090. CHAPTER 42 - FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.
CHAPTER 42 - FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. THE theme here proposed is not one of a pleasant character to the contemplation of the sympathetic Christian heart; yet it cannot be omitted in the presentation of a complete system of the doctrines of revelation. As the compassionate father, from solemn conviction of duty, must sometimes correct his wayward child, however disagreeable the task, so the teacher of religion must not only exhibit the consolations of the gospel, but also the denunciations of the law. He must not shun to “declare all the counsel of God.” In what will consist the future punishment of the wicked? And will it be eternal? These are the questions now to be considered.
I.The NATURE of future punishment. Our information upon this subject must be derived solely from the language of Scripture. But it has long been debated whether these scriptures should be construed literally or figuratively. For aught that we can see, this controversy might still go on indefinitely, without any prospect of arriving at a certain conclusion. But of this much we may be assured: God cannot act deceptiously toward his creatures. In communicating his will, he cannot employ figurative language of stronger import than the reality. His attributes forbid the hypothesis. Hence, if, in portraying the future punishment of the wicked, he has used figures of speech, they cannot transcend the reality. On the contrary, we have reason to infer that the figures used on this subject are but dim shadows of the awful substance. As, in reference to the future happiness of the righteous, after all the glowing Bible descriptions on the subject, it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;” so, as relates to the future punishment of the wicked, the rational inference is, that the strongest language and most striking figures must fail to impart an adequate conception of that cup of woe which is prepared for the finally impenitent. The terms used to describe this punishment are as strong as language can furnish.
1. Future punishment implies the direct infliction of pain by the action of a powerful external agency. The idea is clearly conveyed by such expressions as these: “Flaming fire,” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,) “a furnace of fire,” (Matthew 13:42,) “everlasting fire,” (Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41,)” the fire is not quenched,” (Mark 9:44,) “eternal fire,” (Jude 1:7,) “the lake of fire,” (Revelation 20:15,) “the lake of fire and brimstone,” (Revelation 20:10.) Perhaps these terms are not to be understood in a strictly literal sense. But admitting that they are not, we cannot therefore infer that the punishment indicated will be any the less severe. Cannot the same God who created the substance of fire as it exists in our world, and who will raise the body from the grave with renewed and indestructible powers and susceptibilities, provide an agency for the punishment of the wicked - call that agency “fire,” “fire and brimstone,” a “lake of fire,” or by what name we please - cannot he who made all things, create at a word an agency ten thousand times more powerful than the literal fire of this world, and perfectly adapted to impart to the undying nature of the sinner the most indescribable agony? The reasonable conclusion therefore is, that if the “fire” of future punishment is not literal, it will be vastly more intolerable. What language can depict, or what imagination conceive, the fullness of meaning implied in the phrase, to “dwell with devouring fire” -to “dwell with everlasting burnings!”
2. It implies banishment to a place of outer darkness. The Scriptures declare that the wicked shall be “cast into outer darkness, (Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30,) and that to them “the mist of darkness is reserved forever,” (2 Peter 2:17,) and “the blackness of darkness forever.” Let this darkness be understood literally, and it denotes a condition inexpressibly horrible. We have read of a darkness in Egypt so thick that it could “be felt;” we have tried to imagine the cloud of gloom that would soon envelop our world, if the light of the sun and every star were to be instantly and completely quenched; but how indescribably inadequate must be these illustrations to portray the horrors of that “outer darkness” into which the wicked will be driven, and by which they will be forever overwhelmed! But if this language of the Bible is but figurative, then we must conclude that the reality will be still more terrible. Suppose that instead of “darkness” we are to understand affliction, anguish, or tribulation, and that these, in their power to impart misery, will be increased in proportion to the enlarged susceptibilities of the immortalized faculties of human beings, how appalling the thought of that utter wretchedness into which the banished ones must be plunged!
3. It implies a state of deep distress and anguish. This is indicated by such language as the following: “Their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched,” (Mark 9:44,) “there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth,” (Matthew 13:15,) “the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments;” and entreated Abraham, saying, “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame;” (Luke 16:23-24;) the wicked, it is said, “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb,” (Revelation 14:10.) Whatever may be the import of this language, or whatever may be the immediate source of their misery, it is certain the wicked will be doomed to suffer the most excruciating pain. There was distress and anguish when the old world “perished by water;” “lamentation and deep mourning” were heard in Ramah, when “Rachel wept for her children;” but what were these compared with that last, deeper, despairing wail, which shall one day come up from the pit, uttered by millions upon millions of burning tongues, sighing the ruin of millions upon millions of lost souls!
