The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1900-08-24

Advanced By Rev. K. heber Newton, Of
the Episcopal Church.
Rev. DIR. II. HEBER NEwToN's 5
THEORY.


The activities of our being on earth
will be the activities OF our being in
heaven.
"If homes are necessary here,
homes are necessary there.
"The institutions of society,
evolved with so much painful effort
on earth, must blossom into higher
and nobler forms beyond. There
will be there hosts of undeveloped
lives to be governed and ruled, t,
be taught and inspired
"Death makes no br ak in the
continuity of character. The thought
ful, studious man upon earth will
be the thoughtful, studious man in
the heavens. He that is silly and
superficial here will be silly and su-
|pericial as he starts again in life
there. There are fools over there
as here.
"Heaven and hell ar not shut off
from each other as we traditionally
conceive Of them. Heaven and hell
can mingle upon earth. Men living
in each jostle one another along
Fifth avenue and crowd one another
on Broadway.
By HELEN II. GARDENER, AUTHoRoF
"PUsHED BY UNSEEN HANDS. !"
For eighteen hundred years we
have been commanded to believe
certain things about heaven and
hell. To-day the Rev. Il. Heber
Newton assures US that these old be-
liefs are "childish, archaic, un-
thinkable and untrue"
That is precisely what some OF us
have been saying for long time,
and we are delighted that so dis
tipguished a churchman has been
bold enough to openly assail these
ancient errors.
But Mr.. Newton does not stop
here. lie offers US an entirely new
theory, and he asserts with The
same dogmatic certainty OF their alb
solute truth that he knows all about
a future life, whether it be in
.'heaven" or in "hell." He gives
many curious details about those in
teresting places or conditions OF
mind" which are cover there" and
''in the hereafter or sin the next
life.
Bet to many people the new form
of dogma is equally "archaic and
childish and unthinkable," and we
fail to find in Mr.. Newton's argu-
ments or statements any better ba-
sis of truth than he finds for the old
form. Robert Ingersoll, that frank
and fearless soldier in the army of
truth, said: 81 do not know, |
cannot say, whether death is a wall
or door; the beginning or end OF
of a day; the spreading of pinions
to soar, or the folding forever OF
wings. / do not know. cannot
Isay."
This is precisely the attitude of
thousands of the hest and clearest
thinkers. The evidence of the old
orthodox dogmas Mr.. Newton now
finds insufficient. The evidence
upon which he bases the new is
equally 50.
He claims to base his faith on ev-
|olution, but he has not handled that
principle with frankness. Evolu-
Ition teaches not that the individual
persists, but on the contrary it
teaches that the individual is but
the incident, the stepping-stone
| am not saying that Mr.. New
tons heaven and hell do not exist,
but | do say that to me they are
quite as unthinkable as he now finds
the old orthodox types to be.
He gives no better proof Of the
truth of his statements than do his
lold-time colleagues Of theirs. His
positive assertions lack all corrobor-
Iatiye evidence. He offers "Swe-
| ldenborg and the spiritual mediums
as the basis for belief, but these are
no better evidences than are the
'fathers" and popes and saints and
Scriptures which he now discredits.
Let us examine some Of his state
nents. He says: "The dead have
found it hard to realize that they
have died" How does he know?
How many dead men have explained
this to Mr.. Newton?
Again: "He who dies awakcns
Into consciousness the same being
as Of old. He knows himself to be
himself. The dead are there
fore recognizable by one another
and by the living. .'. We will
be at home in the hereafter as we
are at home here. . The ac.
tivities Of our being on earth will be-
the activities Of our being in