HISTORY OF OPINIONS ON THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF RETRIBUTION. BY EDWARD BEECHER, D. D. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 549 AND 551 BROADWAY. 1878. BT PREFACE. THERE is something truly affecting and sublime in the present attitude not only of the Church, but of the whole community, on the subject of future retribution. More than eighteen centuries ago the Saviour of mankind foretold a coming day of judgment, in which all men should stand before his bar, be divided into two great divisions, and hear from his lips their inevitable doom. To-day the great question that arouses humanity to intense thought is, "What is the import of that sentence?" As to the righteous, however, there is no dispute. The main interest centres on the question, "What is the doom of the wicked?" This has fixed the attention of the world upon the import of a single word, aionios. This has raised the question: "What were the opinions of those to whom Christ spoke, and what were their usages of language? How did they understand him?" When we approach this question, we find that their opinions and modes of speech were the result of a preceding age; and, when we approach that age, we find that |