The Case of The Murderer.
“Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”—1 John 3:15.
Where does a man who commits murder, and is immediately killed himself, received his punishment? Where is the specific promise of his salvation? Is there any scriptural evidence that those dying in sin, in drunkenness, or with murder in their hearts, can be saved? As these queries are often propounded to us, we propose to give them a candid and thorough examination. The sacrificial theology teaches that those dying in sin, are eternally wretched. The Bible, however, does not sustain such a conclusion.
§ I. The punishment of the murderer.
That the subject may be thoroughly elucidated and understood, we will consider first the nature of the punishment of the man who commits murder and is immediately killed himself.
In this connection, we would call the attention of the reader to the teachings of revelation in regard to the certainty of punishment. The Scriptures are very explicit upon this point, assuring us that God “will by no means clear the guilty.” Exod. 34:7. “He that doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he hath done; and there is no respect of persons.” Col. 3:25. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” Prov. 11:21. Such is the divine testimony in regard to the certainty of punishment. Man cannot sin with impunity. He cannot transgress the law of God and escape merited retribution, for God will by no means clear the guilty. The voice of revelation upon this point is in perfect harmony with the experience of the transgressor; for there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isa. 57:20, 21.) “The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days.” Job 15:20. The theology of the sacrificial church denies this doctrine, and affirms that a man can sin and escape all punishment. It teaches the forgiveness of punishment, and that God remits the penalty due transgression, towards all who are saved. Those who repent and are forgiven do not suffer the just demerit of sin. They escape punishment; hence, if a man murders and repents sincerely immediately after the commission of the deed, and soon dies, he escapes all punishment, and is rewarded with heaven for his repentance. Under these circumstances, according to the teachings of orthodoxy, the murderer is not punished at all for his sin. And if we should ask, where does the repentant murderer get his punishment, according to the sacrificial theology, which teaches the remission of the penalty, the reply would be— “Nowhere; God forgives the punishment.” But this sentiment contradicts the teachings of revelation upon this point, as we have already seen. Man must be punished all he deserves, and if he does not receive a merited retribution in this life, he must in the next, for God will by no means clear the guilty.
But there is no possible way for any imperfect, human being to determine precisely how much punishment a man deserves. God only, who knoweth the heart, can determine this. To know how much punishment a sinner merits, we must first determine precisely how guilty he is, and this no mortal man can know. We have no scale to measure human guilt; no line and plummet with which we can sound the depths of the human heart, and consequently cannot determine the exact moral condition of any soul, and hence we cannot know how much punishment a man actually deserves. No mortal can tell how much a guilty man suffers in this world. He will suffer as long as he remains impenitent and guilty; but when he repents and is brought to the knowledge of the truth, and his sins are forgiven, then he is no longer a subject of retributive justice. All men shall be brought to repentance and to the knowledge of God, so that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:10, 11).
With this view of the subject, let us consider the case of the murderer. A man may take the life of another, without committing murder. A good man may accidentally kill another man, and, of course, he commits no sin, and is not held amenable for the deed. We call the reader’s attention to this point to show that the sin consists in the intention, and that a man commits murder in his heart, really in the sight of God who premeditates it, and intends it, though even he may be foiled in his purpose, and does not commit the overt act. Murders are generally committed in moments of passionate excitement, when a man is not himself, but when he is beside himself, or infatuated, or partially insane, and these inciting causes are taken into consideration when a man is on trial for murder, as extenuating circumstances, and frequently such are convicted of murder in the second degree, or manslaughter. But no human being can determine precisely how guilty such a man is, and how much punishment he actually deserves. God only can know this. Such men must be judged by the circumstances which have surrounded them, their early moral training, parental example, the neglect of moral and religious culture. To judge men correctly, we must take all these things into consideration. We often judge sinners too harshly. Children born and reared at the “Five Points,” surrounded by bad influences, no good instruction at home, brought up in ignorance and sin, all seething together in their filth and shame, must be judged according to their position and circumstances. They are brought up in sin, and their natures are perverted, but they are not as guilty before God, as those who have been better circumstanced and conditioned. They deserve to be punished according to their moral sense of right and wrong. Their guilt is guaged according to their measure of moral sense, and the punishment is in proportion to the measure of guilt, which comes through remorse of conscience — mental suffering. The punishment inflicted upon individual transgression, corresponds to the law violated. If a physical law is violated, physical suffering follows; if a moral law is broken, mental suffering follows. When a man thus morally conditioned commits murder, he experiences mental suffering, and remorse from the moment he contemplates the dark deed, just in proportion to this moral sense which measures and determines his guilt. But we will suppose that another man better conditioned commits murder. He is a man of culture and correct appreciation of moral obligations. Suppose in the commission of murder, he is killed himself; or, in accordance with a prior intention, after the dark and bloody deed, he commits suicide. Where does such a man receive his punishment?
