The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-10-22
HE'LL FIRE EXPLAINED AWAY.
Universalist Idea of Ge~henna-Ser'
mon by Rev, VII Vail.

- ~
The Rev. Charles H. Vail of the First
his third lecture on He'll" He talked
on Hell Fire"
1--WE are to consider this evening"
said he, 1.-The meaning of the word
Gehenna, which is one Of the words
translated He'll in the New Testament.
h word Gehenna is compounded, as
all agree, of &c and Hinnom, that is,
the Valley of Hinnom, and that valley
with its fire and corruption is in the
Old Testament made a symbol of tenn
poral calamity. This valley was located
at the south of Jerusalem, and into it
were cast all kinds of filth, together
with the carcasses of beasts and the
unburied bodies of criminals who had
been executed. Continual fires were nee
essary in order to consume these, and
there were always worms feeding on
the remaining relics. Hence 1t came
that any severe punishment, especially
any shameful kind of Go1th, was denomi-
mated Gehenna. 1t stood as an emblem
of the consequence of sin, of the spirit
ua1 results of wrongdoing, n was
employed, figuratively, to denote such
sequences, but only in this world. But
in the Old Testament it was used in
it's literal or geographical sense only.
The New Testament usage shows that,
while it hadn't lost wholly its htera!
sense, it WIS also employed as a symbol
of moral corruption and as a figure
of terrible judgments of Goo on the re
bellious nation of he Jews.
This conception was always connect
ity near Jerusalem. The phrase un,
uuenchable fire, or the fire that is not
q%uenched, should be translated quench-
less fire, a fire that should mot be ex-
.-&.l = nod ,aann1-EShn cd ~
purpose. Strabo calls the lamp in the
Pantheon and Plutarch calls the sa-
cred fire in the temple unGuench-
able, though they were e~Xtinguished ages
ago. Josephus say the fire on the al
tar was ~unquenchable, n Eusebius
speaks of certain martyrs being burned
In unquenchable fire. Throughout the
Old Testament the phrase is used w1th
IDENTIFY means that it is better to accept
Christianity and forego some worldly ad-
vantages or privileges than to possess
all such and be overcome in tee destuc-
millions were literally cast into
Gehenna-
COR it may be. used, figuratively, today
thus:-It is better to enter the Christian
comparable to q right hand han to. live
in sin with all such advantages and
experience the. moral death, which Is
Gehenna of the Q Embrace the
C0TlSlidIt HE, WideSsOi SoSshNSI
call for-that is the point emphasized;
The worms that breed in the filth OF
Gehenna are made emblems of the cor
ruption of the sinful soul in this world.
Thus our text is applicable today. II
is this He'll, this condition brought upon
the soul by sin, that we should avoid
Although we deny that Hell denotes a
place of endless torture, we neverthe-
less hold that the consequences of sin
extend into the spirit world. The Bible
hell signifies, as we have seen, literally
| the grave. death or the Valley of Hin
nom, fguratively the consequences OF
sin in this world, the moral and spiritual
salists Their believe in Hell-the Hell
of the Bible, The full consequences OF
sin, its sequences and the Biblical idea
of punishment as held by Uniyersalists
will be treated next Sunday evening.