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33 - The First Great Deception - The Great Controversy · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three, the First Great Deception, with the earliest
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Speaker 1: history of man, Satan began his efforts to deceive our race.
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Speaker 1: He who had incited rebellion in heaven, desired to bring
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Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the earth to unite with him in
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Speaker 1: his warfare against the government of God. Adam and Eve
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Speaker 1: had been perfectly happy in obedience to the law of God,
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Speaker 1: and this fact was a constant testimony against the claim
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Speaker 1: which Satan had urged in heaven, that God's law was
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Speaker 1: oppressive and opposed to the good of his creatures. And furthermore,
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Speaker 1: Satan's envy was excited as he looked upon the beautiful
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Speaker 1: home prepared for the sinless pair. He determined to cause
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Speaker 1: their fall, that, having separated them from God and brought
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Speaker 1: them under his own power, he might gain possession of
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Speaker 1: the earth and here establish his kingdom in opposition to
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Speaker 1: the most High. Had Satan revealed himself in his real character,
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Speaker 1: he would have been repulsed at once, for Adam and
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Speaker 1: Eve had been warned against this dangerous foe. But he
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Speaker 1: worked in the dark, concealing his purpose, that he might
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Speaker 1: more effectually accomplish his object, employing as his medium the
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Speaker 1: serpent than a creature of fascinating appearance. He addressed himself
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Speaker 1: to Eve, hath God said, ye shall not eat of
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Speaker 1: every tree of the garden. Had Eve refrained from entering
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Speaker 1: into argument with the tempter, she would have been safe.
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Speaker 1: But she ventured to parley with him and fell a
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Speaker 1: victim to his wiles. It is thus that many are
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Speaker 1: still overcome. They doubt and argue concerning the requirements of God,
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Speaker 1: and instead of obeying the divine commands, they accept human
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Speaker 1: theories which but disguise the devices of Satan. The woman said,
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Speaker 1: unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of
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Speaker 1: the trees of the garden, But of the fruit of
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Speaker 1: the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
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Speaker 1: God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither
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Speaker 1: shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said,
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Speaker 1: unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God
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Speaker 1: doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
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Speaker 1: your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
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Speaker 1: knowing good and evil. He declared that they would become
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Speaker 1: like God, possessing greater wisdom than before, and being capable
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Speaker 1: of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to temptation,
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Speaker 1: and through her influence Adam was let into sin. They
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Speaker 1: accepted the words of the serpent that God did not
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Speaker 1: mean what he said. They distrusted their creator and imagined
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Speaker 1: that he was restricting their liberty, and that they might
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Speaker 1: obtain great wisdom and exaltation by transgressing his law. But
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Speaker 1: what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the
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Speaker 1: meaning of the words in the day that thou eatest
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Speaker 1: thereof thou shalt surely die? Did he find them to
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Speaker 1: mean as Satan had led him to believe, that he
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Speaker 1: was to be ushered into a more exalted state of existence.
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Speaker 1: Then indeed there was great good to be gained by transgression,
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Speaker 1: and Satan was proved to be a benefactor of the race.
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Speaker 1: But Adam did not find this to be the meaning
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Speaker 1: of the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty
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Speaker 1: for his sin, man should return to the ground. Whence
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Speaker 1: he was taken dust, thou art, and unto dust, shalt
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Speaker 1: thou return. The words of Satan your eyes shall be
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Speaker 1: opened proved to be true in this sense. Only after
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Speaker 1: Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were open
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Speaker 1: to discern their folly. They did no evil and they
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Speaker 1: tasted the bitter fruit of transgression. In the midst of
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Speaker 1: Eden grew the Tree of Life, whose fruit had the
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Speaker 1: power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God,
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Speaker 1: he would have continued to enjoy free access to this
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Speaker 1: tree and would have lived forever. But when he sinned,
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Speaker 1: he was cut off from partaking of the Tree of life,
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Speaker 1: and he became subject to death. The divine sentence dust
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Speaker 1: thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return points to
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Speaker 1: the utter extinction of life. Immortality promised to man on
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Speaker 1: condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could
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Speaker 1: not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess,
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Speaker 1: and there could have been no hope for the fallen
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Speaker 1: race had not God, by the sacrifice of his son,
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Speaker 1: brought immortality within their reach. While death passed upon all men,
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Speaker 1: for that all have sinned. Christ hath brought life and
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Speaker 1: immortality to light through the Gospel. And only through Christ
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Speaker 1: can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus. He that believeth on
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Speaker 1: the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not
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Speaker 1: the Son shall not see life. Every Man may come
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Speaker 1: into possession of this priceless blessing. If he will comply
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Speaker 1: with the conditions, all who, by patient continuance in well
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Speaker 1: doing seek for glory and honor and immortality will receive
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Speaker 1: eternal life. The only one who promised Adam life in
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Speaker 1: disobedience was the great Deceiver. And the declaration of the
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Speaker 1: Serpent to even Eden, ye shall not surely die, was
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Speaker 1: the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul.
