The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-12-11
TrsR. arc STONE PosT, FRIDAY, nEGEMBER.ll, 1891
showed itself even gin Edwards day, but

showed itself even Gin Edwards day, but
until n very recent period 1t did noi pre-
sent the clerg from l,resehins he t. rr"i 70
NJ hell. aud tie Ieliet tia, everlasting
torture avaitcd h. sinuer was general
among both religious and irreligi"u5 peo-
ple. When the pulpit began to ignore The
whole subject, few years ago, or 10 5reat
it very gingerly, it was evident that ms
aversion had increased and extended
greatly. Then came the revision Of 'he
Bible, withsthe term he'll ITSELF omitted ana
sheo, substituted. A majority of the
presbytcrics Of the Presbyterian Church
followed Will, ovcrtures to The General
Assembly, asking for the rcmodel'nS OF
tie>W estminster Confession, SO az TO dis
card the doctrine Of election in its sever
ifv and with it, logical consequences OF
infant and heathcn damnatinn- Suhac-
cncntly came Dr.>BeiegS with his declara-
tons of TIC fallihiity Of the Bible, OF pro-
eressiye qualification in the future state.
and Of the authority OF the reason to crit
icise The dosmas Of Theology.
Thus Tie great question Of thcoiosical
controversy centres in the doctrine OF he'll
That doctrine and that belief as they exist
ed ct an earlier period are explained with
particularly By Mr. James New in an ar
ticle on 1.-The Christian He'll " in the last
number of th. Nineteenth Century maya
zinc. He shows first that the popular
belief in hell still manifeats itself In the
popular speech. a gambling house, tor
instance, is commonly called hell. ne
use Of the word he'll as an oath is rs ire
Gucnt as ever. The imprccat!on OF dam
nation is not less universal than formerly.
The conception of he'll rs place OF .iTc
and birthstone remains also. and 1t mas
continued without change since the carly
Fathers Of the Church described the nor
rors Of The abode Of TIE damned.
Some Of these DESCRIPTIONS are quoted
by Mr. New, and thcv;esemblc closely he
terrible picture painted by Johnathan Ed
wards IF man, says st. Stephanns'
were to see these miscries, he would not
he able to stir Il limb, and would die N
consistently OF fright jerome arc Ter
tullian never tire eli proving THAI Tie ilFe
of he'll is 4 terrible reality, and tAAf rs
constituents are probably snphrrand t!uld
pitch Every body OF the damned. says
Jeremy Ia, lor is more ioathsomc ara uh-
savorv than Il. million frogs. Any human
idea of hell says ST. Bonaven'ufa. IS
heaven compared with what is really hell.
The damned are 50 closely pac..cd IN he'I,
according 10 another ccclesiastlcai W.I!eE,
that 100, CCG,0 O9, G00-oi them could be con-
tanned in a German mile. Long before
Jonathan Edwards, st. Thomas AQunas
declared that Die redeemed i'll heaven III
have 40 commission for the CanEed III
hell though they Ice their iqrturcs.
As 70 the exact situation Of he!i ~
staac there has been much divergence Of
opinion among tiooIogians i'll Aila@es Il
has been located Fl he poles, AZ the anti
rodcs, in The centre Of the earth. III AiarS.
in the moon, and il The sun. Feriu iIan
aud Dante a;terwa,d placed it in ln cen
FIRE Of he earth, thus representing the
p.rponGcrancc of theological on'n:on nut
,hc absence oi air aud The iHs'l:liclency 81
the room are urged against that view.
Hence the thc9ry Of lis existence IN TIE
san has sprung NJ Among Christians. rs
IT, the shape OF bell, Tie prevailing opla'sA
has been that it is circular, and II is DC
scrihcd as Of EN- uncertain area. As to
tbs nu;ni,cr Of liz Inhabitants there has
been muci. dispute. According II the
view Of those who h9,I to the Gamnafion
Of the heather indiscrimina:cly, it con-
t"ins much more than two-thilas OF tie
human race "'ihc bigger part or men
that have died heretofore are gone 20
TO hell" said Johna'han Edwards in a
sermon at Enfield, in Connecticut, III al.
Gnliclanus Pari-ienss computed that there
are II 49,, 556 devils alone, but otAcr au-
thorit;cs estimate the number as vastly
greater 4 clergyman said in the last
General Assembly If The PrcslFtcria"s at
Detroit that Tie Westminster Confession
doons thirty souls 60 he'll every minute,
43. 300 da:, and i.i,1lG80GO u year, Dr.
Louis du Moulin, Il professor Of history at
Oxford in $3.50, proved from Scripture and
other evidence that no. one in one hun
dred thousand quay, probably, no' one in
million ci mankind. c.o!n Adam down To
our own times, could &c saved. hlichac'
Wigglcsworth. in his Day Of Doom, i
humane enough to imagine that the non
elect infants will be consigned to the
$ Easiest .ocm in he'll.
Modern sentiment is Mortified by sncl
pictures Of Tie fate Of he vast majority 81
manknd and under liz influence Che
movement for getting rid OF The bell o! the
Westminster Confession has gathered
force. As that standard represents tho
do.mas Of ihc Ca!vnisic Churches gen
orally, Inc hell Of the old theology viii
speedily disappear altogether from Prot
cs:anlism if the enterprise is successful!
Il cannot so without radically changing
the very foundations ot Protestant bellies!
even if they are rot destroyed utterly
Human society would also he affected po%-
crrullv BIZ the extinction Of the popular
belief in everlasting punishment, AID the
popular fear OF tic terrible consequences
TO The individual which go with donla
Of the faith ol Christianity.
Yet Professionalism is unqucstionablI de-
tcrmined TO modify The theory OF he gov
crnmcnt of God, so that it Shall be recon,
cilablc with the present sensitive aver,
sion to tho infection Of pain on man OF
beast. That resolutc purpose is at thc
bottom of the tl!colo@ica! controversy
which is now raging throughout Protes-
lant orthodoxy.