Footnotes have been collected at the end of each chapter, and arelinked for ease of reference.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Pleasesee the transcriber’s note at the end of this textfor details regarding the handling of any textual issues encounteredduring its preparation.
The cover image has been amended to add title page information, and,as amended, is added to the public domain.
THE
STATE OF THE DEAD
AND THE
Destiny of the Wicked.
PREFACE.
Questions of such absorbing interest to the human raceas “The State of the Dead,” and “The Destiny of theWicked,” should command the candid attention of allserious and thoughtful men. The Bible alone can answerthe inquiries of the human mind on these important subjects;and if the Bible is the full and complete revelationwhich it claims to be, we must believe that it has answeredthem. What that answer is, the following pagesundertake to show.
On the questions here discussed there is at the presenttime a daily-increasing agitation in the theological world.The frequency with which these topics come to the surfacein the religious papers of the land, is evidence of this.Not only in this country, but in England and Germany,the views of Bible students on these points are in a stateof transition. The doctrine that there is no eternal lifeout of Christ, and that consequently the punishment ofthe wicked is not to be eternal misery, is now able to presentan array of adherents so strong in numbers, so cultivatedin intellect, and so correct at heart, that many ofits opponents are changing their base of operations towardit, and taking steps looking not only to a toleration of itsexistence, but to a compromise with its claims.
In adding another book to the many which have beenwritten on this subject, the object has been to give in aivconcise manner a more general view of the teaching ofthe word of God, the ultimate source of authority, on thisquestion, than has heretofore been presented. A chapteron the Claims of Philosophy is appended to the Biblicalargument, more to answer the queries of those who attachimportance to such considerations, than because theyare entitled to any real weight in the determination ofthis controversy.
The interest that has of late years arisen on the subjectof the state of the dead, is timely. Spiritualism, with itsfoul embrace and pestilential breath, is seeking to spreadits pollutions over all the land; and it appeals to the popularviews of the condition of man in death as a foundationfor its claims. The teach