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Speaker 1: Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan,
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Speaker 1: is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received
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Speaker 1: by the majority of mankind as readily as it was
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Speaker 1: received by our first parents. The divine sentence the soul
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Speaker 1: that sinneth it shall die, is made to mean the
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Speaker 1: soul that sinneth it shall not die, but live eternally.
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Speaker 1: We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders
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Speaker 1: men so credulous concerning the words of Satan, and so
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Speaker 1: unbelieving in regard to the words of God. Had man,
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Speaker 1: after his fall been allowed free access to the tree
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Speaker 1: of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin
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Speaker 1: would have been immortalized. But cheriobim and a flaming sword
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Speaker 1: kept the way of the Tree of life, and not
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Speaker 1: one of the family of Adam has been permitted to
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Speaker 1: pass that barrier and partake of the life giving fruit. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: there is not an immortal sinner. But after the fall,
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Speaker 1: Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate
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Speaker 1: the belief in man's natural immortality, and having induced the
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Speaker 1: people to receive this error, they were to lead them
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Speaker 1: on to conclude that the sinner would live an eternal misery.
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Speaker 1: Now the Prince of Darkness, working through his agents, represents
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Speaker 1: God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring that he plunges into
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Speaker 1: hell all those who do not please him, and causes
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Speaker 1: them ever to feel his wrath, and that while they
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Speaker 1: suffer unutterable anguish and writhe in the eternal flames, their
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Speaker 1: creator looks down upon them with satisfaction. Thus the ark
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Speaker 1: fiend clothes with his own attributes the creator and benefactor
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Speaker 1: of mankind. Cruelty is Satanic. God is love, and all
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Speaker 1: that he created was pure, holy and lovely until sin
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Speaker 1: was brought in by the first great rebel. Satan himself
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Speaker 1: is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and then
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Speaker 1: destroys him if he can, and when he has made
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Speaker 1: sure of his victim, then he exults in the ruin
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Speaker 1: he has wrought. If permitted, he would sweep the entire
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Speaker 1: race into his net. Were it not for the interposition
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Speaker 1: of divine power, not one son or daughter of Adam
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Speaker 1: would escape. Satan is seeking to overcome men to day,
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Speaker 1: as he overcame our first parents. By shaking their confidence
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Speaker 1: in their creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom
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Speaker 1: of his government and the justice of his laws. Satan
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Speaker 1: and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves
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Speaker 1: in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The
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Speaker 1: great deceiver endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of
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Speaker 1: character upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself
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Speaker 1: to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven,
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Speaker 1: because he would not submit to so unjust a governor.
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Speaker 1: He presents before the world the liberty which they may
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Speaker 1: enjoy under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage
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Speaker 1: imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds
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Speaker 1: in luring souls away from their allegiance to God. How
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Speaker 1: repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even
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Speaker 1: to our sense of justice is the doctrine that the
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Speaker 1: wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an
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Speaker 1: eternally burning hell, that for the sins of a brief
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Speaker 1: earthly life, there to suffer torture as long as God
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Speaker 1: shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught, and
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Speaker 1: is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom.
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Speaker 1: Set a learned doctor of divinity, the sight of hell
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Speaker 1: torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When
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Speaker 1: they see others who are of the same nature and
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Speaker 1: born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and
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Speaker 1: they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how
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Speaker 1: happy they are. Another used these words. While the decree
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Speaker 1: of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath,
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Speaker 1: the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in
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Speaker 1: view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking
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Speaker 1: the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Allelujah,
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Speaker 1: praise ye the Lord. Where in the payages of God's
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Speaker 1: word is such teaching to be found. Will the redeemed
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Speaker 1: in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion,
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Speaker 1: and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to
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Speaker 1: be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic or the
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Speaker 1: cruelty of the savage? No, No, such is not the
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Speaker 1: teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the
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Speaker 1: views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned
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Speaker 1: and even honest men, But they are deluded by the
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Speaker 1: sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions
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Speaker 1: of scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness
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Speaker 1: and malignity, which pertains to himself, but not to our creator.
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Speaker 1: As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no
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Speaker 1: pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
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Speaker 1: wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn
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Speaker 1: you from your evil ways? For why will ye die?
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Speaker 1: What would be gained to God? Should we admit that
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Speaker 1: he delights in witnessing unceasing tortures, that he is regaled
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Speaker 1: with the the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the
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Speaker 1: suffering creatures whom he holds in the flames of hell.
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Speaker 1: Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of
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Speaker 1: infinite love. It is urged that the infliction of endless
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Speaker 1: misery upon the wicked would show God's hatred of sin
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Speaker 1: as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and
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Speaker 1: order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy, as if God's
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Speaker 1: hatred of sin is the reason why it is perpetuated.
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Speaker 1: For according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture
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Speaker 1: without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, And as
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Speaker 1: they pour out their rage and curses in blasphemy, they
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Speaker 1: are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God's glory is
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Speaker 1: not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.
