Connecticut western news., 1878-02-07

better part with these than having two of each, ''to be cast into hell fire." 'sThen said theiking to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away. end cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnasbing of teeth.'" That was sad with rgsrd to the man who cam. to the kings feast without wedding gsr- ment. The same language is usec twice after this, concerning the riotous servant, and the man who hid his one talent. Then we come to the eight woes, followed by the words: ''Ye serpcnts. ye generation of yi- pers; how can ye escape the dsmnation ot hell ?" Added to this. we have the parable of the fvs wiee, and the Ave foolish vir- gins. To the latter the door was shut, and when they came saying ''Lord, Lord.' open to us." He answered and said, ''Verily. I say unto you. I know you not" Next is the parable of the sheep and the goats. To one class the language is addressed: Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" On the other class the awful sentence is pronounced:
 "Depart from me ye cursed. into everlas,- ing fire prepared for the devil and his an- gels" Then come those closing words, ''And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eter- nsl." Observe, Jssus says ''eperlastsng pun- ishment. The Greek word is tue same as that translated eternal; so that if the pun ishment is not everlasting. the lite is not |. Now. all these quotations have taken from the single gospel of Matthew. Cor responding testimony is given by the oth' r Eyangeists. Tbus, in Mark. Jesus says
 ''He that believeta and is baptized sball be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned" Iu Luke we read: ''Then said one unto him; Lord, are there few thst be saved P and He said unto them Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many say unto you, will seek to enter In and shall not be able.'" ''There shall be weeping and gnsshinR of teeth when ye shall see prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out" No servant Can serve two masters; ye cannot serve God and Mamnon." Then we have the para
 ble of the rich man and l. ,z arus. Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom; the rich man went to the place of torment, And Tn hell, being in torments he erred and sad: Father Abraham have mercy on me, and send Laz arus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for am tor mented by this f4me.' But Abraham ssld' Now he is comforted and thou art torment ed; and besides all this, between us and you there is great gulf fixed, 90 that they which would pass from hence to you, can
 not; neither Can they pass to us that would come from thence.'" In John, Jesus says
 ''Verily. yeriiy say unto thee, except |
 man b- horn again he cannot see the king
 dom of God" ''And as Moses lifted ur the serpent in the wilderness. even SO must
 the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoev-
 er believeth on Him should not perish, but
 have eternal life. For God 80 loved the
 world that He gave Ills only begotten Son.
 that whosoever believe,h in Him should no
 perish. but have everlasting life." YOr
 will bear in mind that all these QuOtatlonl
 are from the utterances of Jesus Himself
 l have not asked you to hear what Pau
 says, or Peter, or John in Revelation, o
 the other Bible writers who severally teacI
 the same doctriur. 1t is enough if we Cal
 know what Jesus held and taught. Her } are His words, and to evade or deny then
 is something we cannot do. To say the ) He did not teach the doctrine of endles punishment and did not Himself believe it ] is to brand Him as false Teacher and
 dishonest man. Thus we see that wha
 Reason says must be, the Author of Reve
 .ti0n says, is.
 There are other points which wish l.
 notice. It is objected that this view make God abhorrent. But it is more distressini
 to think of sin without punishment. Her is this great fact of sin; we find along-sd
 of it a corresponding punishment. Tn
 unsolved problem is the existence of mora ; evil, or sin. Tue more distressing feet il the universe is the existence of sin. Wh, millions upon millions of the human fan. lily through thousands upon thousands o
 years, should come into the inheritance o : pain and tears, is beyond our comprt hen sion. sometimes feel us if should di for the sorrows that see around me. Bu I could as easily deny Gods goodness, be cause of the existence of sin, as could dc ny His goodness because of the existenc of punish hment; could mere easily do this The punishment assures me of the holines , of His nature. If 1t is said it will be to distressing in heaven to think Of others ths are suffering, reply; it is probably mor distressing to us now. yet our distress do,
 not alter the fact of sin here; while in hea, , en, we shall have more light and be in bet ter circumstances to judge. Ii is elaine that orthodoxy has relented somewhat.
 do not know of anything that has bee given up, Save the use of words and fig urps Christ used the words, hell, hell fir, damned, dainnation. we drop the us of these words, it does not follow that W have dropped the thought that the word contain. Some have represented the ago E nies of the lost in gross and materis way. We may ohject to their figures, bu !. not to their doctrine. Language is nothin if we keep the thought. A tormentia conscience may be worse than physics pain. That Universalism has changed il ground is admitted. The old doctrine wa that there is no hell, and That all men . death. go immediately into heaven. Nov I do not know of any one who holds ,hs