Lectures to Young People

[airIam2worship]

On a  REVIEW of this subject,

1. We may see how insidious is sin! From small and almost imperceptible beginnings, it gradually makes its way, until it reduces the whole man to its dominion, and brings into captivity every affection and faculty of the soul. Sin first throws out the bait of pleasure, and flatters its victim on to forbidden ground; then it makes him the sport of temptation; and does not give him over until he is fast bound in the chains of eternal death.

In its very nature, sin is deceitful; it is a stranger to all open and honest dealing; its very element is the region of false appearances, and lying promises, and fatal snares. When it addresses itself to the unwary youth, it puts on a smiling countenance, and makes fair pretensions, and takes care to conceal its hideous features, until, like a serpent, it has entwined him with its deadly coils, and rendered his escape impossible!

For instance, how common is it for young men to yield to the solicitations of evil companions, from the notion that it discovers great independence of character! But what sort of independence, I would ask—is that which cannot command resolution enough to resist a few worthless and wicked companions? What sort of independence is that which had rather put at hazard the interests of eternity, than to brave the sneers of half a dozen vile associates? The truth is, that the person who acts this part, shows himself the greatest coward that walks the earth: he is afraid to encounter the reproaches of those whose censure is the highest praise; and rather than do it, he deliberately consigns his character and his soul to destruction.

Again, how often do young men become profane, from the idea that profaneness is a mark of manliness; and that to break out occasionally in the language of cursing, gives them a sort of dignity and importance. But let them go out into the street, and see in what kind of characters this vice is to be found in its most frightful height; and then say whether they wish to share the honor of profaneness with such companions. Let them listen to the poor drunkard who has fallen down in the highway, and is just waking from his beastly slumber, and they will find him muttering an oath; cursing the God who made him, or it may be, the hand that is attempting to relieve him. Let them go into the most vulgar circles where not even decency is tolerated—and there they will find profaneness, vulgarity, and drunkenness, mingling in the same scene of disgusting riot. And yet they are cheated into the delusion that, at least, an occasional indulgence in this vice makes them more manly. They are beguiled, as were our first parents by the fatal apple; and think not of the danger, until it is too late to avert it.

[airIam2worship]

2. We learn from this subject,  how dreadful is the character of a corrupter of others. Every wicked man is more or less chargeable with this, whether he particularly intends it or not; because it is impossible for him to live in the world, without exerting an influence upon those with whom he associates; and this influence will receive its complexion altogether from his character. But there are men with whom the business of corrupting others is a profession; who deliberately lay their plans for ruining immortal souls; who seize upon the unwary youth, like the animal upon his prey, and never leave him until they have accomplished his destruction. I know not that there are any such here—I am willing to believe there are none. But if such a man has been providentially sent to the sanctuary, I cannot feel willing that he should go away without a word of warning. And I am not going to expostulate with you in regard to the danger, or cruelty; or guilt of your conduct; but only to direct your thoughts to one event, which will as certainly overtake you as that there is a God in Heaven. You are hastening to the judgment; and at that dreadful bar, you will meet every soul that you have helped to destroy; and the blood of each of these souls will be upon your own head! Nay, more; your corrupting influence may be propagated from generation to generation; and thousands whom you may never see in the flesh, may recognize you at the judgment as their destroyer; and the united curses of all these miserable beings may be heaped upon you through the ages of a suffering eternity. If your heart has not absolutely received the dark seal of reprobation, or if all the fountains of feeling have not been congealed by the chilling atmosphere of vice—must not the prospect fill you with horror?

[airIam2worship]

3. The subject supplies an important argument to all in favor of a pious life. It is but too common for people of wicked character to take shelter under the plea that they injure none but themselves; and that, whatever the consequence of their conduct may be—they alone must bear it. Never was there a greater mistake. A corrupt example, even where it is not accompanied by a deliberate purpose of corruption, mingles contagion with the whole moral atmosphere in which it operates; and such must ever be its effect, until human nature is subject to a new set of laws.

What a powerful motive is here for a life of virtue and piety! You are acting, not for yourselves alone—but for the world around you; and when we urge you to a life of true religion, we are pleading in behalf of the immortal interests of your fellow men. What an argument also for the most exemplary circumspection on the part of the professed disciples of Christ! You may have even a living principle of true religion, which will secure your own salvation; and yet for the lack of proper vigilance, you may be betrayed into practices which will blast the rising germ of youthful promise, and even cause the darkest shades of vice to settle on some heart which had already begun to yield to the impressions of true religion.

