tain quantum of pain is inflicted on the transgressor, equal in amount to that which he has occasioned, or that he is made to experience a certain amount of evil equal to that which he has produced, or that he is made to suffer simply and solely because he has committed an evil act, all this is a very great mistake. No. God punishes to reform and make better. His punishments are disciplinary, emendatory, and salutary. He does not, therefore, inflict pain upon the transgressor simply because an evil act has been committed, but in order that the crime may not be repeated. Again, if the objector supposes that God, in the administration of his moral government, is under the necessity of specially interfering and directly punishing his creatures, this is another very great mistake. No. God is under no necessity of guarding the interests of his law by penal enactments and penal sanctions. It is a law, as we have seen, which is founded in the nature and fitness of things,

a law written in the very constitution of man. God's law, therefore, unlike all the laws ever instituted by man, does, by its own operation, absolutely secure the reward of virtue and the punishment of vice. God, to be sure, may, at certain times, and in certain cases, inflict direct punishment upon the violators of his law. But this is not his general mode of administration. As a general thing, we know of no penalty annexed to the law of God except the natural and necessary consequences which flow from its violation; nor any punishment for sin except the natural and necessary consequences which flow from the practice of vice. How strong is the love of life! How instinctively man will cling to it, and shrink from death! How great must be the suffering, and how intense the agony, endured by that mind, which will prompt its possessor to voluntarily cut the strong cord which binds him to earth! “But,” you may say, "all this suffering and agony he has brought upon himself by his own voluntary sins." All this may be very true; and, if so, it is a proof that sin is punished in this life. Of the suicide, then, it may be said, that, by a course of sin and transgression, he has plunged himself into misery, until God uses his own hand as the instrument of his own destruction. He is cut off from life and all its endearments, and his career of wickedness has terminated in untimely death. It may be well to mention here that the Bible nowhere enumerates suicide among the catalogue of crimes, nor the suicide among the catalogue of criminals. We would not now wish to be understood as justifying the act of suicide. Very far from it,

We mention this fact because it is a fact, and the reader will bear in mind it is a fact for which we are not responsible. If the objector, therefore, is disposed to cavil, let him cavil at the Bible, not with us. We suppose the reason why the Bible does not speak of suicide as a crime, is because the scripture writers, all of them, took it for granted that it was an act which would not be very frequently committed, and very seldom indeed, if ever, by a person in the sober exercise of his reason and judgment.

11. But the objector may say, Suppose a man to murder a fellow-being, and the next moment turn round and kill himself — how is he punished for this double crime, committed in the very last moment of his life?" We frankly confess that this is, to all appearance, one of the greatest difficulties, in the way of our theory, which can possibly be stated. We admit it to be a very plausible objection. But, supposing that no satisfactory reply can be made to it, what then? Let it be borne in mind that this objection is founded on an extreme case. How many of the human family are guilty of this crime? Not one to an hundred thousand. Must it not be a very strong theory against which only one difficulty out of many can be presented, which we, short-sighted mortals, cannot remove? Must not that theory be considered absolutely invulnerable against which only one objection out of many can be urged, which cannot be satisfactorily answered; especially when even that one objection is founded on an extreme case, a case which rarely happens among men? But we are not afraid to meet this objection in the very face. To murder a human being, and then for the murderer to turn round and kill himself, is an unnatural crime. Charity would lead us to suppose that no man would be guilty of such an act without extraordinary provocation. The man who could commit such a deed must be under the influence of the most powerful animal excitement. His passions, for the time being, must have the complete ascendency over him, and be absolutely uncontrollable. Now, is it not a well-known fact that some men have not that government and control of their passions that others have? And should not these be mitigating circumstances in the case of persons guilty of killing a human being and themselves at the same time? We know that in the eye of those laws instituted by man they would not be. But, we ask, how will they be looked on in the eye of that great law of love which God has instituted for the government of his creatures? We do not ask. how will these