We take this extreme case, to express our views frankly and plainly upon the point before us. Such a man acts in this case from motives which have their origin in the appetites and passions of his nature, in opposition to the higher faculties of the soul, and his moral sense which remonstrates against the deed, and pleads with him to desist, and which burdens him with guilt and pain and remorse. As soon as he yields to temptation, the sensual nature is warring against the higher spiritual nature of man, and often brings him into captivity to the law of sin and death. (Romans 7:20-23.) There is a continual conflict between the sensual and spiritual nature of man. Temptation comes through the sensual nature, though the actual sin consists in the higher nature yielding to the temptation, and permitting itself to be perverted by the evil suggestions of the lower nature. With the higher nature there is a constitutional rectitude of goodness and purity. Through the moral sense, man is led towards God. That stands in everlasting hostility to wrong; and hence, when a man takes a sin into his bosom, and folds it there, he takes it at his peril — his conscience arouses at once and remonstrates against it, and there is an irrepressible conflict in his soul. His peace of mind is disturbed, he feels guilty before God, the fiends of remorse torment him by day and by night, and he cries out with Cain, the murderer, “my punishment is greater than I can bear.” From the moment the dark deed is contemplated, there is an overpowering sense of guilt which plunges the man into hell; for, as Dr. Clarke says, the sinner has a hell in his own bosom, and that sin constitutes hell. From the moment the murderous thought finds a lodgment in the heart, the man feels guilty before God, and his conscience smites him as with a rod, and an awakened sense of his sin increases his remorse and shame, and he smarts and writhes under it, as did the first murderer. This is his punishment in the sight of God, for the violation of his moral law, in which we now view the subject. The punishment consists in the mental suffering, the keen remorse, the biting sorrow, the anguish of soul, the loss of self-respect, the sinner experiences from the time the murder is designed till he repents of the deed. Remorse or conscience is the punishment. Indeed, we are told now that the suffering of the “finally impenitent” in the future world, will consist in remorse of conscience only. This is taught by the sacrificial theology of the church at the present time. The sinner suffers continually. “There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God.” They are like the troubled sea which cannot rest. John Randolph who was not a sinner above all men, cried out on his dying bed, “Remorse, Remorse.” He desired that the word might be written upon a card, that he might see it. And when he looked upon it, again and again did he repeat the word, “Remorse, Remorse.” Remorse of conscience is a fearful retribution for sin, and no man with an awakened moral sense can escape it.
The distinguished Dr. Chalmers speaks as follows in regard to the retributions of conscience:
“In the peace and enjoyment of the good affections there is a very present reward, and in the disquietude and agony of the evil affections there is a very present vengeance…..If men should cease to be wicked, all wretchedness and woe would in a great measure be banished from society; and if the character of heaven were re-established upon earth, the blessedness of heaven would be forthwith realized.”—Institutes of Theol. i. 104, 128.
To the same point testifies Dr. Wayland respecting the awards of conscience:
“We can never be disunited from it. It goes with us through all the scenes of life, in company and alone, admonishing, warning, reproving, and recording; and, as a source of happiness or of misery, it must abide with us forever…..Conscience forewarns us against crime, and inflicts its own peculiar punishment upon guilt.”—Moral Science, pp. 83, 103, 427.
