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p452 [J U Truen? (Very indistinct writing)] [From the French.] MY DEAR BROTHER, - Our brother - has communicated to me the state of your mind regarding our brother . It is no question of brotherly affection, but of the truth of God. Many of those who are most firm with regard to his position as teaching the error, have known him much longer than any among you, and have loved him before you knew him; but it is a question of the effect of the error on souls, and "he that loveth father and mother more than me," said the Saviour, "is not worthy of me." The point to ascertain is, if this error is such as to touch the foundations of faith and the integrity of the word of God.

I know that - speaks of the Greek, but the force of the word eternal is perfectly clear in the word. "The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18) The word signifies that which is not for time: it is the opposite. I am alarmed when they talk of Greek to those who know nothing of it. I know Greek and have examined it carefully, and I do not at all accept what they say of it. But the passage 2 Corinthians 4:18 is there, without any need of the Greek; and when it is said, "these shall go away into everlasting punishment," the word has the same force. It is said that God shall be all in all. But that takes place when Christ shall have given up the kingdom to God the Father, but at that time it is said (Rev. 21:8), that the wicked "shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." This doctrine touches then the authority of the word, and thus the foundations of faith. For when God shall be "all in all," will the devils and the demons be saved? What they say [of the expression] is but a fable. It is only the human race that have profited by it, and God is not "all in all" according to their idea. But if the demons are saved, it is not true that the death of Christ would be necessary for salvation, for here are those who are more wicked saved without His having died for them. Further, Revelation 20:10 says expressly the contrary.

What we need to know then is, whether affection for an individual should lead us to renounce the truth of the word of God. I do not believe it would be charity to encourage a brother in evil doctrine by acting as if it did not matter. I have seen a long list of passages quoted by our brother that had no reference to the question. I have already read numbers of books that propagate this doctrine, and it is only an effort to twist the word, by human sentiment and reasonings to decide what God ought to do, and by no means submission to what He has said. It denies the expiation of Christ, for one can be saved without it: Judas himself, though "it had been good for that man if he had not been born," and the wicked, saved by means of long personal suffering, and not by the perfect redemption of Christ through faith, and that after their death in a sort of purgatory. Thus the evil of sin is attenuated. They invent on behalf of the man who has rejected Christ a sentimental mercy, which is not the mercy of grace, and which makes little of the blood and of the sufferings of Christ. Those who have openly rejected Him are saved like others, and it is a salvation that is not preached through Christ, who says that he that believeth hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. They must find life somewhere else than in the gospel. I know they speak of "the restitution of all things," but they leave out what follows, the end of the sentence, "of which the prophets have spoken." I do not deny that a Christian may be seduced by these things - then it is desired that we should not judge him; but this is not according to the word. We only judge those who are within, and the word of God tells us to reject a heretic "after the first and second admonition." I repeat, dear brother, there are those who have loved - before you knew him, but that does not alter the truth of God. True charity is firm, whilst at the same time gentle, for the good of others. May God keep you, and restore our brother -, is the wish and prayer of yours

Affectionately in Christ.

New York, February, 1877.

[53333F]

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