Milman	32
Opinions of living and recent Divines	33-39
Many Divines have gone farther still	39-41
Opinions tending to Universalism	41-50
Similar opinions among Nonconformist and other Divines	50-53
Opinions concerning Conditional Immortality	53-57

CHAPTER III.

ON PURGATORY; THE DESCENT OF CHRIST INTO HELL; PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD; MITIGATIONS; AND THE MILDER ASPECT OF FUTURE RETRIBUTION, pp. 58-90.

	PAGE
Varying views of different schools	58-60
"The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory"	61-71
The Twenty-second Article	62
"Doctrina Scholasticorum"	63
St. Gregory the Great	64
Mediaeval visions and Dante's Inferno	65
The Scholastic doctrine of Purgatory	65
Rejection of "Purgatory" by the Reformers	66
Negative teaching of the Reformers	66
Hooker, &c., on the "Romish doctrine of Purgatory"	67
The Intermediate State	68
The Probatory Fire	69
Late formulation of the doctrine of Purgatory	70
Opinion of Cardinal Wiseman on Purgatory	71

ON PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD	72-75
Belief that the dead benefit by the prayers of living	72
Prayers for "the lost"	73
Early legends	74
The Burial Service	74

ON THE DESCENT INTO HELL	75-81
Opinions of the Fathers	76-79
Growth of opinion	79
The Articles	80

ON THE DOCTRINE OF MITIGATIONS	81-89
Refrigeria	81
Emergy Sur la Mitigation des Peines des Damnes	82
Views of St. Augustine	82
Views of St. Chrysostom	83
Prudentius, Bishop Lurpus, John of Damascus , Suarez, Estius	84
St. Thomas Aquinas, Theophylact, Pope Innocent III., the Third Council of Florence	85
Bishop Mark of Ephesus , Gotteschalk, Hugo Etherianus	86
The Schoolmen, St. Francis de Sales, Leibnitz	87
Bishop de Pressy, Legend of St. Brendan	88

ON A DIFFERENT VIEW OF HELL

89-90

CHAPTER IV.

WAS THERE NOT A CAUSE? pp. 91-136.

	PAGE
Exaggerations in popular teaching	91, 92
A duty to repudiate them	93
The danger involved in them	93
Their prevalence	94
What is true	95
What is false	96
Sin of dogmatising about things unrevealed and falsely inferred	96
Specimens of unwarranted teaching	97-108
St. Cyprian, Minucius Felix, St. Augustine , St. Caesarius	97
Venerable Bede, Vision of Tundale, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventura, Fray Luis de Granada	98
Sir Thomas More, Calvin	99
St. Iguatius Loyola, Jeremy Taylor, Nieremberg, Catechisms Romanus, St. Francis de Sales	100
Barrow, John Bunyan, Baxter, South	101
Thomas Boston, Dr. Young, Jonathan Edwards	102
Alban Butler , Whitaker, Wesley, Dean of Gloucester	103
Bishop Oxenden, Dr. Gardiner Spring, Mr. Spurgeon, Bonhour, Wesleyan Catechism	104
Keble, John Foster. – Dante's Inferno	105
Rusca, Drexelins, Pinamonti	106
Father Furniss, Wesley	107
Opinions of Wesley	108
Evil of such unauthorized descriptions	109
1. They discredit religious truth	109
2. They make good men despair	110
3. They harden men's souls	110
Exultation of the blessed in the torments of the lost	111
St. Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, the German Dogmatists, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins	112
“To love mercy”	113
4. They sadden all life	114
5. They make men turn from God	115
6. They cause religious intolerance and cruelty	116
7. They are the chief source of infidelity	117-118
They do not arouse the wicked	119
They endanger all religion	120
They are unsanctioned by the ancient creeds, and not revealed in Scripture	121
“Mawkish sentimentality”	122
Sense of pity in man's heart	123-125
Mental and physical sufferings	125
Terrible pictures of mental agony in Dr. Pusey, Cardinal Newman	126
Bishop Wilberforce	127
Mr. Moody	128
Teaching of the Holy Spirit	129
Perversions of Scripture	130
Growth of a sense of pity	131
Change of sentiment	132
Legends of St. Christina and St. Carpas	133
Moral teaching of the poets	134-135
Remarks on the preceding pages	136

CHAPTER V.

THE SECOND ACCRETION TO CATHOLIC DOCTRINE – THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF MANKIND ARE DOOMED TO ENDLESS TORMENTS, pp. 137-155.

