Love's Final Victory / Ultimate Universal Salvation on the Basis of Scripture and Reason

"That which is incredible to thee thou shalt not, at thy soul's peril, attempt to believe. Go to Perdition if thou must, but not with a lie in thy mouth. By the Eternal Maker, no."—Carlyle.

"Is not Universal Salvation the Divine Corollary of Universal Atonement?"—Extract of a letter from the Author to an eminent Methodist minister in England.

I. DIFFERENT THEORIES.

Fear of Punishment—Early Impressions—Men of Piety and Learning—Facts
and Figures—Mental or Material Fire—The Theory of Conditional
Immortality—Why Invented—Moody—Divine Failure Impossible—Future
Operations of Grace—Restoration—A Plea for Charity—Other Worlds—The
Heathen—Devout Use of the Imagination.

II. CRUELTY OF FORMER VIEWS.

Unconditional Election—Children of Believing Parents—An Arrogant
Pretension—God's Own Children—The Heathen of All Time—A Baleful
Shadow—Former Cruelty—Herbert Spencer—Dr. Farrar's Eternal Hope—A
Lady With An Open Mind—Dr. Dawson's Larger View—The Universal
Attraction.

III. THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION.

No Definite Note of Warning—Preachers Afraid of Discipline—Divided As
to Restoration or Extinction—Plea for Liberty—Liberalism of the
Episcopal Church—Advance in Christian Unity—Dr. Edward
White—Conditional Immortality—Endless Torment—If True Ought to Be
Preached Morning, Noon and Night—Awful Penalty of Sin—Extinction—True
Religion Is Reasonable—Enlarged Conceptions.

IV. INFINITE JUSTICE.

A Strong Argument—Universal Atonement—Infinite Justice Satisfied—A
Candid Methodist Minister—Can Man Commit An Infinite Sin?—Everlasting
Punishment Could Not Be Rendered—Uses of Suffering—Punitive and
Remedial—The Penalty Has Been Paid—Moral Effect—Mystery of Pain—Not
Punishment but Chastening—Extending Our Outlook Beyond—Boundless Time
and Space—Operations of Grace in the Next Life—Infinite
Power—Infinite Mercy—Infinite Love—Incentive to Endless Praise.

V. HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.

Our Limitations—Development—Our Capacity—Divine Foreknowledge—No
Divine Failure—The Heathen—Unchangeable Dove—Union of Four
Attributes—Eternal Wisdom—A Marvel of Coercion and Freedom—The Day of
Divine Power—An Unfathomable Mystery—Future Revelations—Coming to
Zion with Songs.

VI. THEORY OF EQUALITY.

Abraham Tucker's View—Ingenious and Reverent—Variety of
Endowment—Maximum of Happiness—Imparting and Receiving New
Ideas—Compensations—Infinite Justice.

VII. PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION.

Different Processes—The Case of Saul—Changed in a Moment—No Violence to Human Freedom—The Case of Nebuchadnezzar—Sudden or Slow—Basis of Warning—An Object Lesson—Function of Suffering.

VIII. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE.

Meagre Details—Good Reasons Why—Extent of the Universe—Future
Glory—Sin in Other Worlds—No Revelation—Future Abode of the
Righteous—Solid or Ethereal—Impossible Revelations—Present Duties and
Interests—Our Limitations—Necessity of Purification—Preaching to the
Spirits in Prison—Stages of Progress—The Law of Gradual Development.

IX. THE SPIRITS IN PRISON.

The Descent of Jesus Into Hades—Singular Reserve of
Preachers—Purgatory—Dr. Gerhardt's Book—A Bodily Resurrection—The
Spirit World Requires a Spirit Body.

X. DIVINE LOVE.

Infinite Being and Perfection—Grades of Being—Variety—Man's
Limitations—Moral Beings—Hopeless Surroundings—All Are the Children
of God—Righting the Wrongs of Time—"The Heart of the Universe Is
Love"—Eternal Conscious Torment Incredible—Conquering Power of
Love—Eternal Purpose Will Not Fail—Omnipotence in the Moral Realm—The
Divine Expression of Love—Universal Atonement Involves Universal
Salvation—Final Success of God's Designs—Will Evil Necessarily
Perpetuate Itself?—Triumph of Good Over Evil—Few Stripes or
Many—Reformatory Punishment—Bringing Good Out of Evil—Possibilities
of Redeeming Grace—The Ransomed of the Lord—Wrath but the Shadow of
Love—Former Eternity of Sinlessness—Wrath No Constituent of the Divine
Character—Pity and Indignation.

