f't, / 3 6~ 
 
Everlasting Punishment 
 
 ATTENDED WITH 
 
 TTverlasting J^)ecay.. 
 
 A DISCOURSE. 
 
 \ 
 
 By a Congregational Pastor, 
 
 CHICAGO': 
 
 A. S. Barnes & Co,, No. 115 State Street. 
 The Lakeside Press. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, by R. R. Donnelley, 
 in the Clerk’s office of the District Court for the District of Illinois. 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
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 CJNfilCD IJV Q U I<RE(R 
 
 AFTER 
 
 TRUTH. 
 
 For a Copy of this Work, Postpaid, send 15 Cents to 
 A. S. Barnes & Co., 115 State Street, Chicago. 
 
^ ii b ; 
 
 Everlasting Pun ISHMENT. 
 
 “ These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”— 
 Mat. xxv. 46. 
 
 I have been requested to express my views 
 upon this subject, and it is but proper that I 
 should do so. You have heard but little in 
 my preaching concerning the everlastingness of 
 future torment; for I do not consider it a sub¬ 
 ject proper to be much dwelt upon. It is too 
 terrible a theme for every-day use. There are 
 a few truths, obvious to all, but too sacred or 
 too awful for common remark. Of this char¬ 
 acter is the final doom of the enemies of Christ. 
 Like the capital punishment of murderers, 
 like the sad smiting or banishment of a prodi¬ 
 gal son, let it be left in the background, as the 
 last sorrowful resort of contemned authority,— 
 a terror indeed to evil doers, but the more so 
 because hardly to be mentioned but with shud- 
 derings and with tears. 
 
4 
 
 Ei y er la sting Pu nishment . 
 
 I am astonished at the coolness and even 
 carelessness with which some seem to speak 
 the words — hell, damnation, everlasting tor¬ 
 ment ; — at the freedom and flippancy with 
 which they can treat of the destiny of the 
 wicked, as if it were only a matter of ordinary 
 talk. To me it is not such. When I think, 
 and especially when I speak, of the coming 
 hour, the momentous hour, that shall close the 
 eyes of my loved ones in death, or take me 
 from their tender care, it is only with bated 
 breath and throbbing heart I can dwell upon 
 the theme. And when I talk of friends and 
 neighbors out of Christ, and the awful future 
 revealed for such, how can I do it without a 
 shudder, or without pangs of the tenderest 
 pity, and desire for their escape ? In such a 
 spirit may we approach the subject to-day. 
 Sad and terrific as it is, it must sometimes be 
 touched by all faithful embassadors of Christ, 
 as it was by Christ himself,— ordinarily by 
 mere reverent allusion, as to a matter sorrow¬ 
 fully taken for granted — the most effective 
 way — but now and then in full yet cautious 
 treatment, as exemplified by the Saviour in the 
 chapter of the text. 
 
 “ These shall go away into everlasting pun¬ 
 ishment.” I see not any possible way to avoid 
 
Everlasting Punishment . 
 
 5 
 
 the simple orthodox understanding of these 
 words. The time referred to is explained in 
 v. 31 ; “ When the Son of man shall come in 
 his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then 
 shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” The 
 scene described is the judgment scene, with 
 the good and the bad separated upon the right 
 hand and the left hand of the Judge. It can 
 be no other than the occasion referred to by 
 the apostle, (Heb. ix. 27.) “It is appointed 
 unto men once to die, and after that the judg¬ 
 ment.” The “punishment” here spoken of 
 must be real punishment, implying evil, pain, 
 misery. “ Everlasting punishment ” can be 
 nothing else but misery that has no end. 
 
 These things are so, not because I want 
 them so, but because they cannot mean any¬ 
 thing else. I would be glad to have them 
 otherwise, if it pleased God so to appoint; 
 and, for thirty years of ministry now just clos¬ 
 ing, I have been anxiously studying to see if 
 there was any other way of understanding the 
 Saviour’s words. I have searched carefully, and 
 I trust candidly, every argument offered by 
 objectors. I have diligently examined the uses 
 of the word punishment and the word everlast- 
 ing , and other critical points, both in the Eng¬ 
 lish, and in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
6 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 And I find it impossible to understand this 
 text in any other than its obvious orthodox 
 sense; or to accept Christ as teaching anything 
 short of a real, painful “ punishment ” for his 
 foes, as enduring as the “ life eternal” he prom¬ 
 ises to his friends. The particulars of that 
 investigation and result, I might be willing to 
 give you at some other time; but it is not the 
 matter now in hand. 
 
 And after all, what insuperable objection is 
 
 there to our so understanding and accepting 
 
 Christ ? Why may not such a punishment be 
 
 fitting for those who spurn the offers of divine 
 % 
 
 mercy, and voluntarily refuse to receive the 
 Son of God from Heaven? Hear Hebrews x. 
 26,31. “ For if we sin wilfully after that we 
 
 have received the knowledge of the truth, there 
 remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a cer¬ 
 tain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery 
 indignation which shall devour the adversaries. 
 He that despised Moses' law, died without 
 mercy, under two or three witnesses : of how 
 much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he 
 be thought worthy who hath trodden under 
 foot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
 blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanc¬ 
 tified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite 
 unto the Spirit of Grace? For we know him 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 7 
 
 that hath said, ‘ vengeance belongeth unto me, 
 I will recompense, saith the Lord.’ It is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the liv¬ 
 ing God.” 
 
 All pious submissive hearts will bow to these 
 solemn mandates of the great Jehovah; and 
 will allow no cavils or questionings of the 
 Divine justice to disturb their peace. Nor is 
 it worth our while to try and satisfy the diso¬ 
 bedient and rebellious, concerning the propri¬ 
 ety of their threatened doom. While they are 
 impenitent, probably nothing will suit their 
 mind. But there are bearings*of this subject, 
 which do sometimes trouble and distress the 
 most godly and reverent souls; and these dif¬ 
 ficulties of the pious saints it is right to meet, 
 and if possible, dispel. If the devoted Jere¬ 
 miah could say, (as in xii, i,) “ Righteous art 
 thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee; yet, 
 
 LET ME TALK WITH THEE OF THY JUDGMENTS; ” 
 
 and if the good old Abraham could plead, (as 
 in Gen. xviii. 25, 30.) “ Oh, let not the Lord 
 be angry and I will speak; shall not the 
 
 JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT ? ” -then 
 
 surely it is proper for us, devoutly to inquire 
 into the bearings of “ everlasting punishment” 
 upon the character of God and the destiny of 
 
 man. 
 
8 
 
 Everlasting Pint ish merit. 
 
 The fact of everlasting punishment, then, 
 we must consider as settled : the only question 
 before us is, what will be its results ? In what 
 final condition will it leave the human race, 
 and the kingdom of God ? The blessed Gos¬ 
 pel most distinctly informs us concerning 
 Christ, that “ He must reign till He hath put 
 all enemies under his feet, . . . when He shall 
 have put down all rule, and authority and 
 power.” (i Cor. xv. 24, 25.) “ For this purpose 
 the Son of God was manifested, that He might 
 destroy the works of the devil.” (1 Jn. iii. 8.) 
 “ Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, 
 thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s 
 vessel.” (Ps. ii. 2. See also Acts iii. 21; 
 Phil. ii. 10, 11 ; Col. i. 19,20; Heb. i. 13, 
 and ii. 8; 1 Jn. iii. 8; Rev. v. 13.) Accord¬ 
 ing to this, sin and rebellion in God’s universe 
 are to be reduced to a minimum at last, their 
 growth and prevalence utterly destroyed. 
 
