The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1864-03-11

Will proNe hi eteihai Heceseity, ahu uic ueNiis
in hell obey Gods will as completely as the an
gels in heaven Is that your view ?
(d) The conflict will cease, because evil will
be overcome by good. Sin will be outgrown,
and renowned, and all souls reconciled to God.
This is the Universaists view. 1t does not
deny the fact Of sin, nor hide its nakedness or
guilt 1t does not deny punishment for sim
God has made man moral being and establish.
ed moral government over the world. But, in
giving moral freedom to man, and in instituting
moral government over him. there ia an end
upon which Gods heart is steadily fixed. Sin
was foreseen, with all its perls, and woes, and
means provided for it's removal and cure
And the laws which God has ordainad, the re
wards with which He crowns virtue, an the rods
with which He scourgos vice, are but agen
ces to reach the foreseen and certain end And
in this plan. God, by Christ, is reconciling the
world unto himself
II. Looking at the nature ofeoil and good, can
not zoe see ruth moral certainty ho,c this confet
must certainly result.
Evil is not self-existent. According to the
Scriptures, evil had a beginning, and whatever
had beginning, says jeremy Taylor, may
have an end
1t cannot become immortal, except by the will
of God Sin has no vital force, no self-subsis
ting life.
1t is not mans natural estate. Sin is a state
Of conflict not peace, or disease, not health, and
its tendencies are to death, rather than life
preme, goodness must prevail, No Christian
mind doubts that truth will vanquish error, OF
that freedom will conquer slavery and sweep
that foul blot from the earth forever. Truth is
omnipotent,men say,and it must prevail, Liber-
ty is of God; and slavery must die. Such seems
to be the common faith of all christian minds
Now goodness is of God and why should we
doubt whether goodness will conquer, and evil
die2 Righteousness is of God, and why must
not Righteousness prevail and sin vanish from
the universe forever?
| III. God has actually purposed the destruction
| Of sin
| If we look into the Bible, we find that as
soon as Adam and Eve had become involved in
sin the promise of Redcemcr was given. A
curse was pronounced upon the serpent. "And
will put enmity between thee and the woman,
Il between thy seed d her seed it shall bruse thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 8
l5) The serpent symbolizcs, as l conceive
evil or sin. And the seed of the woman is
Christ. The divine declaration is that the prom
ised deliversrsha crush the serpents head. To
crush aserpents head, is to destroy his life, what
ever view we may adopt of the Devil--personal
or impersonal-the promise is that Christ shall
destroy SIM
John the Baptist--John |. 29-ponts us to
Christ as "The Lamb of God which taketh away
the vim of the ,porld."
The Evangelist John, bears like witness :
"For this purspse was the Son of God NANTES
ted, that he might, destroy the works of the
devil"( John 3. 1877
The Apostle Paul, certifes that Jesus took upon
him our nature, or became man, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power
of death-that is the devil and declare them,
who, through fear of death, were all their life
time subject to bondage. '(Heb 9. H. l5) Here
the destruction of sin, and of death is positively
set forth How will Christ destroy DEATH but
by bringing its dominion completely to an end,
and rescuing every human being from it's dark
ness and power? If death should finally hold
one human being in its grasp. could we truly
say that Christ had destroyed death ? And if
one soul remains in the bondage and misery Of
in forever, can we truly say that Christ has
destroyed sin The citations made from the
Bible, touching the issue now before us, all bear
upon one point, and all affirm the absolute de-
struction of evil or sin, by the power of Christ
| shall offer but one other witness in the pres
ent letter, "But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound" (Romans 5. 2l.) The
text refers to the extent and triumph Of the grace
which came by Christ. In the context, st.,
Paul shows how "the many"-the mass-all
men are made sinners through the disobedience
of one, and how the same, hoi pOlloi, all men
shall be made righteous through Christ And
then in the text he magnifies til work and tri-
umph of grace. We may dwell upon the evil
of sin, and mourn over its universal reign, but
the achievements of grace are wider and deep
er still. The grace of God shall superabound
the reign of sin. Sin has actually enslaved the
world. Grace must actually secure its saliva
ton. The reign of sin is universal
The reign of Righteousness must be
universal. If sin exists forever, how does grace
destroy it ? If part Of the human race remain
sinners forever, how docs grace superabounding
grace.
Well may we exclaim with DR.. Adam Clarke,
(of your own Church,) as for a moment the
heavenly vision dawned upon his soul
"Thus we find that the salvation from sin here,
is as extensive and complete as the guilt and
of sin, death is conquered, hell
the Devil confounded, and sin tc-
tally destroyed There is glorying to him that
hath loved and washed us in his own blood from
our sins, and has made lis kings and priests uu-
to God, and his Father, to glory and dominion
forever Amenl Hallelujah The Lord God
Omnipotent reighneth Amen, and Amen"