The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-06-19

Ot. Alexoo0eH Alto00 81 The RiPOt Pres.
bvserian Church On the Subject
Hell and Future Punishment" vas the
subject of Dr.. Alexander Alison al the
First Presbyterian church las: evening.
His text WAS Matthew xxv:4s: And
these shall go away into everlasting pun
ishment: bat the righteous into life
eternal" DR.. Alison opened his discourse
as follows: lone Of the grandest texts of
Scripture 10 the following: God will
eth not the death of any, but that all
should Nrn unto Him and live What
does this imply. Among other things il
implies this: Whatever hell may have
been II was not primarily intended for
man. Nor is this implication aughs save
scriptural, for We read In the Bible tina.
hell MAS originally prepared for the devil
and his Angels What, then, is our con-
ciusion! Surely thus: Man has no bu.;-
ness there. II be goes there he goes
against the will Of God; against, 1T least,
his Fathers longing desire in his behalf,
because he preferred in this life the things
that are unholy rather than those which
m axe for Righteousness. In short, he is
alone to blame: it is his own fault.
The citizen Of hell earns his re-
ward. Hear the Bible: The wages of
sin is death What Is meant? Clearly
this: Sin earns its pay and is en-
titled TO receive what it earns
by all of She laws of justice.
And what 10 that? Is it no: spiritual
death? Is it not separation from life with
God? Is 1t not what the Scriptures call
he'll! There Is no injustice in hell any
more tnan there is in heaven. lie who
does not deserve to go into perdition, who
does not earn his right, who does not de-
hberateiy choose like Judas, to go to his
own place. will never so there"
DIR. Alison then gave description of the
hell Of mythology leading up to that of
Dante, as set forth in his wonderful poem,
1.-The Inferno" in which that poet made
every inhabitant Of that region
the slave of his own bc.e.ting sin,
seeking in vain its qualification.
DR.. Alison then gave some illustrations
from personal observation of the horrors
OF the drink appetite, delirium tremens,
and drew the conclusion that such q con-
di,ion here Was surely sufficient to prove
the possibilities Of unbridled passions in
the world to come, where . man went into
the spiritual spheres with his heart I'M
changed and his appetites unbroken.
In the course Of the further development
of his theme he gave the derivation
of the word ''hell," its history and
its original evolution as connected meta.
phoricaily with the valley OF Hinnom,
outside the walls of Jerusalem. He
quoted also from the eminent DIR. Hodge,
OF Princeton. regarding the trend Of Holy
Scripture from Genesis to Revelation as
showing the doctrine Of a separation in
the world to como between the good and
the bad. as indicated in the text: And
these shall go away into everlasting
punishment. but the righteous unto life
eternal" He spoke also of the Roman
Catholic doctrine Of purgasory and urged
its unscripturalness and unreasonahieness
He concluded with an argument as TO the
eternity Of future punishment. showing
that as the joys of heaven are eternal 30
the remorse Of those outside Of II will
never end. He closed as follows:
Let us remember as We sum up our
study Of the evening:
(a) There is hell ~ surely as there is o
heaven.
(b) IL is forever Just as surely as heaven
is.
(c) Its fires are not material. but they
are far worse. The tires Of passion and APP
petite unbridled. with no object on which
to crafty their burning desires. added to
the sting Of never-ending remorse, the
child Of an acute and accusing conscience
will not these be painful enouuh? What
material FIRE may give to the body
more than surpassed By the soul
agony which these intenser flames
will certainly produce. But Why shoud
any one go TO bell? Have We not observed
in the opening Of our discourse that he
who does so, does so OF his own free will.
voluntarily. spontaneously rejoice that
/ can say TO every one in this presence.
yea, to every child of Adam, 'God so loved
the world that He gave His only bego,,en
Son that whosoever beiieveth in Him
should not perish but have everlasting
life" a. also the following: Turn yc turn
We! for WHY will We die?"