 On the other hand, we have the great Gos¬ 
 pel promise against Satan : “ IT shall bruise 
 thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” (Gen. 
 iii. 15,) and “where sin abounded grace 
 SHALL MUCH MORE ABOUND ; ” “ For if through 
 the offence of one [the] many be dead, much 
 more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, 
 which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 9 
 
 ABOUNDED UNTO [the] MANY ” (Rom. V. IJ, 
 20.) From which it would appear that the hosts 
 of the redeemed are to be i?icreased to a maxi¬ 
 mum as compared with the lost, and that, as 
 far as the head transcends the heel, so far the 
 numbers crowned with Christ are to tran¬ 
 scend the numbers crushed under his feet. 
 Our hearts rest in these assurances, convinced 
 that such (and only such) a complete triumph 
 is worthy of the King of Kings and the Lord 
 of Lords. 
 
 But how can this complete triumph be, if the 
 sin and rebellion of lost souls is to go on for¬ 
 ever increasing, and if they are to form such 
 an immense host, as must be made up from 
 the untold millions, of all the heathen nations 
 
 and ages of the earth? For the Church of 
 
 * 
 
 Christ even to equal such numbers of Satan’s 
 army, would at any probable rate require more 
 than a millenium of universal piety ; and (by 
 common view) would put off indefinitely the 
 glorious Resurrection Day, for which the 
 earth and the saints have been groaning so 
 long. (Rom. viii. 23.) And then, to think of 
 such an immense host, the great majority of 
 whom never heard of Christ or salvation, and 
 many of whom were our own children only 
 just arrived to an age of accountability, and 
 
IO 
 
 Ez 'erlasting Punishment. 
 
 never sinning but a day or an hour before 
 death — yet for that short unrepented sinning 
 lost, of course, and therefore (they tell us) 
 sinking forever in confirmed and more intelli¬ 
 gent rebellion, — this terrible picture, if re¬ 
 concilable with the goodness and justice of 
 God, does certainly look to be hardly com¬ 
 patible with that grand overwhelming triumph 
 of Redemption, which we are led to expect. 
 
 This is the sort of difficulty that troubles 
 many really pious hearts, and needs to be 
 fairly met. It is being z//zfairly met in 
 many different ways. Some good souls try to 
 escape from the difficulty by embracing the 
 doctrine of “ universal salvation ” or final 
 “ restoration,” in the very face of this Script¬ 
 ure before us, which utterly forbids such a 
 doctrine. More still, at the present day, are 
 seeking a relief for their pious doubts in the 
 supposed “ annihilation or extinction of the 
 wicked,” a much more plausible theory, but 
 quite irreconcilable with reason or the Word 
 of God. A number of others in our churches 
 are latterly quieting their troubles, by running 
 into the notion, of another probation after death 
 for those who have not a fair chance here. 
 Dr. Edward Beecher, and a few others, have 
 rested their souls under this “ Conflict of 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 11 
 
 Ages,” in the idea of a pre-existent state. And 
 still other theories are set on foot, to vindicate 
 the ways of God, and make plain that great 
 triumph for His Kingdom, which we all feel 
 
 MUST BE. 
 
 Thus evident it is, that there is a conflict of 
 ages going on, a want almost universally felt 
 for a clearer explanation of the divine plan, a 
 new and consistent theodicy , which shall not 
 only show that the Judge of all the earth will 
 do right, but that He is going to triumph 
 speedily, and gloriously, and overwhelmingly 
 over His foes. The signs of the times, 
 betoken a great falling away from the old 
 views of probation and retribution. Already 
 is there manifest in our theological seminaries 
 and among our younger preachers an omenous 
 backsliding towards a probationary or even a 
 purgative future state. And among our older 
 and wiser preachers, as well as members, there 
 is a growing but often covert leaning toward 
 the doctrine of annihilation, which may yet 
 break out into a general change of front, 
 unless the true antidote is timely applied. 
 
 This latter theory is the great danger of our 
 times. Universalism is past its day, and can 
 win few serious-minded persons from the 
 truth. It is too obviously in violation of all 
 
12 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 the New Testament teachings, too plainly un¬ 
 reasonable, too grossly encouraging to sin, to 
 serve much longer as a bait for any but the 
 most reckless minds. But Annihilationism is 
 more specious, more seemingly scriptural, 
 more satisfactorily meeting the difficulties that 
 trouble pious minds; and therefore, there is 
 more danger of its getting hold of good Chris¬ 
 tian people, to the sad detriment of the 
 Redeemer’s Kingdom. The true antidote, I 
 said, must speedily be applied. It is an anti¬ 
 dote suggested by the unfailing Word of God. 
 Shall I be deemed presumptuous for endeav¬ 
 oring to set it forth ? In doing so, I shall 
 treat (i) of the direct result, and (2) of the 
 final result of everlasting punishment. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 I. As to the direct result of everlasting 
 punishment, there are three views that can be 
 taken : 
 
 1. That it produces everlasting growth. 
 
 2. That it is attended with everlasting decay. 
 
 3. That being extinction it produces nonenity. 
 
 The third of these views, the annihilation 
 
 or destruction view, we of course reject. The 
 first of these views is the opposite extreme, 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 13 
 
 which many advocate as if the only genuine 
 orthodox teaching. But the second of these 
 views, the mean between these two extremes^ 
 is what for twenty-five years I have held as 
 the true orthodox or bible doctrine ; namely, 
 everlasting punishment results in everlasting 
 decay , and not in everlasting growth. 
 
 It is the erroneous teaching of eternal 
 growth in sin, that has created a large part of 
 the prejudice against Christ’s doctrine of ever¬ 
 lasting punishment, and given pious hearts the 
 greatest difficulty about it. For, it makes the 
 wicked to go on increasing in intelligent sin 
 and rebellion, and consequent torment to all 
 eternity. So that, instead of God’s evidently 
 getting the upper hand of his enemies and 
 making His Redemption overwhelmingly tri¬ 
 umphant, there is produced at -least an aspect 
 of vigorous and swelling rebellion forever on 
 His hands,- to the apparent marring of His 
 jubilant conquest. 
 