4. It is called the “second death.” Death, if it be a figure here, is one of the strongest that language can express. It imports the deepest suffering. But here is a “death that never dies.” Not the mere dissolution of the body, which we have so often witnessed, and which, however protracted the suffering, however deep the breathing, however full of anguish the groanings, in a few hours is all over, and the spirit has “returned to God who gave it;” but a death which knows no termination; whose groanings will never cease; whose agonies will never end. How dreadful the thought!
5. This punishment implies banishment from God, and all that is good.
“Depart from ME,” will be the fearful denunciation. To depart from all the sources of happiness in this world; from all the pleasures, all the riches, and all the honors, they have ever possessed or enjoyed; from all that is pleasing, or lovely, or desirable, which they have ever seen, or heard, or tasted; from all the good for which they have toiled or hoped - to depart from all these, were a dreadful calamity. But the sentence, “Depart from ME,” includes all this, and infinitely more. It implies the loss of all good - the loss of all bliss. It is expulsion to those outer, those nether regions, where the light of the sun, or of the moon, or of the stars, never penetrates; where the beautiful scenes of nature, the flowers of spring, or the smile of friendship, shall never greet the eye; or the music of song, or the accents of love, fall on the ear. All is lost! Heaven is lost, with all its riches and grandeur! The society of the holy angels and of the blood-washed saints is lost! The robes, the harps, the thrones, and the crowns of glory, are lost! God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are lost! The soul for which the Saviour died is lost!
6. It implies the deepest remorse of conscience.
If the justice of God can now implant in the guilty breast the scorpion-sting of conscience, with what increased fury will that conscience prey upon the guilty soul, when quickened, and illumed, and maddened, by the fires of the last day! The accusing voice of this dire tormenter, rising above the roar of the flames, and pouring its thunder tones upon every ear, shall pierce all hearts with anguish more pungent than could the bite of ten thousand scorpions; while the fearful apprehension of still deeper woe shall envenom the gnawings of the undying worm.
7. This punishment will include the direct outpouring of the wrath of God.
God the Saviour will then execute upon his enemies the fierceness of his wrath. The wicked will not only be driven away from God, but they shall be pursued by the sword of his avenging justice. They shall be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” God shall “speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” The Psalmist says of the wicked, God “shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.” Psalms 58:9. And “upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.” Psalms 11:6. St. Paul declares: “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8.
It is difficult to understand such scriptures otherwise than as implying the direct exertion of the divine power in the punishment of the wicked. What must be the fearfulness of that stroke which the energy of Omnipotence will then inflict! What bitterness must be in that cup of indignation which is poured by the hand of infinite Justice! “The thunder of his power who can understand?” What an aggravation to the torment of the wicked will it then be, to know that he whose avenging hand is upon, them, is the One whom they willfully and wickedly insulted, derided, and rejected! But now he says: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction as a whirlwind.” Lord help us to “flee from the wrath to come,” that we may be prepared for “the great and the terrible day!”
II.Will the punishment of the wicked be ETERNAL? On this subject, several different theories have been advocated in opposition to what we consider the plain truth of revelation. Though the shades of difference in sentiment among the abettors of these cognate systems of error are too numerous and unimportant to justify a distinct statement of each, yet they may all be comprised under four divisions.
1.Materialism - This teaches that the soul is the result of the organism of the body, and can only exist in connection with it, and that consequently, when the body dies, the soul will cease to exist till it shall be restored with the body in the resurrection.
2.Destructionism - This teaches that the punishment to which the wicked will be sentenced at the final judgment, will be annihilation.
3.Universalism - This teaches that all punishment for sin is in this life, and that all men enter immediately into a state of endless happiness at death.
4.Restorationism - This teaches that the wicked, after having been punished in a future state, for a limited period, in proportion to the number and magnitude of their sins, will be admitted into endless happiness.
It will be perceived that the theory here called Restorationism, is but another phase of Universalism; but as the great body of Universalists hold to the third theory, as above presented, we have, for the sake of distinction, classed the Restorationists separately. We will also add, that some Universalists are likewise Materialists, holding to the sleep of the soul with the body in death till the resurrection. We likewise remark, that many who are regarded as Socinians, or Unitarians, agree substantially with Universalists in most of their distinctive views.
What we consider the Scripture doctrine on this subject, is this: The souls of men, at the death of the body, will immediately enter into a state of happiness or misery, while the body will sleep in the grave till the resurrection, when soul and body will be reunited, and judged “according to the deeds done in the body,” and then be admitted to endless happiness, or consigned to endless misery.
