Page:The Other Life.djvu/273

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and our absolute helplessness for good, except as we look believingly to the Divine Man—Jesus Christ.

Surely these doctrines, so full of Christ and his Word, so beautiful, so tender, so true, so holy, will ere long find a recognition and a warm reception in many circles of the faithful and pious children of God.

There are two great classes in the Christian church who reject the Lord at his second advent, and justify themselves with apparently strong reasons for doing so.

One class is blinded by strong affection for the doctrines of their church, which they believe to be essential to the salvation of their souls;—doctrines which were imbibed in childhood, which have been implanted in their hearts and embalmed in their memories, and sanctified by the associations of the past and the hopes of the future. Men who love their doctrines with a spiritual ardor which would brave martyrdom for their sake, cannot possibly see any truth in a system which controverts the fundamental positions of their cherished faith. Intensity of affection, however, proves nothing to be true; for pagans and heretics and enthusiasts of all kinds have been just as earnest and just as