, 1880-12-12

L l.
TIE DOCTRINE HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED
RY 1HE REV. n. A. PRENTISS.
The following paper on "Endless Future
Punishment" by the Rev. n 4. Prentiss,
pastor Of The First Congregational Church,
Aurora IL, was read Monday last before
the Fox River Ministerial Union:
Within less than year the Aurora Herald
published in its editorial columns the follow
hg statement:
Several hundred years after tho death OF
Christ there sprnnR up in the Church the doc
time Of endless punishment, in he'll Of torment
Of ~ those who died without having expressed
sbelist a IN. IN Christ: s2 -, 4 pail of darkness
Sere oae Of the consequences Of tbs terrible
doctrine Of the Church
In The CHICAGO TRIBUNE of Oct. II, 1850,
Dr. q. W. Thomas, of the Centenary Church,
ina sermon preached the preceding evening,
Is reported to have used the following Ian
Euage:
Al have examined this subject as best
could, l find that instead OF it's being a subject
dosed-no debate upon it at au-that, when I
g back TO the carly Christian centuries, the
asst 3U, or NO. or sou years after Christ, find
taat this broader hope was the general faith Of
hose new and tender centuries. think DR..
Edward "a beeSher h has IN. made u plain thar Of the
mrtes, four OF them were unQuRli6edly Uniyer-
Eallsts. One Of them was Annihilatioptst-
taught the destruction OF the wicked; and one,
he Latin Testament under the Roman law
taught the doctrine Of eternal punishment
Again, in TIE CHICAGO TRIBUNE Of Oct,
8, the pastor Of the Leavitt Street Congrega-
tonal Church, the Rev. George IL Peeke, is
represented as having said in sermon the
day before that 1.-The Church of the first
three or four centuries never presented the
hea OF eternal punishment, and it was not
until the sixteenth century that the doctrine
vas promulgated"
lhave given these statements as indicating
the need OF examining this question histor-
tcaIy, and as indicating the kind of investi-
esttn have attempted. The task assigned
me BY Jour Committee has been to ascertain,
eo1ar as can, what was the faith and the
teaching OF the Church in the early centuries
IN regard to the doctrine Of endless punish
me1f, and what has been its historical deyel-
Dpment have sought to confine myself to
1aS single eQuestlol, and now give the results
d such Investigation as have been able to
make
l l ind that belief in eternal punishment
vas not only in the world when Christ ap-
peafed, but was actually the prevalent belief
o. NE Jews, and was widely disseminated
enong the Greeks:
3a) Among the Greeks.
.!IIa. LIIato. III nls Phaedo, tells us 1t was the
splnion OF Socrates that as there was an
seliu1y s.ta OF happiness for the good and rirtu
V4S III future state, so there was variety
!p9nlsllments, proportioned to the differ
~ ~ degrees Of crime, in the present; but that
1a very deprayed were tortured forever in
H,son Hnsoalnlng Lake OF Tartarus-" Quoted from
t's tnoo1neld 1n the Comprehensive Colnnen-
Ii The sama ,'nEie pesie ~ - n} ,+o h,o. o,+.;.
hIs celebrated arguments Tor the iln1nor-
aaEy ~ OF the soul, he also advances number
:" "t., probable arguments" i'll support
snaa y. ae doctrines Of t. the temporary punish
tas tsns - u sinners, who are not past all heal
..9.naoa H. y .ne eternal damnation OF incurable
rhata aad OF the idessedness OF those
n,aoss n,noss HVes we're prominently pure and
II mffepnsi5g pS;5ge 70 Iodn (5ee NeberWeg's History
II nm!91sophy, Vol: !, page l24.)
IT, a. ylers Theology of the Greek Poets "
r. iana the question freQently touched upon.
= H. summing UP the results of an investiga-
~ ~ ~ Aomer, the author says (page 107):
~essn 70 ne punishment of sin in another
e,a.t qe aomef is explicit only in regard to
srd@t snd 4t CRIMINALS, such as perjured persons
%al NJ 1lose guilty OF great crimes towards
III i;'lat " feDellion against the gods"
r.u,ssses. IN Ills visit to Hades, sees 4Tityus,
n1aa1tos, Llsyphus, and the like monsters Of
nxnas. n.uuats. suffering perpetual tortures CORE
hhmau.e 70 their crimes" - positive pun |
odenda.as dn. seems to be inflicted only on teinous
cnenoaa coes. = others reap the natural conse-
1eir cse u ther conduct in this life; only
t3er stota sn1ac1er there is as uralterable as
ID kis k1.s sTh.n,o.
~ lpage a55): "Tartarus IS part Of
1naqesl or rather darl daoT duno,a6n s,,nI-