1870 Eternal Punishment 2 Charles Letter
Charles Martin's home page
THE AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN PIONEER.
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
We have just received the April
number of the Australian Christian
Pioneer, and notice an article with the above beading from the
pen of our Bro. Carr, His closing sentence speaks of " running
slender through the multiplication table," which we confess our
inability to understand. But in the preceding paragraph he
writes "we are helplessly driven to this conclusion, viz. :-The
bodies curl souls of all the wicked mill be punished in hell
eternally. We hold this conclusion to be absolutely
irresistible; and as we have given the enact thought of every
passage in the New Testament on the subject, there can bŪ no
such thing as an offset to this argument."
On reading this we thought of the message of Ahab to Benhadad, "Let
not hint that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that
putteth it off." But our friend states that he has "given the
exact: thought of every passage in the New Testament on this
subject." We ask, Where? and echo replies - Where? Where has he
given the exact thought of Matthew x. ?8, " And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but
rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell." That the passages quoted by our brother prove the future
punishment of the ungodly, we admit and maintain as firmly as
he; but they by no means prove that the punishment will be
unending. We rejoice to know that the horrible dogma of the
unending torment of the wicked is being freely canvassed by
thoughtful men everywhere, and we are not sorry to find an
opportunity has occurred to say a word on the theme in the
Australian Christian Pioneer, although we know that the space
the editors can afford to give us is so limited that justice to
the subject can hardly be expected. Our brother has strung
together several passages as proof' of the above proposition,
all that we can do is to ask our readers to refer to them, and
we confidently predict that if they lay aside their
preconceived theory, they will readily acknowledge that his
dogma is not found in any of them, or in all of them combined.
Before our brother can prove his proposition from these passages
he will have to prove that man is necessarily immortal; if he
succeed in this he may establish his proposition, but not
before. "If the being human entitles to immortality or renders
immortality certain let it be proved from the sacred pages. As
yet it has not been proved but assumed; and then endless misery
follows easily after it." Our friend evidently relies on Matthew
xxv. 46, " And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal." He seems to think this
sufficient to settle the question, because it is, he says, a
precept! And yet it is not a "precept"; though it a a "direct
statement." However, the question before us must not be merely,
" Do this and a few other texts is the Bible, prima facie,
assert eternal punishment?" We concede that; but we ask, "are
these texts, when taken in their prima facie
interpretation, unbalanced by conflicting texts and certain
other conflicting Scriptural phenomena" ? And again, "is this prima
facie interpretation the only fair interpretation of which
they are susceptible ?"
In our controversy with
sectarians we daily have enough to do with " Scrap Doctors," and we are sure that our friend
has had some experience in this line. When the Unitarian brings
forward John xiv. 28, "My Father is greater than I," as an
argument against which "there can be no such thing as an
offset"; when the Universalist points him to John xii. 32, "And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me,"
as proof of universal salvation ; when the Sectarian appeals to'
Romans v, 1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," as a support of his
"faith alone" theory; when the Roman Catholic directs his
attention to the Saviour's words in Matthew xxvi. 26, "Take,
eat; this is my body," to support the tenet of
transubstantiation ; when the Calvinist shows him Acts xiii. 48,
" as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," as an
impregnable bulwark of his fatalism; what does our brother do ?
Does he accept the prima facie interpretation of these
passages as correct, or does he reject it ? We wait for a reply.
We are inclined to think that he is in the habit of comparing
Scripture with Scripture to ascertain whether the prima
facie interpretation is correct. And, good reader, notice
- the passages we have quoted are all "direct statements."
The dogma which our friend
has advanced is one that has driven thousands
to infidelity ; is one that can only be defended by arguments
based on the reversal of the common axioms of morality ; is one
that has driven many mad ; and is one which ought to drive all
who hold it to the same goal. This being our firm conviction,,
we will contest this with him step by step, foot by foot, yea,
inch by inch, and demand for it evidence that shall be
irrefragable. Is our brother trusting to the word,
? We will most
attentively peruse what he has to write on it. Meantime we refer
him to another passage where the word occurs : 2 Thessalonians
i. 9 - " Who shall he punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power." While we
believe that being punished "with everlasting; destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power" will be an
everlasting punishment, we do not believe that " everlasting
destruction "can mean " everlasting preservation."
But without further comment from us, we
will submit for our friend's consideration some remarks by S.
Minton, of London.
1. " Scripture declares that
the `everlasting punishment' of the wicked will consist of
`everlasting destruction' after or by means of the infliction of
` many' or `few stripes,' according to their several deserts.
The popular theory teaches that it will consist of everlasting
pain.
2. "scripture declares that
God will `destroy both body and soul in hell.' The popular
theory teaches that he will destroy neither one nor the other,
but preserve both of them alive for ever, in unmitigated agony.
3. "Scripture declares that
`our God is a consuming fire.' The popular theory teaches that
he is only a scorching fire.
4. "Scripture declared that
the `fiery indignation' will ` devour the adversaries.' The
popular theory teaches that it will do no such thing, but only
torture them.
5. " Scripture declares that
the wicked will perish `like natural brute beasts.' The popular
theory teaches that there will be no analogy whatever between
the two cases.
6. `` Scripture declares
that whosoever `will save his life' by unfaithfulness to Christ,
shall ultimately `lose it' in a far more terrible manner. The
popular theory teaches that no man can lose his life more than
once, and that the second death is no death at all, but eternal
life in sin and misery.
7. Scripture declares that
whosoever ` doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' The popular
theory teaches that every man will abide for ever, whether he
does the will of God or not.
8. " Scripture declares that
if we desire immortality' we must seek it ` by patient
continuance in well doing.' The popular theory teaches that
every man possesses inherent indefeasible immortality, and what
we have to seek for is, that it may prove a blessing and not a
curse to us.
9. " Scripture declares that
the `wages of sin is death.' The popular theory teaches that it
is eternal life in misery ; in other words, that God will
inflict upon impenitent sinners a punishment infiinitely greater
than what he has pronounced to be their due.
10. " Scripture declares
that `the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.' The popular theory teaches that eternal life is the
common possession of all men, and that the gift of God through
Christ is the privilege of spending it in holiness and
happiness.
11. "Scripture declares that
`'the Son of God was manifested that he mint destroy the works
of the devil.' The popular theory teaches that they will never
be destroyed at all, but that a portion of the universe will be
specially get apart for the eternal exhibition of them in their
fullest maturity.
12. " Scripture declares
that Christ is to ` reconcile all things to God.' The popular
theory teaches that all things will never be reconciled to God ;
that discord and disorder will never cease, but only be confined
to one particular locality.
13. "Scripture declares that
in Christ `all things consist.' The popular theory teaches that
a whole kingdom will `consist' for ever, although not in him.
14. " Scripture declares
that ` he that hath the Son hath life, but he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life' ; that `if we live after the flesh we
shall die, but if through the spirit we mortify the deeds of the
body, we shall live.' The advocates of the popular theory say
that the life of believers and unbelievers, of natural men and
spiritual men, must be of equal duration-that the doctrine of
eternal happiness, and the doctrine of eternal misery must stand
or fall together-in other words, that if what the Scripture
asserts to be true, what it denies must be true also."
Will our brother kindly
examine these "direct statements," and if he regard them as
unsound or illogical, point out wherein they are defective ? As
soon as he does so, and replies to the queries which we have
submitted to him, we shall be able to see whether there is any
"offset to his argument." .
M
We have received
several communications on this subject, but can only publish
one. We hope our correspondents will not forget that our space
is limited, and that communications on this, as well as on other
subjects, must be short in order to insure insertion.
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