The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-10-22


q candidate. B.
A CongregatiOnaliSt Minister'S Views
About Eternal Punishment.
(The Rcv. George 8. Merriam In tho Christian
Union.)
The doctrine still stands in the creeds
Of almost the entire Christian Church. In
this country at least the avowed dissen-
tera from it are an insignificant body. But
the very body which to the eye presents
this solid front is honeycombed with
doubt and disbelief. The Church to-day
only half believes in the'endlessness Of fu.
ture punishment. The time can hardly
be distant when it will wholly reject the
doctrine.
A few broad facts may be mentioned in
support Of this conclusion: First, the al.
teration which, within recent period,
has taken place in the form of the doc
trine, among its Avowed supporters, Is
immense, and is the augury Of a still more
radical change. 1t is not long since a hell
Of literal ere was generally preached
Now that idea ia rejected even among the
most orthodox. What has produced this
change? Simply the recoil of the moral
sense from thing too horrible TO be true.
To modern thought there is no more
odious figure than the executiOner, under
the bsr0aIous law oil the middle ages,
torturiDg his victim with the rack and
the fire; and the conception OF the AL.
mighty as doing the same on an infinite
scale anti forever, was too repulsiVe for
the Christian mind 10 retain. II was
abandoned because enlightened Christian
feeling declared that
IT COULD NOT De TRUE.
and mems intellects, following in the
wake of their moral sentiments, learned
to take as igurative texts which had for
merly been held TO teach a literal lake OF
fire.
The identical sentiment which over
threw the idea Of endless physical tor
ment tends irresistibly to destroy the be-
liet in endless spiritual torment. The for.
Iner gave way first, simply because 1t sp-
peals more strikingly 10 the Imagination.
AS men come to feel that spiritual suffer
ing, with hope forever banished and
moral corruption forever fastened to the
soul, is worse than any lake Of fire, they
will repel the idea that God can shut up
His creatures in the one any more than
In the other.
Another sign Of the change OF belief Is
the change in the actual attitude OF the
Church. / think the time is very recent
when no one who disbelieved in eternal
punishment could look for admission to
an Orthodox Church. That is changing
fast. Even the Presbyterian Church, the
peculiar champion Of orthodoxy, often ad.
mits to Its membership persons who admit
their unsOundness on this point What
the Presbyterian Church does to some ex
tent, the other orthodox churches do more
freely. Partly the alteration is due simply
to an increasing spirit Of tolcratiop; but II
also indicates the r... ..,-
ACTUAL GROWTH OF NEW BELIZE
within the religious community. The
pulpit as yet Is guarded against the heresy,
but even there the line OF defense is wav-
ering. 30, again, l might point to the
development within a century of the
Universalist and Unitarian churches, and
to the unmistakAble tendency toward fra.
ternal relations between that element in
those bodies which stands for earnest re-
ligion and the elemen: in the old churches
which stands for wide Christian catholic.
ity. Gong beyond our national limits,
1t Is well known that in Germany the
more hopeful belief as to the future world
is strong among men of scholarship and
evangelical piety. In England, that be-
lief has wide foothold within the Es-
tabliShed Church, and among the dissen'
ters the independent clergy, at least, tend
very largely TO restorationist or ami
hilatioDist views.
This is 10 be said: The most promis
ing types Of practical Christianity at this
time carry in themselves the ripeniup
genius Of an utter denial OF the doctrine
Of eternal perdition. Within the old
lines and under the shadow Of the old
creed there has sprung up a phase O
Christianity which weds spiritua
isith and ardent practical activity, will
new forms Of thought. 1t Ia one OF thost
rejuvenations which are the marvel ant
the glory Of the history Of Christianity
Now, as in the days Of Luther,
coRRuPTIoHs OF RELIEF ARE BEIEC
eLoU6HRD OFF;
the spirit of Christ is clothirg itself wit
new power, and lifting men into cleare
light, and sweeter disposition, and NOR
useful life. The movement Is not locs
, 1t can be traced in all churches and out
side Of the churches, and in all lands. Il
universal characteristic is spirit ol prac
tical benevolence, and, corresponding I
! this, conception OF God which clothe
Him more gloriously than before TO Ii
j. thoughts Of men, and expresses, with
ullness and emphasis untclt before, th8
In His iumost nature and His whole ad
} minIstration He is Almighty Love. This
0 conception, and the new lie which 1t /
a inspiring In the world, carries with Il, q
surely as the rising sun brings the banish
ment OF darkness, the ultimate denial OF
0 hopeless eternity Of misery and sin ior an
D.. NtaSn