NOTE B. Page 153. The light in which the immortality of the soul is generally viewed, represents it as a life without end, beginning upon earth, and continually increasing in length for ever. Were we to apply this idea universally to the souls of men, we should have existing in the present moment, and in every succeeding one, a succession of distinct durations, each terminating in the past, each measurable in the whole of its length, each called infinite, but each shorter than the preceding. And this throughout an infinite future could never be otherwise. Is not this a self-contradiction? Duration continuing onwards without end never could become infinite by continual increase in length; infinite duration must therefore be eternal. NOTE C. Page 198. The majority of commentators agree, I believe, in the opinion that the doctrine of the Trinity is shadowed out in the Mosaic account of the creation of man, and that, at the birth of Adam, there was breathed into him the mysterious union of the three Persons. We know that Adam fell from his state of sanctification, and that faith, repentance, and regeneration thus became necessary to him and to all of his descendants. These merciful means of restoration are now given to those who believe upon that Stone than which "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," and for the reception of them by all who lived before the sealing of the new covenant, belief in the typical merits of the sacrifice was essential. But, previously to his fall, Adam had not become corrupt, and therefore clearly could not, as fallen man, have been a participator in the mystery of redemption. Therefore the Word of Life must have been breathed into him in order to cleanse his soul from the stain of sin committed in another sphere of existence. NOTE D. Page 274. If the word "resurrection" be here understood as the liberation of the soul immediately after death, as in the example of the repentant malefactor, it is then proved by Scripture that the righteous enter into the promised joys of heaven unfettered by a material prison, and while the earthy body is rotting in the grave. But if the word be understood as the final resurrection at the Day of Judgment, "when we shall be changed," it is then proved that another era of creation will succeed that hour in which the heavens shall depart "as a scroll when it is rolled together," and that there will be granted yet another season of probation to those evil beings, who, under the present dispensation, shall have failed to work out their salvation. THE END. |