It will readily be seen that the establishment of this theory will necessarily be a complete refutation of all the heterodox views we have named. To enter upon this question, is really but little different from asking, Is the Bible true? So numerous and unequivocal are the Scripture proofs that the finally impenitent will be eternally punished hereafter for their sins in this life, that if we did not know the fact to the contrary, we would pronounce it impossible for any sane person, believing in divine revelation, to dispute the position. But it is well known that there is a class of persons called Universalists, professing to be Christians, and to derive their creed from the Bible, who contend that all mankind are punished in this life according to the magnitude and number of their sins, and in consistency with the strict principles of retributive justice. Accordingly, they teach that the judgment of God is restricted to this life, and that every man suffers in this world the full penalty of his sins. The doctrine of a general judgment at the end of the world, and any punishment of the wicked, in a future state, they ridicule and deride.
1.The Scriptures directly teach the endless punishment of the wicked. These passages are numerous, but we will cite only a few, which we think direct and conclusive. Our Saviour says: “It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.”
Matthew 18:8. “If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”Mark 9:43-44. Again, we read: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night.”Revelation 14:11. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe… in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10. Here the apostle is speaking of the second coming of Christ. In that day, he informs us, all “that obey not the gospel” (and, of course, throughout all the period of the gospel dispensation) are then to “be punished.” Is that punishment in this life? To ask the question is enough. If that be not punishment, to the great mass of gospel rejectors, long after this life, then there is no meaning in words. But if so, then Universalism is false. But what kind of punishment is this? How long will it endure? The Bible says, “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” It intimates no end to the punishment. Those thus sentenced can never be redeemed from hell, and brought into the enjoyment of happiness in the presence of the Lord in heaven. Their punishment is not only “everlasting,” but it is “from the presence of the Lord.”
St. Jude informs us that to the wicked “is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”Jude 1:13. Again, we read: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”Revelation 20:10. Again, our Lord says: “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”
Matthew 12:31-32. St. Luke makes a similar record of the Saviour’s words. In Mark, the language, if possible, is still stronger: “Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” Mark 3:28-29.
According to the language of our Saviour, the sin against the Holy Ghost, here referred to, is absolutely unpardonable. Hence it is impossible that sinners of this class can escape from punishment, and enter heaven. They are doomed to eternal guilt; and the oath of God proclaims that he will “by no means clear the guilty.” And this pollution of guilt which can never be washed away, will be an immovable barrier against their entrance into heaven; for our Saviour asserts that “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The fact here declared, that the sin against the Holy Ghost can be forgiven “neither in this world, neither in the world to come,” shows conclusively that the salvation of such is utterly hopeless, both for time and eternity; and consequently is an unanswerable refutation of the dogma of Universalism. Again, sinners of this class are said by our Lord to be “in danger of eternal damnation.” The terms used, aiwniou krisewv, imply judgment, or condemnation, of everlasting, or eternal duration; hence all hope of salvation to this class of sinners must perish forever, and with it must perish the last vestige of Universalist delusion.
“Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.” Matthew 26:24. If all men go immediately into eternal happiness at death, (as Universalism teaches,) or if, after a limited period of suffering, they shall enter into an eternal state of happiness, (as Restorationists affirm,) how can it be said in truth concerning any man, “it had been good for that man if he had not been born?” Surely an eternity of bliss would more than counterbalance a limited period of suffering!
