The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1915-02-02


in Heli."-Psalm 1910; Acts 2:27.
The Pastor declared that the Bible
He'll is a very reasonable one, but that
the theological He'll is a most unrea-
sonabIe one, as all must agree. The
theological He'll is a 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 small
number of sanity followers of Jesus.
This Hell is the common property of
Catholics and Professionals; and they
are welcome to ii, so far as the Pastor
is concerned. He declares it an abb
surdity, wholly contradictory to the
Bible; and he proved his points well
In the estimation of nearly all present.
HeIls Galore-Modern Theology.
The Pastor remarked upon how
many different kinds of Hell there are.
according to theology. 1t seemed to
him that each preacher felt that be
had a right to make a hell for all non
church members according to his own
tVu(cpIiOAs 4tOHC cCClhCQ W bhAhh a.
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 me
wonder If he had made a special visit
and returned to write its description.
He reminded us of the vivid picture
this writer gives of a naked soul-if
anybody knows what a 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
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
thank God. are unable to comprehend.
The Pastor declared that fire is used
in the New Testament as a symbol of
destruction. an illustration of how all
the wilfuily wicked God will destroy
eventually. People do know something
about fiery trials, and about heaping
Goals of fire upon the heads of their
enemies fguratively. But whenever
the word fire occurs in any connection
where it 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 1t
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
50 long. the Pastor said, that every
body gradually came to believe it, and
remarkably few have inquired as to its
unscripturalness. Many sensible peo-
pie held aloof from religion entirely,
unwilling to confess themselves beliey-
ers of such a doctrine or worshipers
of such a God.
But now we have variations to suit
our more refined feelings. Ministers.
without giving their authority, now tell
various tales about He'll. Some have
it with a slower fire, not SO red-hot;
others have it that it is merely a place
of mental rem0rse-following in this, !
to some extent. the leading of Dante's
picture of Purgatory. where various
-punishments are melted out for vari
Gus sins. They do not. however, go SO
far as Dante and call the place Purga-
tory, oil admit that there will ever he
any release from it. They content
themselves by saying that there is
nothing in the Bible about Purgatory,
and forget that there is nothing in the
Bible about their kind of He'll, the BIZ
bic Hell being a totally different one.
According TO the Catholic doctrine,
all Catholics go to Purgatory to be
purified and fitted for Heaven; and
they rejoice in this lesser torture be-