 Thus President Edwards, in his “ Sermon 
 on the Eternity of Hell Torments,” (Works, 
 vol. VI., p. 123,) says: “Besides, their capac¬ 
 ity will probably be enlarged, their under¬ 
 standings will be greater and stronger in a 
 future state; and God can give them as great 
 a sense and as strong an impression of eternity 
 
14 Ever lasting Punishment . 
 
 as he pleases, to increase their grief and tor¬ 
 ment.” So Dr. Emmons (Vol. III., p. 818). 
 While some now follow this aspect of the 
 subject, others prefer to express it like Dr. 
 Bellamy, who (in vol. I, p. 60) says : “ The 
 guilt of all the damned will be increasing to 
 all eternity ; and no doubt their punishment 
 will increase in the same proportion. How 
 inconceivably and infinitely dreadful, there¬ 
 fore, will be their case who are thus continu¬ 
 ally sinking deeper and deeper in that bottom¬ 
 less pit of woe and misery.” Take as a further 
 example Professor Finney, who says, “the 
 torment will eternally increase.” Of course, 
 increasing guilt will be likely to involve 
 increase of sinning faculty, or conscious- 
 being; and either growth or decay, not cease¬ 
 less sameness of capacity would seem to be 
 the law of the soul’s existence. 
 
 Now it is certain that everlasting life in 
 glory is attended with everlasting growth ; for, 
 there as here, “ the path of the just is as the 
 shining light, which shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day,” (Prov. iv. iS,) and 
 better and better shall we “ see as we are 
 seen, and know as we are known.” (i Cor. 
 xiii. 12.) But while the way of light is ever 
 upward to enlargement, the way of darkness 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 15 
 
 must be ever downward to belittlement. 
 While the heirs of life forever grow , it is 
 reasonable that the heirs of death should for¬ 
 ever decay. Not because sin, or spiritual death, 
 or ruin, is itself decay, or in itself necessitates 
 decay, any more than does holiness, or 
 spiritual life, or glory; but because the pun¬ 
 ishment superadded to death, may fitly be 
 with such accompaniment as to prevent pro¬ 
 gress and induce decay. What is it, then, that 
 has such an effect on a rational being ? 
 Answer: The very opposite to what causes 
 growth must produce decay. 
 
 It is a law of nature that animate living 
 powers maintain their vitality and vigor by 
 means of alternating activity and repose. 
 The effect of continual over-exertion is to ex¬ 
 haust activity, and bring on over-repose, 
 while the effect of continual over-repose is to 
 deaden and diminish the powers themselves. 
 A medium amount of activity would keep the 
 faculty in a uniform state, while a full and 
 adequate activity will continually enlarge the 
 capacity to do. It is so physically; the 
 blacksmith’s arm, by constant wielding of the 
 sledge, grows larger and stronger than another 
 man’s; and he who daily carries the calf will 
 gain in power as the calf does in weight, till 
 
16 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 he is seen bearing off the ox, as Samson did the 
 gates of Gaza. It is so mentally ; indulgence 
 in strong drink will so increase the appetite,, 
 as to render denial next to impossible; and 
 memory reason, imagination, or any faculty 
 may, by persevering employment, be devel¬ 
 oped and enlarged a hundredfold. 
 
 Thus may the whole soul be increased by 
 means of its own activity. And thus does 
 a person become more of a being than before. 
 By bodily exercise he may attain to more 
 body, more life and being in the flesh. And 
 so, by soul exercise, or mental, and especially 
 moral exertion, a man may attain to more of a 
 soul, more life and being, as a rational person. 
 In this way one becomes literally “ more of a 
 man; ” the very essence of his being is in¬ 
 creased. His faculties are larger; his thoughts,, 
 emotions, volitions, are wider and stronger; 
 and hence his responsibility and his character 
 are more striking, either for good or evil, and 
 his consequent happiness or misery is corre¬ 
 spondingly more intense. (See Heb. v. 14 ; 
 2 Pet. ii. 14.) If thus our persevering activity 
 seizes hold on the power of practice, wielding 
 it aright — with practice still permitted to us 
 in glory — we may yet outvie the highest 
 
Everlasting Punishment . 17 
 
 archangels, in the extent of our capacities,, 
 and the vastness of our happy being. 
 
 Such is the natural law of increase in being. 
 The corresponding law of decrease is equally 
 conspicuous. As suitable exercise increases- 
 vitality of body, so want of exercise diminishes 
 bodily power. Delay too long to train your 
 fingers to the piano, and you shall find your 
 capacity to master the instrument much weak¬ 
 ened, or quite destroyed. And so of every 
 inward faculty. If a craving for tobacco be: 
 persistently refused, it will diminish, and 
 finally die out. If memory, or imagination, or 
 the reasoning power be kept too much out of 
 use, the individual becomes less and less capa¬ 
 ble of employing that power. The moral 
 sense may be thus blunted, and the will itself 
 may thus be reduced to an utter imbecility of 
 action. Indeed, the higher the faculty, and 
 the more removed from matter into the 
 domain of spirit, the greater appears its sus¬ 
 ceptibility to enlargement by exercise, and to 
 diminution by disuse. 
 
 If this be so of each single faculty, it must 
 be so of the whole bundle of faculties, that 
 is, of the very being, the man himself. He, 
 as a personal, rational creature, is capable of 
 diminution as well as enlargement. As he 
 
18 Everlasting Punishment . 
 
 % 
 
 may become “ more of a man ” by suitable ex¬ 
 ertion of his powers, so he may become “ less 
 of a man,” a lower order, or less developed 
 sort of a man, by disuse of his faculties. 
 There are all grades of humanity, with all 
 gradations of intellect, and so all sizes of per¬ 
 sonal moral being among men, from the 
 idiot up to the giant soul. As by drilling the 
 mind developes and grows from birth to ma¬ 
 turity, so by coming into long inaction, it may 
 not only stop growing, but may at length by 
 degrees lose its vital activity, and may lapse 
 backward toward its unconscious state. We 
 seem to see instances of this, where a sluggish 
 soul appears not only to have stopped grow¬ 
 ing, but even to be tending back toward a 
 mere animal existence. 
 
 The temporary healthful repose of sleep 
 does not thus shrink the soul, which may still 
 be at work. And the eclipse of faculty pro¬ 
 duced by bodily decay is only, in like manner, 
 a partial, temporary sleep, not affecting the 
 soul’s permanent powers. This is sometimes 
 made evident by gleams of full mental sun¬ 
 light, after the severest insanity, or after the 
 greatest infirmities of old age. And so with 
 separate spirits in the sleep of death, “ re¬ 
 served ” unto the judgment day. (2 Peter ii. 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 19 
 
 9; Job xxi. 30.) Activity merely dormant 
 more or less, does not necessarily diminish 
 the soul-power already attained. But con¬ 
 scious inactivity — i.e., the full sense of mental 
 exercises on hand, without the active evolu¬ 
 tion of new ideas from without the mind, does 
 wear upon the soul, and reduce its power of 
 active being. For this expenditure of con¬ 
 sciousness, without conscious gain, seems self- 
 exhaustive, not recuperative, like the restful 
 repose of sleep. 
 
 Now, a prison-life of close confinement 
 •does thus tend to a conscious inactivity of 
 the faculties, which will cause them to dwindle 
 away. Shut up a man in a dungeon for long 
 years, and he becomes gradually imbecile, and 
 finally idiotic. Hence such close confine¬ 
 ment, away from all means of progress, suf¬ 
 ficient even to maintain one’s self-hood, is 
 considered the most terrible of human pun¬ 
 ishments. Instances are known of culprits 
 thus reduced from manhood to a brutish 
 insensibility. It is the cutting off of com¬ 
 munication with other beings, the isolation 
 of a soul thus left to itself, without opportuni¬ 
 ties of new activity,— the close imprisonment 
 of being within narrow limits of inaction,— 
 
20 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 it is this that induces torpor and decay of the 
 being itself. 
 
