Love's Final Victory / Ultimate Universal Salvation on the Basis of Scripture and Reason

by Horatio

In fact I have the idea that God suffered by sympathy with the Son as much as the Son suffered actually. We can never know in this life if that was really so; but I have the idea that there was such divine sympathy between the Father and the Son that they suffered equally. This is holy ground; we shall trespass on it no further.

But do you think the Father will ever be satisfied until every soul for whom Christ died will be saved? He saw the end from the beginning. He is not taken by surprise that so few are saved. Now all eternity is at His disposal. Who can say that in the infinite sweep of His administration, which relates to other worlds as well as ours, there may not be good reasons for saving some of our race in the next life? At all events, His counsel will stand. He will do all His pleasure. The day will come when every prodigal will come home. Then Hallelujah! "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth!"

And so with Christ as well. His sacrifice is the expression of His love, and the only adequate expression of it. He loved us, and gave Himself for us. Paul says, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." So every believing sinner may say. And in securing the effects of that sacrifice He is not limited to the short era of time. If He had chosen He might have secured the effects of His sacrifice in this age. But for some good reason unknown to us, His redeeming activity is exercised in a future age. We are not surprised. His administration is from everlasting to everlasting.

Such a consideration does not mitigate, in my view, the Father's solicitude for the salvation of His children now. We almost hear His sigh as He says, "How can I give thee up?" And again he says, "O that Israel had hearkened to my commandments!" And this divine solicitude was expressed in human tears when the Son sobbed over the apostate city: "O, if thou hadst only known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace!"

DESTINED FOR A BETTER WORLD.

I will refer here to one practical difficulty, which is solved by the theory of Restoration. We all know Christian men of whose real goodness we have no doubt whatever. But such a man has often great imperfections. There can be no doubt that he is destined for a better world; but in the meantime he is not fit for it. Such a man, we will say, meets with an accident that cuts him off in a moment. The question is, Where does he go? On the old theory he must go either to heaven or to hell. But he is really fit for neither. The work of grace is far from being completed in him, and therefore he is not prepared for the better world. But he has the germ of grace in him, and it is partly developed; therefore he would be out of place in the better world. Then where does he go? The difficulty is settled at once if we suppose that there is a preparatory stage of preparation for eternal joy. He will arrive at the goal in due time; but meantime he must have his faults and imperfections pruned off. Death will certainly not effect the necessary improvement. All are agreed that the fact of dying makes no change in a man's character. Nor is there any change usually effected just before death. In many cases there is no opportunity. "The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness." So says the Catechism. But there is no evidence of it in the case of one who is stricken down suddenly. But suppose there is a preparatory stage beyond; then all difficulty disappears.

THRUST INTO NEW CONDITIONS.

Nor would it be in harmony with divine operations, so far as we know them, to thrust a frail, human, imperfect spirit into eternal joys so suddenly. He is not prepared for them. He requires a preliminary stage of preparation. It is only in harmony with what we know of God's methods to believe that such is provided. When a child is born into this world, it is not thrust into new conditions suddenly. For a time it is not even aware that it has entered on new conditions; but it adapts itself naturally and easily to its new surroundings. So it is not easy to believe that a soul accustomed to the darkness of earth is thrust at once into the blinding glory of heaven. A preliminary stage of preparation seems to be necessary; and if it is necessary, it is provided.

I raised this difficulty once to an aged minister. At that time I saw no solution of it, and I simply wanted information. He studied a moment and then said, "When the flesh is put off, I think many of our sins and imperfections will go along with it." That was a wise answer, and there is a great deal of comfort in it. But it does not fully meet the case. The flesh is a lodging place for many of our sins, and it is a happy thing to think that we shall drop these sins when we drop the flesh. But there are sins of the mind too; and these we shall not drop with the flesh. They will go with us into the next life. The question is. How shall we get rid of them? The idea of Restoration solves all difficulty.

Besides, we believe that nothing that is really good will ever perish from the universe. In the case we have supposed, the man possessed real goodness; but it was largely goodness in the germ; it needed to be developed. It is only congenial with what we know of divine operations to believe that what is good will be developed, rather than that it will decay into nothingness. From that point of view a preliminary stage of progress seems to be necessary.