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Speaker 1: It is beyond the power of the human mind to
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Speaker 1: estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy
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Speaker 1: of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of
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Speaker 1: love and goodness and abounding in compassion, is darkened by
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Speaker 1: superstitition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what
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Speaker 1: false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can
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Speaker 1: we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and
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Speaker 1: even hated. The appalling views of God, which have spread
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Speaker 1: over the world from the teachings of the pulpit, have
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Speaker 1: made thousands, yes millions, of skeptics and infidels. The theory
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Speaker 1: of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that
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Speaker 1: constitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon, of which
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Speaker 1: she makes all nations drink. That ministers of Christ should
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Speaker 1: have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred
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Speaker 1: desk is indeed a mystery. They received it from Rome,
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Speaker 1: as they received the false Sabbath. True it has been
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Speaker 1: taught by great and good men, but the light on
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Speaker 1: this subject had not come to them as it has
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Speaker 1: come to us. They were responsible only for the light
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Speaker 1: which shone in their time. We are accountable for that
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Speaker 1: which shines in our day. If we turn from the
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Speaker 1: testimony of God's word and accept false doctrines because our
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Speaker 1: fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon.
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Speaker 1: We are drinking of the wine of her abominations. A
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Speaker 1: large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting,
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Speaker 1: are driven to the opposite error. They see that the
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Speaker 1: scriptures represent God as a being of love, and compassion,
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Speaker 1: and they cannot believe that he will consign his creatures
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Speaker 1: to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But holding
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Speaker 1: that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative
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Speaker 1: but to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved.
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Speaker 1: Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as designed merely
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Speaker 1: to frighten men into obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled.
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Speaker 1: Thus the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, disregarding the
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Speaker 1: requirements of God, and yet expect to be finally received
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Speaker 1: into his favor. Such a doctrine, presuming upon God's mercy
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Speaker 1: but ignoring his justice, pleases the carnal heart and emboldens
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Speaker 1: the wicked in their iniquity. To show how believers in
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Speaker 1: universal salvation rest the scriptures to sustain their soul destroying dogmas,
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Speaker 1: it is needful only to cite their own utterances. At
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Speaker 1: the funeral of an irreligious young man who had been
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Speaker 1: killed instantly by an accident, a universalist minister selected as
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Speaker 1: his texts the scripture statement concerning David. He was comforted
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Speaker 1: concerning amnon, seeing he was dead, I am frequently asked,
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Speaker 1: said the speaker, what will be the fate of those
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Speaker 1: who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps in a
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Speaker 1: state of inebriation, die with the scarlet stains of crime,
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Speaker 1: unwashed from their robes, or die as this young man died,
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Speaker 1: having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience of religion.
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Speaker 1: We are content with the scriptures. Their answer shall solve
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Speaker 1: the awful problem. Amnon was exceedingly sinful, He was unrepentant,
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Speaker 1: He was made drunk, and while drunk was killed. David
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Speaker 1: was a prophet of God. He must have known whether
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Speaker 1: it would be ill or well for Amnon in the
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Speaker 1: world to come. What were the expressions of his heart?
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Speaker 1: The soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom,
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Speaker 1: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
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Speaker 1: And what is the inference to be deduced from this language?
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Speaker 1: Is it not that endless suffering formed no part of
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Speaker 1: his religious belief? So we conceive, and here we discover
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Speaker 1: a triumphant argument in support of the more pleasing, more enlightened,
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Speaker 1: more benevolent hypothesis of ultimate universal purity and peace. He
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Speaker 1: was comforted seeing his son was dead. And why so,
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Speaker 1: because by the eye of prophecy he could look forward
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Speaker 1: into the glorious future and see that son far removed
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Speaker 1: from all temptations, released from the bondage, and purified from
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Speaker 1: the corruptions of sin, and after being made sufficiently holy
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Speaker 1: and enlightened, admitted to the assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits.
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Speaker 1: His only comfort was that, in being removed from the
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Speaker 1: present state of sinn suffering, his beloved son had gone
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Speaker 1: where the loftiest breathings of the Holy Spirit would be
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Speaker 1: shed upon his darkened soul, where his mind would be
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Speaker 1: unfolded to the wisdom of heaven and the sweet raptures
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Speaker 1: of immortal love, and thus prepared with a sanctified nature
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Speaker 1: to enjoy the rest and society of the heavenly inheritance.
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Speaker 1: In these thoughts, we would be understood to believe that
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Speaker 1: the salvation of Heaven depends upon nothing which we can
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Speaker 1: do in this life, neither upon a present change of heart,
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Speaker 1: nor upon present belief or a present profession of religion.
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Speaker 1: Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the falsehood
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Speaker 1: uttered by the serpent, and eat it. Ye shall not
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Speaker 1: surely die in the day ye eat thereof. Then your
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Speaker 1: eyes shall be opened, and ye shall become as gods.
