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CONCERNING THE

RELATION OF DEATH TO PROBATION.

eorge

BY

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT,

PROFESSOR OF THE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
IN OBERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY; AUTHOR OF "THE LOGIC
OF CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES," AND "STUDIES IN

SCIENCE AND RELIGION."

BOSTON:

CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,

CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE.

Copyright, 1882,

BY CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY.

BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
No. 4 PEARL STREET.

PREFACE.

THE generally accepted doctrine of the Christian Church concerning future things, is that at the end of the world there is to be a formal judgment of mankind, when each person is to receive final sentence according to his character-the wicked being consigned to a state of conscious punishment which is everlasting in its duration, while the righteous are received into an endless state of happiness. The specific question of the parallel and everlasting character of these awards is discussed in the fourth chapter of this inquiry.

But the maintenance of the doctrine of a final judgment at the end of the world, leaves it an open question what is to be the condition of the soul between death and the judgment. Is this "intermediate state" one in which the offers of mercy through Christ, so freely extended here, are continued? May we hope that some who are incor332502

rigible in their wickedness this side the grave, will repent in that interval which occurs between death and the judgment? This is the question which has seemed specially to call for the present volume, and is specifically discussed in the second and third chapters.

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It is important also to remark that these two questions are quite distinct in their character. person may believe in a probation between death and the judgment, and not be a Universalist, since he may hold that there is no further probation after the general judgment.

A distinction should also be made between those who hold to a second probation, and those who believe in continued probation. Some believe that although the offers of mercy are never re-presented to those who once distinctly reject them, yet that every man will have a definite probation under the gospel as distinct from what he has under the law; and that those who have not had the motives of the gospel presented to them in this life, will have them presented before the final judgment. This is the more specific form of the question as now before the public mind, and largely gives shape to the present discussion.

Our quotations of Scripture are from the Revised Version, and we have not deemed it worth whileto question either the translation or the Greek text from which it was made. It is not credible that so important a doctrine as that we are here considering has been left by divine providence dependent upon the settlement of doubtful matters in the minutiae of biblical criticism. Without descending to too small points we have aimed to give the correct perspective to the various elements of the question rather than to treat it exhaustively. As such we commit the volume to the consideration of candid readers.

OBERLIN, O., June 7, 1882.

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.

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