The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-10-15
The Issues Of To-Day.
THE Adyance.1


Virgil. The Roman poet pictured Tar
tarus long before Dante described tho In
fe.uo.
Here are they who hated brethren,
Or drove parent from their door,
Or practioed fraud on u depondent
Or kept their richesfor themselves,
Sharing them not with theic own kindred.
Blu betwe,n tn, Pagan and the Chris
tian doctrine OF retribution there is this
difference. The Pagan thinks of a conse-
quehce that is future and remote; tho
C3ris ian OF ono that is present and imme.
di 10, with tendency to become also
future and remote. There Is, even am ing
nominal Christian people, too much OF this
Pagan way of thinking, which views CON
sequences as detached from actions, and
carried over into rem1ts future, not to
al ct US till after an interval, during
which there may be opportunities to can
eel them. This leaves the mind Of the
transgressor at ease, like a man with a
debt that will not become due for long
time, during which he expects by gnod
fortune to provide the means OF payment.
The Christian principle of retribution,
on the contrary, Ia, that consequences are
SO inseparable from actions that they be-
gin TO take effect at once. II man tak's
brandy or opium every day, the stimulant
or the narcotic does not lie dormant in his
sy item for a period, when all at once he
feels the accumulated effect Of hundred
doses; and goes into frenzied excitement
or comatose slumber. Equally absurd is
1t, in the Christian view, to think Of any
right or wrong thought, word or act, as
postponing its effect till a distant judg
ment day, when all at once bill that has
been withheld for years will he presented
for settlement. The loss of every wrong
act, the gain Of every right act, go with
the act inseparably. Tners Is no future
escape from consequences, because ther
Is no present escape, no gap, however
momentary, between the moral cause and
the moral effect.
There is, in whatsoever is right, eternal
life; there is, in whatsoever Is wrong
eternal punishment-incipient, progress
i've, most real, just as there is physical lie
in every mouthful Of food, and physica'
death in every taste Of poison, Tho anti
do'o, II timely taken, may work of Ia
poison, yet not wi hou5 more or iSs d!
disturbance aud pain. Rspcn 'ance aud
amendment may cus shor' Tn ~ i'hment,
they begin to cut it shors whenever aay
sinner forsakes his evil way; yet 1t is none
the less eternally present in the nece sary
nature Of things, so long the poisoao IS
wrong remains in the moral System
deathly to the moral nature.
The Pagan view Of retribution, as re-
mandel to the future with chances Of ei.
cape in the interval, takes a burden Of re
sponsihility Off from the decisions Of the
preselt hour. The Christian view OF the
immedia'oness Of retribu5ion, In conse
qnences beginning on the spot in the un-
broken line of cause anl effec', puts all
the burden on the present hour that con-
science is capable of feeling. Hence the
Pagan thou ;ht, which looks away from
tho moral realities OF the present, Is an
immoral noion. The Christian thought Is
the only moral and wholesome one. Eter.
nifty Is not great way of, not to be cared
for till come to. Eternity Is here with its
consequences, as the man OF twenty years
hence, with his virtue or his vice, is in the
child that is learning virtue or vice to-day
"Whnt is your life, thenP at is like ;
| vapor," says Holy Writ. Aye, that is
your body's life; but what is your lifei
What It is points to what it will be. H. II
the Christly life that is lowered With che
Christly and eternal hopeY All its fraure
is involved In what II Is to-day. The etei
nal life or punishment Is here, In its be.
ginning, Of gain or Of loss. "rue Judge Is
a. the door" His sentence Is registered
in the choice that is made now Of Christ OF
anti.Christ. IL begins TO take effect the
momens the choice is made, In the comm ;
to tho Father Of the blessed who choose
the right way, or in the departing Of th,
| cursed who choose the wron :. Easier or
every advancing st,p, an n,arer, Is th ir
coming in tue eternal way Of life. Harder
for every departing step, anl longer, tn,
way Of their return who 90 In the eternal
way Of punishment. Short may be th,
step, but every step counts, one way or
the other, in the eternal lines OF moral
cause and effect; counts, not arithmctical.
ly, but geometrically, not by addition but
by multiplication. To-day at least hall
decides tomorrow. Said the old Greek
poet, "The beginnings half Of the whole"
This is the Christian thought of retribu.
tion, in distinction from the popular and
Pagan notion. What is imagined TO be
but momentary is really of eternal mo
ment. We dispose our whole future iu
our disposal OF to-day.