The Morning herald., 1878-04-12
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.

w 40 AoW Sh6 oooAbS cAC e~eSSDSASA "
the thoughtful among the exponents and
believers in the religions world and also, a
.nbject Of vital importance 70 every one, a
few thoughts touching this question may
not be out of place. What 'is eye Tasting
punishment? Is it completed, finished
work, the end Of furnishing Or is It an
eternal process of inficting :? does it re
quire the perpetual burning wrath, and tax
the almighty energy of f6ninipStence to "put
an end to sin ?" And still fhatf end never
be accomplished :" VIII sin EVER be fin
ished, or must it defy eternally the infr
mite justice of Jehovah. to oyertake, and
mock his lack of omnipotent power to
blot it from the universe ? As sin, is to he
raised to the dignity of an eternal rival thus
battling the divine wisdom, and setting at
naught the power of Him with whom" all
things are possible p Does God propose
to engage in an eternal conflict with, and
wagean eternal warfare against sin, OF does
his law makeprovision for the final andeter-
nal suppression and cessation Of sin and
moral evil, by the total extinction ljof the
conscious being of its perpetrators? ID it
the purpose Of God to preserve or to des1
troy the wicked? Has he still within his
grasp the reins Of universal and supreme
control, or, has sin and moral evil far
transcended the bounds of the divine, on4
niscence ? Is moral evil an eternal neces-
sity, or do the exigeucies Of tie case,as we'll
as the divine law itself, demand its. final
and total extinction? Will the eternal
preservation of the sinner in imaginable
torture secure the glory Of God more, or
serve the divine purpose better, than his
utter extinction Is it, God who created
all things by the word Of his. power, both
the earth and all the starry planetary sys-
TENS, and assigned them their respective
POSITIONS in illimitable spacs--in1whose
sight the children of men are but de- grass
hoppers? Isit his,to define the destiny Of
the creatures he hath made, and appoint
them their positions in the great here fer
| as the result of character formed here, or
shall s'mortal man whose "breaIh is in his
ncs,riIs, and bis foundation il in the dust"
! arrogate to himself the riokt totell us that
God means something entirely different
from wh,, he says? If God hath said,
''The soul that sioneth, it shall de-" and
he hath also defined death in these simple,
unequivocal words, ''Dust thou art, and
unto dust thou shalt return !" then is 1t not
manifest contradiction Of Jehovah for
any one to say, "the soul can, never die" "
that the wages of sin is "not DEATH" thus
making God liar? For in lieu of man
returning to dust, unconscious as he was,
men say he goes to conscious everlasting
torment" thus denying that the punish
men, ,whichi is death, is Of divine origin,
and thus associating themselves and ,iden-
tifying themselves with the serpent in it's
contradiction of Jehovah? Punishment is
the result of a .punisher furnishing the
violator OF law. The punisher must exc
cute the law. During its process hetis en-
gagged in furnishing, and when he ceases
Furnishing, then the criminal has received
bis punishment. 1t is then completed, fin
ished, done, and the law can demand no
more. - ~ W
Then the duration of punishmentis not
to be measured by, nor .confounded With
the act Of the pnnisher. Furnishing the
criminal, the act of Furnishing ceases, but
the punishment is everlasting. No matter
whether it be imprisonment, Aogging at the
whipping post, pilloly. or deathoD The
death then to which God consigns the
finally impenitent is not an everlasting
process of Furnishing, for this. could never
reach the divine purpose, nor by any man
ner Of means amount toi the specified con-
dition Of an everlasting punishment i Is
not an everlasting process Of inaiction. but
process when completed, which produces
| the divine result, and makes the pun
lishment everlasting 10 the effect produced.
Death, then, is q flushed, completed work,
| il puts an end totman's capacity fori evil,
and is, in the strietest sense, "everlasting
| punishment" The Lord preserveh all
them that love him, but allthe wicked
will he destroy Psalm. 145: 20!1b ed
Mr.. Benson, the great Methodist com.
mentator, says, "God is present "A bel to,
see the punishment of those rebels against
his government that it may be adequate to
the infnitude of their guilt. His fiery in
dignation kindles, and his incensed fury
feeds the flames of their, torment, while his
powerful presence and operation maintains
their being and renders all their, powers
| most acutely sensible,--thus setting the
eeaest edge upon their PAIN, and making
| il cut most intolerably deep. HewilI ex-
ert all his divine attributes to make them
| as wretched as the capacity Of their being
will admit '' t.,t .,., a. g,,n VI >.
.lox theology, God himself, present in
b ell" David says, TN thy presence t here
is fulness of JOYS" 80 that if God is present
in bell, and David tells the truth, then
there must be this fulness of JOY in hell.
But flights of fancy. or high wrough ht
imag cry, must not be taken even from the
Iearpei as Bible truth GAN the wicked
will God destroy" and if destroy means
preserved, then why may not preserve
mean destroy 2, The more closely we ad-
here to the teachings of inspiration the less
| we feel..inclined to listen to- the advocates
of tradition. God has "confounded the
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