	PAGE
The second accretion	137
No “matter of faith”	138
Theologians and Church newspapers	139
The damnation of the majority commonly taught	140
Damnation of unbaptised infants	141
Calvinistic opinions	142
Cardinal Sfondrati, Articles of 1536	142
Opinions on the damnation of the heathen, St. Francis Xavier, Calvin, Westminster Assembly, &c.	144
The Eighteenth Article, Dr. Emmons	145
The best heathens condemned	146
Appeals from Missionaries	147
Are there few that be saved?	148
“Patrum mir conseusio”	149
Cornelius a Lapide, the Elucidarium, Curio, De Amplitudine	150
Du Moulin, Recupito	151
Arguments of Recupito	152-154
Massillon , Dr. Pusey	155

CHAPTER VI.

IS THERE NO SUCH THING AS A TERMINABLE PUNISHMENT BEYOND THE GRAVE? Pp. 156-175

	PAGE
The third accretion	156
“A state of sin”	157
“A state of grace”	158
Experiences of deathbeds	159-161
Deaths of young soldiers	161
Deaths of schoolboys	162
Dying “in a state of sin”	163-166
Dr. Pusey and Dr. Newman	167
Dr. Pusey on the efficacy of deathbed repentance	167, 168
“Per una lagrimetta”	169
What repentance is	170
The destiny of intermediate souls	171
Various opinions	172
The popular opinion and the true opinion	173
The answer reticent, but not vague	174, 175

CHAPTER VII.

IS FUTURE RETRIBUTION NECESSARILY AND INVARIABLY ENDLESS? pp. 176-179.

	PAGE
The fourth accretion - "Hell necessarily endless for all"	176
Explanation of terms	177
Dr. Pusey's views accord with my own	178
Universalism	179

CHAPTER VIII.

JEWISH ESCHATOLOGY AT THE DAWN OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA, pp. 180-221.

	PAGE
Service rendered By Dr. Pusey	180
My "palmary argument": "Gehenna" did not mean a place of torment necessarily endless	181
Our Lord normally used Jewish words in Jewish senses	181
Outline of Dr. Pusey's arguments	182
What I did, and what I did not, assert	183
"Gehenna" in many respects the reverse of "Hell"	184
It ought to be transliterated, not translated	184
Souls might escape from Gehenna	185

I. THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS	185-192
The Book of Enock	186-189
Its date and want of authority	186
Dr. Pusey's quotations irrelevant to disprove that Gehenna could mean a normally terminable punishment	187, 188
Jewish belief in annihilation	189
The Fourth Book of Esdras	189-190
Its character and teaching	190
The Apocalypse of Baruch	191
The Psalms of Solomon	191
The Fourth Book of Maccabees	192
Silence of Second Book of Maccabees	192

II. THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPHUS	192-197
His account of Jewish eschatology	193
An untrustworthy witness	194
Opinions of Abarbanel, Dr. Jost, Rabbi Adler, Hamburger	194
Opinions of Dr. Pocock, Archbishop Usher, Mosheim, Chasles, Dr. Traill, concerning Josephus	195
His Graecising and unscriptural phrases	196

III. THE TARGUMS	197-199
Dr. Pusey's quotations do not prove his point or refute mine	198
Two decisive quotations to show that the Targumists regarded Gehenna as terminable	199
Summary of the Jewish argument, so far	200

OPINIONS OF THE TALMUDISTS	201-211
Rosh Hashanah and the Tosafoth	201
Baba Metzia	202
Many Talmudic pasages	203, 204
Maimonides, Albo, Abarbanel, Rabbinic legends	205
Modern Jewish authorities	206, 206
Summary of Jewish opinions	208
Mildness of even the few severer Rabbis	209
The recognised Jewish creed	210
Demonstrated conclusions	211
Dr. Pusey on Rabbi Akiba	211
What Akiba may have added to the common view	212
Impossibility of Dr. Pusey's opinion about Akiba	213
My statements on the subject unshaken in a single particular	214
"Gehenna" not to be rendered by "Hell"	215
Asserted views of "the majority" of Christians	216, 217
The majority are constantly mistaken in their views	218
Our Lord's words repeatedly misunderstood during His life	219
And fatally and repeatedly misunderstood by the majority during long ages in many instances	220
"Obvious" meanings	221

CHAPTER IX.

THE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS, pp. 222-295.