 And under what circumstances comes the 
 “ everlasting punishment,” so sadly imposed 
 in the judgment day? Is it not accom¬ 
 panied with imprisonment in the dark world 
 of crushed ambitions and fettered capabili¬ 
 ties ? Is not the final dismal hell of the 
 Bible always represented and understood as 
 a prison ? (see Mat. v. 25; Luke xii. 58 ; 1 
 Peter iii. 19 ; Rev. xx. 7,)— a place of confine¬ 
 ment in chains and bondage l (Mat. xviii. 34 ; 
 1 Cor. v. 5 ; 1 Tim. i. 20 ; 2 Peter ii. 4,) — 
 an outer darkness and gloom, the very blackness 
 of darkness for ever? (Mat. viii. 12, and xxii. 
 13, and xxv. 30; 2 Peter ii. 4, 17 ; Jude vi. 
 13). If the lost are now “ spirits in prison (1 
 Peter iii. 19,) how much more will they be 
 after judgment! And what warrant is there 
 for the idea of many, that the lost are asso¬ 
 ciated together in conscious company and 
 confederacy, plotting and planning, it may 
 be, in new schemes of sin and rebellion, in¬ 
 dulging the grim satisfaction of demoniacal 
 society, and thus reveling in the exercise of 
 enlarging powers ? Is there a word in all 
 God's book to paint such a scene of diaboli- 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 21 
 
 O 
 
 cal association, under the final, all-conquering 
 reign of righteousness ? 
 
 No ! “ misery loves company,’’ but it is not 
 to be gratified, so far as we know. And the 
 depth of the final ruin will consist in this, 
 more than in anything else, that the solitary 
 sinner shall perish seemingly alone. The 
 finishing doom upon a guilty soul is that pro¬ 
 nounced by God (Hosea iv. 17,) “ Ephraim 
 is joined to his idols, let him alone.” 
 Schmucker’s Theology of Storr and Flatt, 
 (Andover, 1836, p. 360,) tells us, that “ the 
 misery of the wicked ” will be lessened by 
 their being kept in a measure from the “pas¬ 
 sions of each other,” and being “in some 
 degree restrained by the melancholy situation 
 in which they are placed.” When the wicked, 
 as in the text, “ shall go away into everlast¬ 
 ing punishment,” after having been ordered 
 — “ depart, ye cursed ” — that banishment to 
 lonely decay in misery, will be more sad and 
 fatal than any society of confederated sin 
 could be. Similar to this are all the Bible 
 representations of final doom ; and thus does 
 it leave the lost to pine away sorrowfully in 
 an EVERLASTING DECAY. 
 
 Does any one here say, that all decay must 
 some time come to an end ? and that this view 
 
22 
 
 Ei 'ey Ia sting Pu nish men t. 
 
 forbids the everlastingness of punishment ? 
 and must cause even the devil and hell itself 
 finally to cease ? I answer, it might be so, if 
 God pleased to appoint it so. But he says 
 differently. The Judge himself most posi¬ 
 tively declares that the punishment is “ ever¬ 
 lasting,” as everlasting as the joys of the 
 saints. He says that this fiery punishment 
 was “ prepared for the devil and his angels,” 
 (v. 41) and that the devil shall be actually cast 
 into it, with others, “ and shall be tormented 
 day and night forever and ever;” (Rev. xx. 
 10,) “Where their worm dieth not, and the 
 fire is not quenched.” (Mark ix. 44, 46, 48.) 
 Moreover, the blessed Jesus himself most 
 positively and solemnly assures us, (Mark iii. 
 29; Matth. xii. 31, 32; Luke xii. 10,) that 
 there are some rejectors of the Gospel, who 
 have “ never forgiveness ” or remission, 
 “ neither in this world nor in the world to 
 come,” but are “ in danger of eternal dam¬ 
 nation,” or eternal sin, as all the best critics 
 now read it, (Griesbach, Lachman, Tischen- 
 dorf, Tragelles, Sinaitic, Vatican, etc.) In 
 danger of eternal unremitted sinning or sin¬ 
 fulness, and all the sad consequences of such 
 a state and character, so that, (as said in 
 Matt. xxvi. 24, and Mark xiv. 21,) “it had 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 23 
 
 been good for that man if he had not been 
 born.” How terrible, how inexpressibly awful 
 such a doom ! which some of the human race 
 are most certainly to experience. 
 
 Does any one press the point that decay 
 must sometime end, that an ever-diminishing 
 series must sometime come to nothing? By no 
 means, I reply. If you keep dividing a quantity 
 by 2 (or by any other number,) you can never 
 reduce it to nothing. It will first become y 2 
 as much as it was, and then y as much as it 
 was, and then as much as it was ; and so 
 on, ever diminishing but never entirely ceas¬ 
 ing, forever and forever. Have you never 
 heard of Dr. Bushnell’s explanation of this 
 matter ? That after sinners have entered upon 
 their doom, “ their being may grow less and 
 less without ever reaching complete extinction, 
 as the asymptote of a circle is a line so pro¬ 
 jected as to be always approaching the circle 
 without ever touching it.” 
 
 And now behold such a process of ever¬ 
 lasting decay, forever reducing the amount of 
 intelligent sinning and sorrow in the universe 
 of God, and see how it harmonizes with the 
 glorious revelations of Redemptive triumph 
 foretold. Some shadow of sin’s dire conse¬ 
 quences will be necessary forever, as a beacon- 
 
24 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 warning against transgression for all the 
 eternal ages. But as less and less the ad¬ 
 monition may be needed, so less and less will 
 the dread catastrophe of rebellion appear, 
 until at last (in brutish torpor) the conscious 
 suffering will be reduced to a minimum, and 
 only the smoke of the torment will ascend up 
 forever. (Rev. xiv. n.) That the Scripture 
 teaching does clearly indicate such an ever¬ 
 lasting decay, appears from many of its forms 
 of expression describing the lost. “ Consume,” 
 “ devour,” “ bring to naught,” “ destroy,” and 
 the like, do not signify extinction, but they do 
 suggest the idea of decay rather than of growth. 
 See particularly Acts xiii. 41 ; “ Behold ye 
 
 despisers, and wonder, and perish ,” literally 
 vanish away , (as in Ja. iv. 14, “ fade away.” 
 See also Ja. i. 11; Heb. x. 27 ; Matt. vii. 13 ; 
 Job viii. 22 ; Ps. xxxi. 20, and civ. 35 ; Isa. i. 
 28, and xli. 11, 12.) 
 
 I feel confident that this first head of dis¬ 
 course contains the truth of God; and that 
 the Bible teaches, not an intensifying and ex¬ 
 pansive torment, but an everlasting decay. And 
 I am the more convinced of this because the 
 view here reached is so strictly orthodox, 
 and in accordance with the faith of Christ’s 
 true Church all down the ages. He pro- 
 
Ei'erlasting Pit nisli merit. 
 
