The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-27
THE PEOPLES PULPIT
Most Comforting
Words,
Words of Life
Comfort one another with these
words" Il Thessalonians Nv, 49,.

power. Is there any comfort in this
Would it assuage the grief and pain
of those suffering in eternal torment
if they could be assured that their lot
was such, not because of Divine pre-
meditation and design, but because of
Divine incompetence? Surely there
is no comfort to be had from such a
viewl
After all, we Protestants did not
make much of an improvement upon
the theory held by our forefathers
against which we protested in the six
teenth century. Surely purgatorial
fortunes of few centuries are no
worse, not less comforting than our
Protestant conceptions of an eternity
of torture for all the non-elect. Our
Catholic forefathers manufactured
Purgatory without shred Of Scrip
ture upon which to base the theory.
They built it in their imaginations;
| they invented its fires and fortunes.
| Our Protestant forefathers, using
their inaginations, gave us an eternal
! torment hell-not more tangible, not
more Scriptural than Purgatory. They
| did indeed use a Scriptural term
sheol,. hades, hell-but, overlooking the
fact that these words all signify the
state of death, the condition of the
warped it in an unscriptural manner
| to signify torture. The penalty or
wage of sin is DEATH" They made
| of 1t torture everlasting, without the
| SllSnL6SL duLnOTlLy Oh scripture except
a misunderstood and misapplied par
able. which, if rightly understoo cd,
| teaches a totally different lesson. The
false gospel has surely lost its power.
People are becoming too Intelligent to
| endure it. AS a consequence attend
ance at churches is decreasing and rev.
erence for God is diminishing. Inf
deity, called Higher Criticism, etc, is
increasing.
The need of the hour is the gospel
I Il, =
we all know, namely, that the whole
/ creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now waiting for
the manifestation of the sons of
God" Here we see the necessity for
this gospel of comfort. We see also
that God has provided it and that 1t Is
coming to the world in the end of this
age, in the dawning of the. new age,
It will come to the world in general
as soon as the elect church shall have
been selected and, by the First Res
direction" power, gIorified with her
Lord as his Kingdom class, as the
glorified sons of God, whose mission
it will be to bless all the families OF
, the earth.
ssFather of Mercies.''
when st. Paul says, ''Knowing the
terrors of the Lord" he evidently re-
/ fers to the fact that our Creator has
declared that s'the wage of sin Il
death" (not eternal torment); tina
II the Soul LIltAl SiilL0LAAs II LIZ
(not live in. torment); that "all the
wicked will God destroy (not pre-
serve in fire); and that only such a.
4 come into vital relationship with tn
Redeemer can have everlasting life
knowing these things respecting TIL
Divine government we persuade mel
everywhere, "Be We reconciled to God
4 and thus attain the only eternal lif
which he promised.
But on the other hard. note tn
kindly disposition of our God wh1cl
the Apostle furnishes. BLESSED b
God, even the Father of our Lor
4 Jesus Christ. the Father of mercies
the God of all comfort; who comfortetl
q US in all our tribulations, that we ma
be able to comfort them that are i
Il tribulation, by the comfort with wfic
we ourselves are comforted of Goo
For as the sufferings of Christ aboun
4 in us, so our comfort also aboundet
by Christ And whether we be afflict
ed, it is for your comfort and saliva
. ton or whether we be com
a forted. it is for your comfort and sal
lvation, - knowing that asye are pal