The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1864-04-08
MR.. NYE TO MIR. WEBSTER,
LETTER III.

DEAR SIR You insist that good
ness often triumphs by the destruction Of
the evil doer.' But do evil doers exist
after goodness has destroyed them Can
they still sin q? Can they do good ?
And what triumph has goodness won in
removing them from a world where evil
can be overcome, to world where refor.
nation is an impossible thing?
| In your comment upon my position
that God has undertaken to remove the
sin of the world, you passed over the real
issue, and instituted certain queries relative
to Gods permission Of sin. "God did not
prevent sin, has ho more power to abol-
ish it ?" My illustrations met this point.
God did not prevent the existence OF
slavery, but you believe that God viii
abolish that. You pray for the relorma-
ton of man who has been suffered to
become sot, and prayer implies that
God can and will overcome what he did
not prevent. But you glide over the mat
ter in haste, starting another issue in its
place. eyes, God will put the rebellion
down, but by force. But what Of the re-
bells, when the rebellion ends ?" I in
quired, will God put ,laverv down? If
yes. /. Then God will certainly abolish
what he did not prevent. 2. But
why? That God "did not prevent it ab-
solutely is a fact" and "tbat he will
abolish it absolutely, improbable" How
can YOU believe that God will abolish it =?
Harmonize your faith, and give argument
in this case. 3 But God will put down
slavery absolutely, by force. Will God
put down the spiritual rebellion by force?
He did not prevent it by force. and
would not that "unman" the sinner and
"rob him Of all responsible power" And
WILL COP DO THAT" Sir? 4. Has it ev-
er occurred to you that God can never
destroy one sinner without abolishing
what he did not prevent? s. Show mo
how the spiritual rebellion can end while
rebels exist and l will answer.
We may speculate all our lives as to
the origin or permission of sin, but. in
this debate let us abide by the facts, L.
The world is involved in sin. 2. God
in Christ-has undertaken the destruc-
ton of sin and the salvation of the world.
Will God succeed or fail :?
In Gen. 8, Is. Whether the serpent
represents one evil one, or that one spirit
of which all evil is born and which domi-
mates in all evil men, my argument re-
mains the same. The devil, or evil
shall be utterly destroyed. John l. 20.
gives no hint Of provisional plan to remove
sin, but points to. Christ as the Lamb of
God (which takcth away the sin of the
world" Corresponding to this, ! John
3. 10, proves the destruction Of sin, as
the work of the devil. But in Heb. 2,
IA. you seek to involve me in a verbal
contradiction 1t is only verbal, as when
the Bible declares that God cannot repent
and yet afirms that it repented God, that
he had made man. We must settle the
meaning of words by the connection in
which they occur. Life is short in one
respect, in another long, A lie has pow
er land yet again has none. While believed
it villifes the innocent, and noble, and Of
ten carries lifelong grief to innumerabi'
hearts and homes. But pure lie ha'
no inherent, self-subsisting force l
only lives by connection with som'
real, or apparent truth. Take the srutl
out Of it and it is as powerless as a ser
pent without sting. So Error mas pow
er, but none as compared with truth.
And evil has power but none as con,
pared with good. There is no indnit
fountain tog feed that dark and ais6i