St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-11
NO NEW THING.
Traditional He'll, Borrowed From
Pagan Egypt, Disputed Years

Traditional Hell, Borrowed From
Pagan Egypt, Disputed Years
Ago.
"Proyeall things; hold fast that which
is good" was the text Rev. William
Wilkinson, in st. Andrews church,
preached upon yesterday morning. He
said:
The Christian religion has its deepest
foundations, Its prOfOundest justification for
existence, in true, sound. philosophical rca-
son. The apostle calls Christianity reason
abe service. The prophet exhors the men
Of his day 10 put away from them evil and
come and reason with God. II II was, or
could be, on any other lines than these that
men had 10 give obedience, love and rev
erence, then I'm truth would religion be u
system for idiots, but as long az IL
IS the fact that the best is de
manded IN the service Of The Savior
there must ever be wide-open field for
thinkers and workers VINO seek 10 know the
mystery and meaning Of the future life. IL
will not avail men Of dark-age ideas 70 say
that newspaper theOlOgians have raised the
question Of the traditional hell, OF a he'll which
the peoplc have been taught 10 believe In
for that is not true For more than sixteen
hundred historic and eyentful years and at
this instant, the men who have raised this
question have been men OF the very highest
devotion, uDsullled character and schOlas-
hostages to accurate knowledge and hours
20 prayer through long lives of hard
work, who have given their best
powers 10 the study Of hell, and paradise aud
heaven; men as far removed in time as OH
gin who was born In the second century,
ana was one Of the most fertile ana sunny
writers The church ever had, and VINO scOrn
The doctrine OF punishment as being never
ending. 10 Farrar in our own day. Nor IL IL
the few scholars and thinkers who are at
~ ,.t. iela 10 NsEa
ag o in England the discussion Of this sub
ject was about where, in our midst IL stands
today The Christian World, newspaper
asked three distinguished men, Rev DR.. An
gus. Baptist;
Rev. Edward White, n Congregalionalst
and Rev. Andrew Jukcs, an Episcopalian. 10
write three articles each on the Orthodox
view Of hell, on the de1IructiOn OF the wicked
and life only In Christ aud upon final
restoration Of all souls 10 Cad and holiness
No three men in all England better
fit for such "a task could have
been found. Pussy, Newman, Manning,
Oxenham Canon Tucock. Rev. Dean
Plumtre, W. X. Huntington and host Of
other learned men, have published books
upon "Eschotology, or Life After Death"
IL is u mistake to suppose that hell OF
literal fire is product of the revelation given
in the Bible. Egypt, as IS well known, started
IT, 1t came from a land Of supersutions.
Babylon adopted II. Priest and ruler
used it for purposes Of police, but
10 Is not possible TO show that
1t was taught in the Old Testament Script
ures. even for the yilest sinners. Abel killed
his brother every crime known was done,
but no literal everlasting, neycrenGing he'll
was threatened. The word in the Hebrew
translated hell Is the one used by Jacob
when he says, 4 will go down to the
grave for my son-mourning. But lie
did not mean orr hell, surely. ] could
quote a hundred orthodox authorities TO
establish the statement that in the main the
rewards Of life of religion, where looked
upon chiefly as being on the earth, but IL
would require very special pleading 10 find
our traditional hell IN prophet, psalmist or
seer, in the Olden time. whose words are in
Holy Scripture.
II have said all this to show two things
that it is not wicked ignorant, flippant ir-
religious men who have rcYolted against
the traditional hell OF literal. never ending
fire; second, that it is not men who have
slight or sighting views OF sin
who have done So Sin is real. sin
il the abomnable thing God doth hate.
But from all this IL does not follow, as light
succeeds the night, that therefore the tradi-
tional, material, everlasting hell OF fire and
birthstone is reality. II II were, every III.
stnct Of love every principle involved IN
the word justice, not to say mercy, demand
that IL should. in clearest words. have been
residence upon earth.
In saying this ii must not be understood
that retribution for sin is questioned, for ii
is not. / notice with pain that the word ret
ribution is used ana used for a purpose,
when everlasting, never-ending, neYer-im-
proving punishment is meant. This is
adroit. II hides an ugly creed. But, like
cats foot when she sits On the heart >,
the claws are there. though folded away
for the time. The traditional hell suppOses
that the heather are lost: that the children
of now Christian parents, when they die in
childhood, are damned; that their case is
hopeless No SKILL dialectics, no smart use
of words, no measured sentences OF pleasant
melody, in euphonious language. Will escape
the incidence of the logic, which says that
such IA creed is absolutely out OF harmony
with the primal instincts of the
soul. That creed which every mother
who understands it will truly cast
from her, if she deserve the name. cannot le
of God In the dark ages, when the multi
tude could not read and dared not think;
when the minds of men were warped by
superstition; when the faith III ghosts was
was universal, ana slavery thought 10 be
divine institution; when kings were said to
the will of and In the interest
of the people, it was possible TO
accept this traditional view OF hell. Good
men did so accept il, as they accepted the
doctrine that witches could, by their evil eye,
make COWS cease 10 give milk. and, as a con.
sequence, burned the witch TO death. But
these views are as dead as the sphynx in the
deserts Of Egynt Men are understand
ing God, Christ, salvation, retnbution
for sin. and the joys OF heaven as
never till our own time they did. 1t is the
imperative duty of every man to use his best
endeavor TO understand what philosophy and
the Bible alike teach on the state of life pass
best he can. So does he honor his own man
hood.