 3 5 
 
 mised to be with His people always, even 
 unto the end of the world, and by His in¬ 
 structing Spirit to lead them into all truth. 
 And we cannot believe that, in all these 
 centuries past, they have been allowed to 
 wander into any great fundamental error. 
 Unless Christianity has been a failure, the 
 prevalent creeds of Christendom must be es¬ 
 sentially correct. Whatever of new light 
 comes, must modify only slight details of the 
 statement. 
 
 And it is so in this case. The view now 
 offered is entirely accordant with the creed of 
 •every evangelical denomination. It teaches 
 the doctrine almost universally acknowledged, 
 of everlasting punishment — a terrible hell of 
 unending misery for the determined enemies 
 of God. But it simply relieves this great 
 solemn truth from a trifling gloss,— an inci¬ 
 dental comment, or needless appendage out¬ 
 side of the ratified Church faith, a groundless 
 inference, which has been carelessly allowed 
 to bring odium upon our faith, and strain 
 upon our hearts. The doctrine of everlast¬ 
 ing punishment is at once reconciled with 
 our innate ideas of God’s justice and good¬ 
 ness, of His full, final triumph over sin, and 
 of His fair, proportionate award to the gross- 
 
26 
 
 Ei't rla sting Punishment. 
 
 est and the slightest offenders, when once 
 we interpret it, not in the light of growth , but 
 in the light of decay. For— 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 II. What will be the final result] It is plain 
 as anything can be from Scripture, that some , 
 at least of the most guilty men of our race, 
 are to suffer for ever with the devil and his 
 angels, in a hell of fiery indignation. But 
 how large a class ? you will ask. I answer 
 frankly — I do not know. Nor do I believe 
 that anybody knows, or can know, except the 
 infinite Father of all. But there is a form of 
 this question upon which we may reverently 
 seek for light. How large, proportionally to 
 the redeemed of the human race, will proba¬ 
 bly be the number of those everlastingly 
 miserable ? Answer : We have reason to 
 believe that it will be comparatively very 
 small. That is, reason as well as Scripture 
 leads us to think, that the glorified saints of 
 the earth will, in the end , vastly exceed the 
 number of reprobates left pining in woe,— 
 yea, may be to them as the ocean to a little 
 pool. But how can that be ? 
 
 We have seen that the doom prepared for 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 27 
 
 the devil and his angels is “ everlasting pun¬ 
 ishment,” and that this unending misery in 
 “ eternal sin ” will also be endured by some 
 human beings whom the Saviour describes. 
 Moreover, we have seen that into this ever¬ 
 lasting punishment all upon the left hand of 
 the Judge will depart. From it no one of 
 them can ever come out. But because they 
 are all in that punishment, never to come 
 out, and because whatever there is of them 
 is under the operation of that punishment 
 everlastingly, it does not follow that they all 
 remain conscious forever of what is going on. 
 Elemental existence must in all cases continue 
 for ever, while conscious existence (in the lapse 
 of decay) may in many cases have run out. 
 
 How long the conscious being or person¬ 
 ality of any particular individual will hold 
 out in that pit of everlasting woe, no one 
 but God can tell. It is not for human reason, 
 but only for God’s word to assure us, whether 
 any human beings, and if so then who 
 of human beings, will remain as persons in 
 conscious agony for evermore. Of those 
 described by Christ, the blasphemers against 
 the Holy Ghost, and the like, He has seen 
 fit to inform us, that their personal sin and 
 sorrow shall never cease to be felt. The in- 
 
28 Everlasting Punishment . 
 
 ference concerning others is, that they may, 
 some time in the process of everlasting decay? 
 become insensible to “ the smoke of their 
 torment,” that “ ascendeth up for ever and 
 ever.” As to the particulars^we do not, we 
 must not, pretend to know. God has wisely 
 hidden from us the secrets of that world of 
 everlasting woe and decay. 
 
 But of one thing we are certain, and one 
 point we must guard with most sedulous care. 
 There is nothing in the nature of punishment , 
 or death of any kind, to cause extinction of 
 being. And the “ everlasting punishment” in 
 •death to which the guilty are sentenced, can 
 have no tendency to end or shorten one moment 
 the conscious existence of any individual. To 
 suppose this, would be to make the punish¬ 
 ment a blessing in mercy, instead of a curse 
 in wrath; and would throw us into all the 
 other absurdities and dangers of the annihila¬ 
 tion doctrine. No ! if any mitigation can ever 
 come to the miseries of any of the lost, it must 
 come not from their punishment, nor from any 
 effect produced by it, but from some other 
 quarter entirely. Something of the sort may 
 issue from God’s pity, but it cannot issue from 
 his wrath. And “ everlasting punishment" is 
 simply u the wrath of God and the Lamb.” 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 29 
 
 That punitive wrath can do nothing but pun¬ 
 ish. 
 
 And yet, God’s love and pity is a real thing, 
 as truly in His punishing as in all His other 
 works,— as certainly in world-ages past and 
 world-ages to come, as now in His saving grace 
 through Christ. God never made a constitu¬ 
 tion of things, that should at any future period 
 
 * 
 
 shut out the chances for pity from His heart; 
 and in that constitution of things may possibly 
 be found some element, wherein the pity of 
 God shall appear, even in the endless doom of 
 the lost. It is there, in the creation of the 
 human soul, its very structure and nature,— it 
 is there, and not in punishment inflicted, that 
 we are to look for any mitigation (if there be 
 any) to eternal doom. 
 
 Now, in regard to this matter of the human 
 constitution, a grave mistake has been made. 
 In order to make more certain to us our assur¬ 
 ance of a future destiny, most theologians have 
 unnecessarily and unfortunately hit upon and 
 pressed, the idea of the soul's inherent immor¬ 
 tality . I say unnecessarily , for we have just as 
 full assurance of our future destiny, without 
 that doctrine of natural immortality, as we can 
 have with it. Christ has come, and “ brought 
 life and immortality to light in His Gospel. " 
 
30 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 We are certain, if we believe in Christ, to 
 attain to “ glory, honor and immortality ” in 
 eternal life;” and no argument from reason 
 concerning the native immortality of every 
 human soul , can add to this blessed hope which 
 is peculiar to the Saints. 
 
 All that the best reasoning can do is to show, 
 that the human soul is capable of outlasting 
 death , and may continue forever. It can never 
 prove that all human souls must everlastingly 
 endure. It can show that the soul is probably 
 ////-mortal, but cannot show that it is in every 
 case, ////-mortal. For that, if we are to believe 
 it, we must after all go to the Word of God 
 alone. And there we find that God only hath 
 immortality ” in himself, (i Tim. vi. 16 ;) and 
 that man’s immortality depends on no inher¬ 
 ent principle of his natural constitution, ren¬ 
 dering it impossible for him ever to cease his 
 conscious existence,— but depends, like all 
 other things, on the momentary will and good 
 pleasure of a sovereign God. All these nat¬ 
 ural laws are but continual expressions of the 
 Divine will; and we have no evidence of any 
 such invariable law of nature, as that a con¬ 
 scious soul can never under any circumstances, 
 lose its conscious personality. Doubtless, no 
 elementary particles, or substances are ever 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 31 
 
 annihilated; but all* structural creatures may 
 cease to be as creatures, if God so pleases. 
 Says Jeremy Taylor: 
 
 Whatsoever had a beginning can also have an ending ; 
 and it shall die, unless it be daily watered and refreshed ; 
 and therefore God had prepared a tree in Paradise, to 
 have supported Adam in his artificial immortality. Im¬ 
 mortality was not in his nature, but in the hands and 
 parts, in the favor and super-additions of God. 
 