XI. THE ATONEMENT.

Extent of the Atonement—The Dilemma of Universal Atonement and Partial
Salvation—Human Systems of Truth—Methodist Theology—Tradition and
Reason—Dr. Dale's View—No Divine Failure—Imperfection of All
Theological Systems—"Sufficient but Not Efficient"—Undeveloped
Possibilities—The Angel in the Apocalypse—Omnipotence Both in the
Physical and the Moral Realm—The Short Epoch of Time—Advance of
the Presbyterian Church in the United States—Individual
Congregations—Hardening Effects of the Narrower View—The Softening
Influence of Dreams—Divine Capacity of Suffering—Persistence of What
Is Good—Good Men Who Are Not Christians—Insanity—Blind Tom.

XII. A FEEBLE NOTE OF WARNING.

The Creed of Eternal Torment—Do Ministers Really Believe It?—If They
Do, Why Not Say So?—No Decisive Note of Warning—Definite Missionary
Incentive Is Wanting—The Phrase, "Eternal Death," Often Used—Does It
Mean Annihilation, or Eternal Torment, or What?—Vague Reference to
Punishment Fosters Unbelief—An Age of Compromise—Professor Faulkner's
Testimony—The Idea of Restoration Would Fully Meet the
Difficulty—Honesty and Candor—Carlyle's Scathing Warning—Ultimate
Fulfilment of Prophecy—Eternal Songs.

XIII. PROPHECIES YET TO BE FULFILLED.

Enlarging Vision—Promise to Abraham—A Host of Similar Promises—Many of Them Not Merely National—Their Fulfilment—Not Limited by the Short Epoch of Time—The Present Only One Part of the Divine Administration—Why the Revelation Was Not Given Sooner—Groping in the Twilight—Growing Illumination—A Time for Everything—Dazzle or Enlighten—Discoveries in Science are Really Revelations—Our Slowness in Receiving Spiritual Truth—Limitations of Great Men.

XIV. TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.

The Unrevealed—Scripture and Reason—Bishop Butler's Dictum—Reverence
of Kepler—Moral Courage of Sir Oliver Lodge—Increase of Laxity—The
Spirit's Almighty Power—Supreme Authority of Scripture—The Proper
Sphere of Reason—Fate of the Heathen—Singular Reserve of
Preachers—Sin Is Abnormal—Union of Divine Power, Wisdom, and
Love—Reasonableness and Harmony—A Multitude of Scripture
Promises—Discipline Instead of Eternal Torment—Dr. Funk's View—The
Great Panacea for Unbelief—Ingersoll—No Divine Failure.

XV. TESTIMONY OF REASON.

Divine Gift of Reason—Its Proper Sphere—No Dogmatism—Is Sin An
Infinite Evil?—Infinite Penalty Impossible to Be Rendered—Justice Can
Delay—Good Cannot Perish—Testimony of Dickens—Endless Punishment
Would Increase Moral Evil—The Divine Character Never Changes—Time but
a Short Epoch—Our Capacity of Development—Salvation of Infants—The
Insane—Imperfect Christians—Their Destiny—Good Unchristian Men—Where
Will They Go?—"All Souls Are Mine"—Worth Preserving—Fate of the
Heathen—Reclaimed in the Next Life—Human Freedom Never
Destroyed—Provision for All—A Dreadful Hymn—Divine Sacrifice Not in
Vain—Bringing Good Out of Evil—Final Triumph of Goodness—Sin Is
Abnormal—Will Therefore Cease—Law of Gradual Change—Sins of the
Mind—The Race Might Easily Have Been Intercepted—Endless Torment
Cannot Be Believed—The Mind's Affinity for Truth—True Punishment Is
Reformatory—Alleged Divine Cruelty—Agony of Eternal—Ingersoll and
His Shafts of Ridicule—Incentive to Good Works—Unfathomable Divine
Love—"Joy Cometh in the Morning"

XVI. THE CASE OP SAUL.

Divine Methods of Reclaiming Men—"The Chief of Sinners"—Changed' in a
Moment—No Violence Done to His Freedom—Yet Sovereign Power—The
Mystery of Grace—View of McCosh—Supremacy of Conscience—Sir Isaac
Newton's Wonderful Alertness of Mind—Reason and Intuition—Capturing
the Most Incorrigible—Evil Environment—Suffering a Necessary
Factor—Agony of Remorse—Eternal Hope.

