OUR recent articles on the punishment of the wicked have called out a vigorous protest from the Sabbath Recorder. In its issue of Jan. 23, 1873, it says:—
“We deprecate the course pursued by the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald on the question of the duration of the future punishment of the wicked. To us, its course seems disingenuous. We would not use ungenerous language, but to us, it does not seem candid to use the universally conceded fact, that the eternal punishment of the wicked is a truth fearful to consider, as a worthy and solid argument against it. The authors whom it quotes, as using strong language, did not employ it as a proof against the doctrine in any sense. The question is one of Scripture interpretation, and any appeals to the mere nervousness of men as a rule or ground of interpretation, is deceptive, and unworthy of the cause. If the Scriptures teach this doctrine, any appeal from them is a vain procedure, for the doctrine is true. And if they do not teach it, it is not true, and no amount of reasoning can establish it.”
But this question is capable of a home application, by appealing to men's fears against the method of punishment defended by Destructionists. Only think of the insufferable stench of a vast lake of brimstone, liquefied by heat, and on fire, into which the wicked are plunged and held by the Infinite One, until, though slowly, yet surely, they are finally burned to a crisp! Some of these are consumed, perhaps, in a brief time, while the existence of others is continued (and who can tell how long) until they have been fully punished for their sins, and the anger of the All Merciful One (?) is appeased!
Reader, if you can, pardon us. We only meant to hint at the weakness and unsatisfactory character of this form of argument so common with a certain class of writers, and to show, in a word, that there are difficulties on the other side of this question which could be put in a very strong light. Would that the Herald had a heart to drop this question, which will not be affected by its arguments, and with its whole soul, warmed by the love of Christ, stand by the cross, and entreat, with all its eloquence, the sinner to come, and in penitence and faith look upon Him who there bore his guilt upon that tree, that, justly condemned as a criminal, might, through the matchless power of grace, be saved eternally in the kingdom of God's dear Son!”
That our arguments will not affect what is revealed on this question, is true; and this is not their object. But we do trust they may affect the views of some, leading them to believe what is revealed, instead of bowing as the majority do, to the voice of tradition, or the dicta of heathen mythology, in this matter. And this is the more needful, because this very doctrine of eternal misery tends to render the cross of Christ of none effect. The gospel itself loses its power with men who are compelled to view God through a medium which gives us a distorted idea of his character, as really as the horrible images of paganism give us a distorted idea of his form.
But when the true doctrine of the destiny of the sinner is set forth, placing the character of God in a consistent and attractive light, clearing his word of difficulties, and lifting the great stumbling block from the path of infidelity, then we can take our stand at the cross of Christ, and, with all confidence and earnestness, plead with the sinner to accept the blessings which the Saviour has to give.
The quotations we gave in No. 5 from believers in the popular view, were not designed to convey the idea that they gave utterance to those sentiments to disprove the idea of eternal misery; we gave them only to show the difficulties under which they labored, and to suggest the query whether a view from which our reason, unless held down by chain and staple, instantly revolts, had not better be very carefully examined in the light of the Scriptures, before we make them responsible for it. We do not urge the fearful nature of future punishment as any argument against it, but when it is carried to the extent above indicated, before we urge so extreme a view, it is best to be very well convinced that the Bible teaches it.
What the Recorder's ideas of the popular hell are, we know not. If they accord with the generally received view, it can not, with any very good grace, draw invidious comparisons between its own conceptions, and all the “brimstone” and “stench” which our view involves. We conceive it to be a characteristic of scriptural doctrines, that they can rest on the very phraseology which inspiration has seen fit to use. And so here we have no wish and no occasion to say more than the Bible says. It uses on this point the following explicit language:—
2 Pet. 3: 7: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Verses 10–12: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”
This is the perdition of ungodly men, and the hell in which we believe. And in this fiery doom the wicked find themselves involved because they did not flee in time to the ark, Christ Jesus, as the antediluvians perished in the waters of the flood because they sought not safety in the ark of Noah. And in this fiery ordeal, which is to burn to the lowest depth to which sin has struck its pollution or the curse its scar, the wicked will certainly be consumed, devoured, destroyed, and resolved into the original elements of their being; for out of it the earth is to come forth purified, to be the everlasting abode of the righteous.
The question of the destiny of the wicked is one of the living, vital questions of the day. God who adapts his truths to the want of every age, has caused the light to shine forth gloriously here right at this time, to meet and expose the most terrible deception that Satan has ever sprung upon the world. Before this light, spiritualism with its foul brood flees away. Purgatory, saint worship, universalism, and a host of other errors all go down. If the Recorder thinks it can ignore this question, the advancing light of truth and the quickened thought of this generation will surely ignore it. It may appeal with all eloquence from the cross, but if it disregards this question in which is involved the character of God, and the scope of the plan of salvation, its appeals will fall on callous hearts and deadened ears.