We give the following upon this point from an orthodox journal¹ of high rank:
“The principle of conscience establishes also the inflexible justice of God. It has its awards and punishments. It visits the evil-doer with the terrible stings of guilt and remorse, and throws over him the deep chill shadow of a coming retribution. It dashes into every cup of forbidden pleasure, the unfailing, inseparable element of consequent wretchedness. It links together human crime and human suffering, the vices and miseries of men, so that the one shall follow the other invariably, as sound and echo pursue each other along the mountain side. There is with it no respect of persons, no taking of bribes. With its whip of scorpions it pursues the wrong-doer, whoever he may be, wherever he may go; tracks him into every obscurity, finds him out in the deepest retirement and the darkest night; overtakes him in his swiftest escape, and, like the terrible avenger, pursues and hangs over him wherever he takes his way.”
The heart of the sinner heaves with agonized emotions; and those heavy throes of grief and sorrow, which trouble him by day and night, tell him in language that cannot be misunderstood, that God will by no means clear the guilty, and that the wicked shall not be unpunished.
This is no wild vagary of the imagination. Could you, reader, look into the aching bosom of the transgressor, you would find that the pains of hell were there, and great trouble and sorrow. His soul is pierced with agony as with arrows. There is a hell on earth, in every sinner’s breast, that is to be feared above all others. We need not look into the soul of the rebellious child of God to see the fires of hell raging there. The sinner writhes beneath a guilty conscience — he has no peace, for he trembles with fear as he goes forth to mingle with the world by day, and no sweet joy comes to his soul as he reposes upon his couch at night.
Should it be said that the conscience becomes deadened by constant transgression, that the sinner suffers no painful emotions; we would reply first, that this can never be shown, and in absence of positive proof to substantiate it, we must accept the declaration of the Scriptures, that the way of the transgressor is hard, and that there is no peace to the wicked. And secondly, if the moral sense, conscience has become deadened, and destroyed, then man is relieved from all responsibility and accountability, and is not a subject of rewards and punishments. If a man, by vicious habits, loses his reason, and becomes idiotic or insane, he is no longer regarded as a responsible man, or an accountable agent. And whatever he may do, he is not properly a subject for retribution. And if a man has lost his moral sense, so that he is actually deficient in conscience, then he is not responsible, and merits no punishment. When his conscience is destroyed, his accountability is destroyed. Just in proportion as we admit the existence of conscience, we admit the positive retribution which must come through conscious guilt and consequent remorse.
§ II. How is the murderer saved?
Having seen how the murderer is punished, we pass now to consider the scriptural evidence of the salvation of those dying in sin. “Where,” we are frequently asked, “is the promise of the salvation of the murderer?” We answer, that we find it in the broad, comprehensive language of the inspired penman, which embraces a world-wide humanity, which teaches the salvation of all sinners. The sacred writers did not single out specific cases or particular classes of sinners, but embraced them all in the work and mission of Christ. We might ask in turn, where do the Scriptures teach that Christ died for drunkards and murderers, and those who commit suicide? The reply would be, that there are no particular passages which teach that he died specially for that class of sinners, but the broad statement is made that he died for all. (2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:6.) We should be told that as Christ died for ALL — tasted death for EVERY MAN, therefore he died for all classes of sinners — even drunkards and murderers. Precisely by the same mode of reasoning, we show that all classes of sinners are embraced in the Savior’s mission, and all will be redeemed from sin, inasmuch as Christ is called the Savior of the WORLD, and of ALL MEN. If he is the Savior of all men, then he is the Savior of all classes of sinners.
Suppose again, we ask the objector, where do the Scriptures say that Christ offers salvation to the drunkard and murderer? He will reply by saying that there are no specific passages in the Bible, where these two classes of sinners are singled out, as having salvation offered to them, but salvation is free to all, and all are offered it, therefore, these are embraced in the offer. So we say in regard to their salvation. They are not singled out from the rest of sinners as being saved, but are embraced in the comprehensive language, that God is the Savior of all men.
