Brief Practical Thoughts.
By John Nevins Andrews
Here are two passages from the Koran, in which Mahomet gives his testimony relative to future punishment. Thus in the fourth chapter of the Koran, page 67, of Sale’s translation, we read: “Verily those who disbelieve our signs, we will surely cast to be broiled in hell fire; so often as their skins shall be well burned, we will give them other skins in exchange, that they may taste the sharper torments; for God is mighty and wise.” This is a very horrible idea, but is it not a necessary provision in order that the wicked may be made to burn forever? If the flesh of the wicked man is made immortal so that the fire cannot feed upon it, then the fire can cause him no pain. But if the fire has power to consume them, they must be utterly devoured by it, unless indeed such an expedient as that proposed by Mahomet should be brought into requisition. God has never used such language. He does not kindle the fire to preserve, but to consume and devour the wicked. The very fact that the smoke of their torment ascends from the burning lake shows that one of two things must be true: 1. Either the declaration of David will stand, that “the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away;” Ps. 37: 20; 2. Or, we must accept the doctrine of Mahomet, that when one skin is burned thoroughly, a new one will be given to replace it. Here is Mahomet’s description of “the death that never dies.” Koran chap. 14, page 206: “Hell lieth unseen before him, and he shall have filthy water given him to drink; he shall sup it up by little and little, and he shall not easily let it pass his throat because of its nauseousness; death also shall come upon him from every quarter, yet he shall not die; and before him shall there stand prepared a grievous torment. This is the likeness of those who believe not in their Lord.” Which is true, Mahomet, who says the wicked shall not die in the execution of the sentence, or the Bible which tells us that the wages of sin is death, and that this penalty is to be inflicted in the lake of fire? It is evident that we have not such a life now in possession. Our present life is as a vapor that appears for a little moment and then vanishes away. But there is a life, the gift of God to man, which shall endure so long as its Giver shall exist. This life will be conferred on those who seek after it, rather on those who do this so effectually that they stand forth completely purified from their sins, and perfect overcomers through the grace of God. Men are to have this great gift when God sees in them a character worth preserving. He will immortalize no evil thing. The boon of a life that shall never end, is one that is given only to the pure in heart.