persons be looked on by the eyes of men; but we ask, how will they be looked on by the eye of that God who "sees not as man sees," who is acquainted with all the thoughts of his creatures, their motives and intentions? He also is acquainted with our frailty, our liability to err, the circumstances in which we may be placed, and all the influences with which we may be surrounded. He is our Lawgiver and our Judge; and his law, by its own operation, secures to the violator of it all the punishment he thinks him to be deserving of. We ask, again, how will persons guilty of the crime we are considering, under the mitigating circumstances we have named, be looked upon in the eye of that charity which “suffereth long, and is kind," and which requires of mankind that they look not too severely upon the faults and foibles of their fellow-men? That heart must be callous indeed, and insensible to the feelings of humanity, which will prompt its possessor to look on the agonies and sufferings of the suicide, which have been the cause of his raising the hand of destruction upon himself, or upon the miseries endured by that man whose passions are so violent and ungovernable as that he can commit such a crime as the one we are considering, and then say, "It is not enough!" If persons guilty of these crimes deserve our censure, they also deserve our pity and commiseration. If they are guilty, they are also unfortunate. But they deserve our pity no more than does that man who would add one single iota to the pangs and sufferings which they endure. The punishment of those guilty of the crime under consideration, consists in their suffering the natural consequences of sin. A course of sin and folly, after having destroyed the happiness of the unfortunate being, and after he has suffered the pangs and sorrows of the transgressor, has terminated in untimely death.

Such, reader, are the arguments in favor of the doctrine of present rewards and punishments. And such are the objections against it. We now appeal to your candor, and ask, which of the two theories we have had under consideration is most consistent with reason, with common sense, and the Bible? It is of the utmost importance that you should decide this question. If you decide in favor of the theory which we have advocated, you are safe. Sin will have for you no charms, and temptation no power. You will avoid sin as you would avoid the jaws of death, or the poisonous fangs of the serpent; and you will cling to virtue as your only, your chiefest, and your greatest good.

CHAPTER V.

SCRIPTURE TERMS EXPRESSING

DURATION.

SECTION I.

On the Scripture usage and meaning of the words ETERNITY, ENDLESS, ETERNAL, EVERlasting, Never, FOREVER, and FOREVER AND EVER.

1. ETERNITY. This word occurs but once in the Bible. Isa. 57: 15, "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," &c. Of course, it is nowhere in the Bible applied to punishment of any kind, either in this world or another. It is never said the wicked shall go into, or suffer, or endure, an eternity of punishment.

2. ENDLESS. - This word does not occur in the Old Testa ment, and is found but twice in the New. 1 Tim. 1: 4, "Neither give heed to fables, and endless genealogies," &c. Heb. 7: 16, "Who (Christ) is made after the power of an endless life." When applied to genealogies it is used in a limited sense; when applied to the immortal life of Christ, which he obtained by being raised from the dead, it is used in an unlimited sense. It is connected with life in the Scriptures, but it is not connected with punishment. We nowhere in the Bible read of an "endless hell," of "endless death," of "endless misery," of "endless punishment," nor of "endless pain."

Testament sixty-one times. Eight times in Genesis, once in Exodus, twice in Leviticus, once in Numbers, once in Deuteronomy, once in 2 Samuel, once in 1 Chronicles, nine times in Psalms, twice in Proverbs, eighteen times in Isaiah, five times in Jeremiah, twice in Ezekiel, seven times in Daniel, once in Micah, and twice in Habakkuk. In the following books it is not found: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Job.

The same word occurs in the New Testament twenty-six times. Four times in Matthew, twice in Luke, eight times in John, once in Acts, twice in Romans, once in Galatians, twice in 2 Thessalonians, twice in 1 Timothy, once in Hebrews, once in 2 Peter, once in Jude, and once in Revelation. It does not occur in Mark, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 Peter, nor in 1, 2, and 3 John.

4. ETERNAL. - This word is found but twice in the Old Testament. Isaiah 60: 15, "Whereas thou (the Jews) hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations." Deut. 33: 27. Every one can see it is used here in a limited sense. The same word occurs in the New Testament forty-one times. Twice in Matthew, three times in Mark, twice in Luke, nine times in John, once in Acts, three times in Romans, three times in 2 Corinthians, twice in 1 Timothy, once in 2 Timothy, twice in Titus, five times in Hebrews, once in 1 Peter, six times in 1 John, and once in Jude.

The word is not found in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, nor in Revelation.

5. FOREVER.

This word occurs in the Old Testament very nearly, if not just, three hundred and four times. Four times in Genesis, thirteen times in Exodus, fifteen times in Leviticus, eight times in Numbers, eleven times in Deuteronomy, four times in Joshua, twelve times in 1 Samuel, ten times in 2 Samuel, ten times in 1 Kings, twice in 2 Kings, nineteen times in 1 Chronicles, fifteen times in 2 Chronicles, three times in Ezra, twice in Nehemiah, seven