The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1910-09-01
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn
T abenacle

Rr1ey ousIy misunderstood Ine tedcu-
ing OF our Protestant. childhood was to
the effect that only the sanity elect
would 20 10 heaven and that others
would not only lose heaven, but gain
an eternal life In torment Thus our
text was understood to portray what
practically the whole world OF mankind
would be compelled to endure. This
hell was pictured to our childhood
minds from outside the Bible as heated
TO a white heat. II we expressed won
der or surprise that any human creature
could endure such conditions so long
the answer was that God would exer-
else his omnipotent power to make Us
fire-proof and pain-sensitive. Some theo-
logians OF the Thomas a Kempis school
OF thought went so far az to picture
the poor creatures In their sufferings
and TO show that the heat would form
a kind Of an asbestos covering which
would shield them from a measure OF
its intensity. But those deluded thee
logians proceeded to explain that these
outer coverings would crack and shell
off every little while, leaving the poor
victim freshly tender that his suffering
might be the more intense.
OF course. these theologians OF the
past had their difficulty in dealing with
the worms They could imagine devils
who would oversee the torture as being
made immune to pain by the chief tor
turer. the Almighty God. But just how
to imagine the worm getting along in
so great heat and how they would in
any wise increase the torture of the
poor sufferers was to many a perplex
ity. But patient thoughtfulness along
these cruel and devilish lines enabled
some to formulate the theory that the
worms would be fiery ones, living In
fire, delighting in fire-worms thai
would bore through the incrustations
and add still further to the horrible
sufferings OF the world Of mankind.
Was This What Jesus Meant?
Did the Great Teacher intend that
such conclusions should be drawn from
his language? And did he stop short
Of the description from reasons Of sym
pathy or modesty or shame? Is this
the general teaching Of Gods Word
or has q great and terrible mistake
been made? And have we mistaken
a figure OF speech and treated it as
literal? We erred. We misunder
stood. The Great Teacher who rebuk
ed his disciples, James and John, when
they desired to call fire from heaven
upon the City of Samaria, because the
people thereof refused to sell then,
food for the Master-the sympathetic
One who SAID to them, 'Ye know moi
what manner of spirit ye are of; the
Son of man came not to destroy mems
lives, but to save them"-could thai
Son Of man in any wise intend to tel
us that our great Heavenly Father had
less Of the spirit of love and righteous
ness than the two impetuous disciples
Did he mean to intimate that while the
disciples impetuously might have been
willing to destroy the earthly life OF
the Samaritans, the Heavenly Father
of still more demoniacal disposition.
would treat practically all mankind ten
million times worse than that and use
Divine Power to all eternity to perpet
uate the sufferings of his earthly crea
lures which his own Word declares
were born in sin, shapen in iniquity.
In sin did their mothers conceive them
earthly creatures. too, whose environ
ment was unfavorable and whose Ad
versary, the devil. God neither destroy
ed nor bound?
Such an Interpretation, my dear hear
ers, is not supposable. We must look
for some explanation Of the Masters
words more consistent with his own
character and with the Heavenly Fa
Tiers character, and more consistent
with our conception of what a Just
Loving, Wise and Powerful Creator
would do. 1t does not answer the pur
pose to say, as SO many do, "Bosh, dc
not discuss such matter. Nobody
now believes such thingsr' This one
Scripture repudiated would shake oul
confidence In the whole Bible. Blu
rightly explained and understood i
would settle and increase our faith il
the Scriptures as Divine message
This, then, must be our object-no
merely to cast from US the devilish in
depreciation of the dark ages, but to as
certain the true interpretation &c
the true lesson from the words of tn,
Great Teacher. Thousands are drift
ing off into more or less open infdelit.
simply because of the irrational inter
probation given to this text and two o
three others. And these errors hav
become so fastened In our minds from
childhood days that they have becom
part and parcel of our very lives, S
that many of US would have been in
clined at one time to dispute the yer.
existence Of a God as much as to dis
pute such slanderous misrepresenta
lions Of his glorious character
Entering Into Life.
Let us go back to Jesus day and i
mind place ourselves with those \
heard him utter the words of our lex
and context. The Teacher had jus
said, eff thy hand offend thee, cut
Oft is better for thee to enter int
life manned, than, having two hand.
80, INT hall into fho fro fhof x,ox-o