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Speaker 1: He declares that the violist of sinners, the murderer, the thief,
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Speaker 1: and the adulter, will, after death be prepared to enter
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Speaker 1: into immortal bliss. And from what does this perverter of
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Speaker 1: the scriptures draw his conclusions From a single sentence expressing
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Speaker 1: David's submission to the dispensation of providence. His soul longed
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Speaker 1: to go forth unto Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon,
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Speaker 1: seeing he was dead, the poignancy of his grief having
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Speaker 1: been softened by time, his thoughts turned from the dead
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Speaker 1: to the living son, self banished through fear of the
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Speaker 1: just punishment of his crime. And this is the evidence
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Speaker 1: of the incestuous, drunken Amnon was, at death immediately transported
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Speaker 1: to the abodes of bliss, there to be purified and
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Speaker 1: prepared for the companionship of sinless angels. A pleasing fable,
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Speaker 1: indeed well suited to gratify the carnal heart. This is
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Speaker 1: Satan's own doctrine, and it does his work effectually. Should
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Speaker 1: we be surprised that with such instruction wickedness abounds. The
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Speaker 1: course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates that of
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Speaker 1: many others. A few words of scripture are separated from
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Speaker 1: the context, which would in many cases show their meaning
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Speaker 1: to be exactly opposite to the interpreter put upon them,
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Speaker 1: and such disjointed passages are perverted and used in proof
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Speaker 1: of doctrines that have no foundation in the Word of God.
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Speaker 1: The testimony cited as evidence that the drunken Amnon is
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Speaker 1: in heaven is a mere inference, directly contradicted by the
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Speaker 1: plain and positive statement of the Scriptures that no drunkard
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Speaker 1: shall inherit the Kingdom of God. It is thus that doubters, unbelievers,
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Speaker 1: and skeptics turn the truth into a lie, and multitudes
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Speaker 1: have been deceived by their sophistry and rock to sleep
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Speaker 1: in the cradle of carnal security. If it were true
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Speaker 1: that the souls of all men pass directly to Heaven
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Speaker 1: at the hour of dissolution, then we might well comet
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Speaker 1: death rather than life. Many have been led by this
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Speaker 1: belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed
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Speaker 1: with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy thing
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Speaker 1: to break the brittal thread of life and soar away
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Speaker 1: into the bliss of the eternal world. God has given
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Speaker 1: in his word decisive evidence that he will punish the
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Speaker 1: transgressors of his law. Those who flatter themselves that He
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Speaker 1: is too merciful to execute justice upon the sinner have
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Speaker 1: only to look to the cross of Cavalry. The death
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Speaker 1: of the spotless Son of God testifies that the wages
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Speaker 1: of sin is death, that every violation of God's law
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Speaker 1: must receive its just retribution. Christ the sinless, became sin
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Speaker 1: for man. He bore the guilt of transgression and the
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Speaker 1: hiding of his father's face until his heart was broken
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Speaker 1: and his life crushed out. All this sacrifice was made
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Speaker 1: that sinners might be redeemed. In no other way could
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Speaker 1: man be freed from the penalty of sin. And every
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Speaker 1: soul that refuses to become a partaker of the atonement
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Speaker 1: provided at such a cost, must bear in his own
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Speaker 1: person the guilt and punishment of transgression. Let us consider
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Speaker 1: what the Bible teaches further concerning the ungodly and unrepented,
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Speaker 1: whom the Universalist places in heaven as wholly happy angels.
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Speaker 1: I will give unto him that is a thirst of
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Speaker 1: the fountain of the water of life freely. This promise
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Speaker 1: is only to those that thirst. None but those who
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Speaker 1: feel their need of the water of life and seek
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Speaker 1: it at the loss of all things. Else will be supplied.
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Speaker 1: He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will
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Speaker 1: be his God, and he shall be my son. Here
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Speaker 1: also conditions are specified. In order to inherit all things,
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Speaker 1: we must resist and overcome sin. The Lord declares by
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Speaker 1: the prophet Isaiah, say ye to the righteous, that it
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Speaker 1: shall be well with him, woe unto the wicked. It
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Speaker 1: shall be ill with him, for the reward of his
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Speaker 1: hands shall be given him. Though a sinner do evil
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Speaker 1: a hundred times, says the wise man, and his days
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Speaker 1: be prolonged. Yet surely I know that it shall be
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Speaker 1: well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.
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Speaker 1: But it shall not be well with the wicked. And
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Speaker 1: Paul testifies that the sinner is treasuring up to himself
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Speaker 1: wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
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Speaker 1: Righteous jo of God, who will render to every man
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Speaker 1: according to his deeds, tribulation and anguish upon every soul
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Speaker 1: of man that doeth evil. No fornicator, nor unclean person,
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Speaker 1: nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance
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Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of Christ and God, follow peace with
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Speaker 1: all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see
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Speaker 1: the Lord. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that
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Speaker 1: they may have right to the Tree of Life, and
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Speaker 1: may enter in through the gates into the city. For
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Speaker 1: without our dogs and sorcerers, and hormongers, and murderers and idolaters,
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Speaker 1: and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. God has given
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Speaker 1: to men a declaration of his character and of his
20:43
Speaker 1: method of dealing with sin. The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
20:48
Speaker 1: long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
20:52
Speaker 1: for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, And that
20:57
Speaker 1: will by no means clear the guilty all the wicked.
