St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-09
PROBATION AFTER DEATH.
Presbyterians Discuss and Disa-
gree on the ScripturaI Author

gree on the ScripturaI Author
ity.
The ministerial association, at it's
meeting yesterday morning, had a dis
cussion Oh a very interesting topic, that
of probation After Death" The pros
pect of the discussion was rendered
doubly interesting by the surprising ne
suit of the previous meeting, when the
majority OF those present came out
boldly in support of the doctrine of an
intermediate state. Among theologians
and those interested in eSchatOlogy
great surprise was expressed at such an
advanced stand being taken by the
evangelical clergy, and much interest
was aroused in the result of yesterdays
discussion. Unfortunately, a number
pf the members of the association were
put Of town, and the attendance was
therefore lighter than usual. The paper
was read by Rev. j. B. Freeman,
pastor of the Payne Avenue
Presbyterian church, and was a
most thoughtful and carefully
prepared essay. Unfortunately, the
Dnly phase of the question touched upon
WAS the Scripturai, one necessarily lin
tied in scope. The learned young di-
vine divided the numbers OF those whom
the Bible teaches are to be lost, those
who reject the teaching of Christ, into
five groups: First. those to be rejected
by Christ; second, those who are to lose
all they possess, or are. or might pos
sess or might be; third, those who are
cast out and trodden under foot, becOm-
ing as refuse; fourth, those for whom
everlasting punishment is promised inn
personally: fifth, those for whom hell is
reserved. He defined hell as being
either the hadeS of the ancientS, the
hidden place where the dead go, includ-
ing ParadaiSos and Gehenna; this Wor d
had apparently changed its meaning
since the translation of the auth
oriZed Protestant version of the
Bible. The second word translated
as hell is TartaroS, only once used
and in that case referring to the place
to which the rebellious angels were
consigned. The third is Gehenna, or
the valley of the son of Hinnom, the
place where the dead bodies of male
factors were placed, to be consumed by
fire that was never allowed to die and
by the worms which infested the place.
To a Jew the word Gehenna had no
other meaning. and was thoroughly
understood. The reverend author could
not see that the Bible authorized any
such doctrine as that of probation.
Rev. Frizzell made most learned meta
physical argument in support OF. the
theory that between death and judg-
ment there is a chance for repentance,
dedueing in its support common sense.
For instance, he argued that babies
could not be judged from the
Christian standpoint-never having
had the opportunity of accepting
Christ and His teachings. The heather
were almost universally in the same
position. Does the death of the body,
he asked, necessarily mean annihila-
ton of the personality? The genius of
Christianity was that every man had
chance to accept. Christ. he did not
eonfine himself to the apparently con-
flicting testimony of Scripture, but
argued from general principles of
Justice and Christianity. When cate
chlsed as to whether he was in the
habit of teaching such doctrine from
the pulpit, he replied that he was not,
but believed it just the same. Revs.
Hawley and Henderson expounded GER
tain passages of Scripture to show that
they did not necessarily support the
theory. The subject for next meeting
was, Large churches centrally 10
Gated versus smaller churches diversi-
fed as to location" to be opened by
Rev. e. w. Brinstad.