"We believe, indeed, with Augustin, in his Enchiridion and elsewhere, that those who shall perish on account of original sin alone, will receive the mildest punishment."—"But it does not follow there will be any punishment of loss without the punishment of sense; for in the first place, to be for ever excluded from the assembly of the blessed and the presence of God, of itself would bring a sense of grief. Even for original sin alone, we are 'children of wrath,' Ephes. ii. 3, and therefore worthy to feel God's wrath; and of all sin the 'wages is death,' Rom. vi. 23. But of the whole nation of the Sodomites and Gomorrites, among whom there were many infants, it is said in Jude, vs. 7, that they are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; but in what manner or degree, we leave to the judgment of God."[1]
Heniry Alting was also a member of the Synod, a deputy from the Palatinate, and professor of divinity at Heidelberg and Groningen. And among the "calumnies" against the orthodox doctrine on the punishment of sin, he reckons the following, which we give, with his answer:
- ↑ Walaeus, Op. tom. I. pp. 534, 535.