The true northerner., 1877-11-23

not because that Is the place OF future punish
ment, but as signifying great degradation.
Coming TO the New Testament We find three
words translated "hell." These are Hades
Tartarus, and Gehenna. Hsdes OF the New
Testament has about the same meaning as
Sheol OF the Old Testament. Its primary
meaning is the state Of the dead, while ii fgur-
atively signifies state OF degradation arising
from any cause. Iartarus Is used but once.
Gebenna occurs twelve times in the New Testa-
ment and is always translated "hell." The
meaning OF Geheuna is the valley OF Hinnom.
This valley was situated southeast Of Jerusa-
lem. In time OF great apostacy the Jews
offered in this valley sacrifices to the god
Moloch. To this idol human beings, as well as
beasts were sacrificed. One writer said "H
we may credit the Rabbns, the head Of the idol
was like that Of an OK ; while the rest OF the
body resembled that OF man. II was hollow
within, and being heated by fire, children were
laid on its arms and were there literally roasted
alive" To drown the cries Of these children
drums were beaten during the ceremonies
After the return Of tho Jews from this idolatry
tucy IoSbtuco thib Noiioy Va ehO iAAAAoAs WIZ
scene Of their abominable practices, with the
utmost adherence. Here they carried the
refuse matter of the city. Old carcases were
thrown into this valley. The bodies OF Grim
inals were placed here. To free the atmo-
sphere Of the poison generated by such cess
pool, fires were kept constantly burning there.
These fires never died out. DR.. Albert Barnes
says: "The extreme loathsomeness Of the
place, the filth and putrifcation, the corruption
Of the atmosphere and the lurid fires blazing
by day and by night, made it one Of the most
appalling and terrific objects with which Jew
was acquainted"
Sometimes when Christ uses the term, hell
fire, He refers to this valley. He does so in
this passage: "Whosoever shall say thou fool
shall be in danger Of hell fire." DR.. Adam
Clark comments on this g 1t is very probable
that our Lord means no more here than this,-
if a man charge another with apostacy from
the Jewish religion, a rebellion against God.
and cannot prove his charge, then he is exposed
to that punishment (burning alve) which the
other must have suffered, If the charge had
been substantiated. - The being burnt alive
in the valley Of the son OF Hinnom-this ap-
pears to be the meaning of our Lord" How
far Jesus may have used this as figure OF
future punishment, will not here discuss.
Without doubt much OF the barbarity con-
nected with our conception OF hell is derived
from the heather and not from the Saviour.
Long before Jesus came the heather world had
vivid ideas OF the terrors OF hell They believed
that hell was as far beneath the earth as the
heavens are above it. Greek writer OF $50
b. c., says mass Of iron would be nine days
in falling from the heavens to earth and then
nine days in falling from earth to hsil. The
story of Tantalus is one Of the heathen fances
Of hell This man has offended one Of the
gods and is condemned to eternal hunger and
thirst. He is placed in a lake; the water
reaches to his chin Over his head hang the
boughs OF tree heavily laden with fruit
THIRSTY, he stoops to drink, but the waters re-
cede; they forever keep jdst beyond his reach.
Hungry, be reaches for tho fruit above his
themselves just enough to get beyond his reach.
Thus with water and food in sight, Tantalus is
doomed to eternal hunger and thirst. From
this heather fancy Of hell we get our word
tantalze."
They picture another man who vas con-
demned to roll huge stone to the summit OF
very high hill In hell. 1t was very hard work
to get the rock to the top OF the hill but when
this was accomplished something would always
happen go as to cause the stone to go thun-
dering down the hill again. The man had to
perform bis work again, always followed by the
same result. This was his task through all
eternity. According to this, hell is no place for
a lazy man! Virgil sung:-
Here rolls the roaring, flaming tide OF hell
And laundering rocks the fiery torrents swell.
Again. -
And now wild shouts and wailings dire
And shrieking infants swell the dreadful choir
Innocent babes in hell 1t seems almost es-
sential that there should be a special hell into
which to place the originator of that idea
We find, then, that these barbsrous concep-
tions of hell were current in the heathen world
long before Christ came.
Heathen writer's admit that they invented
many OF the terrible fancies Of the future world
for the purpose OF government. Polybius. the
says: "Since the multitude is ever
fckle full OF lawess desires, irrational passions
and violence, there is no other way to keep
them in order but by the fear and terror Of the
invisible world on which account our ances-
tors seem to me to have acted judiciously when
they contrived to bring into the popular belief
these notions of the gods and OF the internal
regions" Aristotle continues in the same
strain 1t has been handed down in mythical
form from earliest times to posterity that there
are gods and that the divine compasses all
nature. All besides this has been added after
the mythical style, for the purpose OF persuad-
ing the multitude, and for the interests OF the
laws and the advantages of the state.'
We accept all Bible teaching regarding hell,
but we positively reject all these heather fan
cies. We do not believe in that preaching
whose aim is to draw frightful pictures of the
world OF the lost. Take, for instance, Jonathan
Edwards. He pictures the sinners in the great
lake as OF melted lava. One comes to the sur
face, looks up to God who sits as heartless and
immovable as a piece OF statuary. and asks,