Not Pardoned by Albert Stone

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 22, 1877

Not Pardoned.

By Albert Stone

THERE is no provision in the gospel for the forgiveness of original sin. This sentiment from the force of education may seem strange to some. It is an undisputed Bible truth that from the relation the race sustains to Adam all are involved in the penalty for the first sin of man. That penalty was death. To admit that the penalty is executed is fatal to the doctrine of man's natural immortality. Yet admit it we must, for a condemned criminal is either executed or pardoned. Did Adam die? Do his descendants die? The ready answer from all is, Yes, there is no disputing it. Very well; then there is no pardon in the case, it is execution.

But how long would it take to execute this sentence upon immortal men and women? The only consistent reply is that it would require all of eternity for each of the race respectively to receive punishment for the sin of the first man,—to die. Consequently the actual sins of mankind, or the threatened punishment of the sinner's own sins, together with the promised rewards of goodness, cannot begin to be adjusted till eternity itself shall end!

If any attempt to evade this conclusion by throwing in the claim that original sin is not punished, but pardoned by virtue of the gospel, let them first prove that Adam is not dead, and that the generations of the past have not returned to dust, and we will yield the point.

ALBERT STONE.