Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-04-20

| tue NJ u. SuuFCu, ueliNeTeO dL Iu0 MeLu
odist Church South, Knoxville, Tenn
| April IL, 1879.
| Geographically reported by C. L Strat
ton. (Reyised.)
''What wilt thou say when he shal
punish thee ?''-Jeremiah xiii, 81
This language was addressed to the Jew
ish people by the prophet under eircum
stances to which it is not necessary to refer
Like many other passages, this interro
| gatory can with perfect proprlety be al
dressed to ali people, in all time, who ar
| without God in the world. GOD spok
| through his servant. with perfect KNOW
! edge Of what, and who man IS.
The controlling motives OF human actor
are 1.-The hope of reward" and the fea
| of punishment" The question in the tex
| is an appeal to the latter, that the dread o
! punishment may awake him from tata
| slumber. and spring him to action in the
! direction of his own safety:
In this day of scientific investigation, o.
philosophical speculation. and book
/ making: of transcendental metaphysics
| and rationalistic and materialistic infidelty,
| it may be regarded as somewhat unfashion-
able. or, at any rate, in bad taste, to deliver
the lCHoEe message of God-and, in some
super-refned circles, a breach of good
manners. In the estimation of such it may
be right to magnify the goodness and
mercy, the pity and love, the grandeur and
glory, the omnipotence and majesty
Of Jehovah, but 1T is next to
criminal to reveal his justice,
to talk of His wrath, or to uncover the pit
of Gehenna, and point to the smoke of the
torment of the lost, THAT ascendeth up
forever and forever" 1t is proper and
pleasing to speak CT the angels, and the
heavenly city, Of ScePters and crowns and
palms of victory, but It is horrible to rasp
the ears of the refined with the wailings of
the lost, or to picture before their eyes the
worm that dieth not' and the flames of the
fire that is unquenchable forever. Never
theless is is the business of Gods minister
" to cry aloud and spare not" to declare
the whole counsel of God" " warning
every man and teaching every man, in all
wisdom" to eXhort al men to flee the
wrath to come, to prepare to meet their
God" and to escape the damnatiOn of
hell" To do his whole duty he must, as
does the gospel he teaches, WELD motives
not only high as heaven, but deep as hell,
and far-reaching as eternity. He must
touch every faculty of the soul, every
the understanding, strengthen and fortify
the judgment, charm the fancy, electrify
and facinate the imagination, invigorate
the memory, kindle the emotions, alarm
the fears, capture the affections, and storm
the will, that he may, by any and all
means, move men TO seek sdIVdLlOn ana
win eternal life.
Our text is the voice of inspiration, pre-
senting punishment, as an appeal, to our
fear. The idea of future punishment, l
know, Is in conflict with a taYOrlte mott on
of some who count themselves, and
by their set are counted, the "sGUGRs
par excellence" of the age. But, taking
1t for granted that l am addressing no inf
dels, to-day, L assume that you all recOg-
nize the Bible as the genuine Word of God,
and what L have to say is based on the rev
Citations of that Word.
There IS an argument, and an unassaila>
BILE argument, dem onstrating the necessity
for future j1Idgnl emit and future punish
DleRt Without reference to revelation, L
will state it briefly and pass. In every hu-
man soul, among all people, the principle
is recognized intuitively that the PeTpetrG-
tor Of 1CrOng ought to be punished, Upon
this principle ali human governments are
established, and 6ll human laws enacted.
1t is implanted in the human soul in some
shape wherever humanity is found. This
innate sense of justice, cropping out in all
our race, is the shsdowy outline of our fea-
ture of the divine image, lost in the fall,
but not totally obliterated.
Justice IS a necessary attribute Of the
Supreme Creator. We can not think of
God without aSsOeiating with the thought
the idea of justice. And ii He be just, He
- lllulktll Just. Ilt 10 llk6WlSG OIlulSCl6uL
and OmnlpOtent. At the same time, He is |
the Supreme Governor of the universe, and |
therefore of this world. Now, being ON |
He must take cognizance of all |
the transactions of this world, and of ne
cessity, of all injustice and wrong, and be- |
ing infinitely powerful, He can apprehend |
every wrong dOer; and being infinitely !
Just, He must, of necessity, inaict the mer-
tied punis hment at some period upon every |
within His jurisdiction. |
Otherwise He is disrobed of one of the |
grandest attributes of His nature, without
which He would cease to be God.
But, are all the sins of men, perpetrated
against God and human beings, duly pun
shed ? All history and all human observa-
ion and experience answer mol Bloodshed,
murder, rapine, injustice, cruelty and wrong,
n every form and degree. make up, largely,
he warp and wool of mans history. Ev-
ny imaginable crime against govern
nents, against society, against individuals
every possible sin against God, in every
conceivable form and degres-have been
lerpetrated by men, under the eye of
Iod's recording angel, and, in By far the
majority of the countess cases, the wrong
loer and the wronged, the sinner and those
inned against, have left the walks of men
Without trial or punishment on the one
land, or compensation on the other hand.
sven so-called courts of justice are some
lines imbecile sometimes overawed, some
lines corrupt, and often inhict punishment
and turn the guilty loose or
unIsh the innocent. But let US remember
be infallible record of every uncondoned
ct of injustice done among men, and ev-
~ unrepented, unpardoned sin against
rod is stereotyped upon His memory, and
lOugh His vengence liEgers and His an
er slumbers, a day is cOming-will soon
Ome--when all the people of all the ages
this world will be drawn, by almighty
over, into the presence of God, and He ,
iii judge them in righteousness, and He {
i'll reward every human being, or punish {
very one, according to the deeds done in j
lie body.
1t seems clear without resorting to the !
ible, that justice demands general judg {
lent, and the punishment of offenders, in
er own vindicatiOn.
The infection Of punishment often begins :
4 this lCOrtd. !
This is always true of nations, as such,
ecause their existence is limited to time '
When nations ignore Jehovah, trample
pom His laws and defy his authority, OPP !
ress the weak, provoke unholy wars and !
Ommit acts of violence and injustice upon !
Their nations, till their wickedness grows
INK and smells to heaven" Gods wrath,
some form, always overtakes them, and
though it may linger, is al
avs sure. I
God has once swept away all the nations Z
the earth with an overwhelming deluge !
waters and the mighty flood LETT no ves
&c of their greatness or glory,
So has it ever been since Kingdoms en- r
4 L Ill