will not be disturbed in his faith, if millions of spirits and angels come preaching another gospel. A greater hath spoken to and for him. “That which we have seen," said John, "declare we unto you, that ye may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

This precious fellowship is for every child of God. The way to it is through Jesus Christ. It is no dim and shadowy way. Christ presented to the eye of faith is still the medium of manifesting the Father. Through him it is the duty, as well as the privilege, of the Christian, to have the Spirit present to help him to say, Abba, Father. It is both his duty and privilege to have that Spirit present as comforter, as unction, as seal, and as earnest-precious officers which he is ever waiting to fulfil in every Christian heart, and of which we know so little in these days, because we know and love Christ so little. Christ appears no more in this world in the body in which he was crucified, but he seeks as of old an incarnation; he seeks a body in which he can once more manifest himself as when on earth, going about doing good. The body he seeks is a church in which the Spirit has free course in his unfoldings of the Father's love. His Spirit is ever seeking to re-incarnate Christ in every soul that loves Christ. "Ye are the body of Christ, and members

in particular." As the unfolding Spirit of God once found a body, and said in great satisfaction, " A body hast thou prepared me," so Christ shall yet see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

If anything we have said shall be blessed to the end of presenting Christ in a new light, it is not in vain we have written. If we have presented him as the Incarnation in a light that any one shall feel more deeply that he is the only foundation, so far our object is accomplished. If any one shall, by this humble effort, see more clearly Christ as a dear friend dying for our sins, we will rejoice. If any one shall look more to Christ as the appointed and definite medium for manifestations of the Holy Spirit, to our great Intercessor be praise.

ART. III.-DOCTRINE OF THE UNIVERSAL SLEEP OF THE DEAD, AND OF THE FINAL DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED, EXAMINED AND REFUTED.

The doctrines above named, if we may trust to the statements of their advocates upon the subject-and no reasons appear why we should not-have attained to a degree of influence over the public mind both in this country and in England, of which evangelical Christians are hardly aware. As an illustration of the truth of this statement we adduce the following extract from the introduction of a work upon the subject "by Jacob Blair, Baptist minister of Buffalo, N. Y.," a work which has already gone through six editions in this country. After stating that "about 100,000 copies" of the "six sermons of Rev. George Storrs" on the subject, entitled: "An InquiryAre the wicked immortal?" "have now been spread in this country, and still the demand for it continues"-the author goes on to say:

"This awakened an inquiry, and convinced thousands of the truth of the doctrine. In 1846, Rev. H. H. Dobney, and Rev. E. White, of England, published larger works, the former of which has been extensively spread in both countries. Soon after, Rev. Wm. Glen Moncrieff, of Scotland, followed with some small works. The churches of these ministers adopted their views. Of late, Rev. J. Panton Ham, of Bristol, England, has written largely, and two periodicals have been started, one by Ham and one by Moncrieff. Three of these ministers I have named in England are Congregational, and one a Baptist; all literary men. More than twenty different writers have published works in the United States and Canada; and several periodicals are published which warmly advocate Life only through Christ, and the utter destruction of the wicked. The Bible Examiner, by George Storrs, of New York, is nearly exclusively devoted to this one subject.

From fifty to seventy-five ministers in the United States advocate the doctrine, and their numbers are constantly increasing. Most of the Advent S ́ · cieties hold to it, and I know of three Baptist churches which fellowship it. A large number in the different churches believe the doctrine, who say but little about it, except to its open advocates. In brief, the number who now hold the view are so large, and so decided in spreading light, that all efforts to stop its progress must be vain, and a general investigation must soon take place at least in the United States and Canada. When that comes, the doctrine of endless woe must soon fall, for it can no more stand before the light of God's word, than Dagon before the ark of God. It shows either

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erates, and by which the tendency in depravity to g ror is itself developed, confirmed and perpetuated. above alluded to, we believe, had its origin with th lies, and is now held before the public mind for th purpose of perpetuating the slumbers of Zion's h that the enemy, without disturbance, may spread seeds of error, and its consequent death, through and breadth of Christendom. We shall therefore m ther apology for inviting the special attention of our the following examination and attempted, to say refutation of the doctrines above named.

