Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 20, 1878, Page 9

THE FUTURE. Addifional Papers on the great Topic of Relig- jous Thought. Exhaustive Argument Fa. yoring the Doctrine of Eterual Death, T Tugodly Shail Be Punished in Hell, and, at the End of Sentence, Tney Shall Be Absolutely An- pibilated, and Hell 'Wiped out of Existence, Joseph Cook’s Tdea: If Sin Bo Eternal, then Punishment Is Everlasting. The Horrors of the Material Hell as Described by the Jesuft Father Pinamonti. Another Writer Says the Ungodly Will Be Restored to God's Grace and Not Destroyed. -THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE . SUNDAY. JANUARY 20 of future punishment. We recoited from the cternal torments of the hell of the fathers, be- lieving them to be repugmant to God’s sense of, justice. At the same time he rejected the foc. trine of universal restoration, as being cwntrars to the teachings of the Scripture. Believing that the truth was to be found bo'uyoen thees two extreme views, be Rave the su'jject a close analstical study, and became -convineed that there was only one solution of the question Which would satisfy the ¥ sisting conditions, This he called the doctrine of Eternal Death. Following is un abstract 0/ his argument: < ‘There are three main theories relative to the octrine of future “punishment. The first is that it is of & purotive nature, temporary in its Guration, and to b ave as its result the restora- tlon of the pure o4 10 God's favor and eternal Dbappincss. This was the opinion of Origen, 2nd to this @4y finds a place in the belief of one sect of 2 “membership of at least 100,000,000 The secon’} js that which kas long been com- monly r¢ ceived. . It deseribes the penalty as be- ing eter nal in duration, and supposes it to con- sist of un eternal life suffering an cternas tor- meat . This was the theory of Augustine. The thir g s 2iso eternal,—everlasting death being 17, essence, attended and preceded by such vari- | 7ous dearees of pain as it may please God, in /4 dealing with the individual sins of the judsed, 7| toinfiict. “Tne third of these views s the one here maintafued. fts eternal duration will over- throw that of Origen, and its character fovoly- inz deatn will overtbrow alike that of Origen and Augustise. The Word of God teaches that there will be punishment, and that this punishment will be cternal. 1ts duration fs described exactly as is the beatitude uf the redecmed. These shall Fo into everlasting punishment, and those shall hare lifc cverlasting. The same Greek word, iaionios,” is uscd in both places for everlast- ing. Crist has also declared that for those #| who commit the unpardonabic sin of blasphem- ing the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forziven them, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” This declaration does away with the 1dea of a purgative period tor one class of siu- ners. Of the class who regret Him, He has said, “He that believeth not the Son shall not Jeremy Taylor Not S0 ¢ Ortho< { seelifc, but thewrath of God abileh on him." dox” as Many Wish to Make Him. AWoman’s View : Stop Wrang-~ ling Over Hell,and Preach Christ’s Crucifixion. Dubions Divinity- jces To-Day. TARTAREAN RHYM¥S. 0N CALVIN. £ do, don'ts"—~Lorenzo Doz +0Thou Wha iz :he Leavens dost dwell, - [¥Wha £s 1t picascs st Thysel', ‘5ends ane 1o Heaven and ten 16 Hell, A* Tor 1By Flory, Andna for onjs guld or icy've done afore Thee! *—Buris. The ordsined chict of God's elect, To whom was €cnt, from Heaven dircet, The Book of Fate, shut close and sealed, 1n which God*x purpose is revealed— Cbosen by Him. the Book to read, And tell mankind what is decreed, .