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SPIRITUALISM.

To the. Editor. Sir, _I listened to Mi Peebles’s address on Sunday evening with great interest, and while I felt that he enunciated many truths which were undeniable, still there were also seeming contradictions, which, if I followed him correctly, were not explained. For example, in effect he ridiculed the idea of future punishment, and said that God, who is a find of Love, did not ordain that men should suffer torment hereafter, whether foi ages or fur eternity' docs not affect the question. In another part of his discourse, tin talented lecturer said that if men transgressed the Almighty’s laws, nothing could save the transgressor from the consequences, and he gave as an instance that if a man th'ust his hand into a seething cuildron, no amount qf repentance or praying would relieve his inevitable pain, and this principle, he stated, was applicable to God’s social, moral, and spiritual, as well as to Ins physical laws Now, this leads naturally to the conclusion that those who break the moral and spiritual laws of God. must suffer punishment either here or hereafter. The frequency of the spectacle of the wicked flourishing “ like a green bay tree,” from the days of the Psalmist downwards, is sufficient to satisfy auy one that the guilty are not alwa\ s punished in this life ; therefore, there must be some degree of punishment in the world of spirits. If, then, there be punishment, Why not a place of punishment ? for surely Mr Peebles would not have the spirits of the believing annoyed by witnessing the agony of those suffering punishment. The absurd and extravagant geographical and thermal statistics furm-hed by some New York divine give a spleadid opportunity to such as Mr Peebles for laughing at the idea qf a place of future punishment; but 1 think, though there are very few who will now adays support the theory of a material hell, still there must be some place where the wicked suffer something—most likely mentally. However, lam wandering a little from the point at issue. It seems to me almost axiomatic that if there lie a law, there must be a penalty for the breach of the law ; possibly also a reward for the keeping of it; and that when the law is made the punishment is regulated at the same time. If this be admitted, it follows that the Almighty foreordained future punishment for the breach of his laws, and I can see nothing more incongruous in a God of Love permitting an innocent infant to suffer physically from the of its ignorantly thrusting its hand into boiling water, as we know it w’ould, that in dooming a hardened man, who has wilfully led a life of sin against the dictates of his conscience to alous of spiritual woe. I admit that some people, including, I am sorry to thirlk, some Christian ministeis, prefer to look upon their Creator rather as an offended Deity than as a loving bather, and though he may be both, I would rather contemplate him in the latter aspect. But this is not always possible. The lecturer drew a picture of a bright boy, happy in the love of his father, the boy loving his father because he is good. let me endeavor to complete the sketch. The b->y has in some way offended against his father, and the latter, urged by the love he bears bis son, reluctantly punishes him Does the boy love his father less? I answer. n-> ; he now feels the Justice of it, and in after years he loves his father more, for he knows his goodness and love made him do it. Now, for Mr Peebles's assertion that nothing can avert the consequences of the transgression of a law of God. As sure as a man thrusts bis band into boiling water, so surely will he be scalded ; but the punishment does not always follow so quickly on the transgression as in that case, Suppose, for exam le, a man with the intention of committing suicide, swallowed a quantity of poison ; he has transgressed a physical law and shall surely die. But before the poison has had time to do its work, he repents his i ash act, seizes an antidote or an emetic, and is saved. Is there no salvation from bis error in this? Now, to apply this to things spiritual. But first let me state that I conclude that Mr Peebles looks upon the Lord Jesus as, at most, a clairvoyant n artyr, and would deny his divinity, or that his death was an antidote for sin. Now, if our loving Father has provi led a way of escape from the breach of certain of his physical laws, why should he not also do so in the case of his spiritual laws ? He has done so, it seems to me, by providing a greater exhibition of his love than is manif sted in his daily ministrations to our bodily wants, whereby to draw men to him, not by removing the pun ishment but by taking it, or an equivalent, upon himself, and thereby fulfilling his own law and relieving us on certain conditions. If any man really believes that this has been d me for him, he must love his Maker more, and strive to fulfil these conditions, which are, that henceforth, as much as lieth in him, he keep God’s commandments. If he do not attempt this, then his faith, _ being without works, is dead and his £iiti lote valueless. Alas ! how sadly Chriftians, as a body, fail iu their endeavors to keep those commands, and give room for cavillers to carp at their belief; but I doubt not they are still progressing towards, and will one day attain, perfection.—l am, &c., Qp.ES TOR.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18730205.2.13.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Issue 3109, 5 February 1873, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
967

SPIRITUALISM. Evening Star, Issue 3109, 5 February 1873, Page 3

SPIRITUALISM. Evening Star, Issue 3109, 5 February 1873, Page 3

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