The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-06-08
A BURNING QUESTION.
What Is He'll, Where Is 1t,
and How DO People
Go Theref
HAS IT COOLED OFF ANY!
Pastor scuddei's Philosophical
Discussion of Eternal Pun
ishment.

/, 25. "Judas by transgression fell, that
he might 60 to his own place.
"a young gentleman, some time since,
speaking with me on the subject OF fu-
ture punishment" said the pastor, asked
me IL In my Judgment. He'll had cooled
of during the last fifty or one hundred
years. His question was quaint one
and it set me thinking upon this topic of
retributson, which has given the people
more concern than all other theological
doctrines put together. What did the
young man mean Did he mean to in
innate that a popular revolution had
taken place in reference to the idea of He'll;
that the p ulpit did not preach nor the pen
believe In the old crude notions of
material torments in another world
and that the wicked would suffer unre-
mitting and excruciating agony forever
and everf Then / answer his question in
the affirmative. The fiery hell OF mediae-
val conception has cooled off considerably
in the calm atmosphere os modern
thought. If by his question he wished to
know whether sin had become whit less
awful than 1t always has been, or the vio-
lations OF the great interchangeable laws OF
the Universe visited with milder penal
ties than they used to be. | answer his
Human opinions aud Interpretations
may change; enlightened Christian seuti-
ment may change and outgrow and cast
away the worn out garment Of the incor-
rect aud childish mode Of thought; but
the fundamental facts of human nature,
as we see them in ourselves and those
about us, these we cannot change IL we
would. Eternal truth never cools of.
WHAT IS ITf
''Isthere any hell! 1t there Is, what do
we mean by iti Where is it? How do
people 90 there? How long do they
stay thereS These are burning questions
well worth our contemplation, aud touch
ing which we should have very positive
aud definite ideas. In a previous discourse
on Heaven / defined Heaven to be a con-
dition OF happiness growing out Of holl-
ness; aud now | declare Hell--the oppo-
site Of Heaven--to be a condition of un-
happiness resulting from sin This is
something which everyb body eau under
stand and in which everybody believes.
The reward Of virtue Is peace and con-
tentment; the outcome Of vice is misery
and discomfort. In this world we see
heavens and hells innumerable, and IL
people commence in the next life rs they
leave off in this land we have reason to
believe that they do), we are forced to
the conclusion that there will be heavens
and hells hereafter. Judas Iscariot
through transgression fell from the lofty
position he occupied aud went into his
own place. IL ever there was a mean,
contemplate man in this world that man
was Judas Iscariot; O cunning, grasping
hypocritical, treacherous. ungrateful
viper, who betrayed his Master for the
sum Of four deiiars and fifty cents. aud
whose rlortal life very fittingly ended in
suicide. The text suggests two thoughts.
First, Judas fell. BY giving away to his
evil propensities he gradually sank in the
scale of being. His decleDsion was a
oh uo
1t was accompanied and followed by tor
menf. Secondly, ne choose his own path.
His reason is self-induced. He went of
his own accord to his own place. Herein
we find two important facts respecting
future punishment. The first is. tnat re-
tribution is spiritual. The second is. that
punishment Is not so much the infection
of an angry God as the natural and in
evitable consequence OF violated law.
Tin this enlightened age none but ex-
ceedingly Ignorant people believe In
hell OF literal fire. This used 60 be the
belief OF entire Christendom a couple of
years ago, and here and there it even ex-
Tended itself into the early part of our
own century; but you flnd nothing of this
sort in the sermons of today-certainly
not In the Protestant Church; and when
such man as Bob Ingersoli accuses u s
OF holding to any such doctrine, he says
what he knows or ought to know is not
true. He quotes from the past and pre-
tends he is attacking the beliefs of the
present. If Ingerson would go to church
ence in while, and listen to what
Clergyman are teaching upon this and
kindred topics, his Imagination would
not run away with him so often
as it does, and his eIratic
statements would be few hunored
miles nearer the truth"
Mr. Scudder then recited various de-
scriptlons of the lake OF brimstone as
taught by theologians a few centu ries
ago, and which the minister declared that
in these days were real curiosities and
antiquated relics. Theologians of past
centuries he maintained had mis- taken
symbols for facts. Beneath these sym
bols there lay great truths that cannot be
questioned. The fires of Gehanna sup
plied the Jewish Imagination with It's
symbols of hell. The term in Greek in
time became the equivalent OF our word
He'll
GEHENNA.
I'm this valley south of Jerusalem, /" said
the minister, twas thrown the refuse of
the city, and here also the unburied bod
les of malefactors were thrown The
stencil of this place was far worse than
that arising from the Grand street dumps.
1t was uncomfortable, and il became such
breeder of pestilence that the authori-
ties were Obliged TO burn up everything
which was flung into II. As refuse was
always accruing in this quarter, the fires
were IN perpetual existence, ana the
smoke could always be seen rising up
into the sky. Here was the place where
the worm died not and the fire was never
qusnched. The stupidity OF later gener-
atoms took these symbols literally and
applied Them directly to the future state.
Our forefathers failed TO see the manifest
inconsistencies OF their position. In
those days. in fact, men used very little
reason in religion. How could spiritual
bodies burn in physical fame? How
could any kind of body burn forever?
How could worms live in the midst of
hamef Again, Christ spoke of that as
place of outer darkness Now, 10 take
these symbols literally we must solve
the problem how darkness could
exist in ths presence of fire. A literal in
depreciation of Biblical symbols. you OBJ
serve, makes perfect havoc of your the
oiogy. You cannot carry II out either in
reference 10 Heaven or He'll The actual
fact is this:-Heaven or He'll is right here
in our own bosoms. Our Saviour init
mates this in reference TO He'll and posi-
lively states that the kingdom of Heaven
is within yon.' Heaven is not perpetual
marriage supper or playing eternally on
harps. lB is not meat and drink IL is
righteousness and peace and joy. Simi-
larly he'll IS not q red hot oven. What
then is it, will tell you what it Is. II
is self condemnation aud remorse; the
sense Of moral failure ana neglected op-