- The purpose of tueir destiny, © a Ordained from all.Eternity. Te breaks the seal, turns o'er and resds: My will's the source,from which proceeds Whate'er exists or isto be; 1 made all thinge for N glory. The laws of Time cannot affect The futare fate of the clect; Z Tae councils of Eternity Decreed their future desting'; Long ere Time's circling years began, 1 fixed the fate of ev'ry man. A wicked life cannot effect A change of fate for the elcot; Nor can a holy ife compel A change for those ordained to Hell. For be it known no works I'lbown; ~ Salvation is by grace alone.” ‘Helifts his eyes from off the Book, And epezks, but with a haegsrd look: **His grace is for 2 chosen fesw His partial wisdom always knew, 4nd they alone are saved oy Him; The rest are passed by for thelr sin. Andinfants *non-clect ® must dwell Forever in the fawmes of Hell; And, elect mothers, y0u must see Your spanless infante yet to be (Decreed to dic ere they were born) 1o Hell, the imps' contempt and scorn; Ney, more—desire, rcjoice 10 see i The writhings of their agony. P His *glory " Is sufficient cause g For etamping out all moral laws. ‘How happy the elect will be When they from Parsdise can sce Their children in eternal fize, Stirred by devils who never tire, * Singing ribald songs, with jeers Wocking ot their infants’ tears. " With gloomy cyc and ook of hate, Hesesled again the Book of Fate. o Nathan told him of his sin;* Bat Heaven's glorics wait for him. West Grove, la. “Theburnipg of Servetus. . . J. 5. D ODE OX THE BXCITING TOPIC OF THE DJT. "Tis all very well, This qoestion of Hell! Batit 'rouses the mind to inquire - - How we are to know Where sinners may go, Y wegive up tne thought of Hell-fire? Moet they roam off in gpsce, Wittout any place, Inall the long ages eternal? They mizht choose 10 swarm = In some place, to keep warm, Y Uevenin * gtegions Infernal.” = € The thought will et cling, iy That 'tis not just the thing Of Heaven to make a head-centres The Christians mizht wait /i Toolong at the gate, . If some sincers tney kaew were tolenter. 4 # Will not Ssving, or Beecher, Or come orthodos teachier, Tell where poor sinners may £o, Since £0 long they've demicd ¢ That the Lord could provide i A Heaven for all here below? *Tis eurprising to tee Tow the clerzy agree On thus wonderful, grand innovafion, . Since they're fought, **tit for tat," Over this thing and that, ‘With-quibbles and quirks, since creafion. 1 the Bible be trae, All things shall be new, ‘L‘m'o 4 new earth and new Heaven; ‘Why not include Hell, s Aud the Dible ar well, U anew diepensation Legiven? Our Father above, In1s infinite Jove, Hag made the matter quite plain: - **To otbers do good, (4 And Jive 2s we snonld, Avd from all that is evil refrain.” = The Lord will provide 3 1t we keep on His side: Lt ne eeck all our fears to dispel. Heligion, if pure. Will forever endure. - 4nd to Heaven let us consign Hell. - "Tis all, when explained. Ina nutstiell contained; d now eome have canec to deplore Bow stapid and blind They were not to find ¢eimple thing out long before, * MR ETERNAL DEATH. UCH 1S TEE FATE OF THE UNGODLY. A fow rears ago a pamplet of some seventy TaZes was poblished by the Rev. Heory Con- Stable, Prependary of Cork, Ireland, in which Rndertook to define the uration and zature | the exclusiye pos: Of others, Christ has aflirmed ibat it would have been better for them if they had never been born, and Ww'th these it s imposeible to associate theidea of a purgatory, as their release there- from weald at oace open the doors of Heaven to thery, making amends for past punishment, and f'aroughout cternity they would praise God '-h,fl‘. they bad been born. Lhe question now recars, * What will be the ternal state of the lost?’ It does not con- “sist in an cternal life spent in pan of body or 4 wind, but in a state of utter death that abides forever. The process or means of dissolution will afford scope for a variety of punishment, groportionate to the enormity of the sins com- mittéd during the earthly existence. There is no comparison between this view of eternal punishment and that which maintains an eter- nity of pain. This is shown in the present life, 4 when meu wearied of the cares and responsi- bilities of existence are glad to exchange it for death. 