We present one passage more on this subject: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”
Matthew 25:46. It is utterly impossible, by any evasion or artifice, to set aside the proof contained in this passage, that the future punishment of the wicked will be endless. It is admitted by Universalism, in all its protean phases, that the happiness of the righteous will be endless. And this they have no difficulty whatever in proving by Scripture. But we confidently assert that the eternal happiness of the righteous is in no place in all the Bible more directly and conclusively set forth than in the passage before us. From the judgment of the last day, the righteous are to go “into life eternal.” It is plain as any thing can be, that if this text affirms the eternity of future happiness, it also affirms the eternity of future punishment. That it affirms the former, Universalists are compelled to admit. That it proves the latter, they stubbornly deny. And yet it is obvious that the one is as plainly taught as the other. Indeed, Universalists, in contending that the happiness of the righteous will be endless, and denying the endless punishment of the wicked, do contradict themselves, and “prevaricate most pitifully.” In the text under review, the same word is used in reference to the duration of the punishment of the wicked, and the happiness of the righteous. The word is aiwnion, in both instances, meaning duration without end. If the one is endless, so is the other. To contend otherwise, is not only to contradict the obvious meaning of the text, but to involve ourselves in the most ridiculous inconsistency and self-contradiction. We know it is contended that the terms rendered “eternal,” “everlasting,” “forever,” and “forever and ever,” are used in Scripture in reference to limited duration. But we reply, that in all such cases, the context and nature of the subject render the limited sense so apparent that there can be no danger of misapprehension. But in reference to the future punishment of the wicked, the context, the nature of the subject, and the entire tenor of Scripture, are obviously against the limited construction. Numerous other Scripture proofs of the endless duration of the future punishment of the wicked might be adduced, but more are needless. If the passages given do not, to our minds, establish conclusively the position, we would not “be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
2.Serious difficulties pertaining to any theory which rejects the doctrine of the endless punishment of the wicked. The theory of materialism, which denies the conscious existence of the soul separate from the body, between death and the resurrection, having been sufficiently refuted in a preceding chapter, needs no farther notice in this connection. The wild notion of annihilationism, or destructionism, will require but a brief consideration. The abettors of this theory hold that the wicked, after the resurrection, will be sentenced to suffer the full penalty of their sins, but that their actual sufferings will be only temporary, after which, as the completion of the penalty, they shall be driven into total annihilation. The first objection to this theory is, its utter inability to produce any support from Scripture. The second objection is, its antagonism to the principles of human philosophy, so far as these principles can bear upon a subject of this nature. For it is most certain that we have no evidence that the least particle of created substance, whether material or immaterial, has ever been annihilated since the original creative fiat called it into being. And it is very sure that no power short of Omnipotence can hurl back into nonentity any thing that God has made. Since, therefore, we have no evidence that God ever has annihilated any portion of his creation, and since no power but his own is capable of annihilating a single atom of existence, and since God has nowhere told us that he would ever exert his power in unmaking any thing he has made, therefore to suppose that he will ever annihilate the souls and bodies of a portion of mankind, is most unphilosophical. That the term death ever means annihilation, is a position which cannot be proved. Indeed, to suppose that such is its import, would involve us in absurdity at every step, and reduce the Scriptures to senseless jargon. In reference, for instance, to the original penalty of the law, how absurd to suppose it to imply, “In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” - (be annihilated!) But the doctrine of annihilation is flatly contradictory to all those scriptures which speak of the punishment of the wicked as a state of endless torment; for surely the very conception of torment implies the existence of a conscious being to endure it. But the largest class of those who reject the doctrine of the endless punishment of the wicked, are Universalists. Against the tenets of these, whether they be Restorationists, or Universalists proper, besides the Scripture proofs already presented, there are the following weighty objections:
(1)Universalism is contrary to the whole Bible scheme of salvation through the mediatorial reign of Christ. An apostle has informed us that there is no way of salvation but through Christ. His words are: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. It is also clearly taught in Scripture that the offer of Christ through the gospel in this life is final: and to such as reject him in this world, there is no hope. To them, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Hebrews 10:26-27. We are farther told that at the second coming of Christ, when he shall raise the dead and judge mankind at the end of this world, he will then “deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father;” and that, “when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Hence it is clearly set forth that the mediatorial reign of Christ will cease after the solemn events of the general judgment shall have transpired; and consequently, to such as reject his gospel here, there can be no salvation through him; and as there can be salvation in no other name, their case is forever hopeless. Universalism can furnish them no remedy.
(2) Universalism contradicts the great truth so abundantly taught in Scripture - that salvation is conditional.
Go where we will, to the Old Testament or the New, we find this conditionality staring us in the face. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword.” Isaiah 1:19-20. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16. So we find it throughout the Bible. If salvation be not conditional, and if it be not true that some, by complying with these conditions, will be saved, and others, by refusing thus to comply, will be lost forever, then the Bible is a book of deception! and God has all along, from Genesis to Revelation, been endeavoring to frighten his creatures with mere bugbears - importuning them to seek, to ask, to knock, to run, to strive to enter into rest, when he knew all the while that all men were sure of salvation, whether they seek, ask, knock, run, strive, pray, believe, obey, or not! And yet this is Universalism! Shall we attribute such duplicity, such monstrous hypocrisy, to the Holy One? God forbid! Yea, “let God be true, and every man a liar!”
