The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

VI. Swedish-American Princell-Sinner’s Punishment Comes to an End

We must not fail to note a significant agitation over the question of Eternal Torment appearing among the Swedish Free Churches in the United States some time previous. President JOHANN G. PRINCELL, ⁵⁴ of Ansgarii College, in Illinois, participated in a prophetic conference at Rockford, Illinois, April 21-26, 1891, at which gathering one of the topics was “Is the Future Punishment of the Wicked Limited or Unlimited (Endless and Conscious)?” Princell maintained that when the death penalty is invoked “it has in view to render a criminal harmless and to promote universal safety.” This principle he then extends to God’s dealing with the wicked. CFF2 968.1

1. SINNER’S PUNISHMENT LASTS FOREVER

Princell interestingly maintained that divine punishment may be everlasting and at the same time “come to an end.” This is bow he expressed it, as he harmonized the two expressions: CFF2 968.2

“Where no reform is possible, there God will annihilate the sinner.... The final punishment is the lake of fire, but there I believe it goes step by step to annihilation for the sinner. The being comes to an end but the punishment has not in a real sense ended. The very circumstance, that the being is gone, and is not permitted to live with God, is indeed a punishment and when this circumstance continues without an end, one can say that the punishment is of equal length. This annihilation of soul, spirit and body in the lake of fire may take a longer or shorter time, transpire under longer or shorter periods, but it moves toward that goal.” ⁵⁵ CFF2 968.3

2. NO ETERNAL SUFFERING IN GOD’S NEW UNIVERSE

The punishment thus lasts forever, says Princell, but not the suffering. Follow him farther: CFF2 968.4

“When God eventually will be all in all, it appears impossible to me to believe, that He could feel happy and know, that somewhere in His Creation were found a multitude of suffering beings, whose extreme torment would continue without an end.... With what I have said, I would not convey the thought that the suffering is over in the twinkling of an eye. It could last a forever and ever. But I want to emphasize, I cannot believe otherwise, than, however long the suffering continues, that sometime during the course of eternity there will be an end to the suffering creature, so that in reality there shall be no more curse, but God will be all in all and everywhere.” ⁵⁶ CFF2 968.5

Princell never abandoned his conviction that “the punishment of the wicked would cease by the creature coming to an end.” ⁵⁷ And that, of course, is one of the fundamentals of Conditionalism. CFF2 969.1

And back again we turn to a veteran British Conditionalist, with a half-century record of active witness. CFF2 969.2