Luther Lee, Eli Ballou. A Discussion on the Doctrine of Endless Punishment. 1857, Page 14-15
1. Christ is said to come in his glory, at the time the wicked are to go away into everlasting punishment, which cannot relate to the destruction of Jerusalem. What is the glory of Christ? It is the glory which he had with the Father "before the world was." John xvii. 5. But can you suppose that the triumph of Roman arms, the sight of a dissolving city, the shouts of victory from a heathen, brutal soldiery, and the groans, blood and death of slaughtered thousands constituted the glory which Christ had with the Father "before the world was?" Again, we have the promise of partaking of Christ's glory, of being glorified with him, Rom viii. 17. If he came in his glory at the destruction of Jerusalem, will it be a blessing to be glorified together with him?
2. In the text Christ is said to come with all the holy angels, which did not take place at the destruction of Jerusalem. We read of angels making their appearance on different occasions. Luke ii. 9., one appeared to the shepherds, "and they were sore afraid." At the resurrection of Christ, Matt. xxiii. 2-4, "the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow," &c. With this scriptural view of angels before you, will you inform me how Christ came with "all the holy angels" when Jerusalem was overthrown?
3. It is declared that Christ shall sit upon the throne of his glory. Please then show how he sat upon the throne of his glory when Jerusalem fell more than at the fall of Babylon, the overthrow of the Roman empire, or the revolution of France.
4. It is said all nations shall be gathered before Christ, at the time the wicked are doomed to everlasting punishment. There was NO gathering of nations at the destruction of Jerusalem,
but rather a scattering. The Christians all fled, and the Jews were scattered among the nations, from whence they have not returned to this day.
5. It is said that Christ shall separate the gathered nations, one from another, which did not take place at the destruction of Jerusalem. Will you state what nations were separated, after
being first gathered on that occasion ?
6. At the same time the wicked are to go away into everlasting punishment, the righteous are to be rewarded for their good deeds, which did not take place at the destruction of Jerusalem. "
Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." What is this kingdom? It cannot mean the gospel dispensation, as now enjoyed on earth, for Christians inherited this long previous to the destruction of Jerusalem. It cannot mean the call of the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the gospel, for they were called long before this, it being an acknowledged fact that the gospel was preached nearly through the Roman empire before the fall of Jerusalem.
7. The everlasting punishment in the text, pronounced upon the wicked, was prepared for the devil and his angels. If then the punishment consisted in what befell the Jews at the overthrow
of their city and polity, who are the devil and his angels for whom this national destruction was prepared ?
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