The following article was taken from the editorial writings of Elder C. H. Cayce. It is the published results of a committee to investigate and adjust difference concerning the No Hell doctrine being promoted at that time. At the present time (2007) there are still those in Alabama who still are claiming the name Primitive Baptist that teach this false doctrine, so this is a timely article to read. Elder Claude McKee

Eternal Punishment
May 7, 1952

On January 26 to 28 inclusive a meeting was held at New harmony Church, Lomax, Ala., to investigate and adjust differences which had caused trouble in the Wetumpka Association. Elders J. A. Monsees, J. R. Wilson, J. W. Hardwick, W. A. Shutt, S. W. Etheridge, B. F. House and C. H. Cayce composed the committee of investigation. The recommendations of the committee were unanimously approved in the meeting, and the adoption of the same by the churches resulted in a burial of the trouble and all coming together and peace being restored. They are all again united in peace and fellowship. An account of this was given by us in our issue of March 19. On a point of doctrine the following was in the recommendations of the committee, and we believe the same should have careful reading and study by our readers. Hence we reproduce the same for the benefit of the readers. C. H. C.

On a point of doctrine

Now, as to the doctrine, permit us to say that the doctrine that there is no such thing as eternal torment, or eternal punishment, for the wicked after this life is not Primitive Baptist doctrine, and never has been. If that doctrine is true, then the Primitive Baptists, as a body, have always been wrong; and if they have always been wrong, then the Primitive Baptists Church is not the church of Christ, and never has been. There are some passages of Scripture which have always been relied on by Primitive Baptists to prove the doctrine that there is an eternal punishment of the wicked beyond this life. If these Scriptures do not prove what they, as a body, have always said they do, then the Primitive Baptists have been wrong all the while; and if this be true, then again they are not the church of Christ. But they have not been wrong all along the line, and the Primitive Baptist Church is the church of Christ. To prove the doctrine that there is an eternal punishment they have always relied upon such passages as Acts 24, 15, Acts 17, 3; John 5,28, 29; Matthew 25 31-46; Revelation, 20 12-15; and Revelation 20, 10, besides other Scriptures along the same line. Remember that there cannot possibly be any such thing as torment, punishment, or suffering without conscious existence. Remember, too, that there is such a thing as always dying; that is, never ceasing to die. The very primary meaning of the penalty of the law God gave to Adam had that very idea in it. Our translation says, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou halt surely die." The literal meaning of that expression in the original is that "dying thou shalt die." That is, always dying, or never ceasing to die. That very penalty can mean nothing short of eternal or endless suffering of death. The Scriptures recorded in Mathew 25 31-46 most clearly and positively teaches this doctrine. In that place the blessed master uses the sheep and the goats as representing the two classes. One class he calls His sheep. Did the Saviour know what to use to show His teaching? Would He use the sheep and goats to represent two classes if sheep and goats are all one class, the only difference being that one class was His disobedient children and other class being His obedient children? If they were all children of God, and this was the only difference, then He did not lay down His life for His disobedient children, for he said, "I lay down my life for the sheep," and "The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." To say that the goats were His people in disobedience is to deny that He laid down His life for them. If He did not lay down His life for them then there is no salvation for them. This would involve the idea of final apostasy. If the sheep and the goats are the same people, only one being obedient and the other disobedient, why did the Saviour use two different words - one word, the goats, and the other word, the sheep? These two words which the Saviour used are entirely different words and are in no way related. Would the saviour use two words, which are in no way related to each other, if they were all His children? If the Saviour made no mistake in using two words which are in no way related, then does it not follow as an inevitable conclusion that the goats and sheep are in no way related in a spiritual point of view? It is bound to be Scripturally and inevitably true that the goats and the sheep are two different classes. This is also true from a true scientific standpoint, Things of the same species can be crossed; but there are impassable gulfs between species, so that it is impossible to cross different species. Different species may have some things in common, but they will not cross. Goats and sheep will not cross, for the simple reason that they are different species in the lower animal kingdom. The Saviour said, in verse 41, that He would say to those on the left hand, the goats, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Everlasting is translated from the same word which is used throughout the New Testament in describing the life of the righteous as being an endless, or eternal, life. The same thing is true in verse 46. The same word translated everlasting is the word translated eternal. If one is endless, so is the other endless. There cannot possibly be anything else true in the matter. The Primitive Baptists have been right in this all along the line, and it is the true church of Christ. Whatever may have been your understanding, or misunderstanding, of each other during and in the confusion which has been among you, we humbly beg you to accept these truths, and let this be the end of the matter. It is no comfort to us that the Scriptures teach, or to believe, that there is such a thing as eternal punishment beyond this life; but it is a great comfort and consolation to us to believe that Jesus has saved us, and will save us, from that eternal punishment.