In this way only can we prove from the Scriptures that God is good to such vile men. There is no specific passage which affirms that He is, — only the broad declaration that He is good unto all. (Psalms 145:9.) Of course, He can be good unto ALL, only by being good unto each. Where, we might ask, is it asserted in the Scriptures, that God is the Father, or even the Creator, of the drunkard and murderer? No such specific scripture can be found—only the comprehensive language that God is the Creator and Father of all mankind. “Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?” Mal. 2:10.
So we say, there is no specific declaration, that God will save those to whom He refers, any more than that He will save others. They are embraced in the number for whom Christ died, because he died for ALL; they are embraced in the number to be saved, or delivered from sin, because God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4.) In proving that God is the Creator of all men, we at the same time prove that He is the Creator of each man, though never so vile and sinful. In proving the universal paternity of God, we, at the same time prove, that He is the Father of each man; so in proving that God is the Savior of all men, we prove that He is the Savior of each man.
Christ is called the Savior of the WORLD. “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. “This is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” John 4:42. 1 John 4:14. Again: “And I, if I be lifted up from earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32. Could language be more comprehensive? If Christ draws ALL men unto him, as he here declares, he will draw each soul unto him. He cannot draw all without drawing each. The less is contained in the greater. All who are not brought to the knowledge of God in this life, must be in the life to come, else the Scriptures falsify, for they positively assert that God will have ALL MEN to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. Those who do not bow the knee to Christ here, must hereafter, because every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. (Phil. 2:10, 11; Rom. 5:16; Eph. 1:9, 10; 1 Cor. 15:22).
We have not space to quote the numerous passages that prove the salvation of all men. We admit that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. But when the wicked, murderous spirit is cast out of a man, and he is brought to the knowledge of the truth, and knows God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, then he has eternal life abiding in him. Drunkards and murderers repent of their sins, and then have eternal life. This is what Paul teaches: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor DRUNKARDS, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Now what does Paul say? Does he affirm that they cannot repent and enter the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of righteousness and peace? By no means; for he immediately adds—addressing his Christian brethren: “And such WERE SOME OF YOU; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.” 1 Cor. 6:9-11. Paul here teaches that some of his Christian brethren were once among the vile classes he specifies, who could not inherit the kingdom of God; but turning from the error of their ways by being brought to the knowledge of the truth, they then entered the kingdom of righteousness and peace. Paul simply taught that while they remained in sin, they were out of the kingdom, but when they had abandoned their evil ways, and walked in righteousness, they were in the kingdom. Heaven is a state and condition as well as a locality, and as far as a man is in a heavenly state of mind, he is in the kingdom of God—heavenly mindedness is the condition of entrance to this kingdom of truth, righteousness and peace.
As we speak now of the drunkard and murderer, we say that they can never enter the kingdom, as such; it precludes all sinners, but when they repent of their sins, they can find entrance to that kingdom. Hence we believe that Moses and David, who were murderers, entered the kingdom of God, though not as murderers, but as saints, having forsaken their sins. When asked, therefore, how sinners are saved, we reply, only by forsaking their sins and being brought to the knowledge of the truth, and when this work is not accomplished previous to the event, we call death, it must be subsequently. The mere event of death does not change our relations to God, and it is nowhere stated that all shall know God in this life, The comprehensive declaration is, that Christ will draw all men unto him. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32. The natural inference is, that those who are not drawn to him previous to their death, will be hereafter. Death is a dissolution of soul and body, or separation of the spiritual from the earthly nature. The firm is dissolved, the co-partnership which has existed between these two natures ceases, the spiritual nature is delivered from the earthly and sensual nature, and we apprehend, is better conditioned and circumstanced, than when connected with the sensual part of man, and more susceptible to divine and holy influences.
Will a man enter the future state a sinner, a drunkard and murderer? We think not, though it is evident to our mind that he enters that life imperfect, feeling the effects of sin, and with the consciousness of past errors, he will repent of his iniquity and seek pardon. We say, that he will not enter that state as a sinner, because he will not take along with him the sensual nature which prompts him to sin; and in the absence of motive, he will not sin. With the sensual nature, comes the appetite for strong drinks, or the motive to murder, to be revenged, or to obtain money, or some other passion. Without the motive, man will not sin, and without the sensual nature, there will be no motive, consequently when the spiritual nature becomes disconnected from the sensual, man will not sin; still he will be conscious of his past wrongs, and will seek the pardoning grace of God. We base this argument on the essential rectitude and moral purity of man’s spiritual nature.