	PAGE
Dr. Pusey's Catena	222
Authority of the Fathers in exegesis	223
The opinions of many of the Fathers identical with my own	224
Sense in which they used Scriptural phrases, &c	225
Greatness of those who leaned to the more merciful view	226
The Fathers indecisive on the subject	227
Brief summary of Dr. Pusey's Catena	228-230
Its real significance much exaggerated	230
Opinions of Tertullian, &c., of little value	231, 232
The Apostolical Fathers	233
They differ from the popular view	234
Hermas	234
St. Justin Martyr	235-238
Two principles of interpretation ignored by Dr. Pusey	238, 239
Views of St. Irenaeus	239-242
Views of St. Clemens of Alexandria : they often lean to Universalism	243-247
Arnobius believed in annihilation	248
St. Athanasius	248
St. Gregory of Nazianzus: he often leans to Universalism	249-252
Deep significance of this fact	253
Greatness and orthodoxy of St. Gregory of Nazianzus	254
His saintliness and authority	255
St. Gregory of Nyssa: he was an indisputable Universalist	255-259
His "oeconomy"	256
His Catechetical Oration	257
His Book on the Soul	258
His Oration on the Dead	259
His absolute orthodoxy	260
Immense weight of this evidence	261
Opinion of "the Church"	262
Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia	263
Their eminent greatness	264
Their acknowledged services	265
Theodore of Mopsuestia	266
His high authority	267
These great Fathers unfairly misrepresented and condemned	267
Didymus of Alexandria	268
His admiration for Origen	269
Admiration of St. Athanasius for Origen	270
St. Chrysostom	271
His real leanings	272
His prayers for those who died in sin	273
His "Accomodation"	274
Comparison of St. Chrysostom with Jeremy Taylor	275
Current phrases and deliberate opinions	275
Dr. Young, Dr. Watts	276
St. Peter Chrysologus	277
Opinions of the Latin Fathers	277-295
St. Ambrose	279
His views on death	280
Bent of his mind	281
St. Jerome	281
On refrigeria, &c.	282
His remarks on Pelagius	283
Believed that all Christians would be saved	284
The Synod of Diospolis	285
His current phrases and his express opinions	286
He often leans to hopeful views about man's future	287
St. Augustine	287-295
Believed in a remedial fire	288
Mildness of his tone in arguing on eschatology	288
His perplexities and uncertainties	289
His incessant hesitations	290
His chief objection was to the salvability of devils	291
His assertions	292
His imperfect knowledge of Greek	293
Extreme feebleness of his "arguments" on the subject	294
Milder and less dogmatic passages	294-295
Exaggerated estimate of his authority	295

NOTE ON "ACCOMMODATION"

296, 297

CHAPTER X.

ORIGEN, pp. 298-329.

	PAGE
Greatness of Origen	298
Compared with Augustine	299
His early years	300
His saintliness, and the noble error of his youth	301
Bitter jealousy of Demetrius	302
Gross calumnies against him	303
“A victim of Episcopal envy”	304
His Hexapla	305
His vast services	306
His unequalled greatness	307
His “martyrdom”	308
Deplorable tone in which he is spoken of	309
Tragedy of his lot in life and after life	310
Eulogy on, by St. Vincent of Lerins	310
Pathetic story ofhim	312
His enemies, - Demetrius, Marcellus, Epiphanius	313
Theophilus of Alexandria , Methodius, Eustathius, Apollinaris	315
Methods employed to discredit him	315
His eulogist and friends, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Pamphilus	316
St. Athanasius, St. Dionysius of Alexandria , St. Basil	317
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Didymus, Pierius, St. Hilary of Poictiers	318
John of Jerusalemn, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Eusebius of Gaul, Eusebius of Caesarea, Titus of Bostia, St. Firmilian, St. Victorinus	319
St. Ambrose, Rufinus, St. Jerome	320
St. Augustine , Palladius, Isidore, Sedulius, Evagrius	321
Theotimus of Tom i, Bishop Haymo, Socrates, Sozomen	322
Erasmus, Bishop Huet, Cave, Baronius, Tillemont, &c.	323
Doucin, Bishop Butler, Canon Westcott, &c.	324
Genius of Origen	325
His many-sidedness	326
Errors respecting him	327
His depth	328
End of the Age of the Greek Fathers	328
Causes of the dislike of Origen	329

CHAPTER XI.

ORIGEN AND CHURCH COUNCILS, pp. 330-348.

