The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-11-15
The Doctrine Of He'll
New Zealand Tablet. !

In the course of a Protestant mission
on large scale, which has just been
concluded in Christchurch, the Rev. DR..
Torrey, who was conducting the mis-
sion, happened to intimate that he was
fully convinced that there was a hell,
that its torrents were everlasting and
that the fire with which the wicked
are there punished is material fire.
The statement was at once vehemently
challenged and a vigorous controversy
in the papers took place, in which the
doctrine of everlasting punishment, and
especially of punishment by material
fire, was somewhat fiercely assailed. SO
far as we know, the Catholic church
was not especially referred TO in the
correspondence, but to have remained
silent while a belief which is included
in the defined articles of faith was be-
ing publicly attacked would have been
disloyal to truth, and accordingly Fa-
Their LIE Menant des Chenais, S. M,
thought it well to deliver special lee
ture by way of explanation and Vindi-
cation of the Catholic doctrine on the
subject
After showing the universally, even
amongst pagan peoples, of a belief in a
place of future punishment for the
wicked the lecturer proceeds to state
the teachings of the church, carefully
distinguishing what is of faith about
hell and what rests on tradition and the
opinion of learned theologians and doc
tors. The church" says Father LIE
Menant, has defined only two things
concerning hell, namely: ID That there
is a hell for the punishment of the
wicked, and (2) that hell is eternal and
its torments whatever their nature
may be, will never come to an end.
Other questions" he adds, where is
hell situated? What is the nature of
the pains of hell? What are we to I'M
derstand by the fire of hell? Is it ma
terial or not? These and other such
questions have never been defined by
the church, and are to be studied by
the arguments of the Fathers and
learned doctors, and the traditions of
the early Christians; but they form no
part of the Catholic faith, and may be
examined and judged by the strength
of the arguments which are brought
forward to elucidate them"
That the fire of hell is a material
fire-though, Of course, different from
earthly fire-is, he explains, the most
common and almost certain opinion IN
the church; that it is a mere metaphor
ical fire I'VE are not forbidden to be-
lieve, but this is by far the least prob
able opinion"
The thought of souls suffering forever
and ever in hell is undoubtedly a very
awful one and the difficulties 1t sug-
gests have never been more generally
and keenly felt than at the present
time We turn, therefore, with interest
to that portion of Father LIE Menants
lecture which deals with this aspect
of the question, and his. yindication OF
| Gods justice is so much to the point
that we quote the passage in full:
But how he asks, can the eternity
of helPs torments be reconciled with
Gods infinite goodness? What proper
ton is there between a crime Whlch
lasts but a moment and everlasting
sufferings? In the first place, let me
remark that the punishment of a crime
is never measured by the length or
time it takes to perpetrate it. Does 1t
take a long time to pull the trigger OF
a revolver and shoot an enemy? Does
it require much time to strike a match
| and amply it to a fuse connected with
a barrel of gunpowder and blow
whole city to atoms? Or to plunge
knife into the heart of the person we
! hate? Or to put a few drops of prusslc
| acid in a teacup? Yet if anyone be
convicted of anything of the kind, ne
| is cast into prison, deprived OF ms
riches and of his liberty, separated
from all his friends and sentenced to
hard labor for life, or even
put to death; and in this we see
nothing excessive; we think it right to
cut off forever from all intercourse with
] society those found guilty of such an
| offense. Now this is exactly what Goa
does. He keeps forever away from MN
! and the company of his Blessed Mother
and the holy angels and SAINTS, lnose
who are unworthy to go to paradlse.
In the second place, let me remark
that. be the punishment of hell what
If NAV. it is in exact proportion 10
! the guilt of each. All those who go
| IN hell will remain imprisoned forever,
| hut although their captivity Will De
eternal. the pains they will endure VIII
be finite and in perfect proportlon "
their guilt. If a sinner should die with
b,,+ ono mortal sin. he will suffer only
for that one sin; his punishment WIN
ha the smallest possible in that place
| of misery. only it will never have an
end If a sinner has ten, a hundreu,
| thousand mortal sins his su1erlngs IN
he'll for all eternity will be exactly IN
nroportion to the number ana enormlty
of his faults. 49,
Briefly put, the following are the
noints which should be kept in MIND by
Nov IF mitigation of the awfulness and
mystery of the doctrine of eternal hell:
~ There are degrees of punishment IN
he'll. and the punishment meted out TO
every soul is only in proportion TO It's
actual guilt. or it mayi as Father LIE
Menant has pointed out, he even some
what less than has been really de-
served. 90 Only those are condemned
to eternal Punishment from Gods pres
erce who die utterly separated from
him by deliberate and grleVous unre-
pented SIM. e., who are 10 the last
wilful and impenitent rebels against
tbe Divine Majesty. 63) No even ap-
nrOximately probable estimate can De
formed of the lost or of the proper
+ior, which they bear to the rest of
the race. 1t is to be remembered that,
as nopular couplet puts it, while
The lamp of life holds on to burn,
The vilest sinner may return;
and though no one who was not spirit
uallv insane would place his hope OF
salvation on a deathbed repentance, yet
If is not for us to place a limit on the
number of those who avail themselves
Of the opportunity afforded by merci-
ful and loving God of repenting al last
and diving after all in peace with him.
The case of the foX-hunting squire who
was suddenly cut off and of whom it
was said,
Between the stirrup and the ground,
He mercy sought and mercy found.
is probably by no means solitary one.
ca Last, and most important of all,
the church has always firmly held ana
taught that God desires the salvation
of all and that not a single soul is ever
condemned unless he has first be-
slowed upon it sufficient grace and full
opportunity for securing a life of eter-
nal happiness with himself. In other
words, it is the sinner himself, and not !
God. who really condemns the soul to
the mains of hell. Remembering always |