The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-08-30
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

the effect that only the sanity elect
would go to 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
to white heat. If 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 omnlpotent power to make us
hre-proof and pain sensitive. Some theo-
logians of the Thomas Kempls school
of thought went SO far as to picture
the poor creatures Ia their sufferlngs
and to show that the heat would form
a Kind of an asbestos covering which
would shield them froM. d measure of
its intensity. But those deluded theO-
loglans 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 theologlans of the
past had their difficulty In dealing with
the worms. They could imagine devils
who would oversee the torture as being
made immune 20 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 I'm
.xytg.. Ia. 10. -
poor sufferers was to many perplex-
Ity. But patient thoughtfulness along
these cruel and devillsh lines enabled
some to formulate the theory that the
worms would be fiery ones, living I'm
fire, delighting In nre--worms that
would bore through the incrustations
and add still further to the horrible
sufferlngs OF the world of mankind.
Was This What Jesus Meant2
Did the Great Teacher intend that
such conclusions should he 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 grent aud terrible mistake
been made? Aud have we mistaken
figure OF speech aud treated It as
literal? We erred, We misunler-
stood The Great Teacher who rcbuk-
ed his disciples. james aud John. wien
they desired to caii dre from heaven
upon the City of Samura. Ecca,lse the
people thereof refused to sell them
food for the Mnster-the sympathetic
One who said to them "Ye know Uot
what manner Of spirit ye are Of; the
Son of man came not to destroy mems
lives, but to save them"-could thnt
Son Of man In any wise Intend to tell
us that our great Heavenly Father had
less OF the spirit OF love and righteous.
ness than the two lmpetuous disciples?
Did he mean TO Intimate that while the
disciples lmpetuously might have been
willing to destroy the earthly life Of
the Samarltans, the Heavenly Father
of still more demoniacnl disposition,
would treat practically all mankind ten
million times worse than that and use
Divine Power to all eternity to perpet-
uate the sulierings of his earthly crea-
lures which his own Word declares
were born In sln. shapen In lnlquity,
In sin did their mothers conceive them ?
earthly creatures too, whose environ
ment was unfayorablc and whose Ad-
versary, the devil, God neither destroy.
ed nor bound2
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 ta.
TIERS character and more consistent
with our conception Of what Just
Loving Wise aud Powerful Creator
would do. II does not answer the pur.
pose TO say, as 30 many do "Bosh, dc
not discuss such a matter. Nobody
now believes such things!" This one
Scripture rcpudutcd would shake oul
rightly explained and understood II
would settle aud Increase our faith In
the Scriptures as Il Divine message
This, then. must he our obIcct--no
merely 10 cast from us the dcyilish In
depreciation OF the dark ages. but TO ms
certain the true Interpretation to ge
the true lesson from the words of th,
Great Teacher. Thousands are drift
ing Off into more or less open nidcllty
simply because OF the Irrational inter
pretatlon given to this text and two o
three others And these errors hav,
become 50 fastened In our minds from
childhood days that they have become
part aud 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 sInndcrous mlsrcprescntl
tlons OF his glorious character
Entering Into Life.
Let US go back to Jesus day anl 1
mind place ourselves with those VII
heard him utter the words of our tex
and context The Teacher had ius
said. "If thy hand offend thee. cut
off-it is better for thee TO enter int
life manned than, having two hands