The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1897-11-19
No birthstone.

WOulu nave iiilieu H'e eaVei oo"'
with envy. We quote, as follows:
have found several people who
have been suffering from even the
modern view of hell, and the more
that l have meditated upon it, and
have inquired concerning it, have l
become convinced that this thought is
keeping millions of people in spiritual
bondage. | do not mean the thought
of some disciplinary process for the
future, as | shall have occasion to
say at future time, but l do mean
the conception of the possible and
certain eternity of what we now call
evil. The harboring of such a
thought breeds low ideas of God and
humanity, of the race and of individ-
uals. 1t produces fear and harshness
and moral blindness and self-conceit
and senseless Observation-Disclosures
among otherwise good people.
A man may fail to be strictly hon
est in his business dealings, he may
be selfish in his relationship to his
nearest friends and lnconsiderate
and unkind to his wife and children,
and yet lie awake nights in concern
for his neighbor who is honest, kind,
gentle and unselfish, for fear that this
neighbor may suffer in eternity be-
cause his theological opinions are not
correct.
Come, it is time that we awakened
from this nightmare of heritage from
senseless past We have out
grown much-it is time to outgrow
more. We have cast much useless
cargo over board let us dispose of
this senseless and demoralizing bur
den also. But we are told that we
must not give up the thought of the
existence of hell for fear we should
encourage men to live in sin. Hear
me the fear of hell never saved a
man from one sin. "We are saved by
hope"
Do you really believe that the
wretched people who have not pos
sessed correct opinions concerning
theological dogmas which have them
selves changed with the changing
centuries, are now groaniug in end
less misery, either physical or mental
Do the primeval peoples, for the SIN
of incompleteness agonize in world
of living death, hopeless of any de-
liverance or further growth ? Are
the countless billions of historic and
prehistoric men writing in impelish-
able flames !? Do all the .l,eathen OF
our time 90 where the worm dietl
not, and the fire is not quenched
Are the unbeleving peoples Of today
who have not appreciated or confess,
ed some Christian dogmas dying IN.
to an eternal torment! Are the llv-
ing muItiludes, save your own lnsl9-
nifcant division Of religious secta1es
on their way to endless woe ! Do
our heroes who could not see what
you saw or thought you saw OF the
supernatural character Of the match
| less man of Nazareth 90 to an inter
minable hell F.? Dare you teach youl
children that Abram Garfield went
to heaven, because he had q certain
opinion about Jesus, aud had con-
fessed ii by openly joining the church
that bears his name, and that Abra.
ham Lincoln went to hell because he
had not !! Is your cleedess father
in an endless hell Of torture T! Did
your weak and Maynard boy stumble
into dark cavern of remediiess woe
Where are we? Is this the first cen
turv of our civilization or the close
of the 18th
Let us shake ourselves and wake
up. Let us believe that this is a
good universe. For myself, | would
rather 90 to jonathan Edwards S
hell, with pillows of fire sweeping
over me, and have my sutferings add
to the felicity of the saints on the
battlements of heaven, than TO join
those saints in their horrible glee
and l would rather descend to the
lowest depths of any hell conceived
in modern or ancient thought than to
continue to believe in the justice OF
the love of the exlsuwgre Of eternal
evil anywhere in the universe
1t is only mock-heroic to defy all
the demons and devils and bells and
superstitions of all creation, but |
would | might utter positive word
and bid you believe that there is nc
worse world than this to which man
has access-that this world is better
than it used TO be, and that it will be
vastly better in the future than it is
now.
And now, practically, let our great
hope create high ideal 1t could
not be too high. Let us be satisfied
with nothing but the best Then
there shall come to US such comfort
that, as LongfelloH Isays, "The set
ting of great hope shall be like the
setting of the sun" Let us call on