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33 - The First Great Deception - The Great Controversy · Sacred Texts Archive

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