Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-04-27
ORTHODOX HErERDoxY.

The btettlgencer OF yesterday, gets
prominent minister OF the Methodist
church, the Rev. Mr.. RYAN, very badly
mixed in his orthodoxy the impression
naturally drawn from its report ana
comments upon a sermon preached by
the Reverend gentleman on saDoa'h
last, being that he had boldly ana un'-
quivocally renowned some oil tine iunua'
mental doctrines Of his church, that ne
had with one Tell swoop abolished hell
and dissipated heaven, that he had set
ND a purgatory and pat in 1t the deau
of all ages, and that he had thus startie1
his congregation out OF their seats, and
the ministers OF the church were going
about the streets holding up their hands
in holy horror.
These are dull times in the newspaper
business. There is not much in the
way OF news afloat, and We sympathlze
with our eotemporaiy in its desire 10
lind something readable with which TO
ill up its columns. 1t is always bes',
however, that when a newspaper goes
into the sensational business that 1t
should be particularly careful about the
selection Of its field OF operations. It's
not prudent, 10 say the least, that 1t
should enter the sacred precincts OF the
church, or deal lightly with the position
or character Of its authorized represeL-
tatiyes unless it is sure OF its ground.
We are not called upon, nor do we
feel authorized, to defend the minister
in question from the impulations con-
tanned in the InteUgsncer, but We may
saw that the REGISrEE has failed to find
any substantial verification OF the re-
port or any justitable grounI Tor the
IntelligencsT's comments in this connec-
ton, either as regards the tenor OF the
sermon criticised or the feeling OF the
members OF that congregation toward 1t.
We understand that Mr.. RYAN is rec
ognized by his church as not only ortho-
dox, but that he had no design and did
not, in fact, take or pretend to take any
new departure" or in auywise place
himself in aatagonism to the accepted
doctrines and tenets OF his church.
in the sermon alluded to, but on the
contrary was careful to premise his dis
cussion OF the topic with the emphatic
utterance that ne was intensely ortho-
dox," ana while presenting the subject
OF future state in a somewhat differ
ent manner, as regards the line OF argu-
ment usual tothe Methodist pulpit, the
conclusions reached were substantially
the accepted positions and belief OF the
church.
Ii there was any sensation occasioned
by the sermon, or any feeling OF oppo-
sition aroused among the members as
the HateRigeRccr represents, it was the
mnRer rather than the matter OF the
speaker which produced it. The Rev
erend gentleman was unior-
tunate in opening his discourse,
if he simply desired TO convince his
hearers without antagonizing any varie-
ty OF opinion which might aud does
exist in every congregation upon the
subject in question, by announcing in
some Ahat sweeping terms the concIu'
sions he proposed to reach by a logical
process, in advance OF the arguments
upon which these conclusions were
based. Ii is true that the conclusions
reached justified, in certain sense, the
language in which the speaker had
couched them at the opening, but in the
meantime he had 50 qualified, or at least
Modified them, that they lost much OF
their harshness. To announce that "nO
man has vet gone to heaven, and no
man has vet been sent to hell, " is asome-
what different thing-diflerent at least,
in the impression it conyeys-irom say
ing "that no departed soul has yet
found the intensest heaven or the in
tensest hell" Yet these, in fact, were
the antipolal propositions with which
thelsermOu opened and closed. Those
who heard only the opening might have
found cause for oflense; those who took
in tue tenor and spirit OF the whole dis
course might have differed with il i'll
some of its statements and conclusions,
aud doubtless they did, as men OF all
creeds have differed through all time,
and will continue to differ about
the condition OF the dead; but
it is not question OF ortho-
doxy or heterodoxy. 1t is uot a
question Of hell or heaven. The final
hell for the wicked and a final heaven for
the righteous, are unequiyOcally con-
Ceded by the argument in question.
What they are and when the one is
enjoyed and the other suffered by the |
dead, are matters of speculation which
no church creed can undertake abso-
luteiy to determine. Men will always |
differ on these points. They only agree
that the condition OF the righteous be-
tween death and the judgment is one of
happiness, and OF the wicked, misery.
In the parable OF the rich man and
LAZARUS the SAVIOUR called the one
Paradise" and the other "Hades."
Whether the one is heaven and the
other hell Is a mere matter Of opinion
about which men ought to be allowed
10 differ without subiecting themselves
10 the charge OF heresy.