Nevada County picayune., 1890-03-05

Then when Lust hath conceived, il bringeh forth sin and sin when it i, finished hringvih forth drath.--lamps l, iG.
 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full uf the knowi edge of the Lord the water, cover the sea.-l.a ish Nj, 9.
 There has been much speculation among philosophers. concerning the origin of evil, and it has justly been regarded as the crowning mystery in this world of mysteries. The Bible furnishes the only satisfactory ac- count of the first introduction of evil. at least in this lower world but it must be confessed that it offers no philosophical explanation of the re- mote causes, or the reasons why it was permitted. We are left to ar rive at such solution of the mighty problem as subsequent developments and revelation present to our faith and reason.
 The various and conflicting opin- ions on this subject may be reduced to three classes; 1st, those who main tain that sin was the cause of evil, and that all those who reject God s plan of recovering grace will be pun ished with inconceivable tortures for ever. thus rendering evil eternal Tn it's duration 2nd, those who believe that evil is temporary in its nature, that it was permitted for wise and noble purposes, and that while tenn porarv punishment will be inflicted on evil doers, yet the Divine admin istration will ultimately issue in the salvation of all men: 3rd, those who contend that the death penalty threat ened in the Garden of Eden will be executed literally, upon all incorrigi- ble evil-doers, amid the solemn scenes of the final judgment. and that sin and suffering, death and l hell, will then be forever plotted out from Gods fair universe.
 The first class of thinkers alluded to. base their doctrine upon a literal interpretation of those highly tigurs- tive passages in the New Testament Scriptures in which, under the ex- pressive symbols of fire, everlasting fire, the lake of fire, the worm that dieth not. and the fire that Is not quenched, the doom of the finally impenitent is set forth; to all of which it is enough to say, that the phrases referred to are highly iigura- tive. that as fire was universally rec ognized as the most effective con suming element, it was accordingly employed to denote the utter and ir- retrievahle destruction of the wick ed. Besides, the preponderance of proof texts is decidedly in favor of the literal death penalty. It is a well established principle of exegesis, or Scrlptural interpretation, that all opposing passages shall be construed in harmony with the general tenor of Scripture. To illustrate, there is one passage of Scripture which says, the earth shall abide forever, and proba- blv two or three others on the same line. Now, as the general tenor of the Bible teaches the doctrine, that there will be a general judgment. in which the earth will be destroyed. These passages must he construed in harmony with the general drift of the inspired oracles. Various other it. lustrations of similar character might be adduced. but this is sulli- cient for our general argument.
 The second-class of thinkers claim too much. They overshoot the mark and interpret as absolute and uncon- ditional all those declarations in which the conditional salvation of the human race is set forth, ignoring 
 the fact that the great prepOnder- ance of proof shows. that salvation, in its last analysis, is only bestowed on the good and obedient. Christ died for all men, and salvation is of fered to all upon the terms of tue gospel; but as a matter of fact, only those will be saved who accept the gospel, and comply with the condi- tons laid down therein.
 The third class, to which we be- long, occupies the middle ground be- tween these two extremes; and in their solution of this intricate prob lem present to the world the most ra- tional theodicy that has ever yet been presented for the faith of mankind.
 In accordance with the views of this class of thinkers, as well as in ac- cordance with common sense inter- pretatlon of scripture, the issues set