tion in Scripture that time itself
has an end.

"It would certainly appear that the apostle Paul did not teach that the
future punishment of the wicked will be endless; otherwise, how could
he have written, 'God is the Saviour of all men, specially of those
that believe' (1 Tim. iv. 10)? Is not this to assert that all are
saved in the same sense that some who believe are saved, although there
may be difference as to the order or mode of the salvation? We know
that in the present age faith avails to save if it rests on the
assurance given by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ that by
passing through the same gate of suffering we are prepared to enter
into life; for such faith yields the fruit of patience and
righteousness. But _in the age to come_ there is neither faith, nor
repentance, nor _probation_, but 'a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation' (Heb. x. 27). The appointed Judge is
the Son of man, who, having suffered an unjust and painful death at the
hands of sinful men, is entitled to execute the vengeance on sinners.
All men are judged; but the elect, {129} who have been sealed by faith
and good works, escape condemnation, and are those that are 'specially'
saved. The rest are condemned to undergo _the second death_. This is
that 'threefold woe' and 'great tribulation' so plainly foretold in
Scripture. It was by these 'terrors of the Lord' that St. Paul sought
to 'persuade' men, and not, as it would seem, by saying that the misery
will be without end. As matter of experience, the preaching of this
hopeless destiny does not deter from sin, but only makes sad tender
spirits whom God has not made sad. Why should we not rather believe
that the purpose of avenging justice is fulfilled when that great and
final tribulation (Mark xiii. 19) has availed, in virtue of the
suffering whereby the Son of God 'consecrated' the way to life, for the
_purification_ and salvation of the condemned, seeing that even saints
and martyrs have need to be purified by suffering (see Dan. xii. 10)?
This view reconciles all apparent contradictions, and accords with the
gospel declared in Rev. xxi. In making the foregoing statements I have
necessarily tried to be brief; but I hope, ere long, to be able to
publish a justification of them by arguments drawn at greater length
from Scripture.

"Cambridge, December 21, 1877."

"ETERNAL LIFE.

"After the publication of my letter in the _Guardian_ of De