How dreadful the thought that a friend, by a careless and unedifying example, should be instrumental in destroying his friend for whom he would even have died! How delightful, on the other hand, is the reflection that, by yielding your hearts and lives to the purifying influence of the gospel, you may not only save yourselves—but may be preparing to meet some in heaven—it may be, the objects of your tenderest affection—who will have been conducted there by the light of your example!

[airIam2worship]

Finally:  Let every young person be deeply impressed with the danger of his situation, and avoid the beginning of evil.  I cannot suppose that there is a youth before me, who has deliberately formed the purpose to resign himself to a wicked habit, and to persevere in it until he shall enter eternity. But I have reason to fear that there are those here in whom this fearful result will actually be realized; those who are venturing into the path of vice with that most foolish of all notions—that they shall retreat early enough to save their souls. Alas, with all your advantages, I fear you have not yet learned the slippery and insidious nature of vice. As well might you think to take the deadly viper into your bosom, and render him harmless by flattering words; or as well might you drink down the fatal poison, and expect to stop its progress in your system, when the blood had curdled at your heart, as to think of being the companion of fools, and yet not be destroyed.

If you enter on a career of vice, and make the wicked your chosen companions, I acknowledge that Omnipotence may, in his adorable sovereignty, pluck you as a brand out of the burning; but without some special interposition which you have no right to expect, it is altogether probable that you will be lost forever. Your only safety lies in a cordial, practical, immediate reception of the gospel of Christ. Every other guide will mislead you—this will conduct you safely and certainly to heaven.

And now, if such a conclusion would not do violence to all the principles of human calculation, I would like to believe that all of you have resolved to enter immediately, and in earnest—on a pious life. But probably there are some here, who have not even thought of forming such a purpose; and perhaps others who have formed it, in whose remembrance it will hereafter exist, as a monument of the power of temptation, or the treachery of the heart. I confess that an ominous gloom settles upon my mind, as it ventures forward to explore the path of these people through the darkness of futurity. I see them going away from this place, unaffected by all which they have heard, and returning to the haunts of sin with as keen a relish as ever. I see them becoming more and more hardened in vice, turning their backs upon pious instruction, and living as if eternity were a dream, and the word of God a fable. At no great distance onward in the path of life, I discover them struggling under the pressure of adversity. I hear them call to the world for assistance; but the world turns a deaf ear to their entreaties. I extend my views yet a little further, and see these same people on the bed of death. I see by the sinking countenance, the fluttering pulse, the faltering accents—that their conflict with the destroyer has commenced. I cast an eye around me to see whether any of their former wicked companions are present, to try to sustain them in this awful exigency; but not one of them is to be seen: theirs was the work of destruction, not of consolation. I see them writhing in agonies unutterable; oppressed and appalled by the prospect of an opening retribution, without a hold in the universe on which to hang a single hope. I hear their lamentations over a mispent life; their cutting reflections upon their miserable associates; their agonizing supplications for a longer space for repentance. And while my eye rests with horror on the frightful impressions that Despair has made upon the countenance, I witness the ominous change, which tells me that the soul is in eternity. And then, amidst all the wailings of parental tenderness which surround me; and while my mind is busy in trying to recollect some word or look which might have been a symptom of repentance—even then, from that world where "hope never comes," I seem to hear echoed in groans of unavailing anguish, "the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved!"

And is there a youth before me, of whose future lot all this may prove to have been a faithful prediction? Especially, is there one who has been dedicated to God, and had the benefit of a Christian education and parental prayers, in whose experience this complicated wretchedness shall be realized? "O Lord God—you know!"

http://www.gracegems.org/
Our literature is public domain—use it in any way you desire.
No monetary donations accepted. "Freely you
have received, freely give." Matthew 10:8

[airIam2worship]

DANGER OF EVIL INSTRUCTION
 

"Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causes to err from the words of knowledge." Proverbs 19:27.

