Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-25
SUNDAY EVENING LECTURE.
Rev. :. A. Gray's Ideas Of q rut re
Punishment.

The following synopsis of Rev. j. A.
Gray's views as to "whether a man
will be damned for one SIM" will be
read with interest:
Acts 49, And when the barbarians saw
the venomous beast hang on his hands,
they said among themselves: n doubt
this man is . wander er. whom, though he
hath escaped the sea. yet Vengeance suffer-
eth not to live"
All nations and all religions have
recognized the dogma of future pun
ishInent. Many barbarian notions
have been handed down into our
thought. 1t Is a false notion that death
Is the greatest punishment of all. Cain
said: at shall come to pass hat who
soever findeth me will STAY me-" God
said: Whose slsyeth Cain, ven-
geance shall be taken on him seven.
fold" That is the dread type of He'll
to live when one prays and pleads for
death. 1t is a barbarian notion that
expects punishment for great crimes
only. When The viper fastened on his
hand, the people said, no doubt, ''This
man is a murderer" The greatest
crime Is not the creates: sin. 1t is the
greatest wrong we can commit against
the individual and society, but all sin
IL alike odious TO God. Many q muir
derer's heart is white compared with
some that are considered respectable
In society.
But is not the idea of eternal pun
ishment a barbarous notion? Will
| God for one sin, or for the sins of this
little lifetime condemn any immortal
soul to perpetual Punishment and suf-
fering?
Put the Bible into the hands of a
Bramah, or a Mohammedan, or any
impartial judge, and he will have no
doubt that its purpose is to convey this
idea: "The wicked shall go away into
everlasting punishment" But it Is
certain that there is not so much made
of this doctrine in religious teaching as
| heretofore. IL does not have as much
force on popular thought. We can re-
member when, as children, we sat un-
der the ministry of the Word, and our
=. blood ran cold " at the visions por-
trayed of lasting. tempestuous seas of
fire, and the ceaseless groans of the
damned. Such teachings fall power
less in oar day upon the man of
brains. This Is not because the Church
has lost faith in the doctrine, but be-
| cause general culture has made the
masses susceptible of higher motives.
The same thing is marked in the
growth Of civil law. There are higher
motives that restrain men from the
commission Of crime than the legal
penalties. There has been no lack of
faith in the doctrine, but a conscious
ness of its lack of force in thought.
Now in the organization of a perfect
society il 1t unjust to punish sin eter-
naliy. You say the penalty is u OF
proportion with the otfense. but when
j thA iaua xrn.fGIAA thu nfyanhAT fTAta.
| perfect society, what has time to do
with it. Ii q man steals from you,
aud the law condemns him to ten
years Imprisonment, does the infic.
ton Of the penalty change his relation
to you? Do you take him back to
! your confidence without a word Of
penitence? Now il is not a higher
kind Of justice that We can not con
ceive that inflicts eternal separations
between the bad and the good, but
just the kind Of justice We act upon
every day. We damn men eternally
in our thought aud feeling. and it
does not shock our sense of justice.
Benedict Arnold was a brave soldier
In the time of our nations birth. He
cast himself without shrinking into
the bitterest battles. lie poured out
his blood on our soil 10 water the tree
VI lAUftAN w w al ' ~ hV tii /
His name was cast out and reviled az
thai of a traitor. Upon it the nation
has poured its contempt and scorn for
a century. Do any OF you say now,
he has suffered enough-let Us build a
monument to his good deeds and for
get the bad. The one bad act is the
type of his character, and you con-
denim him as much as did our fathers
But YOU say IF men suffer u
repent / would forgive and re-
store" Yes, that is just what
God offers to do, ''if We confess
and forsake our sins, he is faithful and
Just to forgive. Can God infiict tor
his own creation? l imagine these
awful descriptions of fire" and the
.undying worm" are the expressions
OF q pun. mind looking with horror on
degradatian of sin. Loss Of respect OF
pure ambitions and insDirations are
worse than literal physical torture.
TIE figures la not lost but gained
force i'm the progress of thought.
have heard the bitter cry of men going
down INTO the flames of a burning
building, but the bitterest cry ever
heard was from a man whose guilty
conscience WAS awakened to his own
degradation, and who cried in piteous
wailings, "Oh, God, save me from
myself" l believe God is bound by
his attributes and inclined by his ma
ture TO make He'll just as merciful rs
possible, aud l am sure he Will infiict
no penalties except those woven into
| the laws OF our being.
Hay.