to gather its fruits in the eternal salvation of those expecting his coming. In Heb. x, 26, 27, for them that "sin willfully," as apostates do, and as saints in Paradise cannot, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation" as their only possible fate.

St. Peter, in a passage (chap. ii, 9,) already discussed, shows that the unrighteous of this world are strictly guarded in prison under punishment unto the day of judgment, when (verse 3) eternal destruction will surely be inflicted. And St. John, in Rev. xxi, 7, 8, while assuring the victorious struggler of a blessed heirship, says of the opposite class, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Some of the sins pointed out can be committed only on the earth, and they who commit them are, with the moral coward and the simple neglecter of Christ, to be "judged every man according to their works." Rev. xx, 13.

And what says our Lord? Referring to the judgment-day, (Matt. vii, 22, 23,) he affirms that many in that day will claim to have prophesied, expelled demons, and performed miracles in his name, all of which are deeds in time, "and then," he says, "will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." In Matt. xi, 20-24, he declares that "it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judg ment than for " Chorazin and Bethsaida, and "for the land of Sodom" than for Capernaum; and in chap. x, 15, "for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city" which rejects his disciples and their message. No place is left for the hypothesis of the repentance of these people in hades, and in the judgment they will stand relatively as they did then. In Mark viii, 38, he that is "ashamed" of Christ and his teachings "in this adulterous and sinful generation," which is very definite as to time, will have Christ "ashamed" of him at his second coming. And in the solemn delineation of the proceedings of the judgment-day in Matt. xxv, 31-45, the reasons assigned for the decisive awards pronounced relate without exception to deeds of this world, performed by those on the right hand of the Judge, and not performed by those on his left.

Such are some of the sayings of our Lord and his apostles

that connect conduct in this life with the final judgment. They make no reservation. They give no hint of some possible change of character in the intermediate state that may reverse the result in the day of trial; but, on the other hand, they distinctly teach that the stamp which character bears at death is ineffaceable. The fixed permanency thenceforth is in the nature of things, and is always in accordance with the choice freely made under the light and influences of a probationary state and in full view of its obligations. Surely it becomes those who advocate the doctrine of future probation to explain the entire absence in these stern and positive declarations of the New Testament of a mitigating word, or even of the least intimation of some chance for repentance after death. And still more is it incumbent on them to explain why Christ, who seized so many opportunities to contradict and correct erroneous sentiments of his time, not only did not contradict the prevalent view on this subject, but always spoke in accordance with it. The truth is nigh at hand. He did not correct it because it was true. He came to a race of sinners to offer himself to them as God's provided remedy for sin and the giver of life to their souls, and demanding acceptance. Not to believe on him when offered is to reject him, and upon such rejecters "the wrath of God abideth." Probation, then, summarily closed would not be injustice, and its further continuance is purely of the compassion and long-suffering that will not willingly let a soul perish. Through lengthened years he seeks them with the Gospel, with his Spirit, with providences, with multiplied warnings and entreaties, until he is weary of rejection, and death closes the scene with pity for the infatuation that spurns the beseechings of infinite love.

Neither the blessedness of the Christian nor the wretchedness of the sinner will be perfected until the resurrection; but it does not follow that the intermediate world is one of moral change except by growth. In Dr. Dorner's view, "believers are not yet sinless at the moment of death;"* and as "only the pure in heart, or holy, shall see God," + they must become freed from moral imperfection in the future world before they can enjoy the glorious vision. Dr. Smyth, faithful in his following, cannot see "how the mere accident of death can fit an "Future State," p. 100. + Ibid., p. 93.

untrained and unchastened Christian for the pure vision of the supernal glory."* No more can Dr. Farrar, or Dr. Pusey, or the Romish Church, who argue that infirmities, moral defects, evil habits, sins, and neglects will, by training, by discipline, by punishment, by purifying fire, become finally purged away, and the soul prepared for the blessed vision of God. All alike. assume that the moral processes of this life shall be in the next world much as they are in this, only, perhaps, "much more abundant." Holy we must be before we can see God; but neither death's cold stream nor purgatorial burning has power to make us so. The believer has learned a better way. The infirmities and defects, physical and mental, inherent in our nature must, indeed, be carried to the end, but the "blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" in this life. It may be true that many devout Christians do not attain this gift grace until near death; but it is likewise true that no child of God passes that boundary without a previous full preparation by the Holy Spirit dwelling in him to meet his Redeemer and Judge. All hopes of becoming fit for heaven after death. must prove fallacious. Spotless holiness must be won before that hour; but the blessedness of the saved, far exceeding aught on earth, will increase until its consummation at the resurrection. This, however, involves no change of destiny.

of

In our examination of the teachings of Scripture we have not forgotten the multiplied admonitions against the "ignorant tyranny of isolated texts," to use the words of Dr. Farrar, or the necessity of inquiry for the broad outlines, the unity, and the drift of revealed truth. There is no divinely prepared table of contents outlining for us beforehand the Book of God, and no one has informed us how to discover those outlines, to find that unity, or to learn that drift, except in the careful study of its words. Beginning thus, and moving forward step by step, we find the Scriptures, from "God" in the first verse to "the grace of the Lord Jesus" in the last, to be an urgent message of salvation sent by Infinite Love to a sinful, guilty, ruined race. In its letter and in its spirit, in its single words and its broad outlines, in its separate expressions and its whole drift, it demands acceptance to-day, and makes no provision or suggestion for to-morrow. Our Lord's preaching, both in the

