Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-06-14
REV. STRONG'S IDEAS OF HELL.
It Is Not a Place OF Everlasting Punishment.

Rev. Charles II. Strong, Of Savan-
nah, Ga, some months ago preached
q sermon upon the existence Of hell
and the kind and character Of place
it is. While Mr.. Strong avowcd his
belief in the existence of hell, lis
viows upon this subject differ very
materially with those held by the
majority of the ministry.
Mr.. Strong's text was from The
words Of the Psalmist, Tf make
my bead in hell behold Thou art
there" 1t might be taken as fun
damcntal principle of philosophy and
theology, Mr.. Strong said, not only
that God is, but that God is every
where. We can never flee from his
presence. This being true, there is
no place in Gods universe whore lie
is not, either in heaven or he'll.
"I haven often been asked if | be-
lievcd in hell" said Mr.. Strong. 81
do. believe in its existence be-
cause believe in the existence Of
God and lis righteousness. If God
is everywhere then His righteous
ness must be everywhere. Like the
law of gravitation, which governs
the universe, the law of righteous
ness is prescribed for man to obey.
When this law is broken serious loss
and disaster follow and this loss and
disaster is hell"
The scriptural quotation, "Shall
be turned into hell" Mr.. Strong said,
had been interpreted by many theo-
logians to mean that hell is Il walled
in inclosure with circumscribcd mctcs
and bounds. lie held, on the con
trary, that hell is created by the cx-
istence Of sin and that wherever the
sinner goes hell goes with him. Sin
should not be lightly regarded nor
laughed at, he said, for sin is hell and
carries the sting and poison of hell
with it. The tendency of the litcra-
ture and fiction OF the day is to treat
sin lightly, and so does popular sci
ence, with its teaching that hcrcdity
and environment arc responsible for
mems moral natures and account + y
their sins.
"lIcll is because God is" Mr..
Strong said. "God is everywhere
and because He is everywhere there
will come time when hell will be
not. If the sinner is in hell, God is
there with him, and, therefore, there
will come a time when all sin will be
abolished. We must realize that
God is stronger than sin and that the
devil is not more powerful than
God"
Mr.. Strong said that there arc two
doors into hell, one by which the
sinner enters, by reason oi his viola
ton of the law OF righteousness, and
the other by which lie makes his
exit from hell by reason Of the right
eousncss Of God. Sin is n burning
furnace in the heart, he said. If you
violate the law which God has writ
ten in your heart, 'hcrc is a burning
hell there. 1t is well to remember
that if You have made your bel in
hell that God is there also pleading
with you.
Mr.. Strong said that he is not and
never has been n Universalst. Many
things have been said Of his opinions
on this subject, he said, and for that
reason he wished to state plainly the
IDEAS which he had advanced. There
were three ideas which he had urged
on this question, he said First, he
had cndc" vOrcd to change mems con
ccption OF hell from the old idea Of
physical torment and burning. This
was the idea which Spurgcon and
johnathan Edwards had upheld and
they had even cndcavorcd TO enhance
the joys Of the righteous by pictur-
ing them as enjoying the tormcnts OF
the damned while rcvcling in eternal
bliss themselves.
His second idea had been to teach
that the word 'ctcrnal" i'm the bbl,
does not mean everlasting that i,
refers simply to the things which are
IN eternity, or the world to come
and not to time everlasting. 1t con
notes quality and not quantity.
The third idea, which he has al
vanccd, Mr.. Strong said, is that thcr,
is nothing in the physical change in
volvcd in death that interrupts man.
state Of probation. 1t is true tha
"now is the accepted timc," but al
time to come. That state Of pro
baton exists in hell is best evidence,
by the fact that Christ descended
into hell after lis crucihxon. Wh,
did he descend into hell if it wcr,
not to preach to the spirits there an'
to carry there the great cvangcl o
salvation ?
MIR. Strong compared the religion:
II =