Smyrna times., 1878-01-16
Beecher on He'll,

Nothing that Mr.. Beecher has said for
some years has so excited public comment
as his. late sermon in reference to the
future state. He has been asked to ex-
plain and Mr.. Beecher complaines that he
has been misrepresented by the secular
press.
He says that for twenty-five years he has
preached and printed, in every conceiv.
able form, g the truth of the inspiration of
the sacred scripture, the existence and
government of God, the doctrines of the
Trinity, the divinity of Christ as very God,
the universal sinfulness Of man, the atone
ment of Christ, the doctrine of a change of
heart, the efficacious influence of the Holy
Spirit in regeneration, and the doctrine of
retribution both here and hereafter"
The following is what was said on the
subject as taken down by photographer
and published in the Christian Union:
"And during three-rourths of
its history the race was without an altar, or
church, or an authorized priest, a revela-
ton, or anything but the light of nature.
If, now, you tell me that this great mass
of men, because they had not the knowledge
of God, went to heaven, | say that the in
road of such a vast amount of mud swept
into heaven would be destructive of its
purity; and | cannot accept that view.
If, on the other hand, you say that they
went to hell, then you make an infidel of
me; for | do swear, by the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his groans, by his tears, and by
the wounds in his hands and in his side,
Al, I L. - 81, AI..
the nature of God is to suffer for others
rather than to make them suffer- If lose
everything else, Twill stand on the sovereign
idea that God so loved the world that he
gave his own Son to die for it rather than
it should die. Tell ME that back of Christ
there is God who for unnumbered CEN
turtles has gone on creating men and sweep
ing them like dead fies-nay, like living
oneS-into hell, is 10 ask me to worship a
being as much worse than the conception
OF any medieval devil as can be imagined /;
but | will not worship the devil, though he
should come dressed in royal robes, and sit
on the throne of jehovah | will not wor-
ship cruelty. | pW worship Love-that
sacrifices itself for the good of those that
err, and that is as patient with them as
mother is with a sick child. With every
power of my being will l worship God of
| love such as that.
But has not God justice also? And is he
not of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Z?
Yes. And the distinctions between right
and wrong are as eternal as God himself.
The relation between sin and retributi0n
belongs not to the mere temporal condi-
tion OF things; it inheres in the divine con-
stitution, and is for all eternity. The pros
pect for any many who goes out of this life
/ I i
for himself. and may well make US tremble
for him. But it is not true-the Scripture
does not teach it, and the whole sense of
human justice revolts at it-that for the
myriads who have been swept out Of this
life without the light and knowledge of the
divine love there is reserved an eternity OF
suffering In that mystery of the divine
will and work of which the apostle speaks,
in the far,off dispensation of the fullness Of
times, there is some other solution than
this nightmare of medieval theology"