The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-04-22
I have several times been told, when

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do hope that the Neus and Courier
will touch them up on this point and
encourage them to be faithful in this
duty. I have been preaching to the
preachers and people for many years
along this line, but the devil and the
politicians and the newspapers scare
them off by telling them this is
"preaching politics." And want the
News and Courier to tell the preach.
ers that this not preaching politics."
but religion in politics, and you'll
thereby strengthen their moral back
bones wonderfully When you come
down hard on the preachers for
not preaching against lynching, don't
forget to give them q lick Of two for
their remissness in not preaching more
than they do against corrupt politics,
and corrupt and wicked men in poll
tics, which is a greater evil than
lyching.
And lastly, and above all, I want
you, Mr.. Editor, to come down like a
! hail storm upon those preachers who
do not thunder out the denunciations
of Gods wrath in this world, and par
ticularly IN the world to come, against
all evil doors. [ cannot but believe
that the wickedness, lawlessness and
terrible crimes Of these times are
largely owing to the fact that a great
many people do not really believe in
the doctrine of a hell, or that there
is any awful punishment in the future
world for wickedness and crimes COM
mitted in this. There is a subtle
skepticism and irreligion in the world
to-day that is as deadly to all law and
order and civilization as 'the pesti-
lence that wasteth al MONDAY" and
destroys health and life. The belief
and conviction that there is a hell
seems to be fast fading out of the
hearts any consciences of men, and wo-
full are the consequences. Burns,
in his "Epistle to a young FRIEND
says:
"Tbe fear of hell's a hangman's whip,
TO hold the wretch in order;
And when YOU feel your memory grip,
Aye, let that be your border"
"Honor'' is we'll enough but hon
or's ''grip is greatly strengthened by
the fear of hell" But alas how
many there are are to whom honor is
a thing unknown. When people come
to believe that there is no longer a
hell and laugh at the doctrine of flu
ture punishment, society, like a tub
whose hoops have become slack and
fallen off, falls to pieces, and then
comes anarchy, which means hell on
earth. The only true sanction for hu-
man law is the Divine law extending
over time and eternity, and as infinite
and eternal as God himself, and
whenever Divine law and its penalty
upon transgressors no longer bind the
consciences of men and hold them in
awe, then the ship of State has lost
her rudder, and is rushing fast upon
the breakers. This infdelity about
hell and future punishment is at the
bottom of all our troubles to-day.
Hence comes lynchings, murders, law
l~essness in all it's forms, Sabbath
dissertation, the accursed whiskey
traffic, whose sin of blood-guiltiness
is on the land, and all the other giant
sins that are trampling down our S
to-day.
What makes our Courts of justice
"farces," as Judge Presley said in u
letter to the Neu0s and Courier some
years ago ? Because, as he said, oaths
are no longer sacred with witnesses
and juries in South Carolina. Would
any man. either witness or juryman,
if he really believed that there was a
hell, kiss Gods Holy Book and then
mount the witness stand, and swear
knowingly to a lie? Why the oath is
administered and he is required to
kiss the Bible simply in token Of his
belief that there is a hell. What is
his oath worth if he doesn't believe
that there is a hell for all liars and
perjured persons? Why so corrupt
have our courts become that if it were
that a witness really believed that
there was a hell, and that he was
afraid to swear to a lie that would
send him there, he would hardly be
allowed to give his evidence, and
would certainly be rejected as a jury
man. I wish this was e%xaggeration,
but, alas, it is simply the truth. Do
these lynchers and l%awbreakers gener-
ally believe there is a hell. Surely
if they did they would never exp 7e
themselves to such awful peril. And
whence has come about this paralyz-
ing skepticism as to the doctrine Of
hell and future punishment ? Why
largely, I believe, through the fear of
preachers 70 preach the doctrine. 1t
is not a popular thing to preach. The
old-time preachers Numbered the doc
trine to the guilty, and perhaps went
too far, but this generation of preach
ers have gone to the other extreme
and handle the doctrine very gingerly.
We are getting too nice to say "hell'
and too careful of the feelings Of peo-
pie to tell them that they are going
there unless they repent and amend
their ways.
The Gospel of Sinai and Calvary is
giving way to the Gospel of humanity
that has no hell in it. / saw in Mon
days issue of the Meus and Courier,
during the month of Semptember last,
the report of a sermon preached in
one of the Evangelical churches in
Charleston the Sunday before, in
which the preacher said we must not
preach hell, but the love of God, or
words to that effect, which I know
was very comforting to every rascalin
Charleston that read it. But why, l.
would like to ask that preacher, did
God love the world and give His Son
to die for it, if 1t was that the world
might not perish-that is, be saved
from hell I? In the same grand Scrip
ture that declares so gloriously the
love of God is also set forth the wrath
do, as God against the unbelieyiug
sinner.
Now, dear Brother Neps and
Courier, and give us your infu-
ence and help in stiffening out
our preachers to declare in no meas
ured and honeyed phrases the wrath
of God against all evil doors from the
highest to the lowest. And what ia
ILL., .l l. 49, >.o,or