The primary elements of a good character, are good principles. Not that good principles necessarily imply a good character; for experience proves that passion often neutralizes their influence; but a truly good character does necessarily involve good principles. Let a system of false opinions in respect to religion once gain possession of any mind, and what can you expect but that from this bitter fountain will issue streams of corruption and death. Hence it is that those evil men who corrupt and destroy the young, are exceedingly apt to assail, first, their pious principles; not doubting, if they can gain a victory here, that they shall be able, without difficulty, to storm the citadel of the heart. To this end, they often make the great truths of Christianity the subject of conversation; assailing them with sophistry on the one hand, and ridicule on the other. They thrust into their hands books and newspapers, to occupy their leisure, which are artfully designed to unhinge their moral and pious principles. And frequently this malignant agency is exerted in a covert manner; and the youth is brought in contact with these vehicles of death, and has actually begun to imbibe the poison, before he is aware of it. In short, every means of corrupting the principles of the young which the ingenuity of man can devise, has been, and still is, employed; and that too by people of every rank, from the highest to the lowest in the community.

It is in reference to efforts like these that the wise man gives the advice contained in our text: "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causes to err from the words of knowledge." In the spirit of this direction, I shall endeavor, in the present discourse, first, to expose some of the errors of which youth at the present day are in danger; and, secondly, urge some considerations to dissuade them from being found in the way of evil instruction.

cont

[airIam2worship]

I. I am, first, to expose some of the ERRORS of which youth, at the present day, are in danger.

1. The first which I shall notice, is, that the BIBLE is not a divine revelation.


I am aware that this is, by no means, a day of triumph for infidelity; and that the man who now openly casts off the authority of Scripture, does it at the expense of being branded with at least some degree of public disgrace. Still there are to be found those, even at this day—and I fear not a few—who have hardihood enough to pronounce the Bible a forgery; who deliberately set themselves to seal this fountain of consolation  against the wretched—this fountain of salvation against the sinner. Unhappily, we live so near the period in which the world was convulsed by what seemed the momentary triumph of infidelity, that infidels of our day find weapons enough for prosecuting their malignant warfare, forged at their hands; and yet, as it would seem, for no other purpose than to keep a malignant invention busy, they are, from time to time, replenishing their armory with other weapons of their own devising. Those to whom I now refer, are open in their hostility to the Bible: they breathe out the venom of infidelity wherever they go; and put their books in circulation whenever they have opportunity; and glory in their shame.

But there are others who lend their aid to the same cause by means a little less direct—but not less effectual. Perhaps they will not tell you that they believe the Bible to be a forgery; perhaps they will even give a vague assent to its being a divine revelation—but they will tell you with nearly the same breath, of different passages which have a contradictory meaning; of stories too trifling, and of doctrines too absurd, to have had such a Being as God for their author: and thus, by endeavoring to bring into contempt a part of the Bible, they aim to destroy the authority of the whole. So long as men of this character are scattered through society, who can doubt that young people are in danger of being corrupted by infidelity?

Now, my young friends, I will tell you, if you are ever tempted, for a moment, to give heed to those who would persuade you to renounce your belief in the Bible as a divine revelation, what you must be able to prove, before you can consistently venture on infidel ground.

cont

[airIam2worship]

You must be able to show that the miracles of which the Bible contains a record, either were never performed, or if they were, that they do not prove its divine authority. If you take the former side of the alternative, and say that these miracles were never performed, you must still admit either that they were pretended to be performed, or they were not. If they were pretended to be performed, as recorded in scripture, it behooves you to show how it was, that so many competent witnesses, and among them the most malignant enemies, in circumstances the most favorable for detecting imposture, and for several years in succession, should actually have been deceived. If you say that they were not pretended to be performed, then you have to account for the fact that such a record of them as that which the Bible contains, should have been made, at the very time when the imposture—if it were one—was most open to detection; and that it should have been circulated first among the very people who would have been most interested and most able to detect it; who yet never even pretended to call the facts in question. If you say that the record of these miracles was not made during the age in which they were professedly performed—but that it was palmed upon some succeeding age, then you have to account for the fact that the whole mass of historical testimony fixes the date of this record to nearly the period in which they are alleged to have been performed; and you have this additional difficulty to solve—how a record of facts, purporting to have occurred under the observation of the very people to whom the record was first given, could have been received by them as a true record, when, at the same time, no such facts had ever fallen within their knowledge.

