The Verdict of Reason
Treatise upon the question of the future punishment of those who die impenitent, by Henry Martyn Dexter. First preached in 1858 at the Berkeley-Street Church in Boston. Revised and printed in 1865.
“Sin is the worst thing. It is the deadliest enemy of all true peace, prosperity, and happiness. Its essence is selfishness, which would gather all into, and sacrifice all to, one; while the essence of all that is good and glad and gracious, is so to manage one, as to bless all. Sin puts “I” as above all, and would sacrifice every thing--even God himself--to its single personality. There is, therefore, no such possibility as peaceably living with it in the universe. If it will not yield and be willing to share with others, and cease its offense to all, the only course left, for peace to the universe, is to shut it up where it can not absorb any longer. God can not be a good being, if he do not hate the worst thing; can not be a good ruler, if he do not shut it up in some safe prison-house when it is demonstrated to be incorrigible.”