21:00
Speaker 1: Will he destroy. The transgressors shall be destroyed together, the
21:05
Speaker 1: end of the wicked shall be cut off. The power
21:08
Speaker 1: and authority of the divine government will be employed to
21:11
Speaker 1: put down rebellion. Yet all the manifestations of retributive justice
21:15
Speaker 1: will be perfectly consistent with the character of God as
21:18
Speaker 1: a merciful, long suffering, benevolent being. God does not force
21:23
Speaker 1: the will or judgment of any He takes no pleasure
21:26
Speaker 1: in a slavish obedience. He desires that the creatures of
21:30
Speaker 1: his hands shall love him because he is worthy of love.
21:34
Speaker 1: He would have them obey him because they have an
21:36
Speaker 1: intelligent appreciation of his wisdom, justice, and benevolence. And all
21:41
Speaker 1: who have a just conception of these qualities will love
21:44
Speaker 1: him because they are drawn toward him in admiration of
21:46
Speaker 1: his attributes. The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught
21:52
Speaker 1: and exemplified by our Savior, are a transcript of the
21:55
Speaker 1: will and character of God. Christ declared that he taught
21:59
Speaker 1: nothing except that which he had received from his father.
22:03
Speaker 1: The principles of the divine government are in perfect harmony
22:06
Speaker 1: with the Saviour's precept love your enemies. God executes justice
22:11
Speaker 1: upon the wicked for the good of the universe, and
22:13
Speaker 1: even for the good of those upon whom his judgments
22:16
Speaker 1: are visited. He would make them happy if he could
22:19
Speaker 1: do so, in accordance with the laws of his government
22:21
Speaker 1: and the justice of his character. He surrounds them with
22:25
Speaker 1: the tokens of his love. He grants them a knowledge
22:28
Speaker 1: of his law, and follows them with the offers of
22:31
Speaker 1: his mercy. But they despise his love, make void his
22:34
Speaker 1: law and reject his mercy, while constantly receiving his gifts.
22:39
Speaker 1: They dishonor the giver. They hate God because they know
22:42
Speaker 1: that he abhors their sins. The Lord bears long with
22:45
Speaker 1: their perversity, but the decisive hour will come at last,
22:49
Speaker 1: when their destiny is to be decided. Will he then
22:52
Speaker 1: chain these rebels to his side? Will he force them
22:56
Speaker 1: to do his will? Those who have chosen Satan as
23:00
Speaker 1: their leader and have been controlled by his power are
23:03
Speaker 1: not prepared to enter the presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness,
23:09
Speaker 1: cruelty have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter
23:13
Speaker 1: Heaven to dwell forever with those whom they despised and
23:15
Speaker 1: hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar.
23:20
Speaker 1: Meekness will not satisfy self esteem and pride. Purity is
23:24
Speaker 1: not acceptable to the corrupt, disinterested. Love does not appear
23:27
Speaker 1: attractive to the selfish. What source of enjoyment could heaven
23:32
Speaker 1: offer to those who are wholly absorbed in earthly and
23:34
Speaker 1: selfish interests. Could those whose lives have been spent in
23:38
Speaker 1: rebellion against God be suddenly transported to heaven and witness
23:42
Speaker 1: the High, the holy state of perfection that ever exists. There,
23:46
Speaker 1: every soul filled with love, every countenance beaming with joy
23:50
Speaker 1: and rapturing music, and melodious strains rising in honor of
23:53
Speaker 1: God and the Lamb, and ceaseless streams of light flowing
23:57
Speaker 1: upon the Redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth
23:59
Speaker 1: upon the threat. Could those whose hearts are filled with
24:02
Speaker 1: hatred of God, of truth and holiness mingle with the
24:06
Speaker 1: heavenly throng and join their songs of praise? Could they
24:09
Speaker 1: endure the glory of God and the Lamb. No, No
24:13
Speaker 1: years of privation were granted them that they might form
24:16
Speaker 1: characters for heaven. But they have never trained the mind
24:19
Speaker 1: to love purity. They have never learned the language of heaven.
24:23
Speaker 1: And now it is too late. A life of rebellion
24:27
Speaker 1: against God has unfitted them. For Heaven. Its purity, holiness,
24:31
Speaker 1: and peace would be torture to them. The glory of
24:34
Speaker 1: God would be a consuming fire. They would long to
24:37
Speaker 1: flee from that holy place. They would welcome destruction that
24:41
Speaker 1: they might be hidden from the face of Him who
24:43
Speaker 1: died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked is
24:46
Speaker 1: fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven is
24:50
Speaker 1: voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the part
24:54
Speaker 1: of God. Like the waters of the flood, the fires
24:58
Speaker 1: of the Great Day declare God's verdict the but the
25:00
Speaker 1: wicked are incurable. They have no disposition to submit to
25:04
Speaker 1: divine authority. Their will has been exercised in revolt, and
25:08
Speaker 1: when life is ended, it is too late to turn
25:11
Speaker 1: the current of their thoughts in the opposite direction, too
25:14
Speaker 1: late to turn from transgression to obedience, from hatred to love.
