Man possesses conscience, or, as it has been denominated,
*' moral sense." Does he suffer from this source all the penalty
of the moral law in this life ? Some assert that he does. This
we deny, and submit the following, which might be greatly ex-
tended, to show the folly of spch an assumption. It is a funda-
mental principle of modem Universalism, that no man escapes
any just punishment for sin ; and of course if the punishment
for sin is confined to the conscience in this life, and if there be
a just administration, every one must be punished in exact pro-
portion to his crimes. To show that this is impossible, let us
suppose two cases. A man becomes acquainted with the fact
that a neighbor has a large sum of money, and resolves on mur*
dering him to secure it. He follows him into a dark avenue,
and in fifteen minutes from the time he formed the purpose, his
neighbor is a dying man, and the murderer himself senseless by
his side, in consequence of a death shot given in self-defence by
his murdered victim. Now, according to the theory we oppose,
that murderer could have suffered but fifteen minutes in his
conscience, if we date his crime back to the time he formed the
intention ; and when we take into the account the excitement



Sec. 46.] UNIYEBBALISM NOT OV THl BIBLE. 113

oonDected with such an act» we cannot conceive of very acute
suffering during that short period.
