Mexico weekly ledger., 1881-12-08
MIR. BEECHER ON HE'LL.

Everlasting Punishment Not Taught IL
the Old Testament-Dying the Easies
Thing in the World.
A dispatch from New York says
Nh. Beecher talked about death and
about the future life, particularly ir
relation to the doctrine of eternal
punishment. He called the attention
of those who cling to the idea of an
everlasting hell to the fact that it is
not taught at all in the Old Tesla.
ment, asserting that in the admins.
tration of a nation which was avow-
eddy directly under the Divine care,
"there was a period of 1900 or
5000 years, during which the doc
trine was not taught oace. 1t was
evident that among the Jews there
was a certain idea of a hereafter OF
pain, but the teaching of a gross,
sensual, material torment, was sthe
creation Of the medieval age, and
there had come down to us lingering
remembrances of it.
Mr.. Beecher touched lightly on the
New Testament illusions to death as
an eternal sleep. He pointed to the
distinction that exists between the
Western and the Oriental mind on
this subject. In the western hemis-
phere everybody seemed to dread
death, whereas, the Chinese and other
Orientals, had, as a rule, no more
fear Of death than they had Of going
without a meal. The Roman empire
was built upon the Tuscan, and, al
though the latter was conquered, the
Tuscan's horrible conception of fu-
ture punishment had permeated the
Roman empire. When the Roman
CatholicChurch organized itself grad
ually it selected as its most powerful
instrument the keys. mo scepter
in the kings hand, no sword in a gen
erals hand, no instrument of torture
in inquisitorial hands ever had the
power in it that was in the KEYS.
They typified the church's claim to
lock and unlock the soul and while
the church magnifed the joys of the
redeemed in Paradise, their imagina-
ton was absolutely drunken with the
sufferings of the damned souls that
went ont unregenerate at DEATH"
While the Protestant Reformation
threw off a great deal of this, yet it
retained much Of il; and it might be
pnpuiaI nO..~ ~
was gross. harh--:~. ,-,.-L sI
believe" added Mr.. Beecher, ''there
is a period of penalty that follows
transgression in this life, but it is
mental, it is moral, it is the other
life, and under clearer Circumstance
a remorse, a self-condemnation.
As q man who has squandered his
and Is brought to poverty and
then begins to think what he might
have had, SO 1 can understand how
a mans mind may torture him with
constant reminders of what he has
lost. Pain and pleasure are disciple
nary, and are designed in the divine
economy to work out afterward, if not
here, a salvable state of mind
In reply to the question, "Hov
q Christian look at death? ?"
Mr.. Beecher replied, "Well, in the
first place, he should not look at it at
all on purpose. Or, if he looks at it,
he shonld do so only to stimulate
himself to lead a better life here and
not brood oyer the horrors Of an
hereafter" People won
dered how they would feel when dy-
ing. II will tell you how you will
feel-most of you," said MIR. Beech
''You'll feel stupid; that is all
you will feel. You will want to go
to sleep. Dying is as easy as going
to sleep, that is, in most instances.
Once IN a while there was = trlum-
plant or a radiant death, or a re-
morseful death, but not once in a
million times was there such a death
as is described in books. That was
'fummery.'" Mr.. Beecher attached
no significance to the manner in
which a man expired, as it was prin-
cipally the result of physical acct
dents, and afforded no test of his
moral state.