25:19
Speaker 1: In sparing the life of Cain the murderer, God gave
25:22
Speaker 1: the world an example of what would be the result
25:24
Speaker 1: of permitting the sinner to live to continue a course
25:27
Speaker 1: of unbridled iniquity. Through the influence of Kin's teaching and example,
25:32
Speaker 1: multitudes of his descendants were led into sin, until the
25:36
Speaker 1: wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every
25:38
Speaker 1: imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Continually,
25:43
Speaker 1: the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth
25:46
Speaker 1: was filled with violence. In mercy to the world, God
25:50
Speaker 1: blotted out its wicked inhabitants. In Noah's time. In mercy,
25:54
Speaker 1: he destroyed the corrupt dwellers in Sodom through the deceptive
25:58
Speaker 1: power of Satan, the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and admiration,
26:02
Speaker 1: and are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. It was
26:07
Speaker 1: so in Caines, and in Noah's day, and in the
26:09
Speaker 1: time of Abraham and Lot. It is so in our time.
26:13
Speaker 1: It is in mercy to the universe that God will
26:16
Speaker 1: finally destroy the rejectors of his grace. The wages of
26:20
Speaker 1: sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
26:23
Speaker 1: life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. While life is the
26:26
Speaker 1: inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked.
26:31
Speaker 1: Moses declared to Israel, I have set before thee this
26:34
Speaker 1: day life and good, and death and evil. The death
26:38
Speaker 1: referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam,
26:41
Speaker 1: for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It
26:46
Speaker 1: is the second death that is placed in contrast with
26:48
Speaker 1: everlasting life. In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon
26:53
Speaker 1: the whole human race. All alike go down into the grave,
26:58
Speaker 1: and through the provisions of the Plan of Salvation, all
27:01
Speaker 1: are to be brought forth from their graves. There shall
27:04
Speaker 1: be a resurrection of the dead. Both of the just
27:07
Speaker 1: and unjust. For as in Atom all die, even so
27:10
Speaker 1: in Christ shall all be made alive. But a distinction
27:14
Speaker 1: is made between the two classes that are brought forth.
27:18
Speaker 1: All that are in the graves shall hear his voice
27:20
Speaker 1: and shall come forth. They that have done good unto
27:23
Speaker 1: the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
27:26
Speaker 1: unto the resurrection of damnation. They who have been accounted
27:30
Speaker 1: worthy of the resurrection of life are blessed and holy.
27:34
Speaker 1: On such the second death hath no power. But those
27:38
Speaker 1: who have not the repentance and faith secured pardon must
27:41
Speaker 1: receive the penalty of transgression, the wages of sin. They
27:46
Speaker 1: suffer punishment, varying in duration and intensity according to their works,
27:50
Speaker 1: but finally ending in the second death. Since it is
27:54
Speaker 1: impossible for God, consistently with his justice and mercy to
27:58
Speaker 1: save the sinner in his sins, he deprives him of
28:01
Speaker 1: the existence which his transgressions have forfeited, and of which
28:04
Speaker 1: he has proved himself unworthy, says an inspired writer. Yet
28:09
Speaker 1: a little while, and the wicked shall not be. Yea
28:12
Speaker 1: thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
28:16
Speaker 1: And another declares they shall be as though they had
28:19
Speaker 1: not been covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless eternal oblivion.
28:25
Speaker 1: Thus will be made an end of sin, with all
28:28
Speaker 1: the woe and ruin which have resulted from it, says
28:31
Speaker 1: the Psalmist, Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou hast put
28:35
Speaker 1: out their name forever and ever o thou enemy destructions
28:39
Speaker 1: are come to a perpetual end. John in the Revelation,
28:43
Speaker 1: looking forward to the eternal state, here is a universal
28:46
Speaker 1: anthem of praise, undisturbed by one note of discord. Every
28:51
Speaker 1: creature in heaven and Earth was heard ascribing glory to God.
28:56
Speaker 1: There will then be no lost souls to blasphem God.
28:59
Speaker 1: As they writhe in ending Torment, no wretched beings in
29:02
Speaker 1: hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved.
29:06
Speaker 1: Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine
29:10
Speaker 1: of consciousness and death, a doctrine like eternal torment, opposed
29:14
Speaker 1: to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason,
29:17
Speaker 1: and to our feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief,
29:22
Speaker 1: the redeemed in heaven are acquainted with all that takes
29:25
Speaker 1: place on the earth, and especially with the lives of
29:28
Speaker 1: the friends whom they have left behind. But how could
29:31
Speaker 1: it be a source of happiness to the dead to
29:33
Speaker 1: know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins
29:36
Speaker 1: committed by their own loved ones, and to see them
29:39
Speaker 1: enduring all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life. How
29:44
Speaker 1: much of Heaven's bliss would be enjoyed by those who
29:46
Speaker 1: were hovering over their friends on earth. And how utterly
29:50
Speaker 1: revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath
29:52
Speaker 1: leaves the body, the soul of the impenitent is consigned
29:55
Speaker 1: to the flames of hell. To what depths of anguish
29:59
Speaker 1: must those be plowed to see their friends passing to
30:01
Speaker 1: the grave, unprepared to enter upon an eternity of woe
30:05
Speaker 1: and sin. Many have been driven to insanity by this
30:08
Speaker 1: harrowing thought. What say the scriptures concerning these things? David
30:14
Speaker 1: declares that man is not conscious in death. His breath
30:18
Speaker 1: goeth forth, he returneth to his earth in that very
30:21
Speaker 1: day his thoughts perish. Solomon bears the same testimony. The
30:26
Speaker 1: living know that they shall die, but the dead know
30:29
Speaker 1: not anything. Their love and their hatred and their envy
30:32
Speaker 1: is now perished. Neither have they any more apportion forever
30:36
Speaker 1: in anything that is done under the sun. There is
30:39
Speaker 1: no work, nor device, nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave.
