Is Sin Eternal?

ST. PAUL in his letter to the Hebrews says, "If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10:26, 27. If there is no remaining sacrifice in their behalf it then follows that they have no longer an interest in the blood of Christ, and "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Such are undoubtedly reckoned by St. Paul among that class of whom he says, it is impossible to "renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb. 6:5, 6. This is undoubtedly the sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour has said that one who commits it "Hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:" Mark 3:28, 29.

In opposition to the Canon's theory of mercy after death, and final mercy to all, we urge these Scriptures as positive proof that there are persons who leave this world for whom there is no hope, and who have no interest in the Saviour. It is well to bear in mind the words we quoted, in a former article, from the prophet Ezekiel, that the sinner who committed iniquity, and dies in it (that is dies a sinner) for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die. See Eze. 18:26. The death threatened for their personal sins is "the second death." Rev. 20:14. But this second death is executed upon them in the lake of fire, after the resurrection, after the Judgment, as will be seen by reading Revelation, chapter twenty.

When the time of executing judgment comes, a solemn decree will have gone forth in Heaven, forever fixing, between the righteous and the wicked, an impassable barrier, as impassable as that illustrated in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Our Lord Jesus Christ, now in the Heavens as a priest, is soon coming as "King of kings, and Lord of lords." When he is about to thus come, as represented in the book of Revelation, he says, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:11, 12. This seems to say, as plainly as need be, that when Christ comes to give unto all their due, there will be no longer opportunity for the ungodly to become holy. His work at that time is not that of bridging the gulf over which they "cannot pass," but of giving to every man according as his work may be.

The Canon's theory differs very materially from this. While speaking from 1 Pet. 3:19, he says, "I am persuaded that I see in this history an indication of the probable occupation of the blessed in the kingdom of Christ in the next age. . . . The saved, those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, the wise virgin with lamps trimmed, the faithful servants with well used talents, they shall form his magnificent retinue when he returns. They shall enter into his kingdom with him. What shall be their occupation?. . . . Will it not be the opening of a new sphere of missionary work? Must it not be so? If the future is to be the development, the continuation, the perfection of the present, can you imagine a servant of God working, praying, loving, reforming, saving the souls of men up to the hour of his death, and suddenly finding himself blunted, metamorphosed, callous, with no love for souls, no passionate longing to,

"Feel the touch of a vanished hand,

And the sound of the voice that is still."

Would they be nearer Christ by pitying less the sinful living or the woeful dead in their helplessness? Would they be nearer Christ were they to love no more the loved who in anguish lie outside the door? Can you imagine a Moses, a St. Paul, a Savonarola, a John Wesley, a Father Matthew, a Florence Nightingale, a Lloyd Garrison, contenting their large and loving souls with the "endless Alleluia," and gaining satisfaction from the sufferings of the damned? Nay! I can hear them pleading for a respite from the anthem of the seraphim that they might plunge into the caverns of the lost. I can hear them say, 'Thou Lord, hast said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples because ye have love one to another.' And shall man be more just than his maker? Shall the servants of Christ be more compassionate than their Master? Nay. If I mistake not utterly, the whole purpose of the glorious kingdom after the advent, the characteristic of the Messiah's reign, which is to last till he has put all enemies under his feet, will be the winning of the souls that are under-going the aionial punishment, the preaching to the spirits in prison, who in the discipline of the great darkness are becoming conscious of their sins. It will be a work untrammeled by the flesh, freed from the limitations of bodily weariness or infirmity. They rest from their labors—there is no labor there—but their works do follow them; and in all the unwearied vigor of the spiritual body they shall carry on the great work appertaining to them as a royal priesthood in the kingdom of the Son of man until he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and then cometh the end."

Of course the above statement will be received as the Rev. Canon's statement of his conceptions, for which he has given no Scripture proof, except that Christ is to "reign until he puts all enemies under his feet." Putting his enemies under his feet is a strange way of expressing their conversion; it is a good term to represent the Scriptural doctrine of their destruction. This reign of Christ until his foes are put under his feet however, is before, and not after his second advent. It is predicted by David, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Ps. 110:1. That this language relates to Christ's position as priest in the Heavens, since his ascension, is proved by the words of St. Peter as he quotes this Scripture in his pentecostal discourse. See Acts 2:32-36. St. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, speaks of Christ as at his Father's right hand "from henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool." See Heb. 8:1, 2; 10:12, 13. In this latter text, he not only speaks of Christ as then in that position at the right hand of the Father, but he says, from henceforth he is "expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."

Christ also, at the time of his revelation to St. John on the isle of Patmos, said, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne." This position of Christ as a priest, until his foes be made his footstool, is on his Father's throne. His own throne, his own kingdom, he receives when he comes again. This position upon his Father's throne, where he is now ruling "as a priest on his throne" and the council of peace is between them both, was prophesied of by the prophet Zechariah, chap. 6:12, 13.

This is the kingdom that he delivers up to God the father, not his own kingdom, for it is positively stated there shall be no end to the kingdom, and no end to his reign. "It shall be as the days of Heaven." See Psalm 89:27-37; Luke 7:32, 33.

The time when Christ delivers up the kingdom, when all his foes are "subject to him," is not a long period after his coming as the Canon intimates, but at the very time he raises the righteous dead as subjects of his own kingdom, the ungodly having been given into his hand, not for conversion, but for destruction, as stated in Ps. 2:8-12, and symbolized in Dan. 2:34, 35: Notice in this latter case, the subdued and broken image is not represented as being amalgamated to the stone, and becoming the kingdom, but "no place is found for it." It is driven away like chaff, and so, St. Paul says it will be with the ungodly at Christ's coming. "Rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" 2 Thess. 1:7-9.

Now let us quote St. Paul's testimony concerning the delivering up of the kingdom in harmony with the Bible testimony adduced. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then [at Christ's coming, when they that are his are raised from the dead] cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; [past tense, relating to a work not still to come, but already done] when he [the Father, Ps. 110:1, "Till I make thine enemies thy footstool"] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he [the Son] must reign, till he [the Father] hath put all enemies under his [Christ's] feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he [the Father] hath put all things under his [Christ's] feet. But when he saith all things are put under him [Christ], it is manifest that he [the Father] is excepted, which did put all things under him [Christ]. And when all things shall be subdued unto him [Christ], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." 1 Cor. 15:22-28.

Indeed a time is coming when in the whole universe of God sin will no longer exist, when every creature in existence will be praising him. Rev. 5:13. This glorious time doubtless filled and inspired the mind of David when he said, "Let the sinner be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more; Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. 104:35.