 And the Presbyterian Catechism (Glasgow, 
 1765, P 27.) says: 
 
 Q. Are the souls of men absolutely and independently 
 immortal? Ans. — No. God only is so. 1 Tim. vi. 16. 
 This eternity of theirs is not necessary and essential to 
 their nature, but flows from the will and power of God ; 
 who, if he pleased, could bring them to an end, as well 
 as He gave them a beginning. 
 
 Is eternity of punishment essential to the threatening 
 or penal sanction of the law? Answer— No ; else there 
 had never been a satisfaction for sin. Whence, then, 
 arises the eternity of punishment? Answer — From the 
 nature of the creature, p. 98. 
 
 Thus unnecessary, and even unreasonable, 
 is it to press that doctrine of natural immor¬ 
 tality. We said further, that it has been unfor¬ 
 tunately brought in and pressed. For, it is the 
 very element of evil, serving to make odious 
 the Bible doctrine of everlasting punishment, 
 and to drive multitudes into the denial of it, 
 
32 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 to the imminent peril of their souls. This 
 doctrine of natural immortality was chiefly set 
 forward in a sterner age, partly for the very 
 purpose of exasperating the horrors of the sin¬ 
 ner’s doom, and making it seem impossible in 
 the very nature of things, for the least of all 
 transgressors to suffer any less than the vilest 
 reprobate’s eternity of woe. The hope was, 
 (and it was an honest, pious hope in that 
 sterner day,) by such a view to alarm these 
 less hardened unbelievers into the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 But the spirit of the times has changed; 
 and experience has shown, that men are not 
 thus to be frightened by an exaggerated view ; 
 but that, on the contrary, they are thereby 
 repelled into greater unbelief, into false and 
 dangerous theories, and even into infidelity 
 and atheism. Crime is not so much prevented 
 by the horribleness of a punishment, as by its 
 having in it a reasonableness, and therefore a 
 certainty of enforcement which cannot be gain- 
 sayed. The theory of inherent immortality 
 for all, is urged most strenuously by Univer- 
 salists, it being the very bulwark of their sys¬ 
 tem ; for by its means they make everlasting 
 punishment seem too savage for easy belief. 
 It is time for us to come back from this ration- 
 
Ei 'erlas ting Punish went. 
 
 33 
 
 alizing about natural immortality, to the 
 teachings of Him who alone “ brought life and 
 immortality to light.” 
 
 Now then, studying our own nature with 
 this simple view, what have we found ? We 
 have found (as in a previous discourse,) that 
 while the soul of every man is un-mortal, but 
 not necessarily and in every case im-mortal or 
 incapable of cessation,—its continuance in each 
 instance depending only upon the will of God, 
 — yet there is in the divine appointment, one, 
 and only one, simple and definite ground of 
 continuance to the soul. It is not thought which 
 makes us endure, for this would make the 
 brutes un-mortal too; it is not reason , nor 
 greatness of faculty, as frequently but inade¬ 
 quately assigned; it is not moral quality or 
 character, the false ground assumed by annihi- 
 lationism ; but it is moral activity, which 
 forms the true orthodox ground of the souls 
 endurance. That is, man outlasts the brute 
 creation simply because he is a free moral 
 agent, and is accountable for his acts, having 
 a moral character growing out of moral action. 
 Consequently, the more intense his moral activ¬ 
 ity, whether good o'* had , the more is his being 
 energized into persistent continuance of exist¬ 
 ence, against all opposing hindrances. Sin 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Ei 'erlasting Punishment. 
 
 tends to perpetuate itself, as truly as does holi¬ 
 ness,— because it has in it the element of moral 
 activity; and the less of sin there is in any 
 soul, the less of a hold that soul has upon ex¬ 
 istence. He who aspires to a sure immortality 
 in God, has only (through the Christ-life found) 
 to attain high moral activity in the service of 
 God. And if, on the other hand, any one 
 longs for immortality at any rate, even though 
 in woe, he has only to contemn Christ, and 
 plunge into the depths of sin, so as to cultivate 
 his depraved moral activity to the largest extent. 
 Everlastingness of conscious destiny, whether 
 in felicity or in woe, is promoted by the en¬ 
 larged capacity of a soul voluntarily and per¬ 
 se'veringly acting for or against Christ. 
 
 Here is where the annihilation theory most 
 signally errs from the truth of God. It makes 
 a prolonged existence hereafter to depend 
 upon the moral quality , the good character of 
 the individual, rather than his moral activity , 
 thus reducing the life and death of the Bible 
 to mean mere existence and non-existence. 
 From which it must follow, that the less of 
 good one has, and the more of evil he attains, 
 the sooner must he be blotted out of being, 
 contrary to all principles of sense and justice. 
 Whereas, the true orthodox doctrine is, that all 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 35 
 
 moral action, whether good or bad, enhances 
 capacity and prolongs conscious being. So 
 that, full activity of soul with God’s benedic¬ 
 tion, must ripen into immortal glory ; and with 
 God’s malediction, must fester in everlasting 
 woe; while the slight moral activity of an 
 ignorant or undeveloped soul may possibly (if 
 God so provides) be left to fade out in the 
 process cf everlasting decay. 
 
 And has God provided for any such a result 
 in his constitution of things? Yea, verily. 
 For our study of the human structure has 
 further shown us that close prison-life does 
 offer a serious hindrance to the perpetuity of 
 the activity , both mental and moral, and (un¬ 
 less counterbalanced by the reserving power of 
 great light sinned against) does tend to the 
 unman-ing of faculty, and the final eclipse of 
 conscious being. So that, in the prison of hell, 
 the dark and solitary realm of despair, it is 
 possible that some souls may reach such a stage 
 in their everlasting decay, that conscious ex¬ 
 istence will be clean gone from them, and 
 thenceforward it will be, as far asdhey are con¬ 
 cerned, literally nothing but the bare “ smoke 
 of torment ascending up forever." 
 
 In that case, it will be no less “ everlasting 
 punishment.” Nothing will be annihilated; 
 
36 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 no consciousness even will be extinguished by 
 any act of God or by any punishment inflicted. 
 But the rational being as such , nevertheless, 
 will cease by the very limitations of its con¬ 
 stitutional structure; its tireless activity having 
 less and less to feed upon, and so famishing 
 into eternal torpor and insensibility,—not con¬ 
 sciously existent, but only existent in a mere 
 elemental state. 
 
 If all the most Calvinistic Christians in the 
 world can believe (as they do) that each of us 
 existed in Adam as to essence and character, 
 ages before our conscious existence began, may 
 not I most Calvinistically believe, that each 
 lost soul will exist forever as to essence and 
 character, in the everlasting punishment of 
 sin, ages after the conscious existence of some 
 of them is ended ? It is no more absurd to 
 think of wicked men as finally absorbed in 
 their father the devil, than to think of them as 
 originally living in their father Adam. 
 
