The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 546
they had not been.” Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16. Covered with infamy,
they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and ruin which
have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: “Thou hast destroyed the
wicked, Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy,
destructions are come to a perpetual end.” Psalm 9:5, 6. John, in the
Revelation, looking forward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem
of praise undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in heaven
and earth was heard ascribing glory to God. Revelation 5:13. There will
then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending
torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the
songs of the saved.
Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine
of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed
to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our
feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the redeemed in
heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the earth and especially
with the lives of the friends whom they have left behind. But how could
it be a source of happiness to the dead to know the troubles of the living,
to witness the sins committed by their own loved ones, and to see them
enduring all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? How
much of heaven’s bliss would be enjoyed by those who were hovering
over their friends on earth? And how utterly revolting is the belief that as
soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned
to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged
who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon
an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this
harrowing thought.
What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David declares that
man is not conscious in death. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to
his earth; in that very day his
545