But if you choose the latter side of the alternative, and say that these miracles were actually wrought—but still do not prove the Bible to be a divine revelation—you have then to show either that the God of truth would give the stamp of his authority to falsehood, or else that these mighty works were performed by the aid of evil spirits; for that they transcended the limits of human power, admits of no question. The former of these suppositions—that Jehovah has lent his sanction to falsehood—you will not dare to admit, even in thought. If you admit the latter, and refer the miracles of the Bible to diabolical agency, then you have this great moral phenomenon to explain—how the enemy of all good came to be so heartily and earnestly engaged in the destruction of his own kingdom; for the manifest tendency of all the miracles of the Bible was to promote the cause of righteousness.

cont

[airIam2worship]

Here then you perceive, at the threshold of infidelity, you have most serious difficulties to encounter; but the half has not been told you. You have, farther, to account for the fact that this book contains a long chain of prophecies, extending almost from the beginning of the world to the present time, and to all future ages—that, as the plan of Providence has been developed, these prophecies have regularly had their fulfillment in the history of the church and the world—that the most minute and improbable events have occurred in exact correspondence with predictions which were written ages before their occurrence. If there were no divine wisdom here, whence this marvelous power of lifting the veil that hides futurity? How is it that a worm can tell of things that are to be, unless it has been mounting up above the dust, and holding communion with Omniscience? Who dares be so impious as to say that Jehovah would arrange the system of his Providence, to meet the conjectures of weak fanaticism or wicked imposture?

You have, moreover, before you can consistently reject the divine authority of the Bible, to account for the fact that so many different people as were concerned in writing it, living in different ages, in various states of society, and in circumstances to preclude the possibility of collusion, could have produced a book between whose various parts there is the most perfect, though evidently, on their part, the most undesigned, HARMONY. If all the letters of which the Bible is composed, were to be separated from each other, and thrown promiscuously into the air, and should fall to the earth in precisely the order which they originally held, making a regular and complete book, it would not be a greater anomaly in human experience, than would be found in the fact that such a book as the Bible is, in respect to the harmony of its parts, should have been made in the circumstances in which it was made, independently of divine inspiration.

You have still farther to account for the fact, that men living in a crude state of society, and many of them with the most limited advantages for intellectual cultivation, should have produced compositions, which, in sublimity  both of thought and language, leave far behind the finest models whether of ancient or modern times. The most perfect specimens of narrative which the world has seen, are found in the gospels; but what was there in the laborious occupation of fishermen, that gave promise of these matchless performances? If you deny that these people wrote under divine inspiration, whence the mighty difference between their productions, and what you could reasonably expect from people in the same sphere of life, and with much better advantages of education, among ourselves?

cont

[airIam2worship]

You have also to account for the fact, that the Bible presents a higher standard of  moral purity than is any where else to be found; that all its doctrines and precepts, all its promises and threatenings, are worthy of an infinitely holy God. Tell us, if this be imposture, how it has come to pass that wicked men—the enemies of holiness, have produced the holiest book that the world has ever seen. If they could have done this, where was the motive to influence them to it, so long as it was directly opposed to their corrupt views and purposes? If they had desired to do it, would it not still, being conceived in sin, necessarily have borne, in a greater or less degree, the moral likeness of its authors?

And, finally, you have to account for the wonderful efficacy with which the Bible has been attended. Compare the combined moral effects which have been produced by all the other books in the world, with those which have been produced by the Bible, and the former dwindle to nothing in the comparison. It is the Bible which is the means of accomplishing such wonderful transformations, as we sometimes see, of human character—making the proud, humble; the vindictive, forgiving; the cruel, tender-hearted; causing the swearer to reverence the name of God; the drunkard to lay aside his cups; the dishonest man to give back his ill-gotten gains; and the miser to open his coffers at the call of charity. It is the Bible which has shed the light of peace and hope around the path of adversity; which has been a pillow for sickness, and a staff for old age; which has caused the voice of rejoicing to rise even from the valley of death. It is the Bible which has demolished altars of cruelty and temples of idolatry; which has illumined the wilderness with the light of civilization, and for savage customs has substituted the soft charities of life; which, as it travels around the globe, sends abroad a healing influence, and leaves a bright track of glory behind it. Whence is it, I ask, that the Bible produces these wonderful effects, if it has not God for its author? How is it, if it is the work of man, that it has survived all the efforts which have been made for its destruction; that, like the burning bush, it has been always on fire, and yet has never been consumed?