(3) Universalism overturns the whole scheme of salvation through the amazing love and mercy of God. For if the platform of Universalism be sound, then all that we read of “God’s great love of pity,” in sending his Son into the world to die for sinners, is mere rhetorical flourish - worse, it is but ostentatious parade of pity, where no pity was needed; of grace and pardon, to such as could suffer nothing for the lack of either! For if Universalism be true, all must have been saved just as certainly without the advent, sufferings, death, resurrection, and intercession of Christ, yea, and the gift and influences of the Holy Ghost, as with them. Universalism reduces all these sublime and glorious exhibitions of the love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, to solemn nothings. For, according to the great corner-stone of that system, the attributes of God would forever forbid his punishing his creatures in another world for sins committed in this; and as to their sufferings here, these must be in exact accordance with the demands of justice, neither more nor less, on account of any thing Christ has done. According to this theory, there is no room for the forgiveness of sins; for all men must suffer the penalty due their sins in this life; and God is bound, in justice, to secure the eternal salvation of all, so soon as they leave this world.
According to this system, which teaches universal and unconditional salvation to all men, so soon as they enter upon the future state, whether they be good, or whether they be bad, then we may say: “Happy were ye, O ye wicked antediluvians! God mercifully rewarded you far above righteous Noah; for he sent the flood to release you kindly from all your sufferings, and to furnish you a triumphant passport to heaven, leaving that righteous man longer to buffet the storms!” “Happy, O ye inhabitants of Sodom! For God sent upon you a rain of fire and brimstone, but it was only that you might the sooner spread the glad wing of immortality, and mounting above the sulphureous blaze, enter the mansions of endless bliss!” Look, also, at the judgment of God on Ananias and Sapphira. They had committed the sin of lying to the Holy Ghost; but, according to Universalism, they are rewarded with an instantaneous transit from a world of trouble to the mansions of glory.
(4) Once more: Universalism subverts the whole scheme of salvation.
If, as Universalism teaches, the attributes of God will not admit of his punishing sinners in the future world for sins committed in this world, and if, as that theory farther teaches, all men are punished in this life for all the sins they commit, then, we demand, how can Christ save them from their sins, in any way whatever? He cannot save them from their sins in this life, for they suffer the full penalty they deserve, to the last jot and tittle. He cannot save them from future punishment, for of that they were never in any danger. From what, then, we ask, according to the teachings of Universalism, does Christ save the sinner? The only reply, so far as we can see, which the abettors of that theory can make, or which, so far as we know, they have ever pretended to make, to this question, is this: they allege that Christ saves the sinner from his sins, only by the influence of his teachings and example in preventing him from committing sin. And this alone is all the salvation which that system has to offer the sinner. According to this, Christ is the Saviour of sinners in the same sense in which are Paul and Peter, and James and John, and Luther and Wesley, and Baxter and Whitefield, and every good man that ever lived. For all these have wielded a persuasive influence for good over the conduct of others.
Again, according to this notion, Christ does not save sinners from their actual sins at all. He only saves them from the sins they have not committed, which, of course, cannot be their sins, till they actually commit them. Consequently he cannot, in any proper sense, save them from their sins at all. He only saves them from imaginary sins that never had an actual existence; consequently he is only an imaginary Saviour; and of infants, a Saviour in no sense! The gospel speaks of the remission of sins past - “Whom God hath sent 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.” Romans 3:25. But in what sense, according to Universalism, are past sins remitted, through faith in the blood of Christ? They cannot be remitted in the sense of release from punishment, either in this life or the next; for in this life they must suffer for them the full penalty of the law; and they were never in danger of being punished for them in the life to come. Nor can Christ save them from their sins in the sense of prevention, for they have actually taken place; so that we can see no possible way in which, according to the Universalist scheme, Christ can save sinners from their past sins. But as this salvation is plainly taught in Scripture, it follows that Universalism is subversive of the gospel plan of salvation from sin. From all which it follows, that as Universalism, in all its phases, is contrary to the express teachings of Scripture; as it is inconsistent with the whole Bible scheme of salvation through the mediatorial reign of Christ; as it contradicts the great truth, so abundantly taught in Scripture, that salvation is conditional; as it overturns the whole scheme of salvation through the amazing love and mercy of God; and as it is subversive of the whole scheme of salvation itself - from all these considerations, we conclude that it is so directly antagonistic to the doctrines of Christ and his apostles, as to be essentially “another gospel;” and not that glorious system of salvation from sin through the atoning blood of Christ, received “through faith in his name.” Hence, as all these kindred theories, antagonistic to the doctrine of the endless punishment of the wicked in a future state, are seen to be fallacious, we may safely conclude that not only the justice, but all the attributes, of God, will harmonize in the sentence of endless punishment upon all who finally reject the offer of eternal life.