Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1879-04-15
A l.nnt AQy.k.

Q failure existence which had pow
erful effect on his hearers here. In
come sther places also he delivered the
came lectuae with like effect, and q
young lady Who heard 1t In East Ten
nsssse afterwards reproduced 1t from
memory and her version Of 1t was
printed In the Lynchburg News ~ an
appropriate contribution to the pre-
vailiug discussion as to whether there
IN hell or not. For the same reason,
and by request. we reprint 1t to-day
1t 10 ss follows:
"A lost soul. lost soul two words
of the most momentous meaning, and
when taken In connection with those
other two, eternal hell, how expressive
of the utmost agony aud profoundest
depths Of misery! Ihave tried to be-
lieve there was no hell, and sought In
thos, passages Of the Bible where the
idea of hell 10 expressed TO eliminate
their meaning from the words but
there 1t stands. still burning In the
Word of God--eternal hell ? do not
know where hell is--whether a place
or state of misery, either Is bad enough.
Whether 1t be deep, dark cavern,
filled with gloom, where serpents hiss,
and creep from crack and Granny; of
hollows deep, and gloomy rills and
rocks deep riven. where devils peep
and creep. and goblins dance on dingy
hills, and fiery flames ooze out from
assures deep, while dark hends ride
on the dragons or whether ii be
sphere whirling through uncreated
space, a volcanic world whirling on
It's course erratic through ETHEREAL
nothing, q rocky sphere, filled with
gorges and caverns squalid, covered
with burning lava and blackened SEQ
ria---abstrusely cleaning through a
light-hRlf darkness, half hazy light
or suppose there 10 no hell, a lost soul
what is It? Bring the word down
to natural things-a lost ship in the
ocean, the compass overheard, the
end rudder gone. sails In shreds, sail
ors unable to make their reckoning,
the time expired at port for their re-
turn-lost lost ! ct last sinking to
ocean caves, where mermaids stretch
the sailor boys limbs In his watery
bed. .a. FH
Or take lost child In the woods.-
A child goes out to gather berries, goes
on and on, round this hill aud up that
hollow--crossing and recrossing his
I path, until he 10 lost. and now he
wapders on. sobbing, lost lost !
weeping for his mother there. the
> mother at home weeping for her darl-
Ing ; until at last the weary child, de-
spairlng and tired. lies down and dies
while birds chirp and sing above his
sylvan death-bed, But a lost soul
eternally lost, thrust out from God, 9
spark formed for social companion.
ship. cast out from God companion
less while as star chimes to star, and
even the comet, erratic In Its course
as II crosses and recrosses orbits apC
elliptic, whlrling about IN fiery circles
round the sun, acknowledging ont
common centre as in the compan,
Of the white robed saints together
with the tall sons OF the morning
soul answers to soul In the raptuoui
language Of heaven while they swell
their p@nas to Almighty God-thiI
is soul lost eternally, 10 cast forth alon'
to wheel Its dismal flight foreve
through uncreated space, whetting III
n plniony on the tombstone Of buried
n hope, and screaming lost lost
= lost II! There 1t goes. there ant
y there, and there II goes that way. ant
s"ieams. lost | II comes this way ant
= scream, lost Anon, II discovers I
- city with battlemented towers an,
II gates, with bolts and bars, and will
e oil the spirit energy OF tts being seek
t TO reach what looks TO be q heaven
d but II recedes aud IL gone. Fly on
h thou squealing spirit, until thou be
n come speck Of terror In illimitabl'
apace,u