Such, my young friends, are some of the difficulties to be encountered, before you can, with any show of reason, reject the divine authority of the scriptures. You must be able to show that the miracles which the Bible records, either were never performed, or if they were, that they do not prove it to be a divine revelation; that the prophecies which it contains, notwithstanding their literal and exact accomplishment, were only fortunate conjectures. You must be able to account for the fact that so many writers, on such a subject, and in such circumstances, have written with perfect harmony; that men comparatively destitute of intellectual culture, have written with such unparalleled sublimity; that men of most corrupt minds, (for the idea of imposture necessarily supposes this,) have made a book which breathes the most elevated moral purity; and finally that this Book, bearing the signature of Heaven upon its title-page, and thus affronting Jehovah by a lie, has gone abroad, changing the moral wilderness into a garden, and pouring light and joy into every bosom by which it has been welcomed. Until you are able to account for these and many similar facts, you cannot, for a moment, consistently place your foot on infidel ground. How then ought you to estimate the cavils of infidelity? As lighter than nothing, until you have deliberately and satisfactorily met all the difficulties which have now been suggested.

cont

[airIam2worship]

2. Another error of which young people, at the present day, are in danger, is, that no atonement was necessary that God might pardon sin; and that it was no part of the design of Christ's death to make an atonement.

This error is, of course, held by all who reject the divine authority of the Bible. It is held also by many who profess, in some sense, to acknowledge its claims to inspiration. The former class deny the necessity of an atonement; but regarding the Bible as a mere human production, neither ask nor care whether it contains the doctrine or not. The latter class, in common with the former, assert that an atonement was not necessary; but they go farther, and also assert that this doctrine is not found in the Bible. Before you receive this error, you ought to be able satisfactorily to answer the following inquiries.

How could God grant an absolute pardon to the sinner, and yet maintain the dignity of his character and government—without an atonement paid for the sin? The law which God has given to man as a rule of conduct—is perfectly holy, both in its requisitions and in its penalty. But man, by not obeying the requisitions of the law, has become obnoxious to its penalty. Suppose now that the great Lawgiver and Judge should remit the offence, without any expression of his displeasure against it; in what attitude must he place himself, in view of the intelligent universe? Would not the question be agitated in every part of the creation in which the fact was known—why an infinitely wise and holy God should make a law to be trampled upon with impunity; and if it were fit that the law should be made, why it were not also fit that its honor should be maintained? Is it an expression of infinite holiness, to let sin go unpunished? Is it an expression of infinite wisdom or benevolence, to encourage illegally by overlooking a spirit of rebellion in one part of the universe, and thus to hold out encouragement to the same spirit in every other part of it? If these questions must be answered in the negative, then I ask, whether Reason herself knows any other alternative, than that an atonement must be made, or the sinner must perish?

Again: If Jesus Christ did not die as an atoning sacrifice, whence the connection between the ancient sacrifices and the pardon of sin? That such a connection existed under the Mosaic dispensation, no person who reads the Bible can doubt; victims were constantly offered under the name of sin-offerings, as an atonement for the sins of the people. That there is no natural connection between the slaying of an animal, and the forgiveness of sin, is obvious; and moreover, the apostle expressly declares that "the blood of bulls and of goats cannot take away sin." Whence, then, did these sacrifices derive either their significance or their efficacy, if they are not to be considered as types of the great sacrifice of Christ?

cont

[airIam2worship]

Moreover: How will you reconcile it with infinite wisdom, that God should have employed means so disproportioned in their importance to the end which he designed to accomplish? If the object of Christ's death were to make atonement for sin, then here was an end to be answered of sufficient magnitude to warrant the most expensive means that could be employed. But if he lived merely as a teacher, and died merely as a martyr, whence the wonderful preparation that was made for his advent and his death; and whence the wonderful interest which these events have excited, both on earth and in heaven? Why this constant reference to the Messiah in all the rites of the ancient dispensation? Why was he the theme of prophecy, during a period of four thousand years? Why was his birth celebrated by the songs of angels, and his death signalized by the convulsions of nature? If his object had been merely to instruct the world, and to seal the truth of his testimony with his blood; could not this object have been effected by some lower personage than him who was the Brightness of the Father's glory? And if this were so, whence the mighty difference between him and his apostles, which should invest his life and death with so much more importance than theirs? Whence is it too that his death awakens so much wonder, and gratitude, and joy, in heaven; that even the angels make it the theme of their high praises; if, after all, no higher object was gained by it than to prove himself sincere in preaching an improved system of moral virtue? I ask, again, whence this astonishing disproportion between means and ends, which there actually is—if Jesus Christ did not die a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the world?

