responsibility at least to her own children. It is time she had a much larger and more generous and inclusive scheme for the education- the Christian education of all her sons and daughters, if she desires to fulfill her Divine Founder's will and hand on His truth unimpaired.

So shall she guide and sanctify the development of the world's life and the progress of the nations; so shall she calm "the madness of the people." It is peculiarly the work of the Church of Christ, and not of the demagogue, to bring true freedom to mankind, not only to "make the world safe for democracy "but to "make democracy safe for the world," and to make the world safe and sane for Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

William Cunningham Rodgers.

P

When Does Probation End?

REACHING lately to a large congregation, a bishop of the Church expressed his belief that no human soul, however great its sin, would fail finally to be reinstated into the love of God. The expression was so guarded that it may be that the preacher did not intend to preach the doctrine of ultimate universal salvation. But it is certainly true that there are many within the Church who in the contemplation of the divine love are misled into the belief that all souls will finally partake in the Beatific Vision because God loves all souls and wills that all should be saved unto unending life. The present widespread dissemination of the doctrine of prayers for the departed, and the glad acceptance of this doctrine on the part of Christian believers, no doubt tends to encourage this false belief. So it may be well for us to inquire what the teaching of the Church is concerning this matter.

In the Form of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners, set forth in THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, We find the rubric (page 315): When a Criminal is under sentence of death, the Minister shall proceed to exhort him after this form, or other like, and

immediately ensues an exhortation, in part as follows: "Dearly beloved, it hath pleased Almighty God, in His justice, to bring you under the sentence and condemnation of the law;

and we pray God, that you may make such use of your punishments in this world, that your soul may be saved in the world to Consider then seriously with yourself, in all appearAfter you

come.

ance the time of your dissolution draweth near. have thus finished the course of a sinful and miserable life, you shall appear before the Judge of all flesh; Who, as He pronounces blessings on the righteous, shall likewise say, with a terrible voice of most just judgment, to the wicked, Go, ye accursed, into the fire everlasting, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Be not deceived with a vain and presumptuous expectation of God's favour, nor say within yourself, Peace, peace, where there is no peace; for there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. God is not mocked; He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

Since therefore you are soon to pass into an endless and unchangeable state, and your future happiness or misery depends upon the few moments which are left you, I require you strictly to examine yourself, and your estate both towards God and towards man; and let no worldly consideration hinder you from making a true and full confession of your sins, and giving all the satisfaction which is in your power to every one whom you have wronged or injured; that you may find mercy at your heavenly Father's hand, for Christ's sake, and not be condemned in the dreadful day of judgment.

This statement of the doctrine of the American Church sets forth her teaching very clearly. But " as the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred .. in matters of faith," we must admit that the Church in America may have erred. So we turn to the Holy Scripture of the New Testament to see whether the teaching of the American Church is borne out by the doctrine therein contained.

We might say in passing that there is no question that the teaching of the Holy Orthodox Eastern Church, and of the Holy Roman Church agrees exactly with that of the American Church.

Testimony of the Holy Scriptures. When Judas was about to betray our Blessed Lord, the latter said, "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born." (St. Matt. xxvi: 24.) The words as recorded in St. Mark, xiv: 21, are exactly the same in the Greek.) It matters not how severe the punishment the soul must endure, nor how long it lasts, if all souls are finally to enjoy the Beatific Vision, it were good for every soul to have been born. If the joy of Heaven is unending, then any punishment which can be measured by time will sink into insignificance in comparison with it. If there were no other word of our Lord's concerning the unending condition of the soul which dies in sin, this must convince us that at least one soul is condemned to eternal punishment.

But there is another saying of our Lord's which also proves the contention: "And these shall go away into everlasting (alviov) punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (alto)." (St. Matt. xxv: 46.) Many of us know that the word alwvtos means literally age-long, and therefore might signify a very long but limited period of time. But in such a parallel passage as the one quoted, we are obliged to infer that the same meaning is contained in the word each time it is used; so that if we limit the duration of punishment, we must limit the duration of life. In other words, we must accept the saying as it stands in English, or we must say, "And these shall go away into agelong punishment, which shall ultimately end: but the righteous into age-long life, which shall ultimately end." St. Jerome, commenting on this text says: "Careful reader, observe, that, both the punishments are eternal, and that perpetual life has no fear thereafter of being destroyed."

The word alotos is used sixty times by New Testament writers, and translated in the King James' Version, everlasting or eternal; forty-one of these times it qualifies the word life; twice it qualifies the word fire; once the word punishment; once the word destruction; and once the word judgment. It is not necessary to quote all these texts, but there are a few

which bear so directly upon our subject that we may well notice them.

Our Lord says, "It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire." (St. Matt. xviii: 8.) The natural inference is that those who are cast into everlasting fire do not enter into life. Again, our Lord says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (St. John iii: 16.) Here again everlasting life is contrasted with death, and the inference is that those perish who do not enter into everlasting life. Again, to quote our Lord's word: "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation." (St. John v: 24.) Here again we have a clear contrast between everlasting life and condemnation.

At Antioch St. Paul and St. Barnabas meeting the contradiction and blasphemy of the Jews, said: "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." (Acts xiii: 46.) St. Paul and St. Barnabas evidently believed that there were those who should not inherit everlasting life. Again, St. Paul contrasts temporal and eternal things: "For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (II Cor. iv: 18.) The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews considers this doctrine to be of great importance: "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." (Heb. vi: 1, 2.)

If the word alwvios does not mean everlasting and eternal, then the same writer limits to time the life of God; or else, what would be absurd, he uses the same word in the same writing with different meaning, with no explanation: "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in

once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." (Heb. ix: 12–15.) The words redemption and inheritance are qualified by the same adjective as the word Spirit. A similar instance occurs in the First Epistle to St. Timothy where St. Paul says: "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting (alto). Now unto the King eternal (tŵv a¿óvwv) immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." (I Tim. i: 16, 17.)* The word king is qualified by the phrase of eternity.

Testimony of the Fathers. After examining the New Testament Scriptures we next have recourse to the writings of the Fathers of the Church in order that we may see what was the undoubted belief in the earlier centuries of the Church's life. And first we must mention Origen, because he taught a doctrine quite opposed to that of the Scriptures or of the Catholic Church. He even went so far as to teach that finally Lucifer and the other fallen angels would be restored to their pristine glory. Later in life he made the excuse that he wrote these things when he was very young. That, however, did not prevent the Fifth General Council from condemning his doctrine.

On the other hand, all of the Fathers who mention it at all, and most of them do, write in such a way concerning the eternal

*Here the expression forever and ever is a translation of aiuvas twv alávov The same or an equivalent form of words occurs many times in the New Testament, notably in the Apocalypse, the vision of the things of eternity, and is always so translated. The Greek expression is much the same as the Latin secula seculorum, which is commonly rendered in English world without end. Al is the noun which corresponds with the adjective αἰώνιος.