THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4962, 4 December 1884, Page 2

THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED.

(To the Editor of the Evening Stab.)

Sib,—The very common notion amongst theologians" is that there are only two classes of people in the world—that is, the righteous and the wicked —and if theydd not belong to the one they belong to the other; and those two classes are. headed by two mighty beings—God, and the Devil—and at last they go to separate places, Heaven and Hell. But the facts by which we are surrounded show us that those notions are not true. Properly speaking, there is none righteous, no not one ; and we might say with equal truth, there is none wicked, no not one—not absolutely so, that is, none is all bad, and none is all goci ; all.have something good about them, and all have something bad. about them. This thought .kills the notion of instantaneous conversion and entire sanctification. Everything done by God in nature is done by slow imperceptible changes : the child dues not grow up to a man in a day, nor can he become intelligent all at once; and the same with vegetables, it is done by slow growth; and so it is in religion. The notion that we can be made perfect all at once by going to a penitent form appears to fit in well with a certain class of loose, loafing, dissipated young men, who can at one bound get from the lowest to the highest, and become leaders of religion. , Is it not saddening and heart* rending to think that religion, the most sublime thing in the world, should be turned into such buffoonery, and made the most ridiculous thing you could imagine; and for some educated ministers to sanction such things is pitiable. Those notions in, a great measure arise from the wrenjf idea of heavenor hell—that heaven 'consists in going to a place, and not in what we are. What we are is heaven or hell to us. If we are filled with peace, love, gentleness,, wisdom, and goodness, that is heaven—then it would be impossible to go to hell. L )ve and wisdom are immortal, and cannot die ; sin and badness are mortal, and can-, not live. If this view is not correct, then! creation as a whole is a failure! and God was disappointed in making man, and it would have been better for man if he had not existed. If the greater part of mankind aro miserable for ever, then creation as a whole was a great calamity. But to look at things in the other light, that all men hare something good about them, and that is from God, and that goodness must destroy all the badness, this makes God and goodness the conqueror at last, and not the Devil and sin to get the victory. There is a little mystery about sin to view it superficially, bat it is more plain when we view it in a clear light. Sin in reality arises from the nobleness of our nature, we, can do right or we can do wrong. God could have made us that we could notdo wrong, but then we should not be the same noble being we are. The brutes cannot sin, the^y having no moral nature they go by ia-i stinct; but sin is not immortal and oa>ni« potent; the great omnipotent God is above it, and says to it, "So far shait thou go, and no further." This we see every day. There is something self-correcting ia things by which we are surrounded: if a child thinks that fire will not burn, he soon gets corrected ; there is the smart.or harm connected with wrong-doing, whether bodily or spiritually. Oar greatest happiness and interest 'is in the same direction as right-doing: our heaven, ia this world or any other world, must be ia finding out the laws of our being, an* going by them. By our selfishness and wrong-doing, we might cause other people to suffer, but we do oursehres the greater harm. The devil within us is always a torment unto us. until'he'is cast put. Truth is always worth having, and let tis have it whatever it costs.—! am, <fee,

Uncle John:*