CHAPTER X.

We have so far answered the inquiries as we proposed, (that we have the whole individual humanity ready for glorification at death,) except the last branch of the question, viz.: How is that humanity, even the vilest sinner thereof, to be relieved and freed from the guilt of actual sins and iniquities. The guilt of sin is popularly believed to be a moral defilement of the soul which must be mystically washed and thereby cleansed by the blood of Christ, which is a God-and-Christ-honoring thought. But we understand that the merit of Christ's blood consists in its being the evidence of his sacrificial death by which he crucified the lusts of the Adamic nature. Those lusts being, as we have seen, the sin of the world, which he took away by that death But the cure, the remedy for the guilt of the world is simply mercy, free pardoning mercy assured to them by a "covenant made with them in and through their head Christ," sealed by his blood on the cross, ratified by his resurrection by the power of the Father from the dead, and published by the preaching of the gospel, which is itself that "covenant" preached on and after the day of Pentecost

to every creature (human being) under heaven." Now that covenant and the reconciliation, of which Paul gloried in being a minister, are one and the same, and the express terms thereof, as we have before stated, are these viz.: "I (God) will be merciful to their unrighteousness and I will remember their sins and iniquities no more." And God said by his prophet, "though their sins be as scarlet and red like crimson, they shall be as wool and as snow." In this covenant, therefore, provision is made especially for taking away the guilt of the entire individual humanity. No language can more fully express and abundantly declare that fact, that there is no defilement, and nothing left but the purity of wool and snow.

"It rises high, and drowneth hills,
Hath neither show nor bound,
Now if we search to find our guilt
Our guilt can ne'er be found."

We state therefore scripturally and we cannot but hope clearly and satisfactorily to a good portion of mankind, that the whole humanity is come to the instant of their death, saved in and by Christ from sinfulness, and thereby reconciled to God and by "Christ's righteousness justified unto life," all their unrighteousness pardoned, their sins and iniquities forgotten, blotted out, their guilt taken away, even their sins which are as scarlet and crimson made as wool and as snow; and nothing remains or is wanting to complete their salvation and perfect fitness for glorification in a new resurrectional

spiritual body, like Christ's glorious body, but their own individual death by which to destroy their fleshly body, with its fleshly sinfully inclined lusts; that sinful and sinning body thereby giving place to the clothing upon the soul and spirit, a spiritual an immortal instead of a fleshly and perishable organism. It is thus seen that the death of the body is an inevitable prerequisite to the reorganization of the human soul and spirit with an immortal spiritual organism, a body in and by which to see, know, and enjoy God and Christ and the glorified humanity, and the angels, and all things visible and invisible in the universe. And it is further shown that death is the last existing cause of human suffering, either physical or mental, and hence it is written that the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. But the scriptures say further that the sting of death is sin; meaning, as we infer, that the cause of death is sin, that is the existence of the sinful lusts, and it is added that the strength of sin is the law, that is, the imputation, condemnation of sin or those sinful lusts, and the apostle continues, "but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ; " that is, as we have shown, by destroying those lusts by his sacrificial death. We now ask pardon of our readers for thus wearying them with our repetition, but hope the magnitude of the truths and subjects set forth and illustrated will cause them to excuse us. And we again state that the salvation of the whole humanity is finished at and by their individual deaths.

CHAPTER XI.

BUT we have now to show that the great and perfect salvation is not glorification, and we trust the difference between them will be made fully apparent by the scripture to which we shall refer, and which we shall endeavor truly to interpret -those scriptures were spoken solely to the Israelites. We have before stated that the Old Testament scriptures which were written by Moses and the prophets, were wholly of that character, and to the Jews alone these laws and ordinances, precepts and commandments were given, and to them also were all the promises, even that of the Messiah, made exclusively, and in like manner all "warning, reproof, rebuke, condemnation and curses" were administered solely to that people. In every instance and in all places where the "anger, wrath, vengeance of God" is spoken of, the Jews are the alone subjects of them, the 'days of judgment' were solely their days of judgment, 'the last day and the great and terrible day of the Lord' were exclusively their last and their terrrible days; the end of the world was the end of their dispensation, their civil and ecclesiastical governments.

The darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars from heaven, were obviously the extinguishment of their spiritual glory, and the fallen stars were the priests and the rulers. It was clearly no other than the Jewish nation of whom it is written "that they drank the wine of the cup of God's wrath, and had wrung out and also drank the dregs thereof." Now all these scriptures, and many others of like import have no more reference to any other nation, than if there was no other in existence. The whole Gentile world were left without law, ordinance or precept, without priest or prophet, without warnings of judgment to come, without condemnation or curses, or any manifestation of the anger, wrath or vengeance of God, but were abundantly assured of "his love and kindness in his sending them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness," as before stated, for four thousand years. From these premises it must be obvious to all careful, unprejudiced readers and students of the Bible, that the language by which the prophets conveyed their messages from God to the people was that of the highest metaphorical, figurative and Oriental style, and as such only can we receive and construe every passage which speaks of the anger, wrath, vengeance or fury of God, as of man. We have therefore no more reason to suppose or believe that God posessed the human passions of anger, wrath or vengeance and fury, than we have to believe that his wrath was literally a cup of wine and his vengeance the dregs thereof, and that the