God made man upright, and he is naturally good, and instead of being totally depraved, the natural element of that spiritual nature is goodness and purity, hence he finds happiness in the pursuit of goodness. A man who is prompted to commit murder, is led on by a motive which springs out of the sensual nature; now if he is struck down, in the act himself, and death ensues, he is delivered from the earthly or sensual nature, and consequently the motive is gone, and he has no longer any murderous desire, and standing in the presence of God, with all that is essentially spiritual about him, he will confess his sin and be pardoned.
In this connection, we desire to introduce the following, from one of the most distinguished orthodox divines¹ in America:
“When we pass from life we shall leave behind, not only the body, but all of that part of the passions and the appetites which has its function and sphere on account of our poor bodily condition. How much of what we call the mind shall be immortal, or how much of what we call the appetites and passions we shall carry with us in our changed form, I know not, and you know not. We know that when an engine is taken from the place where it has been used, it is not necessary to take the clamps, and screws, and bolts, and various appliances, to the condition of the engine. These may be left behind, and yet the engine may be kept in its entirety. And so there are many passions, many appetites, many lower faculties, that are indispensable to our physical conditions, which we can easily imagine will drop away from us when we pass out of this life, and yet leave the soul unimpaired. The reason, the affections, all the higher faculties, will go forth into immortality; but it will be no small thing to have left behind those things which belong to the body exclusively, and from which come largely the distemperature and trouble that afflict us in this life. If there may be a hope that in part we shall leave behind the appetites and passions, and that those which we carry with us shall no longer be turned downward, as here, to minister to evil, but shall be evermore turned upward as auxiliaries of the higher feelings, then the thought of departing, the thought of going forth, should not be one of loss, but one of essential gain.
‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be;’ but the representations of the Bible (and they agree with our highest reasonings,) make the life beyond not a mere elongation of this. Though it unfolds the same faculties that we have here, it is as much fuller and higher and nobler than our present life as the organized plant is superior to the simple seed. The conditions being changed as they are, it must needs be so. There is a strong tendency manifested among men at this time to make the other life an absolute and literal continuation of this. ‘Just as a man goes out of this world, just so he begins in the other world,’ they say.
If you take a seed that has ripened in Nova Zembla, and bring it into the tropics, and plant it, it will not be what it would have been in Nova Zembla, with a short growing season, and the scantiest supply of food. It will have, with a long summer, and an abundant supply, a growth to which no one would suspect that it could attain, who had only seen it grow in the frigid zones. Many things that are shrubs in the frigid zones, are high, waving century oaks in the tropics. And so men in this life are in conditions which, though fitted to develop the earlier stages of human growth, are not fitted to develop the full estate of that idea which God has expressed in the creation of man. And we may hope that when we bid adieu to our mortal life, we shall leave behind some things which are necessary to the exigencies of our condition here, but which will not be necessary to our state there. Our imagination, our reason, our affections, and our moral sentiments, we shall doubtless carry with us; our identity will remain; and I suppose all our faculties will be substantially the same; but the conditions of our life will be so different that we shall be like men taken from poverty into abundance; from winter into summer; from a cold climate and a frozen soil, into a soil never locked by ice, and skies that never know frost. Our life there shall be ampler, fuller, nobler, than it is here.”
We do not believe the future state is precisely like this, and that when a man dies, and goes into the future world, it is the same as passing from one room into another, as some represent it—that the future life is only a lengthening out of this life, neither do we think that the mere article of death has any redemptive power, or tends to bleach and purify the soul, but that it places man in a condition where he will not be exposed to the temptations of the flesh, and where redemptive influences will affect him more powerfully than they now do. Death works no change in man’s moral nature, as we understand it, but places him in better surroundings, or rather takes him away from bad influences, so that he is better circumstanced and conditioned in the future world than here, and being more susceptible to good influences, he will more readily be brought to the knowledge of God.
“It is certainly true that death has nothing to do with sin directly, yet the body has a great deal to do with it; and as death delivers the soul from the body, it sets it free from the temptations of the body. Suppose a man falls into the sea encumbered, not only with his ordinary clothes, but with thick, heavy over-garments, his feet encased in heavy boots, and his hands confined in stout gloves. By great exertion and struggle, he succeeds in throwing these off. The getting quit of these, does not, indeed, save him from drowning, but it certainly puts him in a better condition for reaching the shore. So death does not, itself, bestow purity, knowledge, and happiness on the soul, but it certainly puts it in a better condition for reaching these, by freeing it from all the clogs and hindrances of the flesh.”
Sin, we regard as a perversion of man’s nature, and not a development of it. Man is not naturally depraved, nor totally corrupt; but his moral nature is good, the sensual powers of his nature drag him downward, but this sensual nature, with its earthy passions and appetites which the apostle says, ever wars against the law of the spirit, does not accompany man into the future world; hence, he will have no earthly, fleshly passions there, no desire for lust, for wealth, for strong drinks, hence no desire to plunder, rob, and murder—no motive to sin there. These temptations and motives to sin come through the passions of the sensual nature. Man’s spiritual nature throbs with good aspirations and holy desires, and naturally gravitates towards God so that he is happy only when he is good. And take the spiritual nature out of its present surroundings, and disconnect it from the passions and appetites of the earthly nature, and it will ascend to a higher and purer atmosphere, as the balloon ascends when the weights are disconnected which hold it down to the earth. These sensual passions and appetites hold man down to the earth. Disconnect these two natures, and the spiritual ascends.
“I am persuaded that any one will feel convinced by the examination, that much of our goodness is due to the favorable circumstances and influences by which we have been surrounded by our birth; and that more wickedness than is generally supposed, is to be put down to hunger and nakedness and uncleanness, to bad air, and bad food and shelter, to ignorance and evil associations. The apostle rightly says, ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners;’ and it is equally true that good communications help to reform bad manners. And can we estimate, then, too highly, the power for good over the soul which will be put in action by the new and wonderful circumstances in which it will be placed on its entrance into the divine world, by the mighty and divine influences brought to bear upon it? No longer seeing through a glass darkly, as it did when veiled with the body, it there sees a spirit, face to face, and perceives the real character and true relations of things. And what sudden revelations of truth, of love and beauty, burst upon its anointed sight. The glory of God’s majesty, the excellency of his wisdom, the extent of his goodness, the tenderness and the love of the Savior for man, the joy and spiritual beauty of the angels, the blessedness and ever-increasing knowledge of the redeemed, the boundless creation stretching out on all sides into the invisible, the countless starry worlds that lie like shining dust under the feet of God!
These, and a thousand other exhibitions of divine power and wisdom, and a thousand other revelations of the Savior’s love and grace, and of the holiness and bliss of heaven, must, indeed, exert a mighty attractive influence on the new-born soul, lifting it upward. They will draw it toward the pure, the good, the beautiful, as the vapors of the earth and sea are drawn upward toward the sun, by the attraction of its genial light and warmth.
What force there is even here in truth, and purity, and love. How reverent they will make us, how gentle and yielding, when exerting their full power upon us. How strongly we are drawn toward a really good man, in this life, while surrounded by all manner of evil influences, and perverted, darkened and hindered by our sinfulness. Oh, how much more, then, when the darkness and blindness which the fleshly veil puts upon our sight, are passed away; when, set free from the perverting and corrupting influences of the body, we become spirit only, beholding the infinite goodness of God!”[1]
The passions which come through the desires and lusts of the flesh, lead man into sin. Among the things which Paul enumerates as the “works of the flesh,” are “adultery, murders, drunkenness,” etc. (Gal. 5:19-21.) These sins, as we understand the apostle to teach, come through the desires of the sensual nature, which becomes disconnected from the spiritual nature when man enters the future world. All men, we think, go into the future state imperfect and undeveloped, but not with sinful motives and passions and desires and lusts. The murderer may be killed while he commits murder, but not taking along with him the passion and motive which prompted him to the deed, he will not enter upon the future life with murder in his soul, but conscious of his sin, he will seek forgiveness of God, who pardons the penitent. Not having any motive to sin there, he will not sin, but at once turn to God, with whom the spiritual nature finds a natural affinity, and be happy in love, which constitutes the native element of the soul. The sinner will know of the joys of forgiveness, by being brought to the knowledge of the truth, restored to favor, and his sin remembered no more against him. He feels that his sin is blotted out and forgiven. While Saul was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the early Christians, he was arrested in his wicked career; light from heaven dawned upon his understanding, and he cried out, “Who art thou, Lord?” Suppose he had been killed, while going out on his wicked errand, and the same light had burst upon him when he entered the future world, he would have uttered the same exclamation, “Who art thou, Lord?” “And suddenly there shifted round about him a light from heaven.” Acts. 9:3. And so we think this light from heaven shines round the soul when it enters the immortal world, and man becomes penitent and forgiven.
We do not attribute salvation to death. The mere act of dying has no purifying influence. But it changes man’s relations, so that he is surrounded by elevating influences and redemptive agencies. Death delivers the soul from the debasing passions and appetites of the animal nature, so that it is placed in better conditions. The same instrumentality is employed undoubtedly in the conversion of the soul, after death, as was employed in the conversion of the murderous Saul, viz., “light from heaven.” The murderer, like Saul, is surrounded with that light of life, of truth and love, and exclaims, “Who art thou, Lord?” God illumines the soul so that it knows Him and Jesus his Son, and has life through his name. Not having any motive to sin, the soul will not turn away from God, but will love and serve Him. Having been forgiven much, it will love much. With the view we entertain of the soul, man not entering the future life with the earthly and sensual nature, will not desire to engage in what Paul calls the “works of the flesh,” which are “adultery, uncleanness, wrath, strife, envyings, murder, drunkenness, and such like,” and consequently he will be controlled by the aspirations and desires of the spiritual nature, and hence will not sin. We predicate this opinion upon the rectitude of man’s moral nature. God made that nature good, with good proclivities, and holy aspirations, so that it naturally craves goodness, and pants after God as the hart panteth after the water-brook. If man now were wholly under the influence of this higher nature, he would not sin. But in this world, there is a conflict between these two natures as we have already argued. “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other.” Gal. 5:17. When a man is arrested by death in a sinful course, he is delivered from temptation and the sensual nature which prompted the evil deed, and is surrounded by those influences which lead him into immediate repentance and reconciliation to God; so that those who die alienated and unreconciled to God are reconciled after passing into the future life. This sudden quickening of the spiritual forces of man’s nature, is not unreasonable, nor opposed to facts and experience. Saul was suddenly arrested and quickly converted, and thousands on thousands are quickly turned from sin to the service of God.
“Behold the triumphs of reform in all its phases. Take, as an example, the man who, for years, has given himself up to the most reckless indulgence of appetite, rushing down from one depth of debasement to another, till he becomes degraded as a brute, and ferocious as a fiend. See him now, all at once, sudden as the flash of the lightning, arrested in his course! A look, or a tone of the voice, a dream, a beautiful memory, the prayer of his childhood, the vision of his dead mother’s sweet forgiving look, the remembrance of a sister’s love, the face of a child, a strain of music, turns back the whole tide of his being; and the steps that were just now going downward to hell, are turned toward heaven!
And if such slight incidents can so suddenly arrest the sinful and criminal, and turn the whole current of thought and feeling and purpose, into a new and right direction; can death, which liberates the soul from the body and its temptations, be powerless in its influence? Is it presumption to suppose that this great event, which changes the condition, and all the outward relations of the spirit, and opens for it a new era of existence, will arrest its evil tendencies, and exert a mighty moral influence upon it? I think a just and intelligent philosophy would predict precisely such a result on inductive principles.
The growth of a plant may be hastened by an increase of light and heat, or by a more favorable location, or fitting soil. And the same result may be obtained by a peculiar dressing of the soil, or by an increase of electricity supplied to the earth and plant. But all this is in perfect harmony with the radical nature and laws of the earth or plant; nay, could not be at all, if it were not so. Whatever sudden increase of growth or productiveness is attained, is the consequence of more favorable circumstances adapted to the existing capacities, structure, and wants of the plant.
