St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-20

eXiStellce OF JUlS punlSTmenJ as certain.
al h0ugh, | may add. there has been no
formal church definition on the matter.
The words of Scripture are: depart
from me into everlasting fire''-"EVery
one shall be sailed with fire."
In regard to those sutferings, two eX-
tremes are to be avoided. They are 10
be described neither in such arepulsive
manner as to shock needleSsly our
ethical perceptions, nor with such mild
ness as to induce the fancy that hell
ceases to be strong deterrent against
sin.
Descriptions OF Suffering.
A great deal of the wording OF Scrip
ture is symbolical. The worm that
dieth nop' is the remorse of conscience.
Other descriptions Of the life OF the
damned are, also, metaphorlcal. The
idea of the blessed Lord and OF the in
spired writer's was to teach In intelligi-
bic language the severity of suffering.
The great Roman theoIOgian, Perrone,
says that it is no article Of faith, that
the very fire OF hell is not metaphorical,
although, he adds, asserting that this
would be- departure from the common
teaching of the church. One OF the
Roman congregations has recent
ly held that there is "A
moral obligation on Catholics to
believe that the fire OF hell is a mate
rial, cOrporeal fire. But, even so, a
writer i'll the Dublin Review is able to
say: "Catholic tradition does not teach
anything about the nature of the fire OF
hell except that it is not metaphorlcal,
is not mental or imaginary or spiritual;
but that 1t is material and eternal, acts
Immediately on the persons of the lost,
and is accompanied by pain on the part
OF those who are subjected to it,"
Indeed, fire even on the earth is OF so
many kinds and degrees that any plct-
ure of burning Goals and heated metal,
though useful as an analOglcal lllustra-
ton, is Of no use whatever to theo-
logan or philosopher. Heat is mode
OF motion. Fire is simply corporal
substance under the influence of that
kind OF motion or energy which is called
heat. If the lost are punished cor
poreally, the instrument of their pun
lshment will be that energy which plays
the chief part in the fashioning and
transforming of the universe. ''He will
arm the creature for the revenge of His
enemies" st. Augustine wrote: "Of
what nature is the fire of hell. think
no man knows. unless he whom per-
chance the Holy Ghost teaches"
Medieval paintings of battlings be-
tween demons and lost souls, eXagger-
ated and, sometimes, grotesque descrip-
lions made by popular preachers, are to
be taken as striking warnings that for
the sinner lit is a terrible ending to fall
into the hands of the living God" 1t is
a most imperfect manner of human
speech 10 say of God that He is angry
or vindictve. God is subject to no pas
sion. His decree of everlasting justice
simply goes out with that of creation
itself, and works as TRANQUILITY and as
irrevocably as the law comprising the
material heavens.
Nor must we approach the contempla-
ton of the great law of divine justice
with a narrowing view of Gods vast
workings In creation, nor with too
close adherence to mere human senti-
mentality. The lost soul is not the
whole universe; nor are Gods laws
directed exclusively to this soul. 1t is
a part of an immense creation. and
comes in for its small portion of Gods
universal government, of which the
great laws cannot be blOtted out from
the divine record because of the failure
of that soul to accommodate itself to
them. Indeed, farther than this uni
verse must we reach up the eye, even
to the bosom of the Infinite. What know
we of the purposes of the divine mind,
of the ends to be obtained in creation.
and hence why should we dare judge
the Infinite by the application of His
laws to that soul? OF one thing
are we absolutely certain, that God
is supereminently just, that not
one soul shall be punished without hav
ing fully deserved its lot, that Gods
mercy is above all His works, and that
no soul shall be lost which will not
have spurned time and again His grace
and pardon, and that souls descending
to hell shall have penalties melted out
Uo them in diversified degrees, exactly
in proportion To their deserts.
What, we call goodness, and what we
accordingly expect from God, is mere
human SentimentalitY. which is often
nothing else than mere softness of
nature, which would spoil even the gov
eminent of family, not to speak of
that of human society, and which ex-
Guides all notion of justice as the basis
OF all right government and as the
necessary condition of moral order.
This supreme justice (which we ac-
knowledge in God is, we must also re-
mark, not merely deterrent or refOrma-
tory, having only in view change of
heart in the culprit; it is eXpiatory and
vindlctiVe in the high meaning OF this
word.
No SentimentaliSm.
In the middle ages people were hard
ened in soul by the harsh conditions of
Iifn ond hppan tbpU nndArfOOly