St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-02

his first epistle John says: "TheSe have
| written unto you that ye may know
that we have eternal life." so that eter-
nal life is a present fact, and not at all
contingent upon the future world. In
deed, it is the counterpart of that other
phrase, The kingdom of God" which is
not far off and external splendor. but
"the kingdom of God is within you."
Once again, the contrast IS not always
between life and death, but sometimes
Between Life and Punishment,
as in the text. Again, the word
arOmoS, employed to denote the life, is
the same as that used to mark the death.
Ii eternal death be something that shall
end with the subject, we have no war
rant that eternal life shall continue
either.
But the whole trouble arises from I'M
tenable views of the atonement and of
the government of God. If theologians
would throw away their books and
study the transactions of some prison
congress, they would soon find out how
much better the average penolOgist is
than the God they think they worship.
Punishment.in the old external sense
has no place i'll the moral universe.
Justice has never needed to bo Vindl-
Gated.
Conditional immortality solves none of
the problems. If the Greeks gave us
the glorious faith that man is essen
ITALY a spiritual being, thrice blessed
be the happy Greeks. But from the
DAYS of Plato until now the spiritual
philosophy has not wanted witness, and
the men OF most heroic mold have
taught that man is ESSENTIALLY the child
of the eternal.
Is not this also the meaning OF that
saying of Genesis, "Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness"
Biology may indeed say that there is
law of the survival of the tittest. and
that Nature over that track has Strewed
wreckage to reach man; but when man
is reached. that law is arrested, because
man is the end of her struggle and the
object of all her priceless extravaganza
Of life and time. He is the fruit of the
universe. Nature can do no more. The
universe, having reached man, is con-
tent. But conditional Immortality does
not help us in the disposal OF the aver
age unbeliever. Before the throne he
stands. He is to be judged at last. Did
you feed the hungry, elothe the sick.
minister to the distressed? He answers:
"Well, sometimes | did and sometimes
didn't" What must the judge do with
him? According TO this theory he must
send some angels out with orders,
Here. take this man; he was not as
bad as he might have been. Just burn
him to death; but, Oh account OF his
virtues, burn him over a slow fire."
The theory does not solve the problem
of the heather. They have had no
chance to believe in Christ. and in their
practical moral development they have
not reached the grade OF the average
man in Christian lands who is not a
Christian, hence neither by the stand
ard of faith nor conduct are they
Entitled to Immortality.
What must be done with Paul's prom
Use to them that they be judged without
the law? What must be thought of
God who would bring into being mill
ions of men and women who are able to
think of Immortality, and to yearn for it,
but by the conditions of their being are
not able to win it? This is too aristo-
cratic theory to suit the character of a
democratic God, whose whole admins
tratiOn is in the interests of the brother
hood Of man.
1t does not solve the need of uni
verse in which goodness is promised
triumphant reign. A father has a family
discordant by reason of some good chill
dren and some bad ones. He can Sc
cure perfect harmony by numbering the
bad boys and burying them in the
cellar, but there would be prejudice
against such a method, and it would not
vindicate his parental character.
Neither does it help the reputation of
God, if we trade off hell for celestial
slaughter house. The ashes of
dead souls would cry out for
ever against such a reconciliation.
Men are sent to the penitentiary
not alone because it is best for society,
but also because it is best for them.
There would be no hell were it not the
very best possible place in the universe
for bankrupt soul. Such disclosure
of goodness and truth is promised in the
final glory of the moral realm that there
shall be left no gehenna depths so lurid
or so dark as to contain unbent and
rebel knees. Every knee shall bow,
and every tongue confess Him Lord"
The doctrines of the resurrection and
the Judgment, the parable of Dives and
Lazarus, the spirituality of man, the
universally of the atonement, the parsi-
monY of the divine administration, and
the moral dignity of God, demand the
persistence of every human soul. The
infinite love of God in its unwearied pa
thence can never be discouraged.