Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-11-25
Ru,pr. p~uni,bmep,.

III luo ptCoCus oBot "hSh W y
anti-C Christian dogmas are prevalent, we
may be excused If We indulge in q few
remarks upon that subject which so
awfully interests mankind, namely
future punishment. If we take tho
Holy Scriptures as authority land we
can consciensciously adopt no other, we
shall discover that they contain many
passages, announcing in an almost posi-
tive manner, that the souls of the wicked
descend after death to abodes of eternal
misery. In the Old Testament hell is
represented by the word Sheol, and in
the New by Hades; but as both these
words mean also the grave, or the con-
dition of the dead, hell, as the place Of
final punishment Of sinners, is more
distinctly expressed BY the term Gehcn-
M, and is so translated in tho most
authentic Scriptural versions. The
dreadful nature of the abiding place Of
the guilty is implied in various fgura-
tive expressions, such rs "outer dark
ness" "furnace of fire." the 'black-
ness Of darkness" the shell of fire,
where the worm dieth not, and the
fire is not qu%enched," etc. The names
which, in many Of the other instances,
are given to the punishments of hell,
are, doubtless in tho main, %fguratire
| and many Of the terms which were COM
monty applied to the subject by the Jews
are retained in the New Testament. The
images, it will be seen, are usually
taken from death, fortunes, punish
ments, and calamities; the obvious idea
of the sacred writers being to awaken,
by the employment of such figures, the
impression of o state rife with terrible
infections and never-ending torments.
They mean, in short, to convey the idea
that the punishments beyond the grave
will excite the same feelings of distress
as are produced on Garth by the objects
employed to prefgure them. Being, as
VIC are, 80 little acquainted with the
condition in which we shall be hereaf-
ter, no strictly literal Interpretation of
such punishments could be made intel
ligible to our narrow understandings.
| Many Of the Jews, howbeit, and many
of the Christian fathers, took the
words of the Gospel in a rigidly
literal sense, and supposed that there
would be actual fire, etc., in hell.
But if We are not inclined to take so cx-
tremc q view, it is certain that the
words of Scripture imply terrible and
perpetual miseries. There are but few
men in such q state that the merely nat
ural punishment of sin will deter them
from its commission. Experience also
...-.kn. that fn fhraotan aCtunl
punishment has far more effect, as we'll
upon the cultivated as the uncultivated,
in deterring them from evil, than to an
uounce and lead men to expect the
merely natural consequences of sin, be
they ever so terrible. Hence we may
see the reason why in those passages
which treat of the ~punishments of hell,
such ideas and images are employed as
suggest and confirm the idea that hell
is n place of awful and actual punish
ment. AS tho sins which condemn the
wicked to punishment vary so greatly
in quality and degree, we should ex-
pect from the justice of God q cores.
ponding variety in the degree and char
actcr Of the penalties. This is accord
lnply LUG uullOE" uoSsiiho ShAio ohu
his apostles. The moro knowledge of
the divine law q man possesses, the
more he is expected to avoid sin, the
stronger the incentives to faith and ho-
illness set before him, the greater will
be his punishment If he fails to make a
proper use of these advantages. "The
servant who knows his Lords will and
does it not, deserves to be beaten with
many stripes" In this conviction, that
the Almighty will, even in hell, justly
proportion punishment to sin, we must
rest satisfied. Beyond this We cannot
60; the precise degrees, as well as the
real character of such punishments, are
things belonging to another world, and
which, in the present, we are unable to
comprehend. In conclusion We may
observe that in view Of that awful un-
certainty which hangs shadow-like
around the realms Of the future, it be-
hoovcs every one Of. US to make, while
we yet live, a faithful and religious use
of our {" talents" "To whom much is
given much will be required."-S. +.
Sunday Mercury.