THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED:
By M. Hull
A Discourse given at Russiaville, Ind.,
We will now turn to Isa. lvii, 16; "For I will not contend forever with the wicked, neither will I be always wroth." O, says the Universalist, there comes in the glorious doctrine of Universalism; "God is gracious in mercy, and plenteous in goodness, and will not cast off forever." 1 Chron. xxviii, 9. "If thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off forever." But the text informs us that God will not be always wroth. Where will his anger cease? In a universal salvation? No. God says, Isa. x, 25, "For yet a little while and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." But to return to the text: "I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made!" We will examine that prophecy upon this subject. Eze. iii, 18-21. "When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand; yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul." In order to find what is the meaning of the terms die and death, alive and live, turn to Eze. xiii, 19: "And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?" In Eze. xviii, 4, he says, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." In verse 20, the same words are repeated with the addition, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Some try to limit this to the first death, but it will not apply there, for verse 21 says, "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die." In this life we find that they that turn from their sins do die, the same as those who do not. In verse 26, you will find the death spoken of is not as some suppose, a death of sin; but says he, "when the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die." The death in sin is what we call a natural, temporal, or corporeal death. There are but two states; one is in sin, the other in Christ. The one is under the law, the other is under grace. In Christ there is no sin. Therefore he who is in Christ is not in sin. Then he who dies out of Christ, dies in sin and afterwards dies for sin. Again in verse 27, it is stated, "When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." Verses 31, 32; "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel, for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves and live ye." But one asks the question, Can you find the term annihilation in the Bible? No. I do not believe in annihilation, but I will find just as near annihilation as I believe. In Obadiah i, 16, it is stated that "they shall be as though they had not been." If that be true, they cannot be in torment unless they were before they came into existence. But one asks us why we do not come to the New Testament. We answer we are willing to risk the whole issue upon the New Testament Scriptures. We are willing to risk it all with Paul, who shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God—who fully preached the gospel of Christ,—kept back nothing that was profitable, knowing the terror of the Lord, persuaded men. What did he preach? Was he in the habit of telling men that they had deathless spirits, undying souls, or immortal entities which must survive in a conscious state of existence, after the death of the body, and, if wicked, go to hell, and roll there eternally—writhe in endless night and woe? No. Paul never used one of these phrases; notwithstanding he preached many long sermons, and wrote thirteen epistles, we have no record that he ever said, "immortal soul," "deathless spirit," or "endless hell." Therefore, this cannot be a part of the "gospel of Christ," "counsel of God" or "terrors of the Lord." It cannot be profitable or Paul would not have kept it back. The harshest language Paul ever used in his preaching, was in Acts xiii, 46. "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." If they do not want eternal life, they need not have it; the apostles would turn to the Gentiles and see if they would have eternal life. He does, however, in verse 41 of the same chapter, use harsher language than that which we have read; but he quotes it from the prophets. "Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you." We will now examine his writings and see what he says on the subject of the doom of the wicked. Rom. i, 28-32. He is here describing a character, and while I read the description, I want you to see if you can think of language to describe a worse character than the one Paul had his mind on. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." Surely if any class is worthy of eternal torture it is the one Paul has up here. But verse 32 describes his doom: "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Why are they worthy of death? Because "the wages of sin is death." In Rom. ii, 7, Paul promises eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality. Chap. vi, 21-23. "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." They that served sin, served for wages. Now the question is, Will they get their pay? God says, vengeance belongeth to me, I will repay. If the sinner does not get death, God is bankrupt to all eternity; from the fact that they have served for wages, and God has refused to pay, by keeping them endlessly alive. In Gal. vi, 7, 8, he says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that18shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." James' testimony is just to the point. In chap. i, 15, we read, "When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." Why does sin bring forth death? Because the "wages of sin is death." In chap. v, 20, he says, "Let him know that he that converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." Here let me talk for a few moments on the justice of God, and how gloriously it makes the character of God shine out! God is not such a tyrant as we suppose him to be. It is true he has brought us into existence and given us a few short years, and we are forced out of existence. But do you want life? You have had the trial of it for a short time, and if you like it, the conditions are easy upon which it is to be obtained. If you do not like it God leaves you just where he found you. He found us in dust and ashes and leaves us there. This is a glorious system—a good system. It is a plan where mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. God works upon the same principle that you and I would work. We buy a piece of land, and the good timber we preserve and use, but that which we cannot convert to our use, we roll it into heaps and burn up. So God does with the tares; they are gathered in bundles to be burned up. We will notice one or two objections, and then leave the subject with you. In Jude i, 7, it is said, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." The vengeance of eternal fire must result in destruction. To illustrate, we will suppose some persons, for some crime, will suffer the vengeance of an immense fire; do we not understand that they will be burnt up? Many of the christian martyrs suffered the vengeance of an immense fire—it always resulted in their destruction. But in answer to the query, what became of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, every member of this congregation will say they were burned up. Peter says "they are an example to them that should after live ungodly." Lest some one should doubt this being the true application of the text, we will hear Peter's testimony. 2 Pet. ii, 4-6, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartarosas] (not a place of punishment, but a place where they are reserved to see whether they are worthy of punishment or not) and delivered them in chains of darkness to be reserved unto the judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those that should after live ungodly." This text positively states that the turning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, was an example to them that should afterwards live ungodly. The first verse of this chapter says, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift (speedy) destruction. Swift destruction cannot be eternal torment." Universalists talk a great deal about Christ's coming to seek and save that which was lost, giving his life a ransom for the world, &c., but that does not affect the question in the least. Here are some who are bought with the blood of Christ, who are going to be swiftly destroyed. Notwithstanding a universal salvation was provided, Paul says, [Heb. ii, 3,] "how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" He also shows the possibility of destroying one for whom Christ died. Rom. xiv, 15. But to return to Peter. He says, [2 Pet. ii, 12,] of these same false teachers, "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not; and shall utterly (or entirely) perish in their own corruption." Here we have four phrases made use of which show the impossibility of their being made endlessly alive. (1.) "Natural brute beasts." (2.) "Made to be destroyed." (3.) "They shall utterly perish." (4.) "Their own corruption." Now the definition of the word perish, and we will close. I tell you of a house that burned down, and say that one man perished in the flames. You all understand he was burnt to death in the flames. I tell you another man perished in the water. You always understand he was drowned. Of another who perished with cold. You understand he was frozen to death. I know Webster says that perish in a theological sense, means what it does not in another sense. I know nothing of but one kind of sense, and that I denominate common sense. If you will turn to Luke xiii, 2-5, you will find perish implies literal death. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you nay; but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them; think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you Nay; but except ye repent you shall all likewise perish." In Matt. viii, 25, the disciples say, "Save Lord, we perish." Is it possible that the disciples thought they would be eternally tormented in the sea? Verse 3. "And the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters." Think you the whole herd of swine will be eternally tormented in the sea? I have now tried to establish the doctrine of destruction. If I have not done it, I ask you what language can do it? Do you ask for the words die and death? I have found them. Will the word perish teach destruction? I have got it. Is there any meaning in the words destroy, destruction, consume, perdition, second death, shall not be, shall be as though they had not been, shall be smoke and ashes, &c., &c.? I have found them all. If the texts I have read have not established the doctrine that the wicked shall not be, can language be made to teach the idea, if it were true? All I have to say is, investigate the subject carefully. Prepare for an inheritance in the land when the wicked "shall be as though they had not been."