And finally, under this article, what explanation will you give of the following passages of scripture, consistent with a rejection of the doctrine of atonement?

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God." "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto—but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins; according to the riches of his grace." "You were not redeemed with corruptible things—but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." "Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen."

These are some of the more prominent passages in which the design of Christ's death is exhibited: Which of them all, let me ask, even seem to teach, that he died merely, or chiefly, as a martyr to the truth of his doctrines? If the doctrine of atonement is not explicitly taught here, we ask for language in which it can be conveyed intelligibly.

cont

[airIam2worship]

3. Another error to which young people, at the present day, are exposed, is, that a spiritual rebirth, renovation, or radical change of character, is not necessary to salvation.

But what is implied in salvation? Nothing less than being admitted to a participation of the joys of Heaven. But what is the character of heavenly joys? They are perfectly holy: nothing that defiles can ever enter the kingdom. What sort of taste or disposition, then, must be necessary in order to relish or participate these joys? Undoubtedly, a perfectly holy one; for the very idea of happiness includes in it a correspondence between the taste of the individual, and the objects or pursuits from which the happiness is derived. You might, for instance, bring the most delicious food before a man whose taste was vitiated by disease; and though the food would be good in itself, and would be grateful to a healthy appetite, yet to the sick man it would only be an occasion of loathing.

So also in reference to the joys of Heaven—though they are not only real—but far surpass in extent all our conceptions; yet, in order that they may become ours, we must possess a temper conformed to them. But does man, by nature, possess this temper? Let every man's experience answer. Let the history of the world answer. Above all, let the word of God answer. "Every imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." " They are altogether become filthy: there is none that does good, no not one." "The natural man discerns not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." If such be the natural character of man, and such the nature of heavenly joys, is it not manifest, even on principles of reason, that a radical change is necessary to the sinner, before he can be admitted to Heaven?

Hear now the direct testimony of God on this subject. By the mouth of his prophet Ezekiel, he says: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." "But as many as received him," says the apostle John, "to those gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man—but of God." Our Savior himself declares, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The apostle Paul having described the exceedingly depraved character of the Corinthians previous to their conversion, says, in reference to the change they had experienced: "But you were washed, you are justified, you are sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And again: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done—but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." What meaning having the semblance of plausibility—can you attach to these passages, if you deny that they teach the necessity of a radical change wrought by the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit, in order to salvation?

cont

[airIam2worship]

4. The fourth and only remaining error which I shall here notice, is—that either no punishment, or only a limited one, awaits the wicked in a future world.

If you say that the wicked are not to be punished at all in a future state, you must maintain the position either on the ground that they will cease to sin at death—or else that the connection between sin and misery will be dissolved. Will you take the former ground, and say that the wicked at death are delivered from all sin? But by what means is this accomplished? Is it by death itself? No! for death is only a termination of the animal functions—a mere passage from one world to another; and surely there is nothing in this that can affect the moral state of the soul in any way. But do you say that it is by a divine influence, operating upon the soul in the action of death? You say this without any warrant; for the Bible has given no such intimation. But if it be so, this influence is either exerted in consistency with man's moral nature, or it is not. If it is thus exerted, then of course the sinner must be conscious, in some measure, of those moral exercises which precede and attend regeneration; must be conscious of co-operating with the Spirit of God, both in conviction and conversion. But this surely is not true; for, in a multitude of instances, the sinner dies in stupidity, or delirium, and sometimes in the act of challenging the vengeance of God. If you say that this influence is not exerted according to the laws of our moral nature, then, in respect to this point at least, you make man a mere machine: you have gone over to fatalism, and are not to be reasoned with.

But do you choose the other side of the alternative, and take the ground that the connection between sin and misery will not exist after death? But here again, as there is nothing in death to destroy the existence of sin in the soul, neither is there anything in it to change its nature. It is part of the nature of sin to produce misery, just as truly as it belongs to the sun to impart light; and though this tendency is not always manifest in the present life, yet it is only on account of the countervailing influences which grow out of our present condition. Just in proportion as the sinner is removed from these influences even here, you see him reaping a harvest of wretchedness. As he will be completely removed from them in a future world, what can prevent sin from having its legitimate operation in making him completely wretched?