	PAGE
Origen's “Universalism” the fragment of a great scheme	330
His current phrases and his real teaching	331
His real orthodoxy	332
The Church has never condemned simple Universalism	333
The four first Councils	333
Significance of their silence	334
Position of even Universalists not challenged	334
General Councils	335
The term “Origenism” does not necessarily or usually refer to eschatology	336
Silence of Doucin in his Histoire de l' Origenisme	337
What it was which “the Church” is supposed to have condemned	337
Universalism as regards mankind never separately discussed	338
The “wretched synod” of Diospolis	339
The condemnation of “Origen”	340
Egyptian Synods	341
Even Epiphanius never charged Origen with false eschatology	341
Prevalence of Restorationism even in the fifth century	342
Disgraceful career of Theophilus of Alexandria	343
At first he was an avowed Origenist	344
Acknowledged baseness of his motives	345
His intrigues against St. Chrysostom	346
His conduct at Constantinople	347
His disgraceful book, and his open inconsistency	348
He did not challenge Origen's eschatology	348

CHAPTER XII.

THE FIFTH OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, pp. 349-360.

	PAGE
Asserted condemnation of “Origenism”	349
Intrigues of Theodora	350
Letter of Justinian to Mennas	351
What the “Home Synod” condemned	351
Their own definition of what they meant by “that monstrous Restitution”	353
It was not even Universalism	354
The Three Chapters	355
The Fifth Oecumenical Council never discussed “Origenism”	356
Reasons for doubting whether it ever mentioned the name of Origen	357, 358
Silence of the Acts, &c.	358
And of contemporaries	358
But even if his name was mentioned the Council did not condemn his eschatology	358
Low authority of the Fifth Council	359
Its decision has no bearing on the question	360

CHAPTER XIII.

PRINCIPLES OF SCRIPTURE EXEGESIS, pp. 361-409.

	PAGE
Passages worth notice	361, 362
Preliminary remarks	362
A mis-quoted text	363
True axioms of interpretation	364
Scripture not to be confounded with fallible inferences	364
False meanings attached to words	364
Misuse of “texts”	365
Misinterpreted parables	365
False inferences from “texts” and words	366
Gross errors deduced from Scripture	367
“Rabble-charming phrases”	368
Influence of the word “damnation”	369
It does not exist in the Bible	370
Influence of the word “Hell”	371
What it connotes	371
Used for “Sheol” – the under-world	372
For “Hades”	372
Used for “Tartarus”	373
Used for “Gehenna”	373
“Gehenna” in the Old and New Testaments	374
True meaning of the word	375
Confusion introduced by the word “Hell”	376
Its misleading character	377
The word aionios	378
Its true meaning	379
By itself it never means “endless”	379
Use of the word in Josephus, the Greek Fathers, &c.	380
Use by Justinian and Caesarius	381
Dr. Theodore Clapp	382
“Endlessness” might have been taught by many phrases, of which not one is used of Gehenna	383
False assertions on the subject	384
Phrases for “endlessness” are not used in this application	385
Contrast between current, and Scriptural, expressions	386
Many phrases by which “endlessness” might have been described	387, 388
Aionios in the Greek Fathers	389
In Augustine and Jerome	390
In the New Testament	391-394
Its true sense	395
In St. John and St. Paul	396-398
In other writers	399
Authorities quoted	400-403
In the Lexicographers	403, 404
“Unquenched” (asbestos)	405-407
“Punishment” (kolasis)	407-409

CHAPTER XIV.

THE GENERAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE RESPECTING FUTURE RETRIBUTION, pp. 410-443.

	PAGE
The nature of God	410-412
As revealed in Christ	413, 414
God's Infinitude of merciful forgiveness	415-418
Unworthy arguments against “the larger hope”	419
The Atonement	420
The Saviour of all	421
“Will ye speak wickedly for God?”	422
“Universalism” and “Conditional Immortality”	423-427
General glance at the eschatology of the New Testament	428-431
Sophisms refuted	431-434
Reticence of the Old Testament	435-437
Eccles. xi. 3, “The fallen tree”	437-439
Is. xxxiii. 14, “Perpetual conflagrations”	440
Is. 1xvi. 24, “Corpses, worms, and flame”	440-442
Conclusion	443

CHAPTER XV.

TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ON FUTURE RETRIBUTION, pp. 444-480.

	PAGE
How texts are to be interpreted	444, 445
“Fire”	446
Parables of Judgment	447, 448
Matt. V. 22, “The Gehenna of fire”	448-450
Matt. V. 29, 30, “Cast into Gehenna”	450
Mark ix. 41-50, “Gehenna, worm, and flame”	451-454
Mark ix. 41-50, “Salt and fire”	454-456
Matt. Xxv. 41-46, The sheep and the kids	456-458
Mark xiv. 21, Judas	458-463
Mark iii. 29, The danger of “aeonian sin”	463-465
Eschatology of St. Paul	465-468
Eschatology of the Apocalypse	468-474
Bishop Horbery's “Upwards of a hundred texts”	474
Terrible abuses of Scriptural misinterpretation	475-477
Passages of the New Testament	477-480

CONCLUSION

	PAGE
Statement of Author's eschatological belief	481-485

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MERCY AND JUDGMENT.

