Year: 1878

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New York Herald.l


The Trinity Methodist Church in


New York street was thronged to


hear the Rev. William P. Corbett


the pastor, in answer to Henry ward
Beecher's now famous sermon on


hell. There was no standing room


either in the body of the Church or


the galleries which extended around


the three sides of the church, when


the reverend speaker began. "On


the 10th day of December" said


Mr.. Corbett, 1.-THE Rev. Henry Ward


Beecher, of Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, delivered a sermon, in


which he denied in unmeasured
terms, the existence of hell as a
place of punishment" After read


ing portions of one of Mr.. Beecher's
sermons, Mr., Corbett continued:
'Now, you will observe in all this
declaration that Mr. Beecher does
not deny that there is hell-he
only speaks of the character of
God. On the following Sunday he
said, "there is a hell which every
one carries in his own bosom, and a
hell hereafter" We want it TO be



distinctly understood by this con-
gregation that this is a question
which concerns us all. We repre-
sent the faith of the Evangelical
Churches. All the branches of the
Church of our Lord Jesus Christ,
be they Presbyterian, Lutheran,
or Methodist, or Dutch Reformed,
believe in the doctrines of future |
punishment. Taking his text from
the Second Epistle of Paul to the |
Thessalonians, first chapter, sew
enth, eighth and ninth verses. And |
to you who are troubled, rest with |
US, he continued: 1t might seem to
the philosophic mind that we ought
first to prove that there is hell,
and then that the punishment is
eternal. But, on the other hand, if
we demonstrate that punishment is
eternal it must follow that thereis
hell or place of punishment. The





wicked when they die, are annihila-
ted is the doctrine taken by the OPP
ponents of eternal punishment.
But this doctrine of annihilation is
nowhere taught in Scripture. No
Bible doctrine teaches that the soul
dies, and everyBhere is taught the
future conscious existence of the
wicked. John tells US that the
wicked are carried to lake of fire,
and Paul says they must all stand
to be judged according to their
works in the flesh, and how can this
be unless the soul lives? Jesus
Christ says in the parable of the
rich man that he lifted up his hand
in a place of torment. Will the
wicked be annihilated after they
have suffered a while in hell as
some kind people claim? The Ri
BILE tells us the wicked shall be pun
ishlshed with everlasting destruc
ton. These Scriptures nowhere
tell us that punishment is limited,
but everywhere that the unrighteous
shall suffer eternal damnation.


Nohere does God Almighty con-
sign men to hell az Mr.. Beecher
infers, but it is their own wicked
ness which leads the lost souls
there. There are three kinds Of
deaths spoken OF in the Bible.
Death in the flesh, as we all under
stand it; death in the spirit, the
separation of the soul from God
and righteousness. The death of
the body is it's separation from the
soul; the death OF the soul is its
separation from God. Does not the
punishment in the Bible refer to
the sinner? Sin is an act, VIII
you punish the act and release the
actor? You do not imprison a bur
glary and let the burglar free.


Now, another mistake which
arises Is that in reference TO punish
ment as reformatory measure. A
man deserts the flag of his country.
is adjudged guilty of treason, and
shot. Is this for the purpose of
reforming him? When God saw
that the earth was corrupted by the
crimes OF men, and he rained down
the deluge upon the race, did he do
it to reform them? Did he destroy I
Sodom and Gomorrah as a reform
measure? Punishment is not al
ways for reform, any more than
lite sentence of prisoner is to re

form him, and if reform was an in
tergral part of punishment the devil
in hell should be reformed by his
suferings of ages. The plea of re
form in future punishment is soph-
istry. "God is infinitely good,
say the UnIversalists, sand there
fore could not punish for eternity"
We will go as far as any Unitarian
or Universalist in demonstrating
and upholding the goodness of God
From the fall down to the present
time God has let the earth ring
with the lamentations of men Tor
the crimes and sufferings of the
race. From the time when Cain
struck down his brother to this day
when the groans of armies slaugh
tered fill the air, and starvation and
pestilence hang over the earth like
a pail, there has been only misery
,v.-,,,rv man for THAR crfrnaa dammit q