But perhaps you admit that there is a degree of punishment in a future world—but maintain that it will be limited in its duration. The idea that an immortal soul should be doomed to suffer inconceivable woe, during its whole existence, is so dreadful—that you shrink from the admission of it.

cont

[airIam2worship]

And what then? Is that any reason why you should reject the plain testimony of God? Let it be remembered that this is a case in respect to which the wishes of men have nothing to do. The grand question in relation to it is, not what you desire to be true—but what actually is true! The criminal on the scaffold no doubt wishes to see his sentence remitted; but that wish has no influence to prevent the executioner from doing his office. Not more does the dread which is associated in your mind with the idea of eternal punishment, constitute any evidence against its reality.

But you say, perhaps, that it would not consist with the benevolence of God to inflict eternal punishment for the sins committed in this short life. Let it be remembered that we the culprits, are but miserable judges in this matter. Is it consistent with God's infinite benevolence to bury the ship, laden with human beings, in the mighty deep; or to cause the earth to open, and swallow up thousands, whom we are accustomed to call innocent? None but the atheist will deny this; for such events actually do take place under God's administration. By what superhuman wisdom, then, are you enabled to decide that the eternal punishment of the sinner cannot consist with infinite benevolence? Whence have you gained that knowledge of the exact influence of sin on God's moral universe, which qualifies you to pronounce that its punishment must be limited, or God's perfection must be sacrificed?

But if the punishment of the sinner is hereafter to come to a termination, in what manner is this to be effected? Do you say that his sufferings will be disciplinary; and that in consequence of their reforming and purifying influence, he will before long be prepared for the happiness of heaven? Here again, this is a needless assumption—as there is no such influence being attributed to the sufferings of the wicked in the word of God. But this notion is moreover contradicted by the analogy of experience. Would the parent, if he wished to reform an abandoned child, be likely to confine him constantly to the company of those who were equally or even more abandoned than himself? And is it not true in fact, that when the wicked in the present life have been doomed for their crimes by the sentence of human law, to confinement with those of a character similar to their own, they have generally come away monuments, not of the reforming influence—but of the corrupting and hardening influence, of such kind of punishment? Where then is the ground for believing that the wicked in a future world, by being associated with those who continually blaspheme God, and oppose the interests of his kingdom—will become conformed to his image, and acquire a relish for his service?

cont

[airIam2worship]

Admitting, however, this remedial tendency which you attribute to the sufferings of the sinner, you have yet another difficulty to surmount—it is to determine how the sinner can be delivered from punishment—in consistency with the sentence of God's law. The only alternative that here presents itself is, either that he has actually suffered the full penalty of the law, and is released on the score of justice; or else that his deliverance is effected through the efficacy of Christ's atonement. But both sides of this alternative are mere assumptions—not warranted even by the semblance of scripture authority; and as for reason, if she has anything to say concerning them, it is certainly nothing in their favor.

But against both these suppositions, as well as against that of the disciplinary tendency of the sufferings of the wicked, there stands arrayed that mass of divine testimony, which exhibits the present world as the only world of probation, and the future as a world of unalterable retribution. "Whatever your hand finds to do," says Solomon, "do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave"—the world of departed spirits—"where you go." Says the prophet Isaiah, "Those who go down into the grave, cannot hope for your truth." "The night comes," says our Savior, that is, the night of death, "in which no man can work." As there is to be no change in the character of man after he leaves this world, the scriptures teach that we shall be judged according to "the deeds done in the body;" and rewarded "according to our works," performed on this side the grave. It is clear then that the Bible has decided that, neither on the ground of justice, nor on the ground of mercy—will the punishment of the sinner be remitted, after he has become an inhabitant of the eternal world.

But there are many other passages of scripture, in which the doctrine of eternal punishment is not only implied—but explicitly declared. The prophet Isaiah, filled with the most awful impressions of the future state of the wicked, exclaims, "Who can inhabit everlasting burnings?" Our blessed Lord himself, speaking of the wicked, says, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." Paul says concerning those who obey not the gospel, that "they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power." And John, in the Revelation, declares concerning the inhabitants of the bottomless pit, that "the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever."

cont