Untitled article by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 10, 1906

EDUCATION IN THE HOME. NO. 32.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.

"But aren't you afraid, Mr. Hartman, that if you teach wicked people that there is no such thing as an eternal place of burning, they may be encouraged in their evil ways, and never become converted?" queried Walter Gray.

"See here, Walter," volunteered John, "you wouldn't tell lies to them, for fear they would never become converted if you didn't, would you?"

"No, no; God's way of saving souls is the best, always," said Brother Hartman. "I truly believe there is nothing like the doctrine of love, to win souls."

"Yes," declared grandma, "Love is one of the names of the Eternal, and surely, any doctrine which seems revolting and cruel even to a sinful human heart, must appear infinitely more so to Him who has said: 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.'"

"That's true," said Mrs. Wilbur. "I wouldn't give much for anybody's religion who was converted through fear instead of love."

"But how would it agree with the character of a God whose very name is 'Love,' to keep, before the universe, the horrible spectacle of an ever-burning hell filled with never-dying souls, to all eternity?" asked grandma.

"It doesn't seem a bit reasonable," replied Mrs. Gray, "and yet these wicked souls are not fit to enter heaven. What shall be done with the hopelessly wicked?"

"The Catholic would send them to purgatory," volunteered Walter Gray.

"But what does God's Word say? Walter, please read Rom. 6:23."

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"Are you sure you read correctly, Walter?" asked Brother Hartman, with a smile. "Are you certain the text does not say that the wages of sin is eternal life in misery?"

"It certainly does not say so here, sir."

"Mattie, about how many texts have you found which assert plainly that the wicked will be utterly destroyed?"

"There are more than one hundred, father. Elsie and I found and read more than that number this week as we were preparing for the study."

"More than one hundred!" exclaimed Mrs. Wilbur. "Well I am surprised; and yet people seem to be ignorant on this important subject,—I confess I am; but I would much like you to give me the references to some of the plainest of those texts, so I can study them at my leisure."

"A good idea; we will gladly do so. Mattie, did you make a note of these references?"

"No, but Elsie copied a few of them. Elsie, will you hand Mrs. Wilbur those references you copied?"

Mrs. Wilbur eagerly reached for the proffered paper, upon which were written the following references:—Obadiah, 16th verse; Rom. 6:23; Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8; Ps. 5:6; 9:5; 37:38; 52:4, 5; 2 Thess. 1:9; 2 Peter 2:12; Job 20:4-9; Mal. 4:1.

"But I can tell you," continued Mattie, "the one that impressed me as being the plainest of all the others: It is the tenth and twentieth verses of the thirty-seventh Psalm. Here is the place; Josie, will you read?"

"'For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.' That's the tenth verse, and I will read the twentieth," said Josie:

"'But 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.'"

"Well, surely, Mattie," said Mrs. Jones, "I can't wonder that these verses impressed you. I suppose I have read them many times, without a thought of their real import."

"That's the way I have always read the Bible, too, I fear," confessed Mrs. Gray.

"But," continued Brother Hartman, "God will have a clean universe. Satan will not be allowed to triumph forever. The glad day is hastening when sin with all its sad effects will have been blotted from the fair universe of God. Nevermore any tempting enemy; no more sorrow, sin, or death; nothing but perfect love and joy and songs of praise forevermore; no ever-burning hell, with its blaspheming inhabitants writhing in agony, but every living creature will be blest and happy. My proof?—certainly,—Elsie please read Rev. 5:13:"

"'And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.'"

"What more does David say about the finally unregenerate? Mrs. Wilbur, please read Ps. 37:35, 36."

Mrs. Wilbur's face was very serious as she turned to the text. There is nothing on earth that is so keen an accuser as a troubled conscience, and Mrs. Wilbur saw herself this night as one who, all her life long, had neglected to study God's Word. As she read, her tones were filled with conviction:

"'I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was NOT; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found!'"

"Well, Mrs. Wilbur," said Sister Hartman, "don't you think that if there was an ever-burning hell anywhere in God's universe, David would have been apt to have known of its location,—under the inspiration of the Spirit of God?"

Billy Black had become so intensely interested that he quite forgot his timidity; and while Mrs. Wilbur was reading her verse, he had leaned forward and watched her eagerly, and before she could reply to Sister Hartman's question, he asked:

"What had become of him, I wonder; if he wasn't in heaven nor hell, nor in the grave, where was he?—the wicked man, I mean."

"My lad," replied Brother Hartman, "I'll tell you why the Psalmist couldn't find the wicked: the reason is, that they simply did not exist. They had been blotted out. They had failed to make good use of the short life God gave them in which to prepare for eternity, and so God takes again the life, the existence, which He gave. He can not consistently continue a miserable and unhappy existence through all eternity, so God mercifully blots them out; and they become as tho they had not been."

"But," continued Billy, "suppose a fellow is downright sorry he hasn't spent his life right,—do you s'pose he'll be blotted out, Mr. Hartman?"

There was an unmistakable tremor in the poor lad's voice, and a look of the deepest anxiety upon his face. A tear shone in Brother Hartman's kindly eye, as he replied hastily:

"I think Beth will repeat grandma's favorite text, tho it has been once read to-night, because that exactly answers your question, my boy. Can you repeat John 3:16, little girl?"

Billy's anxious questions appealed very strongly to Beth's tender, sensitive nature, and, as tho glad of an opportunity to help him, she rose from her seat at grandma's side, and walked quickly over to Billy, and laying her small hand on his shoulder, looked directly into his eyes as she slowly repeated:

"'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

(Concluded next week.)