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PENALTY OF THE GOSPEL

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 24, 1859

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 13, No. 14.

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PENALTY OF THE GOSPEL.

By R. F. C.

The article recently published in the Review from Eld. Chadwick is an able defense of the doctrine of the destruction of the wicked; yet he conveys the idea that the second death is the penalty of the gospel.Although he understood the claims of the holy, just and good law of God so far as to be a Sabbath-keeper, yet he seems to have been befogged with the idea that the law was superseded by the gospel, and consequently that the penalty is the penalty, not of the law, but of the gospel.
If gospel means good news, then the penalty of the gospel is the penalty of good news. Sin, then, (if there is such a thing during the gospel day, as it is called,) must be the transgression of the gospel.
To illustrate this, let us suppose a case. A number of the citizens in a certain kingdom rebel against the king, and openly transgress his laws, the penalty of which is death. But the king, instead of giving orders for their immediate arrest and execution, issues a proclamation to the rebels, kindly offering pardon to all who come and confess their guilt and take a solemn oath of future allegiance to their king. A portion of them comply with these conditions and are restored to their citizenship. But the rest, neglecting to fulfill the conditions of pardon, are arrested, tried, and the penalty of death is executed upon them.
Now who would think of saying that death was the penalty of the king's proclamation? It only offered life to those that were deserving of death for the violation of the king's laws. They were judged by the laws they had violated; and if the king's proclamation was brought into court at all, it was only to show that they were undeserving of mercy, because they had already rejected it, on the most reasonable terms.
Again, who would presume that the proclamation of pardon abolished the laws of the kingdom? Those who obeyed the proclamation obtained pardon. They were no longer under the condemning power of the law, but under favor. Says Paul, "Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!"
Sin is still the transgression of the law; and the wages of sin is death. Those who suffer the second death will suffer the penalty of the law, not of the gospel. R. F. C. Elmira, N. Y., Jan. 31st, 1859.