The herald., 1898-12-19
IN CITY PUlPI1s
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Rev. A. c. Smither preached in the First
Christian church last night upon The Bible
Doctrine of Hell Elu
Bible Doctrine of cidated.' He said in
He'll Elucidated part: The ministers
of Jesus Christ today
are preaching under the commission OF the
Son of God. Laboring under this commls'
sion. it is the preachers duty to declare the
whole counsel of God so far as 1t IS revealed
in the word of God. That Jesus taught that
the wicked shall suffer in the future for then
sins is very clearly shown by him.
The word hell is from the Hebrew word
Gehenna, from the valley of Hinnon. IhlS
word was used as symbol OF all that was
vile. degrading, loathsome and terrible, and
was applied by Jesus to the condition OF the
wicked after death No more awfub and
terrible word could have been used. Again,
of that condition or destiny Jesus says Matt
9:47-4S): 1T is good for thee TO enter the
kingdom of God with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into he'll, where
the worm dieth not and the fire is not
quenched."
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus
Jesus speaks of the rich man being I'm
hades, and lifting up his eyes being IN tor
ment" Luke 1929, and as saying, Faith
er Abraham, have mercy on me and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue, for l am III
anguish in this flame
This is the language of the Son of God, who
was the revelation Of divine love. Again,
in Matt. SLIP, Jesus says, "And | say unto
you that many shall come from the east
and west and shall sit down with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom OF
heaven; but the sons of the Kingdom shall
be cast forth into outer darkness; there shall
be weeping and wailing and gnashing of
teeth" This is terribly strong language
from the lips of Jesus. This suffering is also
symbolized by furnace of fire in Matt.
3:49-50. when Jesus ays, 80 shall it be in the
end of the world; the angels shall come
forth and sever the wicked from among the
righteous and shall cast them into the fur
mace of fire; there shall be weeping and
pnashing of teeth" 1t would hardly be
possible to use stronger language descriptive
of the anguish of the wicked. Then Jesus
says in Matt. 25:4l, depart from me, ye
cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels" The intensity of the
suffering of the unrighteous is here put
upon a par with that of the devil and his
angels. Jesus not only uses this terrible
language descriptive of the intensity of the
suffering, but he is equally explicit as to the
duration of this suffering. In the story of
the rich man and Lazarus we find this Ian
guage as descriptive of the Interchangeable
destiny of the righteous and the wicked
luke 1920: And beside all this, between
us and YOU there is a great gulf fixed, that
they which would pass from hence to you
may not be able, and that none may pass
over from thence to us This language
would indicate that there can be no change
in human destiny after death. With ref
erence to its duration Jesus says, in Mark
9:4S: Rather than having two eyes to be
cast into he'll, where. the worm dieth not
and the fire is not quenched." The measure
in time of their suffering as here described
is that of unquenchabe fire and an undying
worm.
Then Jesus says of the wicked that they
shall be sent in to eternal fire. Matt
25:4D. In Matt %: 46 this language is found:
"And these shall 90 into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life The
same word, eternal, is here applied to the
duration of the wicked that is applied to the
duration of the righteous. BY what logic
can it be said that the duration of the eX-
istence Of the one class shall be greater than
that of the other?
In harmony with the teaching Of the Son
Of God is that of the New Testament writers.
Paul speaks of "the revelation of the Lord
Jesus from heaven with the angels of his
power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance
to them that know not God and to them that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who
shall suffer punishment, even eternal de-
from the face OF the Lord and from
the glory of his might" Peter speaks of
"the day of Judgment and destruction of un-
godly men,"
In Revelations 2l:s it is said: But for
the fearful and unbelieving and abomnabe
and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars their part shall be
in the lake that burneth with fire and brim-
stone"
This Interpretation of the language of the
Master has been the one held by the church
through all the centuries and is that taught
by the great evangelical denominations of
today. tits hardly possible that the church
could be in error upon this vital
truth of the Christian system.