New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-12-06
LOVE AND PENALTY.

The Rev. DR.. SAWYER on Sunday evening continued
his examination Of DR.. ThOmpsons book, Love and
p naty" the main proposition of which is that The
doctrine Of the eternal punishment Of the wicked is in
entire harmony with the pateIna character Of God"
DIR. Thompson he said, commenced his proof of this
tremendous proposition by showing that God IL moral
being which he argued from the construction OF the
human mind, the course of Providence in the world,
from Gods dealing with the Jews, and finally from
the teachings Of Christ. So far as universities
concerned, this was entirely unnecessary. For more
than half century they had maintained that God was
just and that il Lis prerogtve and glory to rem
der TO every man according to his works or in the
words of the Apostle he that doeth wrong shall re-
ceve for the wrong which he hath DONE and there is
no respect Of persona This portion Of Dr. Thomp-
con book, more than a third Of it, he might, there
fore, pass over. The dispute between DR.. Thompson
and himself was not whether God WAS Just and pun
ished the wicked, but whether that Punishment was
endless But he could not avoid recurring 70 Dr.
Thonpeons appeal to human nature 10 show
hat God Is q moral governor. DIR. Thompson showed
that we were all endowed with a moral sense, q
sense of justice which demanded that the wrong doer
should he punished aud the rghtdoer rewarded that
God made 10 feel this, and had therefore written
this truth upon the human heart. And he took great
pains 10 show that the philosophers and poets Of Greece
and Rome were settled IN these convictions that
bad men deserved punishment, and that the human
soul everywhere demanded that God should be Just,
and Justly punish the wicked Hence he must be
moral being the rewarder Of the good and the punisher
Of the evil. This argument, DIR. Sawyer tsaid, was
absolutely irresistible; il Just what Univeraasts
had been preaching for than fifty years, and IL
showed that their preaching had NOT be in vain. But
in this the voice Of human nature were the voice Of
God; it, DIR. Thompson said the righteous indig-
nation into which the judicial part Of the human soul is
stirred by sn is the finite but homogeneous express
sion Of that anger against moral evil which burns with
eternal intensity in the purity OF the Divine Es
sence" If We think end feel on this subject Us God
himself Dos because our Father in Heaven made
20 feel what then became Of the venerable orthodox
doctrine of Original Sin and Total Deprayity DIR.
Thompson had, he hoped, heard of the Fall and how
IL defled all our moral and physical nature And sub
iected us TO misery, DEATH and hell. As DIR. Watts
beautifully expressed 1t:
Backward With humble shane we look
On our Original;
How Ia our nature dashed and broke
NJ In our hTst Fsthers fall!
"IO al thsts good and blind,
Bot prone 70 all that's ili
Wba, dresdfal darkness walls our minds
How obstinate our VIII.
Conceived in SIN 20, wretobed ssssD
Before we drew our bres.h,
Iniquiy aud death.
How strong in degenerate blood
The old corruption reigDs
And niinthng with the crooked Hoo1
WaDders through all our veins
WA and unwholesoIne o. the roo.
WIN all the branches be;
How hope for living fruit
From such aesdly t1cei
VIA. mortal power from things ura!e.a
Can pure productions brirsf
Who command d Vital stream
From an infected sp-iusi"
o. Rs jonathan Edwards has il:
"ibe hearts Of natural exceedingly fsn q sta
have only si but oil Of There every kind
whence Issue al manner OF hby streams horr l. as one
Last In the hss Of the devil that is not ~ the heart Of MAJ.
rssed out and the iage OF the devil e stamped upon them
How could We prove any divine truth from the feel
ings and judgments Of such being! The truth was,
that DR.. Thompson had 10 the Unversalst doc
tfne Of the recttade Of human naure, the conformity
OF our moral Judgments and feelings with the govern
ment Of God IN order 70 maintain his orthodoxy
lac had outgrown the old notions Of original sin and
total deprayity, and had come 70 believe that men
ROW, "a az first made in the image Of God. With
tbese noons Dr. Thompson had al rejected the old
idea that physical death introduced into the world
by the so VI Adam, having learned from science that
il existed among animals long before man WAS created
Ihese new ideas wOuId bring others along with them
ia due time. DIR. Thompson VA ia good way. he
wa now freeing himself from the notion that this
world was state Of probation, and the next Of ribu
ton; he had come 20 see that God Judged the ancient
Je1a In the EARTH Indeed be insisted with commend
able sAl that the "retibulve forces continually st
work in the natural world, and the primitive deal
ings OF Providence with nen," are proofs that
God il just ard the avenger Of ecil. The
old doctrine was that God was good in this world
and usl in the next. But II lie was just well ~
good Ia this world, tLon he would be good well
,ift IN The next 1iia, was the next step for Dr.
Thompson 20 take 10 learn that Gods government was
one aud the same on both sides Of the grave and that
10 Hin ,here was 10 such distinction time and eter
nity Dr. Thompson then proceeded to show that the
tsIn.t Of sin demands tie pcnishmest Of sin, aud
hat no punshDent equal 10 the dement, ~ sn IL or
al b. inflicted in this Gfe;" consequently, thst there
mug. bs futuie punbhment But In order 70 render
ondleqs punishment JUS. IL must be shown that sin was
Dhni:e. This, however was not Br. Thonpsons
way. He fist quoted the thyesieDnga Of punishment
md he'll and from ,heir terrible ehsaeter Inferred the
snsIessrsss q he PapisApeSt. Ten GBss ,be pso-