Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-02-15
o~tAL<<1l-t--
He'll, I.

HE'LL!
VIEWS OF PRESBYTERIANs--BAP
SWEDENBORGIANS - CONGREGATION
ALIsTS = METHODIsTs- IsRAELITEs-
REFORMED EPISCOPAL - CATHOLICS,
AND UNIvERsALIsTs PREACHERS.
&C., &C., &C., sc.
The subject Of future punishment, its
certainty it's character and the various be-
llefs regarding it, is occupying the theolog-
ical mind throughout the country, and in
New York city, especially, the lectures
and sermons about it are almost without
number Some impetus has been given
to the discussion by the lectures of Col.
Robert Ingersoll, the inGdel, which were
attended at the remarkable price OF So for
some of the tickets, and received with great
applause We give below synopsis ofeach
religious belief as reported in the New
York ''Sun;"
PRESBYTERIAN.
The Rev. DR.. John Hall preached yes
terday ON hell. He said that his reason
for so doing was the fear that the discus
sion now going on in the newspapers and
the pulpits might tend to corrupt young
men with scepticism, and lead them to in
dulge in sin, thinking that there would
be no hell for them in the future. Many
of the ministers who had lately preached
on hell did so for cheap nOtoriety. Those
of them who attacked the orthodox doc
trine Of eternal punishment were in the
main uneducated men. BY this he meant
that they were not scholars. Canon Far
row was of this class. He was rot disci-
plined in the accuracy OF logical thinking,
He was eloquent but not correct. Gehe-
ma meant hell, eternal hell, and nothing
short of it, as every scholar knew. These
ministers were loose, scattering voices
among the multitude of those who hold to
the Bible doctrine of eternal punishment.
1t had been said that there was less preach
ing of hell now than formerly. This was
untrue. There was less need of material
figures, and therefore they were discarded
when preaching to intelligent audiences.
They were never used in his church. But
the doctrine was preached just the same.
One minister in this city had said that The
did not care SO much about getting PEG
pie out of hell as he did about getting he'll
out of the people," Il would like to ask
him." said the preacher, ''What will be-
COu16 I'll Ills pEOPlC IL uO oOCO uOu OOCCCCO
in getting hell out of them" There was
no repentance in the other world.
BAPTIST.
The Rev. Justin D. Fulton, in the Cen
tennial Baptist Church, Brooklyn, an
nounced that he would soon preach on
'sThe Destiny of Bob Ingersoll." In his
sermon he said that the surrender to in
fidelity by Beecher is the alarming feature
Of the hour. It is minister's duty, when
he sees a Jniversalist in his congregation,
to preach to him, '.Yo gu will go to hell ii
you don't believe in Jesus Christi Nc
matter what Darwin. Huxley, or anybody
may say, the question is whether they
agree with the bible. Beecher thinks that
if the great mass Of men who have no
knowledge of God were swept into heaven
such vast mass OF mud wouldbe des-
tructive of it's purity; yet he declares that
he would rather be an infidel than believe
that God's nature does not rather make
him suffer for others than to make them
suffer! What, then, is to become of the
wicked? Does Beecher believe in pur-
gatory or humiliation? His sermon, in
this respect, is a fog bank, a deluslon, and
snare. When he talks about worshipping
a God of love, he forgets that God does not
need a guardian. Hell is the prison house
ofthe damned, created for the devil and
his angels The word everlasting is ap
Piled in the Bible to God, heaven, aud
hell, and if it is rightly applied to one, it il
| rightly applied to all three; and if you say
hell is not everlasting, you must say that
God and heaven are not everlasting.
swEDENBoRG1AN.
The Rev. c. III, Mann, in the Sweden.
| borgian Church in Thirty fifth street, said
1.-THE time honored doctrine of everlasting
punishment has been assailed, and all ovel
| the Christian world may be heard the din
of theological battle. The doctrine that
the Lord is a being of wrath, that He pun.
ishes people externally for a temporal
| crime, that He administers torments mere
| ly as punishments when they can do nc
| good, and that all this is matter of com.
| placent satisfaction with those whom he
| has rewarded with the joys of heaven, are
| teachings 100 repugnant for acceptance
The Lord is a being of. love, not of wrath.
He administers no punishments, although
he permits suffering for the violation OF
law; and all the resources of his divine
| love are exercised for the one purpose OF
blessing humanity. The New Church
teaches that hell exists in this life. 1t is
found in the wickedness of every human
heart; it IS found in the iniquity Of all
societies; in the cruelty and barbarity of
| human / asSlons; in organized life and
vigor in a thousand foul dens in our me-
tropolis There are unnum bered internal
centres all about us. They are not to be
recognized as expressions of divine wrath
but as the result of human disobedience.
Every law broken brings hell with it.
| Spiritual hell is as fully and completely
! the necessary result of the violation of a
| spiritual law, as disease and death are the
consequence of violation Of the physical
laws. Where is hell?
The evil man carries it in his own heart
| The hell which God has prepared for the
| wicked is the place where those who de-
| light in iniquity ca n be the least miserable
1t is an unhappy place, but the unhappi-
ness is wholly from the passions and the
inceSsant transgresslOnS OF its inmates.
The Lords influence is to soften, to better
their condition. He'll is more like an i'm
mense hospital, where those who are suf-
fering may he cared for. He'll is really a
provision of divine love.
C0NGREGATIoNALIsT.
The Rev. A. J. Lyman Of the South
Congregational Church, Brooklyn, said
that science was decidedly against the doc
trine of vlndictive hell. II don't know
that the question of time enters into the
matter al ALL" He added I'VE have in
the Bible only the absolute fact that there
is punishment-ho long no one knows. [
am satisfied with Canon Farrar's argu-
ments. Do 1 say | believe i'll the eternity
of punishment? 1t by eternal punishment
you mean indefinite punishment, certa in
ly do. The words concerning the eternity
of hell in the Bible are only part of the
imagery with which it clothes all it's de-
scriptions. Goodness is allied to Joy and
misery to badness. There is dark eter-
nifty for the bad and bright one for the
good.
METHODIST.
The Rev. James King, in the Washing
To- Not hodict lNA1arah cnia 4