CHAPTER 1.

PREFATORY AND PERSONAL.

“We know our place and our portion: to give a witness and to be condemned; to be ill-used and to succeed. Such is the law which God annexed to the promulgation of the truth: its preachers suffer, but its cause prevails.” – Dr. Newman, Tracts for Times, iv., p. ix.

Again and again it has been asserted or implied – even by those whose character and position should have made them more careful in their statements – that I deny the eternity of punishment.

Once more, and once for all, I desire to render such false witness inexcusable by saying on the very first page of this book that I have never denied, and do not now deny, the eternity of punishment. And, to avoid any possible mistake, I repeat once more, that though I understand the word eternity in a sense far higher than can be degraded into the vulgar meaning of endlessness, I have never even denied, and do not now deny, even the possible endlessness of punishment. In proof of which, I need only refer to the pages of my own book – Eternal Hope – standing as they do unaltered from the very first.

In the month of November, 1877, during my ordinary course of residence as a canon, I preached a sermon in Westminster Abbey on I Peter iv. 6, “For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead.” At that time there had been some discussions both on the nature of Eternal Happiness, and on the question, “Is life worth living?” Accordingly on October 14, I had preached on “What Heaven is”; and on November 4 upon the value and preciousness of human life. But since I desire always and above all things to be truthful and honest, it was impossible for me to attempt the refutation of that cynical pessimism which treats human life as a curse and as a mistake, without entering into the awful question of future retribution. While in common with all Christians I believed that there would be a future punishment of unrepented sin, and even that it might continue without any revealed termination so long as impenitence continued, it appeared to me that, on that subject, many of the conceptions constantly kept alive by current teaching were derived only from mistaken interpretations of isolated texts, and were alien from the general tenor of divine revelation. I knew it to be the popular belief, sanctioned by ordinary sermons, that the vast majority of living men would pass from the sorrows, miseries, and failures of our mortal life into inconceivable, hopeless, and everlasting agonies. I gave some specimens of that teaching, and in order not to prejudge it, those specimens were chosen, not from the writings of the vulgar and the ignorant, but from the pages of great men whom I love and reverence – from Dante and Milton, and Jeremy Taylor and Henry Smith. I endeavoured to show, as far as could be shown in the narrow limits of a sermon addressed to a mixed multitude, that much which had been said on this subject was unscriptural and untenable. In that sermon, and in one delivered on November 18 upon the question, “Are there few that be saved?” it was my object to prove that the current belief went far beyond what was written, and tended to force upon men's minds a view of God's dealings with the human race which it was almost, if not utterly, impossible to reconcile with all that is revealed to us of His mercy and of His justice, and with the whole meaning of the Gospel of Salvation.

I venture to think that such subjects should not frequently be treated in the pulpit, because the field of undisputed and essential truth is so large as to supply the amplest materials for moral and spiritual edification, without forcing us to dwell upon controverted questions. I have always acted upon this conviction. During twenty-five years I have scarcely ever done more than refer to the speculative question as to the nature and duration of future punishment. In six volumes *(1), of school, university, parochial, and cathedral sermons, the reader will scarcely find any allusion to the controversy. I have held it sufficient to dwell on the certain and awful truth that, both in this world and the next, God punishes sin; that without repentance sin cannot be forgiven; that without holiness no man shall see the Lord; that by the death of Christ and the gift of the Spirit the love of our Father in Heaven has provided us with the means of redemption and given us the grace which leads to sanctification. But there would be no chance of religious sincerity or of spiritual progress, if we were never to enter a protest against the tyranny of human error when it encroaches upon the domain of faith and teaches for doctrine the mistakes and traditions of men. The pulpit of a metropolitan cathedral has always been considered a legitimate place for the treatment of questions which are not so well suited for ordinary parochial teaching; nor do I see any reason why Westminster Abbey, with its large and mingled con greg ations, should not occasionally be used for purposes analogous to those which made the pulpit of St. Paul's Cross so powerful in the days of the Reformation. Those who during the last four years have heard my sermons in the Abbey know full well that, there as well as at St. Margaret's, in ninety-nine instances out of a hundred, my aim is