The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-05-10
PEOPLES PULPIT.
PASTOR RUSSELL
IN LONDON
" "HEREAF TER"
There Shall Be No More Death. Neither
Sorrow Nor Crying. Neither Shall There Be
Any More Pam; For the Former Things
Are Passed Away" (Revciation xxi, a.

| and all OF his children. The arrange
ment is that. "slnce by man came
death, by man came also the resurrec-
tion of the dead. For as all in Adam
die. even so all in Christ shall be
made alive. But every man in his
own order" q Corinthians XIV. 2l-23).
Doctrines of Demons"
The truth about this matter is severe
enough; 1t shows forth Divine Justice.
intertwined with Divine Mercy and
Love We admit our present un-
worthiness OF life eternal and feel
| grateful for proposed assistance
through Christ. but our great Adver-
sary. operating through ignorance. and
| superstition and fear, seized the op-
portunty to deceive us and msrepre-
sent our Creator by bringing in what
st. Paul designated. doctrines of
demons" q Timothy iv, II, These have
been promulgated, not merely in heath
en- lands, but amongst the civilized
These false doctrines have tended to
ALLEVIATE the hearts and minds of hu.
manity from God and his revelation;
they have put a barrier between God
and his creatures.
These doctrines OF demons" are pre-
sented from various standpoints. but
they are alike in one respect; namely,
they all teach that God deceived our
first parents when he told them that
the wages of sin is death" These
doctrines OF demons" assert the con
trary, that man cannot die. but must
live somewhere to all eternity. Thus
on the basis OF mans fears. this doc
trine that God thrust immortality upon
his creatures, the demons built up for
us theory so horrible as to be nau-
seating and terrifying to every sane
and healthy mind. These doctrines
of demons" have been promulgated far
and near, and with various colorings,
but in essence they are all the same
They have come down from the dark
ages" represented in all our creeds
Catholic and Protestant.
Our Catholic friends have developed
this thought to nicely. They tell us
that of those who die, only mere
handful are fit for heaven and go
there Immediately They tell us that
the most reprehensibe class, heretical
rejectors OF Divine Truth. will be sent
TO a hell of eternal torture where they
will never die. They assure us, how
ever, that the number who will re-
ceive this extreme punishment is small
in comparison with the race as Il
tnn hnt
Catholics and Protestants, civilized
and heathcn, are unfit for heayen at
death, and likewise not deserving of
eternal torture, and that thus the great
mass of mankind, nine out Of every
ten, go at death to Purgatory, there to
suffer for centuries or for thousands
of years in expiation of sins. and for
publication OF their souls, that they
may be eventually fit for Heaven and
its blessings. Our hearts rebel at such
u view OF the hereafter" While Civ
ing our Catholic friends, and our own
forefathers who were Catholics, credit
for being as sincere as ourselves, we
conclude that the light OF our day. and
the light of our intelligence, will not
such view OF the hereafter" as this
We say to ourselves, Surely the Great
God has something nobler than this In
reservation for his creatures.
Protestant Views Worse.
What shall we say Of the Here
after from the standpoint OF our
Protestant creeds? How do these com
pare with the Catholic views fore
going--how much worse? When our
. forefathers thought they had found
something erroneous in the teachings
Of Papacy, when they concluded that
Purgatory was not to be found in the
Bible, they heroically determined tC
cast 1t out of their creeds. But alas
When discarding 1t, they did not re
alize that they were making bat
: matter worse. They held on to the
! doctrine of demons" That God haC
Q created man so that he could not die
: and could not be destroyed, and $,
they proceeded to interpret matters
along that line Realizing the Scrip
turalness OF the proposition that onl.
the sanity were tit for heaven, and re
jecting the theory of Purgatory, the.
) logically consigned all except the saint
) ly thereafter to eternal torture Alas
, How inconsistent 1t is; how strang
- that we ever thought Divine Fore
[ knowledge, Wisdom. Justice, Mercy
|, Love and Power should have creates
q man to the number of thousands o
millions, with the foreknowledge an,
' fore-intention and desire that the
:, should suffer an eternity of torture.
Parting of the Ways.
Thus, my dear hearers. you with my
self and others of the intelligent pee
: pie of the world. find ourselves toda
q in most trying position. Our heart
% have repudiated the doctrine of etei
IS nal torture as being un-Christ-like, III
y worthy even OF devil We can b,
> lleve neither in Purgatory of cent?
/ ries, nor in eternal torture as cons'
:, uuence or npnaItv for Adams diSObed