in fact, for those who have failed to cultivate the love of God and the love of man. These speculations seem to receive considerable support from the allusions made by Christ and his Apostles to the necessity of an inward change. If salvation is an inward state, why should not punishment be so too? If the kingdom of heaven is within us, why not the kingdom of hell too? In the presence, however, of the foregoing explicit allusions to hell fire and eternal punishment, it is useless to speculate further on a subject about which the New Testament tells us so little. All we can conclude is, that be the punishment what it may, it is our interest and our duty to avoid it, and this we can easily do by simply doing our duty to our neighbour and leading the life taught by Christ. If every so-called Christian did this, how soon would the chances of those unfortunate beings be improved who at present are the victims of circumstances they cannot control! The number of those who were lost, even supposing the worst to be true, would year by year diminish; until, at last, the millennium would reign upon earth. Another conclusion which we may bear in mind is this: that whatever be the nature of heaven and hell, Christ nowhere requires us to believe or disbelieve in them (as described) in order that we may be saved. He tells us, as a matter of solemn warning, that such will be the punishment of those who do not attain salvation; he does not say that salvation is to be attained by believing this or that doctrine, but by obeying his commands—by living the life. The natural inference from this is that the particular nature of heaven and hell is not a subject of vital importance for us to comprehend. Whatever it be, Christ has pointed out our duty here, and it is no part of our duty here to understand or believe in eternal punishment. Although, in regard to those who feel themselves entitled to salvation, the foregoing would seem a reasonable conclusion, it cannot be denied that those who consistently entertain the orthodox belief in eternal punishment and do not, or cannot, regard it as a matter of no concern, must certainly suffer serious alarm on account of others for whom they have much affection. If Christians, in fact, were as close followers of Christ as they should be, their love of their fellow-men-the sympathy, pity, and charity which they would feel towards the erring, would be so great-in view of the immense amount of evil there is in the world, and consequently, the large number of lost ones in our midst—that they would never know what happiness is in this life. As a matter of fact either the majority of men do not take so much interest in their fellow-men as to feel as much concern for the salvation of the souls of the latter as they ought to do; or else they do not, in their hearts, believe that such a horrible future awaits all who are not as pure and as good, in this world, as they should be. At any rate, every Christian mother in a question affecting her own kith and kin-when she contemplates the future prospects of some erring youth, cut off in his prime, whose many generous traits, in spite of reckless follies, might seem to plead for a little mercy on his behalf -prefers to indulge a vague belief that, somehow or other, there may still be hope for him, and the Almighty will not judge him harshly. We have seen that the breach of one or more of Christ's commandments does not involve loss of salvation providing there be repentance for the fault committed. Apropos of this, another objection to accepting Matthew's account of an immediate admission into life eternal as the only alternative to everlasting punishment, lies in the support which it seems to lend to the notion that men may lead selfish and reckless lives, and then by a death-bed repentance secure admission into eternal life, upon the same footing as they who have steadily struggled against temptations and endured sacrifices for righteousness' sake, during a whole lifetime. Such a theory is both unjust to the living, and directly calculated to discourage an obedience to Christ's commands; since many men may think that a short life and a merry one," or a career of self-indulgence, is no worse than a pure life, so long as there be time "to make their peace with their Maker" at the last moment. I conclude, therefore, that the doctrine of heaven and hell and the last judgment, although undoubtedly taught, yet is not required as an article of belief. Moreover, it is as we understand it-exceedingly improbable, apparently unjust, and, if anything, rather calculated to discourage the Christian life than otherwise in the minds of those who do believe it. As Christ's teachings leave us in the dark about the nature of the life after death, beyond what may be gathered from the foregoing extracts, it is not within the scope of this exposition of The Christianity of Christ to speculate further upon the subject, and endeavour to evolve-or show how others have evolved—a more plausible theory. When we come to glance at the theories held by the various religious sects of to-day-notably the Spiritualists and Swedenborgians-we shall be able to take another, and, it may be, a more probable, view of the matter. CHAPTER X. Christ's Doctrinal Teachings. necessary to Salvation? Are they As I presume the prime object of religion is to teach us our duty to our Maker, and our duty to our neighbour— these also being the two great commandments which summarise the whole of those teachings which Christ pronounced to be necessary to salvation-we may safely conclude that doctrines, which Christ taught incidentally, but which do not come under these two great heads, and are therefore not pronounced necessary to salvation, cannot be of the first importance, and need not therefore, be believed, or observed, if our reason and inclination do not prompt us to do so. For example, the doctrinal teachings of Christ which I have summarised, ante p. 99, and those of the Apostles which I have summarised, ante p. 106, are nowhere stated to be necessary of belief for those who wish to be saved. Strange to say, however, it is precisely upon these immaterial points of doctrine that the whole of modern Christianity rests, and it is, as a natural consequence, precisely on these points that endless wars, disputes, and unhappiness have raged from the earliest days of Christianity to the present time. When I consider how universally—amongst millions of Christians all over the world-these doctrinal teachings of Christ are relied on as the most vital and most important to salvation-what learned volumes, by countless divines, have been published in support of such views, and how uniformly the simple teachings of Christ, epitomised (ante p. 98), are ignored or thrust aside, as being of minor importance; I confess it seems the height of presumption, in an unlearned critic like myself, to suggest that Modern Christendom has missed entirely the most vital of Christ's teachings, and is building its faith on a rotten foundation! The extracts before me leave, however, no other alternative than the conclusion that I am right. Should some expression have escaped my notice in the perusal of the New Testament which seems to point to the necessity of believing in or practising the doctrines and sacraments taught by Christ as a sine quâ non to salvation; certainly there are far more passages quoted by me in the six heads on p. 98 and in the thirteen heads on p. 102, which point to an opposite conclusion. It might, however, be asked, What would be the object of Christ and his Apostles in teaching them, if he did not require us to believe them? I. Take the Atonement, for instance. This doctrine, as we have seen (ante p. 58, and ante p. 67), is taught both by Christ and the Apostles, but everywhere it is advanced as a statement of fact merely, and not as an article necessary of belief. Whatever Christ deemed necessary of belief in order that we might be saved, he scrupled not so to refer to (see ante p. 32). 66 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." of your Father which is in heaven." In the extracts from Christ's doctrinal teachings, and those of the Apostles, touching the atonement, we find no expressions which can be understood as a threat against those who do not believe these statements. We are told as a matter of fact that "we have redemption through his blood," and that "without shedding of blood is no remission," and that we are "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," &c. Those to whom |