Connecticut western news., 1878-02-07
ENDLESS PuNusHmHNr.

ENDLESS PUNISH M ENT.
 Sermon preached by the Rev. L. H, Reid at the Congregational church in Eaat Canaan. funday, Feb. 3, 1878. #
 l lCoR..sy1 g: 'Kuaw ye not that the riehtrOus shall not inherit the kingdom If Gud9" .
 You will expect me, with others, to give ny views on tue much discussed question of endless punishment. know minister who said he preached on this subject but once year. and theu it made him sick. Silence, instead of indicating indifference may evidence an overpowering belief.
 When one storms, and seems to take pleas ure in consigniug men to endless misery, 1t probably indicates that he has not taken much tune to reflect. The question is not, what we would like. or think ought to be; but what is true. We ought not to wish to be deceived. and if some appalling truths meet us, we need not deny them, but wait
 md accept, knowing that some time the Great Interpreter will make them plaln. In helping you to see that punishment is endless start on the lowest round and as. cend. There is kind of negative punish nent that must be endless. For instance. father going 10 Europe. promises his son that if he hears good report from him he will bring him gold watch. The son is ciisobedient, and loses the watch. If he lives till mankOod he is still minus the watch. Or, 8 father has two sons; one is virtuoua, the other is dissolute. He wills his farm to the good son, and cuts off the had one. If that bad sen should live to be eighty years old he would still be dispos- sessed of that property. If he should live as long as the patrlarchs it would not give him the farm. Thus, things withheld may he withheld as long as being continues. If 1 lose some divine gift here, dying is not going to restore it to me hereafter. Death is but sleep; death will not give me back what lost in life. The loser must contin- ue loser, and if he loses his soul 1t must stay lost as much as if 1t were @ watch or a farm that was lost. -.,f.
 Again, why are you distressed at the con- tinuance of punishment? Why are you not mare distressed at the continuance of of sin2 What reason have you to think that sin will ceasep If men shall repent, will the dev Is2 But if God can punish evil spirits. why may He not class of be- ings who have resisted His grace beyond the devils, for they have had no Saviour to die for them. Nor is the punishment of men continued longer than their shining How can we think of sinnlng continuing. and punishment ceasing? To get rid of endless puaishment, then, you must get rid pt all shining. and find place in heaven for the lost spirits that were banished out of it. Nor is it 10 be expected that acts of pardon will be passed, or repentance exer- c,sed in world where the means of grace are withheld. If men do not repent here
 where good influences prevail, will they
 where they are surrounded with unmixed l wickedness
 Further, we are incompetent to judge oi
 the ill-desert of sin. or how much punishment
 it requires. The child who sees his father
 simply write name on piece of paper
 thinks it a very cruel law that sentence,
 that dear father for term of years to tn.
 state prison for forgery.
 l Again, why should we wish to send tn,
 sinner to so uncomfortable place as hesv,
 en must be to him? Can the man wh,
 avoided churches and worship, prayer an'
 praise, be happy|in beaven2 But his na ture will be changed;" where do you res
 it? What he dies. that be will continue {, . be. If ID m lays his head on his pillo, at night, bad man, he will wake in ih ! morning bad mah. Sleep does not pur
 fy, neither does death: How then, will man waking in eternity selfish and unhoIy } find pleasure in the society and occupatio of heaven? s-. s ...-..... But we are compelled to accept this doe trine because it is taught itathe scriptures Theodore Parker is reported as saying ths , the B ble evidently teaches this doctrine , and as he did not believe the doctrIre, h did not beleve the B.ble. That was honest ] How can you hold to the lids of the Blhls and It ject what you find between? If tn doctrine does not suit you, the book doe not, aud you should put the book wher ? you put the doctrine. Besides. there sr } other doctrines that are no more plainl , taught, that you Can as easily dispose oi Tue legerdemain that can neutralize on set of tt xls can neutral.ze all. The Delt . ot Christ, the immortality of the soul, lh - resurre ctiUn of the dead. can be as easil denied as this doctrine. do not propos to quote promscuously from the Old all New Tsstamen,s: IL will be enough if B quote the words of the Great Teacher , leaving out of view all other lt xts as proo , Now what d,d Jesus teach Dto He bellev . in endless punishment? We begin wit , the sermon on the mount. The term "heli ] aud ''hell-fre" is regarded As a harsh tern { out We fiud Jesus uslng it in thls, bis fi'i f sern on, over and over. and quile frequeL j ly afterwai6. ''Whusoever shall say TLO :, tool, shall be ID danger of hell-6re." H : advises to lose a right eye or a right han y Father than ''that thy whole body shoul $ he cast into hel." In this same sermon | - speaks of The two ways; the broad aud tt [ harrow. The broad leads to destruction Q the narrow leads 10 life. And then he clo
 es with the parable of the two builders; ou
 building Oh the rock, the other on the sant
 The wise mans house stood; the fools
 mans house fell, and great Was the fall (
 it: All this in the one sermon on the Noun . But we follnw Christ on. and this IS wh' He says: ''Fear not them which kill th
 body. tut are Lot able to kill the soul; bl
 rather fear him which is able to destro J l t,..d in h..ll O h2rIhlII II