Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-06-19
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
Under the Light Of Evolution
Mr.. Beecher Startles His Congre'
CATION With Some Novel
Views Of What is Meant
by He'll or sheol.

tul movement. Mr.. BLctlef SCR
mon was devoted loa tcOncllialion
of the facts of evolution with the
fact of human sinluIncss. All sin,
he said, is transgression of law, but
all transgression Of law Is not sin.
In other words, the sin for which
men are responsible. both body and
soul, is the deliberate and purpoSed
violation of known duty. But the
most of mems sins have sprung from
inlirmity, which they will not be
held accountable for. lntirmity, or
want of full knowledge and Of fully
developed moral and phy ysical iacul-
ties is Il necessary accompaniment
of the unfolding method which God
has chosen to employ in the world.
Why did God choose method which
involves at each stage inperlectio"s,
inlirmily, sihfIlncss? Why did not
God, being supreme, exclude SIN !
MIR. Beecher classcd these among I'M
answelable questions, and said one
might us well ask why friction exists.
We only know that friction is an in-
evitable cOncOmitant of matter. We
can not explain the reason for ii.
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT DISCUSSED
As to the punishment for sin, Mr..
Bccchcr eloquently denounced the
old doctrine of eternal punishment.
ltisrcpulsive, unreasonable, immoral
aud dcm0raliZiug. II hate II, said
MIR. Beechcr; Il hate il because love
the truth, because love God, because
| love my fellow mer. That Eiernnl
tod created Il race, and then that
two of tlenI, without experience, pat
under the temptation Ofun arch tlend,
ur " hauVer The creature was, fell IN
discnle lirnce To what .lhry did moi
understand anything about, and that
lie not only kicked them out of the
Garden of Eden as No parent would
ever treat child in his own house,
but also transmitted the corruption
thai was the rcsultul the di>ubrdirnce
through countless ages, spreading oui
aud out till the system of nature
manufactured damnulion right and
left, before aud bGhiud. | hate ii be.
cause love God. abhor il because
| love Justice. That system can he
used only where ignorance prevails
Men are told You have got to believe
it or be damned, and they say: Well,
rather than he damned | will believe
il, but LAY YOU are damned il you
do leicve it, 1t is hidcuus, horrible.
It turns creation into shamble' aud
God into slaughlerer, and the hu-
man race into u condition worse q
Il ousand fold than that OF the animal,
for the loon is not blamed for being
loon, nor the bear for being bear,
nor the swallow and the eagle for not
increasing the stature of their being ;
hut man is made to start, not 10 stop
to go On and on and up and onward,
steadily emerging from the comlroll-
ing power Of pl! sicial and animal
C ndilion into which he was born,
touching the higher elements of pos
sibiity and ending in the GLORIOUS
libtrly Of the Son Of God"
In another part of his discourse
Mr.. Decchcr, recurring to this subject,
declared that the introduction of sin
into the world by God, with the ac-
compartment of horrible punishment
for the sin, could not be justified il
the judgment Of reason nor OF mora
sense.
ARE COUNTLESS MILLIONS IN TORMENT
lie continued in the following re-
markable language: "But if you takt
the ground that it is consistent viii
divine justice and humanity; if yol
Obliterate not the question ofrctribu
ton, or the carrying on of cause ant
effect out of this life and into the eler
nal but if you sweep out with th'
broom of indignation that hideou
pit that theology has dug under TN
D.. world; if you take away all thes
grotesque, malign and internal i'm
ages that yet populate the ignoran
brains Of men: you consider tina
IN The future God is just as plenar
in Justice and Kindness and gentle
ness as lie is in the beginnings here
then you have taken away all tn
difficulties that inhere in The doctrin
J of the origin of evil and of sin Il
springing from the very nature OF th
evolutionary government in thi
world. And tits these consideration
J, that has revolutionized my education
al beliefs can not separate myse
from my fellow men. can not COZ
tent myself with sitting down in
= wel-regulated parish and cipherin
out a doctrine of the sinfulness {
man and the rcasonablcness of etel
\ nal punishment. can not do tina
!" When think about the condition c
men after death | think of all Africi
A. and that, too, for thousand year
think, too, Of Asia, and that ft
myriads of years; | think of ever
sand ofthe sea think of the popul;
ton that is more for multitude
than the drops OF water in the ocea
forty times multiplied. | think I
the vast sweep of creation, illimitabl
imcountable, unreasonable, all Il
q human beings that imply almost ,
V necessity impcrlection and transgrc
sion, and then say: What has &c
done with them all? Where are they
Are they waiting in mmitigable to
IN ment? If that be so let me nev,
mention the name of God again,
- me never violate my own nature |
calling him father. 1t derides, despise
treads under foot the very foundatiC
ideas that we have of fatherhood.
pEEcHER's DOCTRINE OF PUNIsHMEN
"But if you take that all away, al
then, having clean foundation, ST
suppose men so out of existence al
that is the end of it. Suppose th
men attain the eternal life throus
faith in Jesus Christ, so far as th,
have unfolded away from the amin
conditions and are susceptible of
further development in the life
come. Plant them again if pick
'. and having every nourishment, th
Tia still have not developed enough me
tality TO be worth a seed form