s a gross absurdity involved in the supposition that an
earthly immortality was the intended destiny of man. That
supposition necessarily implies that the whole groundwork of God's
first design was a failure, that his great purpose was thwarted
and changed into one wholly different. And it is absurd to think
such a result possible in the providence of the Almighty. Besides,
had there been no sin, could not man have been drowned if he fell
into the water without knowing how to swim? If a building tumbled
upon him, would he not have been crushed? Nor is this theory free
from another still more palpable absurdity; for, had there been no
interference of death to remove one generation and make room for
another, the world could not support the multitudes with which it
would now swarm. Moreover, the time would arrive when the earth
could not only not afford sustenance to its so numerous
inhabitants, but could not even contain them. So that if this were
the original arrangement, unless certain other parts which were
indisputable portions of it were cancelled, the surplus myriads
would have to be removed to some other world. That is just what
death accomplishes. Consequently, death was a part of God's primal
plan, and not a contingence accidentally caused by sin.

6. If death be the result of sin, then, of course, it is a
punishment inflicted upon man for his wickedness. In fact, this is
an identical proposition. But death cannot be intended as a
punishment, because, viewed in that light, it is unjust. It comes
equally upon old and young, good and bad, joyous and wretched. It
does not permit the best man to live longest; it does not come
with the greatest terror and agony to the most guilty. All these
things depend on a thousand contingencies strung upon an iron law,
which inheres to the physical world of necessity, and has not its
basis and action in the spiritual sphere of freedom, character,
and experience. The innocent babe and the hardened criminal are
struck at the same instant and die the same death. Solomon knew
this when he said, "As dieth the fool, so the wise man dieth."
Death regarded as a retribution for sin is unjust, because it is
destitute of moral discrimination. It therefore is not a
consequence of transgression, but an era, incident, and step in
human existence, an established part of the visible order of
things from the beginning. When the New Testament speaks of death
as a punishment, it always uses the wo