Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-28
MERE LITERAL INTERPRETATION
OF FIGURATIYE LANGUAGE.
DR.. C. B. MITCHELL's VIEWS.
INTERESTING DISCOURSE ON AN M
PoRTANT TOPIC.
Sermons by Rev. w. r. Jinnett, of the
Springfield Avenue Christian
Church, and DIR. j. VI. Cro-
mer, of the English
Lutheran Church.

was too small to hold the throngS that
were seeking to gain admission. His topic
was what Has Become of HelI?'' and he
took for his text: Marvel not at this; for
the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in their graves shall hear His voice
and shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and
they that have done evil, unto the resurrec-
ton of damnation." John, v:2S-29.
DR.. Mitchell said:
THAT passage of scripture teaches three
things; namely, a resurrection from the
grave, the separation of the good from the
evil and the continued existence of both the
good and the bad. Many good people would
like to Danish hell. Some think it has
been done. All good people would rejoice
to know that hell and all necessity for it
were forever annihilated. 1t is certain we
know nothing about either hell or heaven
except what is revealed in the Bible. We
are shut up to the Bible in our investiga-
tions concerning the future life. If the
Bible refuses to shed any light on the
future life we are indeed in the dark. We
know as much about the destiny of the
evil as we do about the destiny of the good.
If the Bible teaches that the good are to
be rewarded, it as plainly teaches that the
evil shall be punished. If the Bible is put
into the hands of any unprcjudiced reader,
be he Brahman or Mohammedan, he will
admit that the doctrine of future punish
ment is plainly taught therein. There have
been many false interpretations concerning
the future of the finally impenitent. The
figures of speech employed to describe the
character of the punishment have been un-
wisely handled by eXpositors, and many
figurative expressions have been literally
interpreted. The spirit in which God in
flicts punishment has been most grossly
and wickedly misrepresented. Many have
talked as though they believed God de-
lighted in the woes of His children.
IF we come to this solemn theme in the
right spirit, we will discover, We look
into the Bible, that everything related
therein concerning the future life of the
good and the evil is not simply in harmony
with the character of God, but also in
harmony with the great facts we have dis
covered as operating in the world about
US. The Bible teaches we are under gov
ernment. Does not nature teach the same?
We are all subject to law. The laws to
which we are subject correspond to our
compound nature and relations. There are
physical laws, such as the law of exercise,
of temperance, of rest, of food, to which
are attached certain rewards and penalties.
Good health is the reward of obedience to
those laws, sickness and death the penalty
for their violation. There are mental laws,
which have to do with mental discipline,
the accumulation of knowledge and the
uses of thought, which have their ac-
companyfng rewards and penalties. There
are moral laws, of truth, of justice, of
charity. which have their rewards and
punishments. There are laws which regu-
late the operations of our loftiest char
acteristics, which are as mandatory and
irremediable as any of the other laws
with which we are conversant.
Indeed, these higher laws are so i'm
portant, dealing as they do with our high
est self, that God has given a special reve-
lation of these laws, so that we might not
make a mistake at so vital a point, and He
has plainly shown US this Importance by
revealing the sublime rewards attached to
their obedience and the awful penalties
growing out of their violation. Nature
teaches US the fact that we are under law
here and now. What reason have we to
suppose that if we enter upon a state of
conscious existence hereafter we shall not
still be under government, with its accom-
panying laws and penalties? The Bible
teaches that our future life will depend
upon the character of the life we live in
the present. Our natural reason would
lead US to the same conclusion. We have
come to know how old age is dependent
upon the character of the earlier years.
The boy is father to the man. We lay in
our earlier years the foundation of our
character. We are at 60 what we were
preparing ourselves for during the preced-
ing years. If our old age is fixed by our
earlier years, why may not the character
and conduct of this life fix the character
and conduct of the life to come? The BIZ
BILE but voices the faith of all the sons of
men. Future rewards and punishments are
Mohammedans, the 1590O0,0O0 of Hindoos
and the 300,000,000 of Buddhists as by the
2OO,O00O00 of Christians. This is one of the
dogmas that may be found in all creeds.
1t is hard to find any exceptions to the
rule. We have in Christian lands few
so called 'Universalists, but they no longer
can be accused of denying the existence OF
future punishment. They may have, with
satisfaction to themselves, fixed the term
of the punishment. but the fact of the PEN
atty is now admitted by ALL Indeed, the
term 'Restorationist' would be better de-
scriptive term for such than Universalist.
We must not fail to remember that the
spiritual laws of God express but the con-
ditions of spiritual life. just as the So
called natural laws express the conditions
of natural life. The law of any living thing
is that formula which expresses the condt-
tions of its being, development and health,
A father orders that his son shall eat food.
It Is no arbitrary law of the father. 1t
he eats not he dies. Just so with moral
law. God lays down the conditions of spir-
itual life. If a son, without any prohibition
of his father, hides himself away in a dark
cave, eats carrion, and refuses healthy
food, he viii surely die. So If man, with
out any prohibition of God, hides himself
upon the mountains of unbelief, feeds him
self upon lies, he must suffer moral dis
ease and death.
1.-The commands of God and the laws OF
nature coincide. God does not inf1ict tor
lures upon the lost; they but suffer the
consequences of their self-banishment
from His loving benefcence and help.
'Ephraim is Joined to his idols; let him
aloner No words more terrific! Let him
alonen Let him abide where he chooses to
be! To be away from God! All! that is
HE'LL This banishment from God itself
takes place. we may suppose, not by force
of an armed police, but by the silent, invis-
ible workings of natural and necessary
law. We have discovered that we can take
the very things which God has ordained
for our happiness and so abuse them that
they become the agents OF our deepest
pain.
1.-The eye with its delights may become
burning coal of fire. The ear, with its gal
leries of sweet sounds, may prove the
very torture of the soul. Thus the sublime
characteristics of the mind, made for the
comprehension of the sublimest thoughts
and to be filed with heavenly ecstacies,
may be perverted to unholy uses, and be
no longer capable of worthy employment
No sane man will expect God to reverse his
laws in order to save the rebellious man
who wilfully and perversely violates them.
There must be correspondence between
character and condition. That is a lumin-
Gus word In Scripture describing the final
condition of Judas: He went to his own
.aHANz .F.nl,