The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-24
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THE 81. LIEBER COMPANY.
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PROTESTANT PURGATORY
SUBJECT OF SERMON by THE REV.
J. CUMMING SMITH.
He Says Ii Is Consistent tn Believe
in Earth Experience Ending
i'm Perfection.

The Rev. j. Cumming Smith. of the Tab
ernacle Church. will give the last of his
lenten lectures at o'clock tomorrow after
noon. lie preached yesterday on Prot
estant Purgatory." follows:
" He descended into hell This is a
clause in the creed rather than in the
Bible. Still II came there naturally enough.
The Jews conceived a vague underworld
into which souls passed at death; and other
races into which the apostles carried the
story Of the resurrection had their under
worlds vartously pictured and partitioned
where souls passed when life closed on
earth. Hence hades became fixture in
medieval theology. Hence too many cor
ruptiOns crept in at that door.
THE ordinary division is this: First,
earthly life in time, second, intermediate
period and purgatOry; third. eternity and
heaven In common parlance this division
stands. 1t Is hardly correct, for time is
eternity in every sense. Let me coin an
other: First, earthly experience and dis
cpline: second, continued experience and
discipline after death: third. complete puri-
''Purgatory when stripped of false cor
ruption. Is a Protestant and Christian idea.
One great church places II between this
world and final heaven. To me II is an IN
tegral part Of this world as of the other.
All life tends to purge itself and the earth
" life is often called furnace where the
silver is refined. In opposition 10 Rome l
place purgatory I'm the present condition,
and I'm opposition to PTotestants | place
continued purgatOry beyond the grave. Five
TALLY what he was five minutes before
death. Geographical changes do not alter
character. III a BOstonian migrates 10 the
City OF Mexico ne carries Boston within
him.
~ A MATERIAL UNDER WORLD
1.-THE under world is as subject to the
reign OF law rs the upper world is A man
looks at upper New York and says: What
n miracle Of production, How wonderfully
this complex activity follows methods. How
orderly crowded. crushing Broadway is
And true il is But under New York is an
other and equally fascinating world of ac-
tivity. Some great buildings have two or
three stories under ground, where electric
lights turn night into day and fans bring
fresh air and hundreds of clerks carry on
their business with accuracy and dispatch.
The subways and tunnels subterranean of
New York or London are as orderly as the
visible parts of the cities are.
ITO US IL seems natural TO think that
when history slips of this known world
and shelves down like the stone into the
gloomy UNEMPLOYED realms beyond. souls
dip down into darkness and confusion. So
all religions have thought But the thought
Is pagan to the core 1t clouds a Cod OF
love and shuts up uniform law 10 our little
mundane experience. II envelOps death IN
a cruel mystery. Ii helps priests TO trade
on the ignorance of poor. trembling people
LET us reverse all this haggard repre-
born into this world enters a sphere no
more under careful management than the
next into which souls are usnered at death
The sun shines there as mere. Inc cara
vaa leaves the open prairie and finds when
threading through the mountains the same
broad. benignant nature as before.
a COMPLICATED CHANGE.
eff so. / must logically reach the conclu-
sion that the purgatory which refnes here
Is the same purgatory that continues &c
burn out sin there. Men are not magically
nsetamorphosed or revolutionized at death.
rhey cannot be. To be sure the flesh ceases
but the flesh has deep-dyed the mind with
qualities that remain when the mind leaves
the flesh. A man may leave the woods but
the woods have put some scent in his
clothes Besides there are sins that orig
mate I'm the mind itself. How can we sup
pose that all the different sorts OF men that
Die every day, some good and some bad.
and both classes with an indescribable
variety OF temperamental peculiarities.
should be in an instant Overhauled and re-
touched 10 look as II new? Such hypoth-
esis would be the supreme miracle. 1t over
rates the moment of death It reorganizes
all our conceptions OF development. 1;
makes God an instantaneous laundryman
rather than architect OF rising spiritual
temples. Indeed, IL stains His providence
with iniquity.
.sFor II men with a bare shred OF good
ness are at death transformed into the
purity Of snOw-white blossoms as surely as
are saints who have walked through the
long years with character and power. then
the Justice OF heaven is impeaChed We
cant work under such a suspicion. IT, how
ever. life Is continuity all the way
through a series or worlds we bring some
reason into religion Men will continue "a
Develop after death before and for AZ
least long ages some souls Will deVelOp
downward while others deevop upward
Beyond this i do not think We can be dog
matte nor need we be We do indeed hone
the best but only our inscient love sees the
final facts cycles OF cycles hence.
This truth OF a continuous purgatory Is
en- argument for immediate repentance. II
whispers no false hope 10 luIl the wrong
doer- Sin Is a growth according 10 certain
fixed laws just as holiness IS Every act of
sin breeds more sin. just as every act OF
holiness II alike sacrament and "A FORTH
cation. And, therefore, the man who con
tinues downward only accelerates his own
movement and return becomes more and
more difhcult. Typhoid fever has a certain
climax and II that point is safely passes
the patient stands good chance But sir
has no climax. IL gains I'm speed and
momentum as II goes. Frightful beyond al
words Is the Illusion that some future situ-
alton, here elsewhere. may render the
choice OF God less difficult And mean be.
yond words II the man who waits tin he Is
worn 10 rags and then presents the tatters
In the hope OF escaping pain. Repentance
bec0mes less likely with every POSTPONE.
ment OF duty. And the doctrine OF a con
finuffy OF lifes experience and purgatOrN
and discipline Till every stain is washed
from the believing soul in nOwise lends
announcement 10 any delay In choosing
Christ.