St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-19
1.-THE CATHOLIC HE'LL. +"
AN INTERESTING SERMoy 8Y REV
JOHN CONWAY
AT CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE.
Palm Sunday Proves an EventfuI
Day for the Worshipers of
this Parish-A Description OF
the Able Sermon of Father
Conway.

Palm Sunday was an eventful day for
the members OF ST. Lawrence parish.
! Their little church at the corner of
! Twelfth avenue and Seventh street
| southeast, was i'll a resplendent garb,
! and was worShiped in for the first time
since the improvements and decorations
! OF the interior were completed. The
| event called for something more than
the everyday exercises and customary
/ Sunday night sermon, so Rev. John
| Conway. the professor of English liter
/ AZURE and elocution at st. Thomas
seminary and president of the ST. Paul
! Press club, occupied the pulpit He was
III his usual eloquent mood. ami handled
the somewhat fervid subject. 1.-The
Catholic He'll" in as delicate and pictu-
rescue manner as though his topic We're
OF things Elysian. The attendance was
very large, and several people were
obliged TO stand in the aisles, owing to
every seat being filled.
| Ihe ST. Lawrence church was built
about five years ago. but it was not
! until September of 1892 that the con-
! gregatlon enjoyed the advice and elo-
| quence of pastor. Rev. c. GEMS, of
Gracevllle, took charge OF the affairs of
the parish at that time. The congrega-
! ton now numbers 125 families. The
decorations and improvements of the
church referred to consist of 4 remodel
! ing OF the interior, the building of a
new altar. the decorating OF the walls
and ceilings and the hanging OF num-
Der Of paintings representing the holy
family and the patron saints. The gal
lery has also been completed, and now
the little edifce has 4 seating capacity
| of over 500.
! During his discourse last evening.
Rev Conway delivered himself of the
! following thoughts:
THE CATHOLIC HE'LL.
1t is not easy 10 treat with scientific
calm question of such awful import
! ance as that of hell. Perhaps because
II belongs to the region of the unseen.
probably because so little can be known
about It. likely because it is the sure lot
OF some that the subject has such cease
less interest for US. Every since ST.
Faul drew up his list of sins which ex-
clude man from heaven, preachers have
gone on teaching their people the doc
trlne OF hell. Books, booklets. magazine
articles. newspapers even OF the lighter
VEN discuss 1t almost with the eager
ness of a new discovery.
Since definition should not settle a
disputed point, and as there are MANY
such III connection with hell, it is moi
be accepted by all. The following is
often given: He'll is place or a state
IN which the devils and those who die
IN mortal sin will be punished forever
Every age has lent its color to the way
i'll which the doctrine of hell is put for
ward. Dante, who was a child when
Thomas Aquinas was 4 man. says:
All hope abandon, ye W no enter here
Medieval preachers give mind pict
ures of heIl's horrors, ami of a god
gloatIng over crushed and b!eadiny
mass OF humanity. The Stygian dark
ness of never-ending night and the blue
nameS OF birthstone are some of the
salient points of these Sc rnuns. Yet. if
one remember that women were muir
dertd for wi chcraft, that men were put
10 death for petty thievery, that people
were burned at the stake for their re-
llglous opinions, we must not be sur
priscd to find the sha dows of hell dark
ened and deepened in the pictures
drawn by the preachers of such times.
The church has not said much Oil the
question OF hell: theologians have said
great deal. The church has defined
only two points regafding it, The first
Is that there IS hell: the second is that
the pains of hell are eternal. The
theoiogianS ask where he'll is, but to the
query they give no satisfactory answer
No one believes the old opinion that it
is III the center of the earth. There is
DO authoritative statement as 10 what
nell Is. But, in order to get some idea
or this branch of the question, we must
consider between the pain of loss ana
the pain of sense. The pain of loss
means exclusion from heaven. or de-
privation of the vision of God. This
seems 10 be the very essence of hell.
The knowledge of exclusion from heay-
ell through ones fault is a terrible num-
ls!lnent- As tie magnet blindiy turns
toward the pole, so does the soul strive
toward God. But the damned soul.
though 1t may struggle violently, must
struggle vaiDly. BY the pain of sense
theologianS mean all the other suffer-
lngs of the damned except the pain OF
loss. The church has defined nothing
regarding the fire of hell. and she is
equally silent about the intensity of lis
IanPn
bind us 10 believe that the fire OF hell
is material fire. If it affects pure spirits
1t must be very different from what We
call fire. That it is fire in the strict
sense is only matter of opinion; that
it is material fire is also a matter of
opinion. Though ST. Ambrose taught
that the fire of hell : figurative, still
the great body o IL JIogians are
against him. Christ speaks of the
worm which dieth not. and
the fire which is not quenched.''
The worm is clearly the sting of
conscience. If the first clause of
this passage be thus taken in a figura-
tive sense, so also must the second.
Here the fire spoken of is not material
!. but symbolic. On this l need hot dwell.
for my chief work is with the official
teaching of the church and not with the
mere opinions of theologians. All
Christians admit that there is a mitiga-
ton of the punishment of the lost in the
sense that God does not punish the
damned IN proportion to their sins.
Thus His mercy endureth forever"
Whether there is lessening in any
other sense of the punishment of the
damned l know not. The church has
said nothing about it; theologians have
been permitted to advocate it; st.
Augustine holds it. and an ancient
Lain misSal has prayer to that end.
However, il is not easy to see how such
teaching is consistent with the defined
doctrine of the church regarding the
eternity of the pains of he'll. Cardinal
Newman says: The great truth is
that death ends our probation and set