 The character can never change; but the 
 being may slowly decay, or be swallowed up. 
 And this must go on the more rapidly, accord¬ 
 ing as the activity in sin has been more feeble ; 
 for thus, by a less exercise of the moral facul¬ 
 ties, the soul’s power of continuance has been 
 less efficiently energized. The rational, im- 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 3 7 
 
 pelling power of conscience, which is what 
 makes the man as distinguished from a brute, 
 has at length died out, as we see foretokened 
 in the hardening victims of crime; while 
 nevertheless the punishing sting of conscience 
 remains, ever a full faculty crushing the whole 
 dwindling spirit, as we see from the continued 
 or re-awakened remorse of the profligate. So 
 that our present view, more than any other 
 orthodox teaching, enforces the impossibility 
 of any restoration for a ruined soul. 
 
 Mark carefully, that the punishment itself 
 cannot produce decay,— that the greater the 
 punishment, the less is the prospect of any 
 such relief. For the degree of the punishment 
 must be proportioned to the greatness of the 
 moral activity in the being, which is the same 
 as the greatness of his sin; and that depends 
 in large measure upon the amount of the light 
 and knowledge sinned against. Hence, along 
 with its greater light, the New Testament had 
 to bring in its greater revelation of punish¬ 
 ment. Now, since this moral activity of sin¬ 
 ning is the very ground of continued conscious 
 existence, so that the more a man is morally 
 active, i. e., the more he is a sinner, the longer 
 his conscious existence must hold out against 
 the tendencies to decay, it follows that the 
 
3S Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 everlasting decay or any result from it, is not 
 the punishment, or an effect produced by the 
 punishment, but only an accompanying cir¬ 
 cumstance or incidental result, produced by the 
 constitutional limitations of the soul, which 
 God in kindness bestowed upon it in its crea¬ 
 tion. 
 
 I repeat, then, the future imprisonment of 
 lost souls, resulting in want of exercise to 
 faculty, and consequent decay of being, with 
 loss of conscious existence in such cases as 
 God pleases — all this is not the everlasting 
 punishment threatened against sin ; this is not 
 the death-penalty at all; this is only a pitifuj 
 appliance of Deity, to mitigate at his good 
 pleasure the’inflnite horrors of doom. As we 
 elsewhere proved eternal life to be, not bare 
 existence, but eternal union with God, so we 
 unmistakably proved the death-penalty to be, 
 not an extinction, but an eternal disunion or 
 separation from God; and the kk everlasting 
 punishment ” is wrath inflicted forever in 
 that state of separation. Nor does the word 
 destruction , or the like, indicate any end of the 
 being. 
 
 All this matter of evil inflicted , belongs to 
 the just judgment of God against ungodly 
 men, and will be dealt out fairly in due pro- 
 
Ei 'crlasting Pu nis/i ment. 
 
 39 
 
 portion to the deserts of each. But the idea 
 of everlasting decay is a different affair. It is 
 not an evil inflicted, but a relief afforded; and 
 therefore, instead of being the punishment, it 
 is only a merciful attendant of it; and when 
 called a result, it must be carefully understood 
 as only an incidental result, coming not so 
 much from the punishment, as from the con¬ 
 stitutional nature of things. Let this point be 
 most scrupulously guarded, or we shall fall 
 into the grave errors of annihilation theorists. 
 
 In this imposed power of decay, we find the 
 very point where the pity of God has mingled 
 itself with all the possibilities of His universe. 
 He would not make a being capable of falling 
 into sin, and yet incapable from its very nature 
 of ever being made to cease from that sin and 
 misery. So cruel a thing the God of infinite 
 Justice, and Holiness, and Love, could ^ot do. 
 He put into our very being a limitation, or 
 possibility of decay, which, unless overruled 
 by Him, would in time run out of existence 
 all the sin and misery in the universe. He 
 thus has control of it; and, if He pleased, the 
 final triumph of redemption might be such an 
 extermination of all sorrow. When His word 
 positively assures us, that such a result He is ■ 
 not intending,— that for some wise reason, in 
 
40 Everlasting Punishment. 
 
 certain notable cases of abominable rebellion. 
 He is going to overrule the universal tendency 
 to decay, and to permit smoke of torment to 
 go up forever, we bow with submission to that 
 mandate, and say, “ Even so, Father, for so 
 it seemed good in Thy sight.” 
 
 But here we stop. We have no right to go 
 one step beyond His certain teaching, in an 
 effort to extend the domain of everlasting woe. 
 The pity of God, which he wants his creatures 
 to borrow, compels us to confine the everlast¬ 
 ingness of torment to the very smallest limits 
 that His declarations demand. These do re¬ 
 quire that we sorrowfully and submissively 
 admit the fact, not only concerning “ the devil 
 and his angels,” but also concerning some 
 gospel blasphemers among men. And con¬ 
 cerning all unbelievers on the left hand of the 
 Judge, we must admit that they too “ go away 
 into ” this everlasting punishment, never to re¬ 
 turn. But to say further, that every one going 
 into that punishment must for a certainty for¬ 
 ever consciously exist under it, is saying more 
 than we know. God has not condescended to 
 inform us on that point; and we do well, on 
 such a serious matter, not to be wise above 
 • what is written. 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 41 
 
 It is possible that, in the everlasting decay, 
 the conscious being of the lost continues to 
 all degrees of length, from the long forever of 
 the guiltiest reprobate, to the comparatively 
 short, sad, fading consciousness of one who 
 sinned but little, and “ without law.” While 
 yet it must remain sorrowfully true, that every 
 one “ that believeth not shall be damned,” and 
 “ shall go away into everlasting punishment,” 
 to stay in it for evermore. I say it is possible , 
 that such a perpetual diminution in the num¬ 
 ber of suffering persons , as well as in the 
 amount of their conscious agony , may come to 
 pass. I go further, and say, it is not only 
 possible, but I hope it is to be so. I do not 
 know that it will be so. I do not preach 
 this last point as a doctrine that must be 
 believed. I do not urge it upon you ; and for 
 this reason simply, because I have not for it, 
 as for other points, a positive “ thus saith the 
 Lord.” But He tells me nothing to the con¬ 
 trary, and therefore I have a right to hope. 
 Yes, and I can even say, we have reason to be¬ 
 lieve this view. 
 
 For, what does our Saviour assert? (Luke 
 xii. 47, 48.) “ And that servant which knew 
 
 his Lord's will , and prepared not himself, 
 
42 
 
 Ei'e/lasting Punishment. 
 
 neither did according to his will, shall be 
 BEATEN WITH MANY STRIPES. But he that 
 knew not , and did commit things worthy of 
 stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. 
 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him 
 shall much be required; and to whom men 
 have committed much, of him will they ask 
 the more.” If men act upon these principles 
 of honor and- equity, how much more will the 
 God of infinite Justice, Truth, and Love deal 
 with His creatures in this method of fair dis¬ 
 crimination. It seems to me that Christ here 
 meant to give the divine law of eternal retri¬ 
 bution, and to teach a difference in the dura¬ 
 tion of stripes under the everlasting judgment 
 of God. I know that most people regard this 
 as only showing a difference of degree ; but as 
 the inflicting of few stripes always takes less 
 time than the inflicting of many, the Saviour’s 
 language may most literally, as well as fitly, 
 be understood as teaching also a difference of 
 duration — an important element in the matter 
 of degree. And though I do not press this as 
 explicit assertion of my doctrine, I yet do feel 
 by it authorized to say, there is good reason to 
 believe this view. 
 
