Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-20

The committee then adjourned until 1890
O'Clock Wednesday morning. Prior to the
rising Of the committee Mr.. K. Fendall said he
appeared In behalf of the heirs of DR.. Bradley,
who own certain wharf property in Warrington
and Georgetown, and would like to be heard ~
some future day. President German, on behalf
OF the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company,
informed them that they win be heard ut q
future meeting Of the committee.
The GalloWs ~ . Roadway % Heaven.
The New Jerusalem Temple (Swedenborgian)
was well filed yesterday, despite the raw
weather, to hear Rev. Jabex Oxdscourse upon
the probability of the gallows being roadway
s94s And one of the maiefactors which
were hanged rallied on him, saying, If thou be
Christ, save myself and us. But the other an
swering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou
fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemna-
ton? And we indeed justly, for we receive the
due reward OF our deeds; but this man hath
done nothing amise And he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou contest into thy
kingdom. And Jesus said INTO him, Verify /
say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in
The speaker then went on to say that there is
this community that q criminal convicted of
capital ofense may, and probably will, after
the sentence of death is pronounced, and every
door Of earthly hope is closed against him, repent
OF his sins, be converted, regenerated. and from
the ign0minious halter ascend triumphantly into
heaven. And the words Of our Lord to the
Of this opinion. But these words and this mar
ratiye do not teach any such doctrine; nor do
know any portion of the word of God i'm which
It Is taught. Freedom is essential to regenera-
ton. No one can be regenerated under any
form Of external compulsion; and fear of death,
being unquestionably a form Of compulsiOn,
takes away the free exercise of reason. SO,
hope of heaven or of any other selfish re ward is
also destructive Of freedom when it becomes the
principal motive of action. The speaker
then proceeded to critically anaiyze the
not sustain the assumption sought to be
based upOnit. Those then who would believe in
the efficacy of death bed repentances must look
The Lord forSa shas sho1ids to
deprive dying men of any of the consultations of
the blessed gospel. But those who would
infuse convicted murderers with fanatical hopes
Ii serious danger in the false netiOn of the
facility with which in his last moments one may
make ample preparations for eternity. Dan
young and middle aged put of thoughts
or Q religious life fOr more convenient season.
Only within a week an intelligent gentleman
youth that he would wait until he was Is years
nj age before he would enter upon the repulsive
work Of repentance and regeneration! But
there is another form Of danger and the
seems to have taken the alarm. Executions
are accompanied with statements of the chap
py, joyful, triumphant" death of the convicted
justification Of capital punishment, viz: terror
TO ev1ldoers is taken away. The newspapers tell
us that ignorant and vicious spectators come
away from hanging. thinking it good, honora-
bic, and glorious to die i'm that way. A DELHI
crate and unprOyOked murder occurs in our
midst, and the press tells us the murderer had
recently witnessed two executions, or as he may
lave presumed, two ascensiOns from the scat
fold to heaven, and his fear of the gallows di-
Unfinished to such an extent that he was pre-
pared TO Kill man for a trifiing sum of money.
n false and mischievOus theory seems in this
case to have sent one man to an untimely
grave, and started another on the road to the
eallows. say false and mischievOus theory;
that the criminals alluded to had experienced
radical change of heart between sentence and
execution. Who ever heard of such repentance
proving real in cases where criminals have been
rsprieved? Would society be safe, were the
murderers who it is asserted had repentetf,
turned loose? Our Lord distinctly saws ..if We
would enter into life keep the commandments"
answer in the place of keeping the command
ments. What is regeneration? A momentary
effort Of the imagination. A mere change of
have been accustomed to. Believing something
which you had before doubted or denied? All,
It is much more thanall this. Regeneration, or
q !, new birth, must be substantial fact-some-
thing real and permanent positive gsessg. 1t
must be as real and substantial as the first birth
and 1t must involve time. All that our Lord
says Of regeneration, and all the illustrations He
1uiring time for its accomplishment Not be-
levers but doors of His Word enter heaven:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
'han enter into the kingdom Of heaven, but he
heaven" And He tells us Of others |who hear,
yet bring no fruit to perfection But they
'nly are saved by faith in His Word, "who,
ruit with patience" Nowhere in the Holy
Word will you find a doctrine of instantaneous
regeneration. Conversion and regeneration are
'ly to turn around, but to be regenerated is to
urn and aooIk. To turn toward the Lord is one
hing-to follow Him is another. The first is
pS as Rreparati1,n for the second but
repentance and conversion are but the
to a christian life; but state of
mental freedom is indispensable to these initial
steps. What man does under cOmpulsion is not
ais own act. The laws even of men do not hold
! man to an agreement to which he is forced,
md this is still more emphatically true of laws
rom any mental state which is forced upon
him. Thus, compulsory repentance Is purely
selfish, and is actuated solely for personal ends,
whilst true or free repentance is so opposed to
md remains, 1t cannot enter. The speaker
hen referred. to Holland where, two hundred
Teare ago, public executions and the attending
'elgiOus fervOr of the condemned proved SO de-
that they were forbid by the govern
nent, and required to be conducted in strictest
privacy. In conclusion, the speaker cited sew
raj passages from the writings of Swedcnb0rg.
going to show the terrible fate which awaits muir
ierefs-but we ferbear to reproduce to our read
RS a description Of these most hideous scenes in
he future life Of murderers.
HERR MILLER AND THE SrAR.--Editor Stcr:
The "a gonizer" of this morning published by
Herr Miller, edited by the Lord knows whom,
has q savage squib, both in English and Ger
man, directed against THE STAR, and inspired
with the intention Of prejudicing its readers
The article is signed "The German readers OF
the STAR" which is an absurdity on its
face. We have here about 5000 Germans. All
read The STAR; the "AgOnizer" has t36 read
ers, and of those there are not IS It represents,
and when 1t is sifted down, really represents no.
body, unless Herr Miller by accident should be
But the eap-sheaf of ignorance is
exhibited when it credits The STAR with the
article, prayer Gauge" when it only
appeared as an extract from an article on the
efficacy of prayer. Now there is nothing pre-
sented here in regard to Germans, their habits,
customs, intelligence or patriotism, they are
known and appreciated, but as to the German
ii seems to us it needs muddled
brain like Herr Miler's, to see anything to OBJ
ject to in the way of criticism, especially for an
American citizen. Is 1t not about time for
US as Germans to remember that we have fore
sworn our allegiance to our former rulers, and
hat 10xnl her afr To A