30:43
Speaker 1: Whither thou goest. When in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah's
30:47
Speaker 1: life was prolonged fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to
30:51
Speaker 1: God a tribute of praise for his great mercy. In
30:54
Speaker 1: this song he tells the reason why he thus rejoices.
30:57
Speaker 1: The grave cannot praise THEE. Death cannot celebrate THEE. They
31:01
Speaker 1: that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy
31:03
Speaker 1: truth the living, the living he shall praise THEE as
31:07
Speaker 1: I do this day. Popular theology represents the righteous dead
31:12
Speaker 1: as in heaven, entered into bliss and praising God with
31:15
Speaker 1: an immortal tongue. But Hezekiah could see no such glorious
31:19
Speaker 1: prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony of
31:23
Speaker 1: the Psalmist. In death, there is no remembrance of THEE
31:26
Speaker 1: in the grave. Who shall give THEE thanks? The dead
31:30
Speaker 1: praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. Peter,
31:35
Speaker 1: on the day of Pentecost, declared that the patriarch David
31:38
Speaker 1: is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with
31:41
Speaker 1: us unto this day, for David is not ascended into
31:44
Speaker 1: the heavens. The fact that David remains in the grave
31:48
Speaker 1: until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go
31:51
Speaker 1: to heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection,
31:55
Speaker 1: and by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen,
31:57
Speaker 1: that David can at last sit at the right hand
32:00
Speaker 1: of God. And said Paul, If the dead rise not,
32:04
Speaker 1: then is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised,
32:07
Speaker 1: your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins?
32:10
Speaker 1: Then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
32:15
Speaker 1: If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly
32:17
Speaker 1: to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that
32:20
Speaker 1: if there is no resurrection, they which are fallen asleep
32:23
Speaker 1: in Christ are perished. No resurrection would be necessary. The
32:28
Speaker 1: martyr Tyndale, referring to the state of the dead, declared,
32:32
Speaker 1: I confess openly that I am not persuaded that they
32:35
Speaker 1: be already in the folk glory that Christ is in,
32:37
Speaker 1: or the elect angels of God are in. Neither is
32:41
Speaker 1: it any article of my faith, For if it were so,
32:44
Speaker 1: I see not. But then the preaching of the resurrection
32:46
Speaker 1: of the flesh were a thing in vain. It is
32:49
Speaker 1: an undeniable fact that the hope of immortal blessedness at
32:52
Speaker 1: death has led to widespread neglect of the Bible doctrine
32:55
Speaker 1: of the resurrection. This tendency was remarked by doctor Adam Clark,
33:00
Speaker 1: who said, the doctrine of the resurrection appears to have
33:03
Speaker 1: been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians
33:06
Speaker 1: than it is now. How is this The apostles were
33:10
Speaker 1: continually insisting on it and exciting the followers of God
33:13
Speaker 1: to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it, and their successors
33:18
Speaker 1: in the present day seldom mention it. So apostles preached,
33:22
Speaker 1: and so primitive Christians believed, So we preach, and so
33:26
Speaker 1: our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the
33:29
Speaker 1: Gospel on which more stress is laid, and there is
33:32
Speaker 1: not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which
33:35
Speaker 1: is treated with more neglect. This has continued until the
33:39
Speaker 1: glorious truth of the Resurrection has been almost wholly obscured
33:42
Speaker 1: and lost sight of by the Christian world. Thus, the
33:46
Speaker 1: leading religious writer, commenting on the words of Paul in
33:49
Speaker 1: first Thessalonians four thirteen through eighteen says, for all practical
33:53
Speaker 1: purposes of comfort, the doctrine of the blessed immortality of
33:57
Speaker 1: the righteous takes the place for us of any doubtful
34:00
Speaker 1: doctrine of the Lord's second coming at our death. The
34:03
Speaker 1: Lord comes for us. That is what we are to
34:06
Speaker 1: wait and watch for. The dead are already passed into glory.
34:11
Speaker 1: They do not wait for the Trump for their judgment
34:13
Speaker 1: and blessedness. But when about to leave his disciples, Jesus
34:18
Speaker 1: did not tell them that they would soon come to him.
34:21
Speaker 1: I go to prepare a place for you, he said.
34:23
Speaker 1: And if I go and prepare a place for you,
34:26
Speaker 1: I will come again and receive you unto myself. And
34:30
Speaker 1: Paul tells us further that the Lord himself shall descend
34:32
Speaker 1: from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
34:35
Speaker 1: archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead
34:38
Speaker 1: in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive
34:41
Speaker 1: and remain, shall be caught up together with them in
34:44
Speaker 1: the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And
34:46
Speaker 1: so shall we ever be with the Lord. And he
34:50
Speaker 1: adds comfort one another with these words. How wide the
34:54
Speaker 1: contrast between these words of comfort and those of the
34:57
Speaker 1: universalist minister previously quoted. The latter consoled the bereaved friends
35:02
Speaker 1: with the assurance that however sinful the dead might have been,
35:05
Speaker 1: when he breathed out his life, here he was to
35:08
Speaker 1: be received among the angels. Paul points his brethren to
35:12
Speaker 1: the future coming of the Lord, when the fetters of
35:14
Speaker 1: the tomb shall be broken and the dead in Christ
35:17
Speaker 1: shall be raised to eternal life. Before any can enter
35:21
Speaker 1: the mansions of the Blest, their cases must be investigated,
35:24
Speaker 1: and their characters and their deeds must pass in review
35:27
Speaker 1: before God. All are to be judged according to the
35:30
Speaker 1: things written in the books, and to be rewarded as
35:32
Speaker 1: their works have been. This judgment does not take place
35:36
Speaker 1: at death mark. The words of Paul, he hath appointed
35:40
Speaker 1: a day in the which he will judge the world
35:42
Speaker 1: in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
35:46
Speaker 1: he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he
35:48
Speaker 1: hath raised him from the dead. Here the apostle plainly
35:52
Speaker 1: stated that a specified time then future, had been fixed
35:56
Speaker 1: upon for the judgment of the world. Jude refers to
35:59
Speaker 1: the same period the angels, which kept not their first
36:02
Speaker 1: estate but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in
36:06
Speaker 1: everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the Great Day.
36:11
Speaker 1: And again he quotes the words of Enoch. Behold, the
36:14
Speaker 1: Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute
36:17
Speaker 1: judgment upon all. John declares that he saw the dead,
36:21
Speaker 1: small and great stand before God, and the books were opened,
36:25
Speaker 1: and the dead were judged out of those things which
36:27
Speaker 1: were written in the books. But if the dead are
36:30
Speaker 1: already enjoying the bliss of heaven or writhing in the
36:33
Speaker 1: flames of hell, what need of a future judgment. The
36:37
Speaker 1: teachings of God's word on these important points are neither
36:40
Speaker 1: obscure nor contradictory. They may be understood by common minds.
36:45
Speaker 1: But what candid mind can see either wisdom or justice
36:48
Speaker 1: in the current theory? Will the righteous, after the investigation
36:52
Speaker 1: of their cases of the judgment, receive the commendation well done, thou,
36:56
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of
36:59
Speaker 1: thy Lord when they have been dwelling in his presence,
37:02
Speaker 1: perhaps for long ages? Are the wicked summoned from the
37:06
Speaker 1: place of torment to receive the sentence from the judge
37:08
Speaker 1: of all the earth? Depart from me ye cursed into
37:11
Speaker 1: everlasting fire, O solemn mockery, shameful impeachment of the wisdom
37:16
Speaker 1: and justice of God. The theory of the immortality of
37:20
Speaker 1: the soul was one of those false doctrines at Rome,
37:23
Speaker 1: borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin
37:29
Speaker 1: Luther classed it with the monstrous fables that form part
37:32
Speaker 1: of the Roman Dunghill of decretles. Commenting on the words
37:36
Speaker 1: of Solomon in Ecclesiastes that the dead know not anything,
37:39
Speaker 1: the reformer says another place, proving that the dead have
37:42
Speaker 1: no feeling. There is saith ye, no duty, no science,
37:46
Speaker 1: no knowledge, no wisdom. There Solomon judgeth that the dead
37:50
Speaker 1: are asleep and feel nothing at all. For the dead
37:53
Speaker 1: lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they
37:56
Speaker 1: are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.
38:01
Speaker 1: Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that
38:04
Speaker 1: the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to
38:06
Speaker 1: their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left
38:10
Speaker 1: no such assurance. Christ and his apostles have given no
38:14
Speaker 1: hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead
38:17
Speaker 1: do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as
38:21
Speaker 1: sleeping until the resurrection. In the very day, when the
38:25
Speaker 1: silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, man's
38:28
Speaker 1: thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are
38:32
Speaker 1: in silence. They know no more of anything that is
38:35
Speaker 1: done under the sun. Blessed rest for the weary righteous time,
38:41
Speaker 1: be it long or short, is but a moment to
38:42
Speaker 1: them they sleep. They are awakened by the trump of
38:46
Speaker 1: God to a glorious immortality. For the trumpet shall sound,
38:51
Speaker 1: and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. So when this
38:54
Speaker 1: corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall
38:58
Speaker 1: have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
39:00
Speaker 1: the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
39:05
Speaker 1: As they are called forth from their deep slumber, they
39:08
Speaker 1: begin to think just where they ceased. The last sensation
39:12
Speaker 1: was the pang of death, the last thought that they
39:14
Speaker 1: were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they
39:18
Speaker 1: arise from the tomb, their first glad thought will be
39:21
Speaker 1: echoed in the triumphal shout, Oh Death, where is thy
39:24
Speaker 1: sting o grave? Where is thy victory? End of chapter
39:29
Speaker 1: thirty three,