 The different views of everlasting punish¬ 
 ment go thus: 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 45 
 
 I. Universalist. Punishment temporary, 
 (resulting in everlasting happiness.) 
 
 II. Annihilation. Punishment everlasting in 
 its evil results. 
 
 III. Orthodox. Punishment everlasting in 
 itself — i.e ., in its operation upon its 
 victims, even every one of them ; but 
 either — 
 
 (1) Resulting in everlasting decay , with 
 final loss of conscious existence (i.e. T 
 with u few stripes ”) to such as. 
 “ knew not their Lord’s will.” Or, 
 
 (2) Resulting in everlasting growth , or 
 progress of every individual in sin 
 and sorrow forever. 
 
 The annihilation view of future punish¬ 
 ment, as truly as the universalist view, we re¬ 
 ject and oppose. The orthodox view we* 
 heartily endorse, but in the first, not the 
 second aspect of its results. Of this one* 
 thing at least we feel confident , that the 
 CONSCIOUS AGONY WILL NOT BE ETERNAL 
 TO ANY LOST SOUL THAT NEVER KNEW OR 
 
 rejected Christ. 
 
 And here we rest. For what follows? Sin 
 and Satan now seem to reign, and for a season 
 rebellion is allowed to grow, while godliness 
 seems as if beaten in the strife. But it will 
 
44 
 
 Everlasting Puirishmen t. 
 
 not always be so. Things will come to their 
 ■crisis in the Great Day of the Lord. Christ 
 will take unto Himself the government, and 
 the saints shall for ever expand in the expand¬ 
 ing kingdom, while gospel rejectors shall fade 
 away in the fading domain of darkness and of 
 sin. Jehovah shall reign triumphant, and all 
 “ the works of the devil shall be destroyed." 
 Even so, Lord Jesus, hasten it in its day. 
 May I, and may you, escape the “ everlasting 
 punishment ” of the wicked, which must be 
 bitter enough at the best. And may we all 
 by faith attain-unto the unspeakable glories of 
 eternal life. 
 
 In that blest morning of jubilee, we will join 
 the glad chorus, when “ they sing the song 
 of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of 
 the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are 
 thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and 
 true are thy ways, thou king of saints." 
 (ReY. xv. 3.) 
 
Ei'crllisting Pit nishment . 
 
 o 
 
 45 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 1. If any one is tempted to think that the 
 view here given amounts to little, as to any 
 practical results differing from those commonly 
 held, let him consider: (i) How all ordinary 
 teachings leave the untold millions of untaught 
 paganism, and of sinning unrepenting youth, 
 to an eternity of growing torment, as lasting 
 as that of the gospel-hardened Judas; infer¬ 
 ring (2) that every one of them, if dying soon 
 enough , would reach an eternity of blessedness 
 instead; so that every child’s first little act of 
 sin is a fall from an infinite of joy to an infinite 
 of woe ; and the sparing of its life long enough 
 to reach that inevitable fall, must be an act of 
 most terrible cruelty on the part of God and 
 of its friends; so that pagan infanticide must 
 be the most blessed institution of the world ! 
 'These horrible deductions of the common 
 
 .faith are all destroyed by the view here pre¬ 
 sented. 
 
 2. If any one is tempted to think that the 
 view here given amounts to the same as the 
 
4 6 
 
 Ei'erlasting Punishment. 
 
 annihilation doctrine, (now commonly taught 
 by “Adventists,”) let him consider: (i) How 
 that teaches, that there is no eternal hell, no 
 everlasting suffering of anybody, even the 
 devil, or Judas, or the most wilful contemner 
 of Christ; and (2) teaches, that the end of 
 misery to beings will come by a destroying 
 act of God as the punishment of their sins; 
 whereby all moral distinctions are confounded, 
 and all scripture teachings overthrown. These 
 falsities and absurdities of Advent-nihilism 
 are here escaped. 
 
 3. If any one wishes to remember clearly 
 the point of this discourse, without confound¬ 
 ing it with any erroneous ism , let him simply 
 bear in mind : (1) That God has implanted in 
 the soul a principle of decay , under confine¬ 
 ment or lack of sufficient moral exercise; 
 and (2), that God has implanted a counter¬ 
 principle of resistance to decay , arising from 
 great light once enjoyed, and great opportuni¬ 
 ties once abused. Under the first principle, 
 small sinners with “few stripes,” may soon 
 fade into unconsciousness; under the second 
 principle, great sinners wilfully scorning the 
 gospel, though forever in decay, must unend¬ 
 ingly retain some consciousness of misery in 
 
Everlasting Punishment. 47 
 
 that “everlasting punishment” into which 
 they all go away. 
 
 4. If any one wishes to see the present view 
 in contrast with others, let him observe that 
 all other views make but one alternative to 
 eternal life; namely, either everlasting misery, 
 or instant extinction. But this our view puts, 
 between endless life for the saved and endless 
 misery for the reprobate, a tertium quid , an 
 intermediate alternative of limited evil for 
 those less steeped in sin. It is true of us 
 adult gospel hearers, “ we all belong to one of 
 two classes — we are all the friends or enemies 
 of Christ.” But, speaking of all mankind, we 
 can only say, “ each person belongs to one of 
 three classes—being either a friend, or an 
 enemy of Christ, or a sinner unreached by 
 gospel light.” 
 
 5. A treatise is in course of preparation, 
 showing the relation of this view to other doc¬ 
 trines of the gospel, in the light of reason and 
 the word of God. A key may here be found 
 to unlock many of the mysteries of theology. 
 
EXTRACT. 
 
 “ We are inclined to believe, that the very 
 law of dependent natures, which, apart from 
 the constant energy of the divine will, would 
 reduce them to nothing, actually operates so 
 far as to produce a sort of intellectual gravi¬ 
 tation of all rational beings, toward the lower 
 ranks of existence. So, while there are im¬ 
 pulses bearing us upward and onward; there 
 is also a uniform tendency downward, or 
 toward that nihility out of which we sprang.’ 
 kk It is not to be admitted, that God has made 
 anything which, once existing, exists like him¬ 
 self, necessarily and eternally.” kk The belief 
 of the survivance of the living principle, the 
 author would derive from'moral and religious 
 considerations, and from explicit divine testi- 
 mong. As to the pretended demonstration of 
 immortality drawn from the assumed sim¬ 
 plicity and indestructibility of the soul, as an 
 immaterial substance, they appear either alto¬ 
 gether inconclusive, or if conclusive prove 
 immensely more than we can desire—the 
 immortality of birds, beasts, and fishes, insects 
 and zoophytes! ”—Physical Theory of Another 
 Life . London, 1863. pp. 227, 270, 279, 254, 315.