The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-01-28

not leave My soul
in HelI."-Psalm 1910; Acts 2:21.
The Pastor declared that the Bible
Hell is very reasonable one, but that
the theological He'll is most uhrea-
sonable one, as all must agree The
theological Hell is red-hot furnace
manned with fire-proof devils, and con
tanning practically all of the human
family who have ever lived-the ex-
ception being the comparatively smali
number of sanity followers oil Jesus.
This Hell is the common property OF
Catholics and Protestants; ana they
arc welcome to il. so far as the Pastor
is concerned. He declares 1t an ap-
surdity, wholly contradictory TO the
Bible; and he proved his points wen
in the estimation of nearly all present.
HeIIs Galore-Modern Theology.
The Pastor remarked upon how
many different kinds of He'll there are
according to theology. 1t seemed 10
him that each preacher felt that he
had a right TO make hell for all non
church members according to his own
conception. None seemed to thlnk IL
necessary to go to the Bible. He re-
minded us of the views of the sanity
Thomas a Kempis, in which he de
scribed the horrible smells and sights
of He'll so graphically as to make one
ronder if he had made special VISIT
md returned to write its description
He reminded us of the vivid picture
this writer gives of naked soul--lf
anybody knows what naked soul Is
and how the fiery blasts finally as
bestosized the outer skin, rendering
the suffering somewhat less.
| But this decrease of suffering. ac-
cording to Thomas a Kempis, was dis
pleasing to God; and a description Is
given of how this torture was renew
ed and intensified. The asbestos skin
split down the back like the shell OF a
locust. and into that crack the flames
of He'll licked their way furiously
upon the raw flesh of the damned
souls. This process. the saint inform
ed us. is to be kept up throughout all
eternity for the joy of God and the
holy angels, for the satisfaction OF
some kind of justice which the SAINT
had in mind but which we of today
thank God are unable to comprehend.
The Pastor declared that fire Is used
| i'm the New Testament as a symbol OF
destruction, an illustration of how all
the wilfully wicked God will destroy
eventually. People do know something
about fiery trials. and about heaping
Goals of fire upon the heads OF their
enemies figuratively. But whenever
the word fire occurs in any connection
where 1t can be twisted into signify
ing eternal torment, those who love
that kind of punishment for their enc
| mics are swift to take advantage OF II
eternal torment is the just. the low
ing thing to give to all the heather
who never heard of Christ, to all the
poor. ignorant and degraded who born
in sin, in weakness. find themselves
discouraged and overwhelmed by the
Adversary-to all not church members.
This sort Of thing has been going on
so long. the Pastor said, that every
body gradually came to believe it. and
remarkably few have inquired as to Its
unscrpturalness. Many sensible PEG
pie held aloof from religion entirely
unwilling TO confess themselves beliey'
prs OF such a doctrine or worshipers
OF such a God.
But now we have variations to suit
pur more refined feelings Ministers
without giving their authority. now tell
various tales about Hell. Some have
II with a slower fire not SO red-hoti
others have II that it is merely place
OF mental remorse-following In this
TO some extent. the leading OF Dante's
picture Of Purgatory. where various
punlshments are melted out for yari
Gus sins. They do not, however 20 90
far as Dante and call the place Purga
tory. or admit that there will ever be
any release from It. They content
themselves by saying that there i
nothing in the Bible about Purgatory
and forget that there is nothing In the
Bible about their kind OF He'll. the 81
bic Hell being a totally different one.
According to the Catholic doctrine
all Catholics 20 20 Purgatory to be
puritled and fitted for Heaven; and
they rejoice in this lesser torture De