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THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
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The idea of heaven as a place of enjoyment, and of hell as that of suffering and pain, is not a new one, having been known to humanity from the earliest time when religion was first established among men. But it was never intended that the sojourn of the soul in either of these regions was to be eternal, or to take place subsequent to a general rising of the dead on a universal Day of Judgment. The eternity of hell is sufficiently refuted by the Psalmist when he sings:
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.”—(Ps. XVI. 10); and the idea of a bodily resurrection is not supported by authority or reason. The following passage which is generally relied on in support of the idea, is, if anything, opposed to that view :
" Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee : it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two bands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire" (Matt. XVIII. 8 and 9.)
Concerning the interpretation of this important passage, Mr. B. F. Barret observes (Lectures on New Dispensation, pp. 260-261):
“Mention is here made, it is said, of the whole body being cast into hell. But if we are to understand it in its literal sense, that is, as denoting the material body, then we must also understand literally what is said of the right eye and the right hand. And are we to believe that literally plucking out a right eye, or cutting off a right hand, can facilitate any one's admission into heaven ? And that some actually go to heaven maimed, halt, and with only one eye, as would appear from the parallel passage in Mark (IX. 43, 45, 47) ? For this is the conclusion to which we are brought, if we interpret this Scripture in its strictly literal sense, and understand the whole
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