Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-23


vice in (sheoD the grave. whittier thou
goest." (Eccl. 9:10.) I remind you that
both in the Old Testament and in the New
Testament 1t is written of both the good
and the bad that they fall asleep in death.
i remind you that the apostle speaks OF
those who 'Sleep in Jesus" and of those
who have fallen asleepNin Christi" when,
he declares, are persisted, II there be no
resurrection of the dead. Could they per
ish in heaven or in Purgatory or in a hell
of torment? Asuredly no one so teaches.
They are already in a perish condition
in the tomb; and the perishing would be
absolute, complete, unless a resurrection
be provided for their deIiverance from the
power of death. Hence we read, God so
loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth on
him should not perish, but have eternal
life" John 3:16)
In a word, then, the Bible teaching is
that man was made superior to all the
brute creation-in the image and likeness
of his Creator; that he possessed life in a
perfect degree in Eden and might have
attained 1t by full obedience. But in his
trial, his testing, he failed and came
under the death sentence, 'In the day
that thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt
die" Gen., 2-17.) There the dying began,
which, after nine hundred and thirty
years, brought father Adam to the tomb
and involved all Of his children in his
weaknesses and sentence. He died in the
very day which the Apostle Peter ex-
plains was not a twenty-four hour day,
but a thousand year day, saying, lone
day Is with the Lord as thousand years.
and thousand years as one day." Oh.
Peter, 3-S) During four OF these days
the death sentence brought man down
in some respects to the level OF the brute
and left him without hope of future life,
except as God might take compassion up
on him and bring him some relief. This
was limited at in the statement that 1.-THE
seed Of the woman should bruise the SER
pent's head" It was yet further elabo-
rated to Abraham, saying: And in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed" Gen., 2S-14.)
But not until four of the great thou
sand year days had passed did God send
his son forth to redeem the race, by pay
ing father Adams penalty, by saying:
1.-The just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God" Il. Peter, 3-1S) As q
result of that redemptive work accom-
plished at Calvary there is to be a res
direction Of the dead, both of the just
and of the unjust-a recovery from the
death sentence, from the prison-house,
the tomb.
Death, Not Torment, the Penalty
Note well the mistake made In assum-
ing eternal torment the wages OF original
sin, when the Scriptures explicitly declare
that the wages of sin is death"-not
eternal torment. CRom., 6-23.) We search
the Genesis account of mans fall and the
sentence imposed, but find no SUCCESS
ton of a future punishment, but merely
of a death penalty. Repeating It the
second time the Lord said: Dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return"
(Gen., 3-19.) But he said not word re-
speeding devils, fire and torment. How,
then, did the adversary deceive our faith
ers during the dark ages with his err
rors, which the apostle styles doctrines
Of the devils?" Note the fact that none
of the prophecies mention any other than
death penalty for sin. Note that the
New Testament likewise declares the
same. st. Paul, who wrote more than one
half of the New Testament, and who
assures us that he did not shun to de-
clare the whole counsel of God" (Acts
2O-2O, says not a word about torment. On
the contrary, discussing this very matter
of sin and it's penalty, he says: where
fore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned." (Rom., 5-12) Note that it was
not eternal torment that passed upon one
man nor upon all men, but death.
If some one suggests that death would
not be a sufficient penalty for sin, all
we would need to. do would be to point
him to the facts and thus prove his sug-
gestions illogical. For the sin Of dis
obedience Adam lost his paradiasic para
disc home-lost eternal life and Divine
fellowship, and instead got sickness, pain.
sorrow, death. Additionally all of his
posterity, reasonably estimated at twenty
thousand millions, disinherited so far as
the blessings are concerned, have inherit
ed weaknesses, mental, moral and physi-
cal, and are as the apostle declares, "A
groaning creation" (Rom., s-22.)
View the situation! Twenty thousand
millions born in sin and shapen in ini-
guilty. Psa., 51-5.) A few short hours or
days or years Of trouble. and disobedience
brought them to their deathbed; the
weeping friends stood around with break
ing hearts. They were carried to the
tomb-"ashes to ashes, dust to dust" Re-
viewing the whole situation, and remem-
bering that all the sickness. sorrow, pain,
death, mental and moral decrepitude, re-
sui from father Adams transgression,
what sane man would say that the pen
atty has been insufficient and that justice
could, does further demand that these
men shall, at death, De buried 10 hell
of endless woe, trouble-tormented by de-
mons to all eternity? Dear friends, the
person who thus reasons indicates to you
and to me that he either never had the
power to reason. or that he has lost
it.
Gods Penalty a Just One
Let no one think the death penalty I'M
just and too severe. God could have blot
ted ont Adam the sinner thus fulfilling
the sentence. He could have blotted out
the race instantly. But would we have
preferred that? Assuredly not. Life is
sweet even amidst pain and suffering. Be
sides II is the Divine purpose that pres
ent trials and experiences shall prove use
full as discipIines; to prepare US for
wiser course than father adam took,
when we shall be privileged to have q
further individual trial. Our race would
have been without hope of future exist
ence, just as agnosticism claims, had II
not been for Divine compassion and the
work of redemption.
Notice again why our Lord died for our
redemption and see In that another evil
dence for the penalty. II the penalty
against us had been eternal torment, our
from it would have cost our
Lord that price. He would have been
obliged to suffer eternal torment the
Just for the unjust. But eternal torment
was not the penalty; hence Jesus did not
pay that penalty for it. Death was the