The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-04-03

eventually, he insists on the wicked exist
ing long enough before that event TO re-
ceve punishment for their wrongdolng-
doubtless lingering punishment-a1ter
which they are at liberty to vanish into
something thinner than air.
In this same letter the reverend gentle
man dwells at some length on the value OF
fear as an element of persuasion toward
righteous life, and upon the evil conse-
quences Of removing that safeguard to char |
acter. He mourns the fact that CONVEX |
sions under fear Of wrath to come are TIL e |
rarest OF spiritual events in our day, while |
in former years they were common and
marked with deep convictions OF punish
ment to follow sins unrepented of, as well
as by the SUMNER aspects of the revelation
of Con. He further declares that moder n
sermons show marvellous difference from
the teaching of the Messiah on the subject
Of Judgment to come, and urges that sin Is
san evil so profound and so virulent in its
qualities, especially in an educated gentle
man, that fear cannot be dispensed with
now in the endeavor to pull men out Of the
fire any more than in the apostolic age"
Referring to the visible pandemonium of
Goddess London" with its wretches de-
liberately gaining their living by teaching
atheism by their trade in "spirit shops"-
saloons-in the viler theatres and in bet
| ting houses, and who are full brothers to
the foulest fends of hell, % he says
| Do not tell me that these people and their
victims can be saved only by Upright services
and arrested by the soothing panacea of
har1 arrola to 1aH
trine of spiritual fear which is required doc
trine of judgment to come, certain, near, credi-
bic, soul-shalsing, and tremendous, which alone
will alarm them. or save their victims from the
wrath to come.
For these reasons he regrets the spirit OF
the doctrine of the humiliation of the soul
at death, or at the day of judgment.
But if IN the economy of Con the souls of
the wicked are to be annihilated at any
time, why not at death, or at Judgments
Would it not be better than merely to wake
to life to endure punishment! Is it possible
that we still have men who think that an
allwise, all-merciful Providence would
keep soul in conscious existence merely
in order that pain and wretchedness might
be heaped upon it2 Wrong doing will some
time and some where be met with its just
penalty, unless its perpetrator by repent
ance and forsaking the evil can throw him
self under the protecting agis Of mercy;
but that penalty will operate for the good
of the sufferer, to bring him through re-
pentance back to the paths of right living
But the soul that gets beyond the power of
repentance, or the power for forgiveness
to hold that the soul will be kept in exist
ance for ages merely to glut the vengeance
of Diety, and then be annihilated, is doc
trine so monstrous and absurd that it
amounts to libel on COPS character. 1t
doubtless is necessary that men should
understand that they can not escape the
penalty of wrong doing only by repentance
and forsaksng of evil; but after all
The fear O helrs hangmans whip,
To baud the wretch in order;
and the manner in which eternal punish
ment has been portrayed to poor, trembling
humanity, has been more fruitful source
OF unbelief in GoD than any other single
cause. The pictures drawn of the suffering
of the damned, its eternal duration, and the
satisfaction it would give Deity to behold it
was so ungodlike that rather than believe
it men chose to believe there was no COP.
To brighten men into heaven is unworthy
of heaven, and is not COPS method of in
duciag men to enter His kingdom. The
truth He will present to them, together
with the advantages of observing it; evil
and its consequences He has and doubtless
will continue to point out in His word as
part of the revelation of truth; but il men
choose evil rather than good, He will pre-
serve the right of that choice sacred te
them; and at last, as well as at the first
whereby painful experience they learr
that goodness is best, let it be when i
may, in time or in eternity, they will fine
the hand of GoD stretched out to receiv,
l them and help them walk in the paths O.
. virtue and peace.