Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-17
PLUNGED In A LAKE OF FIRE.
Kansas City Preachers on the Tor
ments of the Lost.
OUR HELL WITHIN OURSELVES.
A Unitarian Minister Pictures the
Horrors of a Guilty Conscience
Is There Still Hope Beyond
the Grave?
The Harvest of Sin,

~ VI wiz hAAo NAN1 BANhNhSAo soy
there is.
THE BEE correspondent interviewed a
large number of preachers and professors of
various doctrines and finds that their ideas
concerning this mythical place of punish.
ment vary from the all-saving grace of the
Unitarians TO the literal lake of fire and
eternal damnation Of the Mormons and
Seventh Day Adventists.
Rev. Daniel r. Sherman, pastor of the
Seventh Day Adventists, said 1--WE be.
lieve that all the signs prophesiscd in the
scriptures nave now come to pass, and that
Christ will appear again on earth in this
generation. Immediately upon the second
coming OF Christ the wicked will be burned
up with fire and the elect will ascend with
him into glory. We believe in literal hell
fire, but the
SINNER
will not suffer in it forever. The punish
ment Of the wicked is humiliation, total
extinction, eternal DEATH
David Winn, president of the reorganized
church OF Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
W hen asked his views on hell, said: A
though there are some differences among
Mormons in regard to Latter Day revela.
tions made to saints since Joseph Smiths
time principally on the subject of a plu.
rality of wives), the Mormons all believe in
and preach literal hell. fire. and eternal damn.
alton for the wicked and the salvation of
the Lords Amounted. We have our belief
on the Bible, the Apocalypse, the Book of
Mormon, the Book of Doctrine, and modern
revelation.
Rev. Harvey, pastor of the Friends con.
gregation, said: ''rhe Quakers believe that
there will be a resurrection of the righteous
and the wicked. The one will awake to
everlasting life and blessedness, the other to
eternal misery.
Rev. Sam Small, the Georgia evangelist:
81 will not waste the precious time the Lord
has given me with fellows who are trying to
dodge hell or be bribed into heaven. l am
not bothering myself about HE'LL have no
interests in that direction. ] am not bother
ing myself about heaven-I don't have to.
If do what Goa wants me to on earth, al
will be we'll"
Rev. J. e. Roberts of the Unitarian church:
Have you ever seen a man with a secret
sin preying upon his mind, or one upon
whose soul vice has a strong graspt How
he starts at every sound. He is an eXempli-
f~ication of what the Psalmist wrote, The
wicked
when no man pursueth.' Can you not
see remorse, sorrow, grief. affection
which the stings of conscience have placed
| upon him pictured in bold outlines on his
countenance! IL is because he is receiving
the punishment laid down for his sinsi Is
not this hell enough? Part of our punish
ment will be melted out upon this earth.
God is too good to immense his children in a
lake of living fire.n
Rev. T. F. Haley, D. d., pastor of the
First Christian church, said: 81 have no
view concerning future punishment other
than that contained in the bible. The
crri,tnrpS Snv that H. will no hapiShnnpt
FROM
the presence of God and from the
glory, Of His power. That VIII be a hell as
Rev. j. OBJ. Lowry, the pastor of Calvary
Baptist church, thought that the punishment
in the next world would be spiritual rather
than physical. 'Said he: "rhe punishment
hereafter is the product OF
THE
self-perpetuatlng and self furnishing power
of sin. The character of n man receives
it's impulse in this world, and | believe it
follows that forever. | don't believe God
makes hell; sin makes it, and would make it,
did not hell exist alrcauy.'
Rev. William Jones, D.. D., pastor of the
Summit street Methodist Episcopal church
believes in eternal punishment, but rejects
entirely the idea that the divine
WRATH
will take the form of a literal burning fire.
SalQ ne. Every lew MINISTERS ever ulu De
lleve in literal fire and birthstone hell, and l
know of none who do now. The word fire
merely expresses the extent of punishment
and not the actual punishment itself. As
fire burns the human flesh, so does sin burn
and will continue to burn into the soul of the
unrepentants sinner"
Evangelist Potter, who has Just closed his
work in Kansas City, will go to Omaha next
week to hold a series OF meetings. 81 am
going to preach literal hell up there" said
ha ar itarnl fire mnV he lasS hnrtful tn q
commenced soul than some other forms of
punishment. 1t may be fire, or it may be
mental suffering. ] do not know what it
will be. But what is the use of quibbling
over the matter. l don't believe in q literal
fire. but there Is a literal hell of some kind;
no question about that"
Rev. Robert Talbot, rector Of Trinity Epis-
copal church, said: my church has held
several different interpretations in regard
TO
the subject of future punishment. None
OF us, however, believe i'll q literal hell fire,
The punishment of the wicked, | think, will
be separation from God, and no punishment
could be more KEEN
Rev. John c. Williams, of the Clyde Con.
grcgational church, said: ~ prefer not to be
interviewed on this subject, for il is one we
might better leave alone. 1t is infinitely bet
ter, however, to teach the song of the angels,
hoy to the world the Lord has Come" than
to picture the dire fate and sad calamity
awaiting the transgressor. We are all trans
grcssors, and our religion should be more of
love, less of duty more of happiness, less of
punishment
Rev, Stephen Hall, Universalist "Futurc
punishment will not be eternal, for our God
is n good and just God, and after. a certain
length of punishment man will be" forgiven
for his sins. The theft on the cross was for
given, and no one has
COME
to our blessed Savior asking forgiveness and
gone away emptyhapded. Much of
the punishment of he'll is received
on earth, and after death man
enters into a probation where his acts
while on earth will receive their due reward.
II they be good the happiness and Joy will
be eternal; II bad they will still have chances
of repentance
Rev. o. M. Stewart, presiding elder in the
Methodist Episcopal church; There is IA
hell, but | don't think IL can be truly said
that the church ever believes in literal fire.
Individuals did and so taught. No figure,
not even that of fire, fully reveals the suffer
ings of a guilty, condemned conscience,
either here or hereafter.
Another minister. who desired TO nave his
name withheld, said 81 believe that heaven
and hell are both on the earth now IN an en-
bryonic state. My idea of the final destiny
of the wicked is that they will be burned up, |
root and branch, and vanish away like
is to be burned Ut. That is, it is TO pass
through a great change and be renovated by
fre, While this is going on God