The Washington herald., 1917-03-26
Where and What Is He'll
NJ oRIsON SWEET MARDEN.

There was quite discussion recently
In various New York pulpits concerning
what and where hell really IS, or whether
there Is any hell
To my mind the only hell we shall ever
know anything about Is the one we carry
about with us. There Is a hell of mental
suffering betting every wrong, every
vicious deed
] The consciousness of wrong-doing. the
remembrance Of hellish deeds, the menu
Tory OF injuring others. Of standing In the
way OF their advancement. of running
their chances In life. the thought Of con-
tributing to another's downfall. even II
we are only one OF number of con-
itributors-these bitter memories make q
hell for many Of us.
/ Is there any worse hell than remorse
1 for wrong-doing that cannot be undone;
remembrance of past wickedness that
cannot be wiped out?
There Is also a negative hell. that is.
mental suffering which comes from omis-
sion, from our failure to do the good
things we might have done.
Then there is the hell of never having
idone our best, OF never having tried to
make something of ourselves; the tor
ture Of remembering that our lack of
preparation for life Is our own fault. that
we might have fitted ourselves for the
world. but did not do so.
Ex-President Taft thinks this is the
worst sort of hell. There is no hell" :"
he says, worse than the contemplation
of never having endeavored to make
something of oneself"
| To wake up late in life to the fact that
one has missed his great opportunity for
making good. the oportunity to unfold
and to utilize his talent and that there
Ia no possibility of retracing ones step.
of beginning all over again; to be con-
scious that one has made a botch OF his
| life, must come about as near a hell on
earth as anything we know of.
There Is a hell of poverty. which Is
often result of this lack Of preparation
| for life, as well as of ignorance and the
| failure to do or best. There are mil
lions of people today, living In litera
he'll of poverty, some through their own
faults. and some because of the wicked
injustice and selfishness of others. There
Is certainly soRleth!ng wrong when mil
lions of Gods children live in squalor,
often in indecency, live in lack and mis-
! cry all their lives right In the midst of
plenty. on the1Fery bank of the stream
of aH-supply Which flowers right past
their. doors. It is somebody's fault, a
hell of somebody's making.
Then there is the hell of disease and
Of physical suffering. which comes from
our ignorance of the laws OF health, or
from our violation OF them. And there is
the hell of discord in multitudes OF homes
from the clash OF jarring dispositions
and all unrestrained indulgence Of violent
| tempers.
We make all sorts OF hells for ourselves.
Just as there is no kingdom of heaven.
except that which Is within US. there is
no kingdom of hell, except that which is
in US, which exists In our own conscious
ness. Heaven and hell are both states
OF consciousness. Our father-mother-God
has no hell for US. The only one we ever
have experience of is the one we make.
Could mother ever plan, or wish. a
he'll for her boy? No. 1t doesn't matter
how hideous or how heinous a crime a
son may commit he is always his
mothers boy She will follow him to the
gallows, to the electric chair. with. her
prayer that he may be relieved from the
pangs of suffering, with a mothers
blessing. with a mothers sympathy, with
a mothers love.
II this is true of an ignorant, selfish
earthly mother. who can think that our
Father Motherhood would provide a
place CT torment for any of His children
no matter what they had done? He
knows that those erring ones have simply
lost their way on the life path. that they
have acted from ignorance. He has pro-
vided no hell, no place of torment for
| His children.
! Copyright. inIJ