[23] Has the reader ever pondered Jno. iii. 36? There is marvelous power in it. It completely demolishes two special heresies of the day, namely, universalism and annihilationism. It tells the universalist that "he that believeth not the Son _shall not see life_," and it tells the annihilationist that "the wrath of God _abideth_ on" the unbeliever. If he "shall not see life," he cannot be restored; and if "the wrath of God _abideth on him_," he cannot be annihilated.
We will not argue the matter further in this paper; but we would most earnestly beseech the unconverted reader to pause and seriously consider this most momentous question. Let him not be deceived by vain words; let him not hearken to a false criticism, which would fain persuade him that "eternal" does not mean eternal in the Greek; for, oh, most assuredly, it does mean eternal, whether in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or English. "Eternal" can never mean temporal, or "temporal" eternal, in any language under heaven. And furthermore, let him not hearken to a false sentimentality, which would fain persuade him that God is too kind to consign any of His creatures to hell fire. God was so kind as to "give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." But God is too holy to let sin into heaven; and hence, instead of feeding himself with the vain hope (if hope it can be called,) of annihilation, let him build upon the sure Word of God, which tells him of full, free, and everlasting salvation through the blood of the Lamb. Our God has no pleasure in the death of a sinner. His long-suffering is salvation, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There is no reason why the reader should perish. God waits to be gracious. Mercy's door stands wide open, and the sword of judgment is in the scabbard. But the moment is rapidly approaching when all shall be changed, and then all who die in their sins will prove, by bitter experience, that, notwithstanding all the arguments founded upon a false criticism and a false sentimentality, _the punishment of sin is and must be eternal_.