XVII. ETERNAL SEPARATIONS.

An Everlasting Pang—David and Absalom—Strained Ideas of Late Momentary Repentance—King Solomon—King Saul—The Gracious Character of Sympathy—George Eliot's View—A Strong Argument for Restoration—Heresy of a Minister's Wife—A Minister's Orthodox View—Wonderful Goodness of a Criminal—Where Will He Finally Go?—Our Very Imperfect Friends—Glossing Over Their Faults When They Are Gone—Our Instinctive Hope for the Worst—Restoration the True Solution—A Final Era of Joy.

XVIII. NOT REALLY BELIEVED.

Present Enthusiasm for Missions—Former Lassitude—The Basis of
Missionary Enterprise—Supposed Damnation of the Heathen—If Really
Believed Would Drive Us to Frenzy—Minister's Monday Meeting—Pretence
Cuts the Nerve of Enthusiasm—Restoration the True Incentive—Effective
Because Reasonable—Torment Not Really Believed—The Heart Often Truer
Than the Head—Necessity for Preparatory State—Could Not Have Details
Revealed—Orthodoxy of the Torment View—Trying to Believe It—Be Not
Afraid of the Truth—Extreme Calvinists Signally Honored—The Reason
Why—Our Innate God-given Convictions—Meagre Expenditure for
Missions—Tacit Acknowledgment That Endless Suffering Is Not Believed.

XIX. WORKING MEN AND THE CHURCH.

Efforts to Attract Working Men to the Church—Restoration Would Largely
Solve the Difficulty—Common Sense of Working-Men—Glorious Expansion of
Truth—Recasting Traditional Views—The True Basis for Unity.

XX. THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN.

Beauty Evolved from Chaos—Future Capacity of Motion—Gleams of the
Invisible—Changing Into the Divine Image—Crying Out for God—From
Barrenness to Beauty—The Glow of the Firefly—The Effulgent
Divinity—Universal Sense of Beauty—Sunset on the Prairie—Guardian
Angels—Death As Seen from This Side and That—Sunset on Yellowstone
River—A Drop of Dew—Reality of Heaven—The Literal and the
Figurative—The Spiritual Body—Expanding Glory of Creation—Sunset in
Dakota—Lights Dim and Clear—Christ's Unsullied Purity—A Rent in the
Cloud—An Imprisoned Lark.

XXI. THE FINAL DAY.

Everlasting Love—Resources of Infinite Wisdom and Power—Redemption of
the Whole Race—Forecast of the Final Day—The Conquest of Love
—Christ Is Satisfied—He Is Singing with Joy—Ancient Prophecy
Fulfilled—Adoration of the Heavenly Hosts—The Saviour Crowned.

Clyx.com

LOVE'S FINAL VICTORY

BY

HORATIO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

DIFFERENT THEORIES.

II.

CRUELTY OF FORMER VIEWS.

III.

THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION.

IV.

INFINITE JUSTICE.

V.

HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.

VI.

THEORY OF EQUALITY.

VII.

PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION.

VIII.

THE INTERMEDIATE STATE.

IX.

THE SPIRITS IN PRISON.

X.

DIVINE LOVE.

XI.

THE ATONEMENT.

XII.

A FEEBLE NOTE OF WARNING.

XIII.

PROPHECIES YET TO BE FULFILLED.

XIV.

TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.

XV.

TESTIMONY OF REASON.

XVI.

THE CASE OP SAUL.

XVII.

ETERNAL SEPARATIONS.

XVIII.

NOT REALLY BELIEVED.

XIX.

WORKING MEN AND THE CHURCH.

XX.

THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN.

XXI.

THE FINAL DAY.