*Orthodox Theology," p. 126.

plainest of words and in the most significant of parables, and the preaching and writings of his apostles as well, always treat the subject as if this life were the only time in which men can prepare for the next. They warn, they exhort, they plead, they urge to immediate action while the power of acting remains, as if the final issue were to turn upon the next step; and they never intimate even a suspicion of an opportunity in the future world to recover from the present neglect, while they do most strongly base condition there upon character here. These facts are strangely mysterious and absolutely unaccountable, if human probation extends into the future life; they are perfectly plain, and precisely what we might expect in a revelation of a way of salvation, if the day of grace is limited to the present world.

ART. VIII.-DR. ELIPHALET CLARK.

ELIPHALET CLARK, M.D., was born in the town of Strong, Maine, May 12, 1801. His father, Mr. Richard Clark, of Puritan descent, was among the pioneer settlers of the Sandy River Valley, one of the most beautiful of the many picturesque sections of the State. Mr. Clark was a farmer, and on his farm reared, amid the rigors of a New England climate, a large family.

Our early pioneer ministry at a very early day penetrated the settlements of Sandy River, and gathered among its sturdy settlers some of their richest harvests. Very near the Clarks lived the Soules. Both families became Methodists; the one gave Joshua Soule to the ministry, and the other Eliphalet Clark to the laity, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Young Clark was converted in his father's house at family worship when he was eighteen years of age. The change was thorough, and accompanied by a clear witness of his acceptance with God. This sound conversion not only gave bent to all his subsequent actions, but was the key which ever unlocked to him the secret wards of the divine kingdom. In one of his first letters to his parents, 1826, soon after leaving home, Eliphalet thus showed his appreciation of their influence: "But for no particular of your concern in my welfare do I feel more grateful than for the religious restraints imposed when my mind was easily impressed, and for the religious instructions by which I was frequently caused to reflect, when a child, on the uncertainty of life, and the necessity of a change of heart to be prepared for another and more important state of existence."

Of his brother Dennis, whom he called his "twin spirit," and who died, while a young man, in New Orleans, he wrote: "Is Dennis indeed dead?

True, his dead body, his earthly part, his well-wrought frame, may now be decaying in a far-distant city among strangers; no one to visit the grave and say, Here lies my son, my brother, and drop a tear of affection, and plant a rose on the sacred spot; yet, is Dennis dead? A voice from Him who is the resurrection and the life, declares he shall never die. All that made Dennis so lovely, all that so closely bound our hearts in one, lives in heaven."

Eliphalet, after receiving an academical education at Farmington, Me., read medicine with Dr. J. L. Blake, of Phillips, and also with Dr. Thomas Little, one of the most eminent surgeons of the State. Between the pupil and the venerated teacher, Dr. Blake, who still survives, there ever subsisted the warmest affection. In 1824 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the medical school of Bowdoin College.

While

His first settlement as a physician was in the town of Wilton. here he was married, October 8, 1827, to Miss Nancy Caldwell, only daughter of Mr. William Caldwell, of Hebron, Me., and the sister of the Rev. Zenas Caldwell, of the Maine Conference, and of Professor M. Caldwell, afterward of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. Miss Caldwell was reared by her eminently godly mother under a régime which accepted the theory that it is safer for young Christians always to lean toward the "stricter virtues." She became the life-long companion of her husband. She fully appreciated his genius and character, and, in a very important sense, merged her life in his. Her rare tact, affability, and patience, but, above all, her deep, intelligent, and steady piety, made her to him all that a man called of God to a laborious and useful service could require. From first to last no one more certainly perceived or more readily acknowledged her worth than her husband. As early as 1832 he expressed it to his parents: "My good Nancy is a host herself, none better, and, may be, none so good. 'Ah,' say you, 'Eliphalet can brag at any time.' Well, laugh at my folly; still, let me say, no man's wife is better than mine, none a better nurse, more sympathetic and devoted, the very angel of kindness. Well, laugh, or say umph. I know what I say."

The account of the marriage, written to a brother, may be a little amusing, but would there were more such wedding days! "Tuesday morning talked and sang and prayed all day. In the evening we were married for the first time in our lives; felt anxious about the sequel, of course. We were married in three or four minutes; then had a prayermeeting, very interesting. . . . Friday reached home; set up a few things, talked some, and dedicated our home, our goods, our souls and bodies, Our ALL, to God; were some happy."

Soon after locating at Wilton he had a severe sickness, from the ill effects of which he never fully recovered. During convalescence he wrote: "O may I, with increasing strength, be increasingly happy, holy, and useful!... You may know the service of God is still my delight."

In 1830 Dr. Clark removed to the city of Portland. He had but little money and no influential friends to introduce him. The following account, in a letter at the time to Professor Caldwell, speaks for itself: 10—FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXVI.