The Beginning & the Ending

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The apostle Paul writes, "Christ came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." -Eph. 2:17.

He simply could not have preached peace had he preached an endless despair in hell!

Paul was a faithful minister of the Master for nearly thirty years, and yet the word hell is not found in any of his sermons or epistles!

Can this omission be accounted or on the supposition that he believed there was a place bearing that name in eternity, to which all are exposed?

He says, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." -Acts 20:27.

An endless hell can be no part of God's counsel!

"No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." -Heb. 12:11.

The punishment of God is limited.

If they are endless there can be no afterward, as the apostle declares.

" "Faith the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. -Heb. 11:1.

A person may have faith in the doctrine of endless punishment, but he cannot hope for it.

That dogma is no part of Christian faith.

A person cannot only believe in the benign doctrine of universal reconciliation, but he can hope for its truth with all his heart. That is the right faith.

In the first book of the Bible we read, "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." -Gen. 1:31.

In the last book of the Bible, the writer, in a vision, says, "every creature" which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. -Rev. 5:13.

In the beginning man was pronounced by his Creator VERY GOOD, every way adapted to the stage of action on which he was placed. The Revelator, by the help of God, saw all mankind raised to a higher state of existence, for which also they were created, and heard them blessing their Creator for his infinite goodness, and adoring their Savior for redeeming love.

Such was the beginning of our race, and such will be its glorious consummation. "For God's pleasure we are and were created.?

Praise the Lord all the ends of the earth! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Speak good of His name, for He is good, and his mercy endures forever!