The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-01
BIG PREACHERS ON HE'LL.

Last Sunday night Rev. DR.. John l..
Withrow of the Third Presbyterian
church at Chicago said he did not be-
lieve in the doctrine of infant damnation
and that in all his thirty years ministry
he had never taught the doctrine. Among
other things he said;
Many people think there is a hell of
material fire and try to prove 1t by men-
tioning the places in the Bible where
fire, smoke, birthstone, etc, are alluded
10. These terms are simply used TO show
that there will be a punishment of some
kind for the wicked. They carry no
more significance in relation TO the
future than the terms Gods eyes, hands,
feet. or other terms referring to Gods
physical body. We use these terms for
our short senses. President Potion of
Princeton college says: From the ne
cessity of the case the sufferings which
are to come are to be in strength accord
ing to the crime: a party less guilty than
another TO receive less punishment.
We must not think that the lost are to
be condemed to material fire.
Another form of belief that is revolving
is that children will be condemned to
hell. Such belief is the result of the
densest ignorance on the part of the
people. 1t is simply horrible. The
foundation of the belief is that before
the reformation-and many today re-
man in the same state of ignorance
it was believed that unbaptized infants
would be consigned to hell. This is very
unfair. There Is no necessity for infants
10 be baptized, although it is a right
they have TO demand of the church. 1t
is a frequent occurrence for mothers to
come TO me and request me to baptlZe
their dying babes. | always tell them
that 1t Is unnecessary; that it Is the di-
vine will of God that all babies should
be saved. How can we arrive at any
other conclusion? Did not Christ gather
the little children in His arms and bless
them, saying: Suffer little children
and forbid them not 10 come unto Me.
for of such is the kingdom of heaven
In commenting on this sermon, Pro-
fessor Swing said:
The CalvinistS used to think some in
fants would De punished forever" he
continued, but the later rendering of
the creed does not make such a conclu-
sion necessary. DR.. Withrow's remarks
are all correct, and all good Presbyter-
ians can accept them. His church used
to believe that only elect infants would
be saved. The later Presbyterians saw
all infants are elect. They believe, too.
that hell is simply the suffering for sin
for example, remOrse and regret for evil
done. In the spiritual world this feel
ing. they believe. becomes exceedingly
and is symbolized by fire and
a worm-hgures of speech only. So it
Is plain that DR.. WIthrow is all right"
Rev. Dr. Simon Mcpherson of the Sec
ond Presbyterian church commented on
Or. Wiihrow's sermon as follows:
As for infant damnation I never be-
lieved in il. That there is no literal
burning in he'll no one eau say until the
day. A. to the heat OF hell
| have always understood that its tenn
perature Is above the normal | never
was very good on geography and can't
therefore say anything as to boundaries.
Spiritual, not physical, torment: Bring
me some one back who can answer that I
question and lie will relieve lot of
minds.
At the same hour when DR.. Withrow
was preaching at the Presbyterian
church, Rev. o. P. Clifford fired the fol- .
lowing gospel gun al Emmanuel Baptist 4
church in that city. He said:
Sometimes it seems as though We
thought the infinite was a Pullman car.