The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-03-07

u6U grow OlueE. IAo i6sio VI VIZ AZ
man as be grows older is as an ascending
series,nn they become set in their ways
What reason have we to belieyethat they
will ever change?
icy Will men have new motives, strong.
er influences in the regions of the damned
Ito win them to the right way, than they
Ehave ;here2 Here they hare the Bible
Invitations of Christ, wooings of the Holy
Spirit, influence of Church'and good men.
What new motives will be used to incline
them to repentance in hellf "If they
hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose
from the dead."-Luke 1881.
(d) There is a proverb of this kind: 1T
is never, too late. to amend" This, like
many other proverbs, is true and false.
It. is false;in Its application to the condi-
tion of the lost. Il is false as scientific
declaration. Canon Farrars words were
an elaboration of this saying-that the
man who had some desire for salvation,
who was somewhat awakened to the
knowledge of his sins, and yet died un-
repentant, might die in hope of proba-
ton beyond the grave, and in hell lift up
his eyes in hope of final salvation. In the
material world this proverb is false, as
will proceed to show.
There are three kinds of natural laws,
VIZ: Physical, Organic and Moral
-i1) Take as an illustration, graritdtion
in physical law. "A ship careens from
right to: left, but Nregains her position.
This may. answer a good purpose. 1t
makes sailors bold and skillful; but that
ship, careening more and mora capsizes
and goes sto.the bottom, and If it be laade
of iron, it-apM remain tn that condition
forever. Will ages of sufferings under
that penalty help to bring it back to its
proper positionY When the ship is sunk
It is too late to mendl May it not be SO
as regards the indulgence in long con-
tipued sin, and the formation of perma-
npent character in the sinner?, May it
not be soy Gods Word says it is 80.
.(2) Take pm illustration from organic
law. q
The Caouteaouc, or India Rubber, tree
may be gashed at certain point and
made to throw forth its gums; BY judi
cious incisions the tree may become
stronger than before, and made to yield
a greater amount Of gum. But cut be-
yond certaih limit, gashed through the
heart, it fall, and PROSTATE 1t will forever
iliel a Thousand years of penalty will
do nothing toward remedying the evil.
1t 10 too lite to mend. illustrations may
be taken from man. When ne has abused
himself aa6I wasted his constitution, and
brought suffering on himself, although he
suffer much and long, the sufferings are
mot remedial. It is too late to mend.
There is penalty in natural la,0 that Is not
remedial. Bishop Butler and Sir Isaac
Newton call analogy" the supreme rule
in science. We are arguing from analo-
gy. Suppose you discover I'm some geo
logical deposit q strange animal petrihed.
One foot you extricate, and find 1t pos.
sesses ten toes, all ending in claws, all
bending downward toward the foot; you
get the other foot out, it has nine toes,
all ending in claws, all bending down.
ward toward the foot. There is tenth
toe imbedded in the strata you see q
little of it; you see the place on the foot
where it was joined; you cam: get it out,
however. Now, is it not likely thai that
toe terminates in claw, as did the nine
teen? Would you suppose that it bent
downward or upward? ? Would you be-
lieve that it terminated in horn or
hoof? No. Why? You argue from the
ten toes on the first foot that you got out
they all had claws and bent downward ;
you argue from the nine toes od the foot
from which hlthia last one has been broken
off; you say: nineteen of them have
such and such form and shape and ter
minal parts; surely, the other one has
these formations and parts" That IS
arguing from analogy strong argu-
ment.
Let us 90 back, then. We saw in ma
tural physical lsw, that the capsized ship
would remain capsized forever. 1t was
too late to mend. In organic natural
law we saw that the wasted constitution
of the inebriate, though suffering in
tensely, produced for itself no remedy.
We saw that the tree gashed beyond a
certain point would not recover itself
the sufferings were not remedial. 1t Dds
too tate to mend.
We arein the domain of science.
There is moral law in nature, too.
Arguing from analogy, may not time
come to man when his mdtal nature, SO
badly warped, and damaged, and wasted,
cannot recover itself? When he has
gasked himself through the heart 1Ditb sin
and fallen from Gods favor and gone to
perdition, what reason is there to hope
for reformation2 We cannot trace ali
the course of moral Law, but what we
see of it points in this direction, and we
see a good deal. Let US pause and pom
der before we shut our eyes to our own
safety. All this is scientific argument,
to meet scientific men. We have the
Bible, whose uttterances, as ! have
shown, are as the brightness of the me-
ridian sun, to out-shine all the ig,Ies fatu'
of science.
v. Iwant to notice some objections to the
doctrine of the endless nature of future
punishment.
(l) It is said:. The language Of Scrip.
ture that teaches this doctrine is fgura,
tue. Yes, fgurative; but the reality is
not opposed to the figure. When we say
aPeace spreads her balmy wings DER the
land" we do not mean that Peace liter
ally has wings, nor do We mean that wal
and carnage, and devastation run riot
That would be- contrary to all interpreta-
ton. You may call the descriptive terms
applied to perdition drapery if yol choose,
but the central truth is there. 1t stands
out to all beholders. That central truth
is the doom of ungodly men irreuerst6lJ
pronounced; the.fring forever Of character;
condition of intensest misery. 1t is the
bringing together of all the unholy, and
unbelieYing men and women and devil:
of all names and ages, the shutting o.
these up to the companionship OF one
another, beyond the restraints OF mora
Influences, outside the circle of good. ex'
amples and holy counsels-away from
light, from Heaven, from Godl In thi.
wretched state of existence memory still
lives. Conscience, like whip of scor.
pions, lacerates the soul. Memory anc
conscience Great God, what unwelcome
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