The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-09-28
REMARKS ON HE'LL

| = 0SA-AASAA ~ lAAGA4f. III HIS
church at Brooklyn, N. Y. Some one
had sent him note as follows:
'sWill you please tell me In your
Hecture- Room talks, published In the
Independent, what you mean, bV 6eLl
and future ptpli&jiment9. Ny mind jfs
yearHing for something higher and
more spiritual but, before can nd
vance my further, I must have these
terms explained by alIbernl christian
Commenting upon the. above note,
Mr.. Beecher said: y l-t
By the term hell, as 1t is popularlv
used, we mean-or meau-thRt stnfe
In WHICH, amer this mortal life, the in-
coEE1glDly wicked are LEFT 10 their own
suuertng and punishment. If Won aslS
mo the meaning OF the original word
hddeS-1 reply, that means that stnte of
the dead Which Immediately succeeds
this life, and which is intermediates he
tween this life and the one that IA In
come. Or, If You ask me what he'll
means In tho ordinary usage, and in NV
usage, l reply, thnt It means the stnte IN
which the incOrrigibly wicked are herd
ed together, and suffer the leEitfInnte
result of their wlcllelness. need not,
therefore, answer the second question
as TO the meaning OF future pUHisIt-
There has been mode of -prcsentinr
the doctrine Of future punishment, md
there has, sometimes, been a spirit eIl-
| ployed in the use OF IL as motive, which
have been repulsiye, not to say shock
ing. Not only have We received this
doctrine, rs II has come down to us,
clothed with material figures and Illus
trations, but these figures and illustra-
eons have been magnilied and worked
up until the doctrine, Rs 1t Is pre-
sented by human interpretations and
eNpositions, Is simply horrible. 1t has
1een supposed that death was one vast
slagghteT-ho9se OF tornipnts where
Wretched and hopeless and helpless
creatures, for the sins of life, were, by
every conceivable method of exquisite
physical pain, badgered and beaten
about In an endless gyrntion OF
suffering. Look at the InIeT7iO of
Dante, rs an exposition OF the prevalent
opinions OF his day. Look ut the Last
Judgment OF Michael Angelo, as an ex-
position of the physical ideas oftorfnent
of his day, where devils are gnAwinU
the skulls of the damned; where men
are pitched about on forks; where all
possible modes OF bodily distress are
grossly savagely, hideously cOmplica-
ted. And consider these as presenta-
tions OF n state of government under
GodI - ~ ~
This extreme rnaterialism, this utter
barbarity OF the ideas which have so
widely prevailed respecting future nun
tshment, has been one chief reason of
the modern reaction that has taken
place on that subject. Then we havo
not, perhaps, made the matter much
better of the arguments derived from
the world of moral government, which
We have advanced to justify future and
not to be ut all sound.
Now what are tho facts tf"
The first to which shall call your at
tention Is, that our Saviour Is the foun-
tain of this doctrine. II the strong tes-
timony concerning n future penal state
had been found chiefly in Paul or Peter,
then men, very likely would have said,
or felt IL they did not choose to say,
thnt 1t was u human exnggeration. But
the remarkable feature Is, that this doc
trtne does not appear in the Old Testa-
ment mt all, and that In the New Testu-
ment 1t Is, / might almost say, but Just
alluded to anywhere else except In the
teachings of fhe Saviour. And the fig
ures representing the fnct, the solemn
nnnuncintiontof of the fact itself, and the
frequent use of this great shadow Of
dread In the future, belong to that meek,
and loving, nnd gentle, and, atonilig
Lamb of God.
/ do not know what Significance this
Will have to youi but Il confess that
when 1 find myself revolving from this
doctrine on account OF the Intense ma
| tertnlism of the church derived from
medieval representation and / go to
the New Testament and see the calm,
4 frequent and unequivocal ulterences OF
Christ, and think what he was, how he
felt, and what he tnught, the simple cir
hcumstance TINT 1t Is a doctrine OF which
fChrist Is the author and teacher is to
me the most convincing of I1l things.
Coming, as It does, from Christ, it tm-
presses me more strongly than 1t would
| u II came from Paul, or any other of
the disciples. Though j consider that
they were inspired, yet cannot but feel
that, emanating from him, 1t Is differ
ent from what IL would have been III il
had efnanated from either of them.
4 u, then, a man says to me, Do you
bettere IN JAtltTe IlltiltsliHleiltfY / have 20
say, 81 d0.n And IL he saws, nEFoID do
you FeeOHciLe it iVitha tb6 goodness aid
4 jtstIce OF God ?" L say, itI'he Lord Jesus
Christ himself wns tho very one that
introduced it and thught it."
1 d. As to those word-arguments by which
this teaching of tho Saviour Is se1plained
away, have only to say that any lnti-
tude of construction which explains
this away, explains away every other
4 teaching of his If by, any, process OF
dissection and disjo jointihk yot can take
out that doctrine of Christ, do not
know what you cannot take out by the
It Is very awful and painful view.
feel, when look upon society and
think OF thnt doctrine, ns i should IL
looked into a crater, i shpdder, hide
my eyes and heart from IL. 1t touches
me to the core Of my life. positively
dare not think of Il in certain moods.
II ts q dreadful thing. 5JT, i.iil
But then, as this is the teacEing OF
Christi spiritual teacher, in respect Ia
men who are 10 go out Of this life as
Spirits and to dwell in a spiritual
realm, i hold that It Is reasonable "a
infer that the punishment of the future
state Is not material in any way what
ever that It Is n moral and spiritual
punishment, following the transgrea-
sion OF law; that II consists in the re-
action of the mind, by its own laws, on
itself; that II is the being Withdrawn
nom the Divine presence, md those
ferhliziug and joy-inspi piring influences
which. come troml personal communion
with God. And this view takes AWAY
all that repulsiveness which we cannot
lbutteel when the doctrine of n barbaric
bodily, material punishment Is taught
AS no man supp0ses that the streets o
heaven arc paved with gold because the
, Apocalypse represents them as being
! 50 paved, 50 We are not to suppose thal
) the gross representatio of heIl which
; we find in the New Tes thnienf are to b
that the symbols employed To give III
: some conception of tho degree OF jol
i In heaven are nieRt mt TO convey to MS /
: conception of Its Kind, SO we ARE to sup
? pose that that symbol olism which Is giVeI
OF hell is employed TO represent the de
: gree, rather than the kind, OF nnhappi
ness there. iGAl E