The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-24
a DOCTRINE.
A Methodist Layman Discusses the
Views of Rev. DR.. Mahin.

To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
The apology of Rev. DIR. r. c. Jones in
the Journal of the 18th inst. for DR.. Mahin's
late deliverance concerning the intermediate
state is not entirely satisfactory. 1t is good
enough as far as it goes. He says truly
that the dogma has been transmitted TO
us Methodists through Mr.. Wesley. who re-
ceived il from the Church of England,
which inherited it from the Roman Church,
but he fails to say that 1t was an invention
of the monks during that period of sensu-
BUSINESS Nhich required every truth to be
taught and enforced by something that
appealed TO the senses. 1t was a necessity
OF the times to make the sheol or hades
of the Bible a vast receptacle for departed
spirits, somewhat after the model of the
Roman infernos. and following that. to
have a good end and a bad end, the lat
ter TO be a bottomleSS pit where fire and
birthstone abounded and the former a de-
lightful land with green fields, delicious
fruits, gorgeous temples and golden streets.
with many private m~ansions-a land of de-
lights and songs But this is not peculiar to
us Methodists; every Protestant Church be-
iieves, or, rather, once did believe, about
the same, for all trace their line back to
the same source and all have inherited the
same notions as to the future life; some
people still believing the fabrication as
though ii were a revelation. But. as DIR.
Jones says, your Richmond correspondent
did DR.. Mahin injustice in ~cOnfounding his
deliverance with the Roman doctrine of
pulgatory. The Roman Catholics are. more
logical than we are. There is a logical rea-
son for an intermediate state with them.
They believe hat a mans state is not fixed
at death, but, under the discipline of pre-
liminary torture. coupled with the prayers
and liberal contributions of surviving
friends no NAV aGGanR formal hlFninpG
and sooner or later be transferred from
the ~purgatory department of sheol TO the
paradise department. the length of time de-
pending somewhat upon the degree of de-
pravity, but more upon the fervor of the
prayers and the liberality of the gifts to
the church.. To be on the safe side they
assume that all are likely to go first to the
purgatOry department. hence prayers and
masses and contributions are offered for
the rest of the souls of popeS, bishops,
priests and all alike. There is no such a
consistent rationale for the Protestant in
termediate state. To gather from what 1
nave occasionally heard from our pulpits
as well as from DR.. Jones's defense. there
is no demand for such a place. since the
fate of the good or bad is DIT once as fixed
as ii ever Will be, though i notice that
this Pigment of medieval times is much less
preached than it used to be, and never but
by a few old people. This is probably why
DIR. Mahin'S sermon was thought worth
noticing by your Richmond correspondent
IA voice from the tombs. as it were.
DIR. Jones did well to appeal to Bishop
MeTTlll as authority Ol SUCH mdlttTS. Tie Is
acknowledged authority among Methodists
on all such questions, especially of the old
school. differing from Bishop Foster. who
tries To keep up with the procession. and
from all the later bishops. If he has modi-
fed any of his views on dogma or on church
policy in fifty years no one knows of it.
With him hell is as literally a place of
fire and birthstone as 1t ever was, and he
steadfastly believes in the ~prerogatives of
bishops as they were held by the fathers,
and likewise in the divine right of the min
istry 10 govern the church without any
interference of the laity except in the way
of furnishing the funds. He is not in favor
of lay representation to any considerable
extent.
But the doctrine of an intermediate state
as preached by DIR. Mahin and defended by
DIR. Jones is harmless. Very few laymen
believe a word of it or of it's companion
fgments-hell fire for sinners and sweet
fields beyond the swelling flood for the
good. They don't have to. Nevertheless.
now and then a hard case may happen TO
hear the word who can be brought to re-
pentance under no other preaching, and 1T
may be well to retain IL for their benefit,
just as the rod is kept for occasional use
i'm our schools. because nothing but an up
lifted rod. occasionally brought down, can
bring a certain class of children under
proper subsection. Besides. il would he cruel
TO render worthless so much of the theology
of the earlier times. Let them preach their
old ermons; il is easier than to make new
ones. y METHODIST LAYMAN.
Kokomo. Ind. March %.