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TtlE CHftlSTlAN .\\4'rlON.
Vol. 69.
far as we know now it Avill never be raised
from the depths of the ocean and made to
carry traffic over the sea. But no one believes
that it is annihilated. It is still in
existence and in all probability Avill be in
existence as long as the earth remains.
But it Avill never again serve the purpose
for which it A\'as made nor have the glory it
would have had had it .sailed the seas for
many years.
A man destroys himself Avhen he ruins his
health, squanders his property, debases his
character, and renders himself unfit to act
his part in life.
The drunkard destroys himself. He may
be said to be completely ruined though still
living. A soul is forever destroyed Avhenit
is a stranger to God and a fitcompanion only
for the devil and his angels. This is a destruction
a thousandfold more fearful than
annihilation. The earnestness Avith which
the doctrine of the immortality of the wicked
is denounced by those Avho reject it,
should convince them of its truth. Its truth
is the only rational solution of the fact that
Christ and His Apostles did not condemn it.
Not only did they not condemn it, but they
taughtit in the most solemn manner. Christ
tells us that the king shall say unto the wicked
on the last day: "Depart from me into
everlasting fire. And these shah go away
into everlasting punishment but the righteous
into hfe eternal." The same word "aionion"
is used in both clauses. It must have the
same sense in both. The punishment of the
wicked lasts as long as the blessedness of the
righteous, Paul teaches us that when Christ
comes the Avicked "shall be punished Avith
everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the gbry of his power,"
If the Avicked are not immortal the Avord
eternal must be relieved of its obvious meaning.
Butit cannot be thus disposed of. The
passages in which the word occurs are remarkable
for their solemnity, their precision,
and their variety. In oneit is the "fire" that
is described as "eternal," in another tha
"punishment," in a third the "destruction,"
and in a fourth the "sin." In none is there
any qualification of the language or any hint
of a modified sense.
The terms Avhich are regularly chosen to
express the perpetuity or immortality belonging
to God, to His glory, Flis kingdom, His
Son, His Spirit, and the permanence of the
blessedness He assures His own children, are
also the terms which are selected to describe
the final lot of the wicked. It is unreasonable
to say that the term Avhich conveys the
ideas of the changeless and lasting in one, expresses
something entirely different in the
other. If the doctrine of the immortality nf
the Avicked is not taught in the scriptures it
cannot be taught in human language.
It is said to be inconsistent Avith the mercy
of God to alloAV any of his creatures to be
forever miserable. In answer it may be said
that it is just as impossible for God to do east a of the northern end of the Dead Sea
little wrong as a great one. If He has permitted
such a vast amount of sin and mis­
ANALYSIS AND COMMENT.
ati the mouth of the Jordan."
ery to exist in the world from the fall of
Moses was now about to enter into the
Adam to the present tim^, how can we say
consummation of all his labours and desires
that it is inconsistent Avith His goodness to
alloAV them to continue to exist? How do —the leading of the children of Israel across
we knoAv that the reasons, which constrained the Jordan river into the promised land. But
God to allow His children to be sinful and the voice of the Lord came unto him saying.
miserable for thousands of years, may not
Thou shalt not go over; get thee up into the
constrain him to permit some of them to remain
miserable forever. If the highest glory of
mountain, look upon it and die. In the record
of the closing scenes of the hfe of Moses,
God and the good of the universe have been
promoted by the past sinfulness and misery a numher of singular things may be noted.
of men, Avhy may not these objects be promoted
by Avhat is declared to be future? Sin "And Moses went up from the plains of
I. A WONDERFUL VISION, (v. 1-4,)
and sinners and misery are here. Their existence
is the real problem, a far greater
Moab unto the mountain Nebo, to the top
problem
than tbeir continuance. All that men
say in favor of the annihilation of the wcked
may be said with greater justice in favor of
their never having been brought into being.
If God could not make Flis vineyard bring
forth anything but Avild grapesy why was
the poor vineyard planted ?
Both the Avicked and the righteous shall
have a future existence. They are both immortal,
but the character of that existence is
awfully dift'erent. The element of glory
Avhich Christ puts nto the immortality of His
people constitutes the difference betAveen it
and the immortality of the Avicked. There
may be a cloud in the sky, but there is a
great difference between that cloud filled
with inky blackness and that cloud transfused
and transfigured with the glorious light
of the sun. The latter makes the sky a
thing of beauty surpassing the AVOrk of the
most skilled artist.
The future existence of the soul of the
Avicked is an inky cloud; the future existence
of the soul of the righteous is a cloud filled
Avith the light of the sun of righteousness.
Inthe S a b b a t h
School
Lessons ATI. November i6, 1913
By the Rev, W
A, Aikin.
THF DEATH OF AIOSES.—DeiUeronomy
34:1-12.
Golden Text.—Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His saints.—Ps.
116:15.
Psalms.—116:10-12. C. AI.; 90:5-9, 8s,;
39:5-8, lOS,
Time.—At the close of the fortieth vear
of the Fxodus. B. C. 1451.
Place.—Israel was at this time encamped
in the Plains of Aloab east of the Jordan,
opposite Jericho. Aloses died and was buried
on Alt. Pisgah, the "summit of the Moabite
highlands, about eight or nine miles
of Pisgah. And the Lord shewed him all the
land," etc. From the high eminence of Mt.
Nebo, which was over 4,000 feet above the
level of the Jordan, Aloses was able to get
a view of all the different sections of the
land of Palestine, He could not see all of
every part, but he could see the ^ay of the
land, and enough of it to give him an idea
of the beauty and richness off^he land which
God had promised unto Abraham and his
seed for an inheritance. Moses' experience
here typifies the experiences of some of the
servants of God of later times, Avho, being
lifted up by faith, have been able to get visions
of the grandeur and joy of the region
Avhioh lies beyond the river of death. Dr.
Payson said, shortly before his death, "The
Celestial City is full in my view. Its glories
have been upon me; its breezes fan me; its
odors are wafted to me; its sound strikes upon
my ears; and its spirit is breathed into my
heart.'' And along Avith himit may be said
of many others, "These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off,"—Heb, 11:13.
II. A SINGULAR DEATH AND BUR­
IAL, (v, 5-6.)
"So APjses, the servant of the Lord, died
there. And he buried him in a valley of
Moab, . . ; but no man knoweth of his
sepulchre unto this day." No man ever received
such high honors as Moses in his
death and burial. The angels were his pallbearers.
It was not a lonely death, although
he was in the mountain and no man was
there to say farewell, for God himself was
Avith him in that hour to smooth his brow
and make all the arrangements for his funeral
service. In the most solemn and yet
majestic manner |conceivable, the 'body of
Moses was laid to rest in a sepulchre, prepared
and concealed by the hand of God,
that Israel might not lay claim to his dust,
but that he might be the equal heritage of all