So with the soul, in the resurrection. It is brought into more favorable circumstances, and its growth is more rapidly set forward by a great and sudden increase of spiritual light and heat; but in perfect harmony with its nature, the laws of its structure and development, and the capacities with which it was originally endowed. The germ of all the soul will attain to, and enjoy, in the future life, is doubtless within it now and here. The more genial clime of the spirit world will only quicken and develop it.”[1]
We apprehend that the divine influences in which those who die in sin are placed, will so harmonize with their spiritual aspirations, that no violence will be done to their freedom, but that they will desire to be reconciled to God. All who know not God in this life, will be brought to the knowledge of God in the life to come. The whole heathen world that die in total ignorance of God, will be brought to the knowledge of the truth after death. Thus He will reconcile all things to himself, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. (Col. 1:20.) But will the man who has died in the commission of sin, suffer the remorse of a guilty conscience after he is reconciled to God? We think not. Standing before God as a repentant and reconciled soul, he will realize that God has forgiven him, that his sin is blotted out and is not remembered against him. We cannot think that he will suffer through eternity, by the remembrance of his former sins. God so forgives transgression and iniquity that man stands in his presence as though he had not sinned. It was so with Moses, who murdered the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exod. 2:12.) So with David who caused Uriah to be killed for a wicked purpose. So with Saul who breathed out slaughter against the early Christians. God so forgave them, that they stood as though they had not sinned against Him. Though these men had committed murder, yet we cannot think that the remembrance of their former sins will occasion them pain, and suffering, and remorse through eternity. God so forgives their sins that they will stand before Him not as murderers, but as redeemed souls, their sins not being remembered against them.
All leave this world more or less sinful—some owe fifty pence, and some five hundred. No one dies as pure as the angels in heaven. No man is wholly and entirely saved from sin in this life. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8. If all men die more or less imperfect and sinful, all must remain in precisely the same imperfect condition in the future state, as they die, or all must be saved from imperfection and sin after death.
The best of men need to pass through a change before they are prepared for the heavenly state. No saints on earth are as pure and holy as they will be in heaven. In precisely the same ratio that they are better in heaven than they are on earth, to that extent are they saved after leaving the earthly state. Whatever creed man accepts, all religionists must admit that there must be a change after death, because all die imperfect and sinful.
The Presbyterian Confession of Faith says:
“Sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. The imperfection of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit; whereby they are often assailed with temptations and fall into many sins; are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.”—pp. 59, 189.
If, as is here stated, “there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part” of believers even, and some “remnants of sin” in every part, so that their “best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God,” it is quite certain that they must be saved from these “remnants of sin” after death, or remain defiled eternally. To the extent that they are delivered from this imperfection and sin, are they saved in the future life. And as Christ is the only Savior of mankind, it is evident that his redemptive work extends beyond this life. All die more or less sinful, and all must be saved to a greater or less degree after death. And as all enter the next world, more or less imperfect and ignorant, hence the next life will be a life of growth and development. Surrounded by pure and elevating influences, we shall be schooled and make progress forever, we apprehend.
The laws of growth and development which govern the spiritual nature, will not be essentially different in the future state, from those which now govern the mind in this regard; but differently conditioned, and more favorably circumstanced, men will make more rapid progress. Standing as the soul will in the marvelous light of God’s truth, and feeling the saving influences of his grace and love, delivered from the temptations and the debasing influences of earth, man will delight to go onward and upward, and develop and progress throughout the boundless ages of eternity. If the views we have advanced are correct, man’s happiness depends, not only upon his capacity for enjoyment, but upon his reconciliation to God. No man can be happy in sin; he finds permanent happiness only when he finds God. And as the larger portion of the race know not God in this life, they must be brought to the knowledge of God in the life to come. The light of life which is the light of heaven, shines round the soul, when it enters upon the immortal shore, as it shone round Saul, and the penitent soul cries out, “Lord, who art thou?” Reconciled to God it loves Him; for unto whomsoever much is forgiven, the same loves much.
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