Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-01-31
Rev. MIR. Beecher and Hell-His
Latest Declaration. Of Belief
Hell Spiritual, Not Material

toward the Congregational Denomination. Fl
| spoke Of the discussion as one Of world wild
Interest, and while he denied that he had an
intention in the celebrated sermon to ente
the lists as oontroversialist, avoWed his in
tention, now that he had been assailed from
so many quarters, of setting forth at no yer,
distant date, in full and elaborate form, tn
position which he had taken up. He said :,
hold, in brief, as strongly as ever to the doc
trine Of retribution-that right and wrong ar
| not transient in their nature; they are eternal
l hold that obedience and disobedience viii
forever produce their corresponding pleasur,
or pain. hold thst if, in life to come, men
persist in the violation of the laws Of theil
being, they will unquestionably suffer pair
and penalty; but there is no evidence what
ever that they will, and there are many pre-
sumptious that they will not. do not think
that it can be shown to be Scriptural doc
trine that probation closes with death Iu
another life can conceive that the experience
of this life, which, by reason Of mans ply
sical environments and social influences, has
not wrought reformation or virtue, may yet
in another sphere and under mere favorsbly
circumstances bring .men to q very much
higher platform and standpoint of conduct
and character. We have reason to suppose
shat pain and suffering which, in this world
are of an educating nature, will have . stron-
ger educating force hereafter, and that they
will be continued, as long as there 10 hope Of
benefit in them. But On all this subject 1
would say, first, that probation does not close
with death; second, that the end and aim Of
retrioution is, in the first instance, the refor-
nation Of the individual and the safety Of
society round about him. ..... ..
Is Con CRUEL?
The continuance Of suffering after it is hope
less in respect to society is simply cruelty, ,and
cannot conceive Of any man Of deeply
moral and reflective nature who would bring
himself to believe that God will bring into
life, a. he has, myrisds which utterly outrun
all computation, under circumstances in which
they not only have no help whatsoever 80 ef-
feet moral growth, but where all their sur
rsundiss are adverse and perverse and allow
them to continue under such known condi-
tions, reproduce generations innumerable, and
then to place them in great hereafter where
the principal feature il suffering and where
suffering has ceased to have any moral benefit
and so continue them there forever and -fn'--
crer.- This is to create . department Of the
universe for the purposes, simply, of suffer-
ing; bu. needless suffering il cruelty, and any
being who inflicts needless suffering is tyran-
nical.
One Of the chief questions now is, What is
the statement Of Scripture admit that as it
stands in our English version, and read
through the medium of our own education,
The Scripture apparently teaches the old doc
trine. But when the terms "Hell" "Damna-
ton" and Everlasting" are subjected to the
crucial test Of modern scholarship they do not
bear out the old meaning l doubt whether
IN the days of the Old Testament or in the
Jewish mind at the time of our Savior, the
sharp, metaphysically accurate idea of time
and duration existed. believe that what they
meant by ''eternsr was vague and nebu-
ous period of time, and that it was not used
IN sharp, scientific sense, but in poetic, or,
rather, in generalizing. sense; just as We say
"a hundred" when we only mean ''many;'
Or as we say 'tforever," when we mean simp-
ly long periods of time.
A CHANGE OF VIEWS.
And on this subject there has been an i'm
change in the attitude Of thinking
men within the few past generations. 1t is
conceded that men do not any
longer, even the most orthodox, preach the
doctrine Of endless suffering of it was preach
ed fifty or even seventy-ive years ago II
any man will compare the sermons that are
now preached with those Of Jonathan Ed
wards or of Hopkins, or indeed with any Of
the fathers of New England, or of the Presby-
terian divines Of Princeton, he will see how
great change has come over those who still
persist in believing in literal, eternal, consci-
Gus suffering. They are as unlike a. the sums
mer mornings dew is TO the tornado in mid
winter. Many good men still believe in the
second advent into this world of Christ, and
of the transformation of all society relations
by the coercive power Of His omnipotence.
In short, the universal tendency has been to
materslize the Scripture: to create q material
hell and . material heaven; to bring to bear
upon the ineffable themes Of spiritual exist
ence, the attributes and laws of time and mat
ter aud space. "The kingdom Of Heaven"
Christ said, sis within us;" it is not physi'
cal state; It is condition Of the soul The
kingdom OF darkness is spiritual condition,
and heaven and hell are words which cover
the psychologic condition Of the universe.
Plain men naturally tend to literslize and
materialize the figures Of the New Testament;
sll the worse for them, for the Master declar'
ed, ''The words that speak unto you, they
are the spirit, they are life"