The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-01

AhohuOhO . huptIihCoo VI PCuSO, III Ooi oh
or heaven, while | knew or believed
those l loved were suffering an etern-
ity of hopeless torment. And then to
think that the loving Jesus taught
such doctrinel If it had been Mo-
loca ,or Milton's devil! But the blessed
Christi
Do men know what they are talk
ing about when they charge the Sa-
viour of the world with teaching
dogma which, if true, would unpara-
disc heaven, make the angels weep,
and shroud the throne of God in
mourninga We read of Rachel weep
ing for her children,-God himself
would weep through all eternity for
his lost sons and daughters! Men
reason ds though all were monsters,
and there was no such thing in crea-
ton as loving heart. To be plain,
affirming the truth of the dogma of
endless hell torments, seems to me
but little short of bowling insanity.
And of one thing 1 am sure to make
people believe the Bible teaches it, is,
in this civilized and enlightened age,
the most effectual way of making
skeptics ever yet devised. In ages Of
darkness and barbarism it might 90,
but not now.
I heard your remarks at the burial
of your sister, and was inexpressibly
shocked to hear you talk of the prob
ability that she was endlessly damned
with apparent unconcern. Such
things are among the strangest of
life's occurrences. Of course / do
not doubt that you loved your sister.
How then was it possible for you to
retain your reason, if you believed
what your words seemed to imply :?
cannot solve the moral riddle.
Christ teaches that our first and
great duty is to love God with all
our heart. To believe that he will
inhict terrible punishment for sin, as
the Bible teaches that he will, would
in no way interfere with this love,
but rather promote it, if at the same
time we believed, as Paul teaches in
the 18th of Hebrews, that this pun
ishment is one of the means of saliva
ton, and together with other means
will finally accomplish its object in
the case of every son and daughter of
humanity. But to believe that at
death he will place us where we can
not repent, and then torture us
through eternity, for no good object,
as red savage tortures his victims
how could you love him in that cases
Could you love the devil? But this
devil, if he existed, was not our
creator-not responsible for our ex-
istence-could not, if he would, save
us, or even end our miserable being.
But God is all this, and can do all
this, and yet he will not. He is our
father, and claims to love us. He
spoke us into being, knowing what
would be our wretched fate. He
could end our sufferings by single
word, but never will. To command
us to love such being would be the
most cruel mockery-the most terrible
irony-that could possibly be en-
bodied in human language. What a
remarkable twist a mind must have
received, to believe this to be the
teaching of the glorious Gospel of
the blessed God-the good news of
Christ! This indeed used to be the
burden of all preaching-a terrible
4gacy from the dark ages, and from
paganism. But the Christian world
is now becoming ashamed of it, and
it is seldom mentioned except by a
few cranks whose misguided zeal out
runs their knowledge, like the writer
of the tract you sent.
AS to the texts of Scripture referred
to, of course letter cannot do the
work of a commentary, in showing
their true meaning, or clearing them
of the false interpretations which have
been foisted into them. You ask if
God means what he says when he de-
clares unbelievers shall be damned.
Decidedly But when you assume
that instead of condemnation to ade-
quate punishment, he means endless
torment, you beg the entire question.
The word in the Bible means nothing
of the kind. Surely there would be
no Comfort" to an unbeliever in such
a declaration: and even less to low
ing Christian heart. 1t is one of the
denominations of superstition, or mis-
belief. The texts you quote, q John
Wiz, and John iii:36, } show the true
meaning-"hath everlasting life"-
spiritual life-not shall have it. OF
course no unbeliever is saved; but