Four ger of enquiry will occupy the attention of our readersmental features and elements of these doctrines, as ed from those of evangelical faith upon the same su evidence of the truth of the latter doctrines in op those of the former-the character and tendency of in distinction from those of the latter-and an exa the Scripture arguments adduced by the advocates of dogmas to establish their claims to public regard.

Fundamental features and elements of these d distinguished from those of the orthodox faith upo subjects.

The entire system of faith in which the articles sideration are embraced, has its basis, we believe, exclusively-the materiality of the soul, an idea der literal exposition of such passages of scripture as ing: "And the Lord God formed man of the d earth;" "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt th "Because he is dust;" "They die and return to t

"All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again," &c. Such language, it is affirmed, is positive, and its meaning cannot be misapprehended. Man himself, the whole of him, his mind, of course, not excepted, is "of the dust.” Mind, then, must be the exclusive result of physical organization. So we must reason, or reject the positive teachings of inspiration itself.

From this idea of the materiality of mind follows almost of necessity, the conclusion that when the body is dissolved, the self-conscious activity of the soul, to say the least, must cease. That which is the exclusive result of physical organization must disappear with the dissolution of that organization. This sentiment, also, it is affirmed, is confirmed and positively taught by the repeated declarations of Scripture, that at death, man, that is, of course, all of man, and this must include the mind as well as the body, "returns to dust," and consequently "sleeps" there till the resurrection, that "the dead know not anything," and that "there is no knowledge in the grave," &c.

Out of this view of scripture and of facts, naturally arises the last article of this new creed, to wit, the destiny which awaits the righteous and the wicked at the resurrection. The former are then endowed, it is affirmed, with the privileges and immunities of an immortal existence, while the latter, in the conflagration of the material universe, will be returned to dust again, and never, to eternity, be restored to conscious existence. The punishment of the wicked is destruction, dissolution, death, a total and eternal cessation of conscious being., Such, as we understand the subject, is the new creed which is everywhere being commended to our regard, by the most formidable array of scripture proofs, as far as the number of texts cited is concerned.

To every feature and element of this creed, the system of evangelical faith stands opposed. The soul, according to its teachings, is not matter, but a substance of totally different, opposite and infinitely higher attributes; attributes which do not depend upon material organization for their existence; death is not even the temporary destruction of mind, but its introduction into new relations of conscious activity; the life promised

to the righteous is not continued existence, but a certain state of being, the punishment threatened to the wicked is not cessation of conscious existence, but positive retributions, to which the souls of such are subjected in a state of conscious activity; and finally "the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust," is the eternal re-union of the soul with a physical organization corresponding to its immortal destiny. Such are these two systems as contrasted with each other.

Argument for the evangelical view, in opposition to the teachings of this new theory.

We are now prepared to enter directly upon the enquiry, which of these two views of mind, and of its final destiny, accords with reason, and with the Bible? In arguing this question, we would, first of all, lay down the following proposition:

1. The Scriptures most clearly and decisively distinguish between the soul and the body, affirming absolutely that one is, and the other is not, constituted of "dust," and thus establishing a fundamental distinction between mind and matter. The first passage which we adduce is Eccl. 12:7:"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." A distinct contrast is here drawn between what of us is "dust," matter, and what is not dust, spirit, and the destiny of each at death is affirmed with equal distinctness. The meaning of the passage may be thus expressed: then shall what of man is constituted of dust, or is material, return to the earth as it was, to its former unorganized state; but that which is not dust, nor of it, that which is not matter, "the spirit," or soul, "shall return to God who gave it." We affirm, without fear of contradiction from any unprejudiced mind, that this passage is without meaning, or presents a meaning that is self-contradictory and absurd, if the above is not the true exposition of it. If mind is nothing but matter in a certain form of physical development, and has and can have no existence separate from the organization which it vitalizes, and of which it is a part, with what propriety could such a distinction be made, as is here made between what of man is material, and at death "returns to the earth as it was," and what of man