THE DESTINY OF MAN by Chauncey Cotton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 7, 1873

THE DESTINY OF MAN.

By Chauncey Cotton

Great God, thy word is firm and sure, And every act of thine is pure. Not so with man; for he's unjust, And must return again to dust. Gen. 3: 19. Yet from thy hand so fair he stood, Thou didst pronounce him very good. Upright, they, male and female, stand, And hear from God this strict command: “Of all the trees but one, to eat, To you, I give their fruit for meat; Of that eat not, nor touch, and why? For if you do, then you shall die. Now by this rule maintain the strife: Obey, and have eternal life; But disobey the Lord on high, In dying thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2: 17.

But man his Maker disobeyed, On all his race the doom is laid. Now in this state, though man may grieve, Yet die he must, there's no reprieve. Rom. 5: 12.

But death to all is deep repose, It's all the same to friends and foes; Job. 3: 11–20. For when we lie beneath the clod, We've no remembrance of a God. Ps. 6: 5. The rich, the poor, the high, the low, In death, no love nor hatred show. Their envy, too, is no more cherished, These, all of these, with them have perished. Ec. 9: 5, 7. Yes, death hath loosed the silver cord, The dead, we know, praise not the Lord. Ps. 115: 17. They all remain in silence deep, For death is like a dreamless sleep. Ps. 90: 5.

A state from which they'll not awake, Till Christ the earth and heaven shall shake. When the last trump shall rend the skies, Then shall the dead in Christ arise; Eternal life to them be given, Forever in the bliss of Heaven.

The second Adam's race they are, Eternal life from him they share. John 10: 28. With him they'll live, with him they'll reign, Free from all sorrow, sin, and pain. Christ in his glory they will view, The earth and all things now made new. Rev. 21: 1, 5. The earth more glorious than at first, Now the inheritance of the just. Here Abraham's promise from the Lord, Gen. 13: 15. And Peter's, find their full reward. Matt. 19: 27–30. The word is sure to all the seed, By faith in Christ they're heirs indeed. The meek will then the earth enjoy, Matt. 5: 5. But God the wicked will destroy. Ps. 37: 38; 145: 20.

For yet a little while, you see, And then the wicked shall not be. Ps. 37: 10. The psalmist searched creation round, The wicked nowhere could be found, For in God's word the truth there stands, That they shall be as fat of lambs. Ps. 37: 20. And when they feel God's mighty stroke, They shall consume and turn to smoke; For God is a consuming fire, Heb. 12: 29. And they must feel his dreadful ire.

Like tares, though well in bundles bound, When burned, those tares cannot be found. Or chaff burned up, are words employed, Matt. 3: 12. And chaff burned up, is chaff destroyed. A day is coming as we learn, Mal. 4: 1–4. And as an oven it shall burn; A day of wrath, and day of trouble, When all the wicked shall be stubble. That day shall burn up root and branch; And to escape there'll be no chance. And when burned up by mighty flashes, There's nothing left of them but ashes. So God, by his almighty power, The adversaries shall devour. Heb. 10: 27.

A gate that's wide is brought to view, And those destroyed will not be few. The second death on none can reign, Till first they die and live again. But there's a death, by close inspection, From which there is no resurrection. And now the prophet's words I'll give; Isa. 26: 14. That “they are dead, they shall not live; They are deceased, they shall not rise;” Now has the prophet told us lies? Or was the truth by him employed, When he declared they were destroyed? And can we any hope then cherish, That all their memory did not perish? Is there an attribute of soul, O'er which grim death has no control? What sense of man among the five, That will the stroke of death survive? It takes a man that's been to college To show that dead folks still have knowledge. Ec. 9: 5. There is a class, let God be praised, Described as dead and also raised! Rev. 20: 5. No second death can them devour, On them that death can have no power. And yet a class is left behind, The second death will surely find. To save a part from any state, Must leave the other to its fate.

CHAUNCEY COTTON.

Friendship, N. Y.