AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
91
Yet this was not all. A further test of loyalty remained. Not only were we seeing light upon the place of
Baptism and the Lord's Supper that rendered our witness `dangerous' in the eyes of many, we were also seeing light
upon the nature of the soul, hell, and the wages of sin that was indeed `damnable heresy' in the estimation of others.
Looking back at those perilous days, considering the frailty of the earthen vessel, and the ever present temptation
`Command these stones that they be made bread', we can only marvel at the grace that saved the smoking flax from
extinction, and record it here for the encouragement of any who may be at the crossroads in their ministry.
In the early numbers of Volume 1, we commenced an enquiry into the question of the immortality of the soul,
and the words translated `for ever', and then in the last issue of the first volume there was commenced a series that
ran through Volumes 2,3 and 4, entitled `The wages of Sin'.
For the greater part of my Christian life up till this time, I had lived under the necessity to put attendance at the
Lord's Table among the first claims upon my time and strength, allowing neither the claims of humanity, holiday or
personal affairs to intervene; I had also lived under the dreadful belief that the Scriptures taught the eternal
conscious suffering of every man, woman or child who was not a believer in Christ, and which awful fate some with
whom I met, secretly believed, awaited many so-called orthodox Christians! To be labelled by an assembly `a
non-eternity man' was to taste the dregs of bitterness. Were we willing to stoop so low? Should I not `postpone' the
study or at least its publication `for a more convenient season'? After prayer, and consultation with the lady who
became my wife, and who was soon to share a life-long fellowship of ostracism, yet of triumphant faith, and with
the equally loyal support of Mr. Brininger I accepted the burden and its consequences and we decided to burn our
boats.
The findings of those early days have since been made the basis of the booklet Hell, or Pure from the blood of
all men, and we rejoice to know that some of the choicest saints of our acquaintance give ready testimony to the
emancipating power of the truth there set forth. While the dispensational position of Acts 28 and of the epistle to the
Ephesians and its logical consequences was uppermost in that early ministry, together with the doctrine of the soul
and with the teaching of the Scripture concerning Hell, there runs through the first volume the thin red line of
expositions that touch at several points the great Sacrifice of the Saviour's love. The very titles are suggestive:
`Christ our Surety'; `Clean every whit'; `Sanctification, its connection with the atonement, resurrection and likeness
to Christ'; `The Whole Burnt Offering'; `Wondrous meeting places' (Isa. 53); and `Does Particular redemption
exhaust the sacrifice of Christ'?
Even in that early day I saw that the judgment of the great white throne was twofold and quoted the rendering of
J.N.D. and of J. R. Rotherham `And if anyone was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of
fire', and followed the quotations with the comment `Instead of the orthodox idea of myriads being cast into the lake
of fire, Scripture leads us to see that it is to be an intensely individual matter, depending not upon works, but upon
the book of life'.
Our study of the Word drove us to the conclusion that the soul of man is not inherently immortal, that
immortality is a gift in grace conferred at the resurrection; that the dead are asleep, that they awake at the
resurrection, and that there is no conscious intermediate state. The wages of sin is death, and John 3:16 puts before
us the alternatives of `perishing' and of `life everlasting'.
The last of this series of studies lifts the subject above the realm of private interpretation, by giving a
concordance of every word used in the controversy, and at the conclusion of the fifth article we quoted the words of
Dr. Weymouth:
`My mind fails me to conceive a grosser misinterpretation of language than when the five or six strongest words
which the Greek tongue possesses, signifying "destroy" or "destruction" are explained to mean, an everlasting
but wretched existence. To translate black as white is nothing to this'.
Thus the stage was set, the terms defined, and from these humble beginnings have arisen all that the witness of
The Berean Expositor means to God and to His people, and to its author.
While it is by no means easy for me to write of these intimate and personal things, it is even more difficult to
open my heart and speak as I should of the closest and dearest relationship of all. Owing to circumstances that have
already been hinted at, I was engaged to be married for twelve years, and the loyalty, patience, love and simple faith