The Theology of the Bible

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LIFE IN CHRIST. In the last century, the learned Dr. Dodwell collected an important mass of evidence to prove, and successfully defended against many vehement adversaries, the idea that the native immortality of all men, was not sanctioned hy the primitive church. It will be a difficult task to overthrow, or undermine some of the arguments which were adduced in that controversy, either by the allegation of false quotation, or by ende.avoring to underrate the value of the witnesses. Irenseus, for instance, the disciple df Polycarp, who was the scholar of the Apostle John, thus writes: ' Life is not from ourselves, nor from our nature, but it is given or bestowed according to the grace of God; and therefore he who preserves this gift of life and returns thanks to Him who bestows it, he shall receive length of days for ever and ever. But he who rejects it, and proves unthankful to his Maker for creating him, and will not know him who bestows it, he deprives himself of the gift of duration to all eternity. And therefore the Lord speaks thus of such unthankful persons: If you have not been faithful in that which is least, who will commit much to you ? intimating thereby unto us, they who are unthankful to Him with respect to this short transitory life, which is His gift, the effect of His bounty, shall be most justly deprived of length of days in the world to come? Mr. Foster, a distinguished writer, remarks: ' A number of ministers, not large but of great piety and intelligence, within his acquaintance, had been disbelievers in the doctrine in question, [the eternal existence of the wicked in misery] at the same time, not feeling themselves imperatively called upon to make a- public disavowal: content with employing in their ministrations strong general terms, in denouncing ...