2o the close of cach agonized life in Hell would be loneer for these, and would send a thrill of relief even throush Heaven. Previous to the preaching of the Gospel, the higlicst order of pagan phitosophy had framed a theory of the ‘immortality of tie soul. While the grest majority taught that death was an cternal sleep, others framed the idea of an im- mortality seif-existing in the soul. Plato has given us the marvelous reasoning of Socrates. and Cicero Rhas exhibited the areument in his Tusculan questions. According to it there is an inherent immortality tothe soul. 1t could « | have no end; no death. What was true of one son! was true of all alike, whether good or bad. ‘Theyimustlive somewhere, Tartarus, or Cocytus, or the happy abodes of the purificd. This idea passed into the early theolozy of the Christian Church. It pervades Tertullian, Athenasoras, Origen, and Augustine. Heedless of Paul's warniokr in bis Epistle to the Colossians, Co- rinthians, and Timothy, they followed the Pla- tonic theory, and applied their theolozy to all souls alike. This philosophical idea of Plato has infiuenced the interpretation of Seripture for the past eichteen ceuturies. The Fathers Jaid down as 2 dogma that God gave to the soul atits creation an inalienable immortality,—an immortality not affected by any conducton man’s -] part, and of which God Himself could not de- prive it. A perpetuity that could not, or never ‘would. be taken from the soul, would have the same bearing oo the future of wan. In either case he must live ou forever, whether in misery or happiness. ‘The immortality of the eoul, as laid down by Plato, Origen, or Augustine, w2s a mere fane; Scripture denies the existence of any essen orinberent immortality. To one being only to God Himseif—does it belongz. What hada bezinning may have av end. The life thay God bestowed He can take away. The Scriptures do not sanction the idea that man is pessessed of aninalienableimmortality. Theexpression *im- mortality of the soul” is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. The phrase ** living soul ” apnlica <} toman at his creation has been held by many i Christian writers to imply such an immortality. )| The very same phrase had been applied in the original Hebrew to the lower creal previous to fts_spplication to man. The lower anlmals are allowed in Scrinture to be possessed of body, soul, and_spirit, which form the threetold de- scription of man. < Immortality was given to man at his creation. "But it was alicpable, for God said “In tbe day thou ecatest, thou shalt die.”” Man did eat, and thus he threw away God's greatest gift; immortality was .alicnated. Man made in the imuaze of God ost the Mkeness. *‘Dust_thon art and unto “Qust thou shalt return.” Should immortality Ve man’s azain, it must beas amit restored and pot inherited. It must come by virtue of 3 new rovision of grace. This was the Gospel of hrist. It was to give back the cternal life which man had forfeited that Christ suffered on the Cross. To this view of future punishment there is one common objection. It has sreat ap- parent force, and is thus stated: ' That what is no lopger felt 1o be punishment by the party . who is punished, is no punishment at ali,"— that it ceased to be n&znnishmcm the moment it ceased to be felt. This was the chiel reason +for the doctrine of endless misery. The pagans who tried to reconcile man to death as no evil corrected their reasoninz, and pronounced end- less death an_endless injurv. Life restored to man through Christ is an’ eternal life, hence its loss intheted as 4 punishment is an eternal pun- isunent. Capital punishment bas always been rezarded 25 not only the greatest but the most lasting of all punishment. And the reason for its be- fug €6 reckoned s, it has deprived the sufferer of cvery hour of lile that hewould otherwise have cnjoged. Its duration is supposed co- #} oxistent with the period of his matural life. ‘#| Aud this death atfords a perfect analogy to the orand object of all-wise punishment is son taugbt by it to those who have not offerded. Now, viewed in this life. cternal death 15 eternally felt, and nas an erernal intlu- ence. 1he actual sinner ed as he de- served, and lus death inter to afford its cternal lesson. Milton describes the fallen an- gels shuddering at the thouzht of the loss of life. How much more terrible the thought to those whose life is synonymous with joy. ~ This death of the soul Lucretins called ¢ Immortal Death ”; Cicero pronounced it * Everlasting Death ”; and Tertullian, when he describea the Tesurrectionless state, pronoutced it **Eternal i D(fi}i’ <aifl to Adam, “In the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die.”” Adam_ kicw what the warniog meant; he understocd its full import. Death was the law of the lower creation. Its orizinal significance was the lo: God first wave to man in_Eden. 1t was the primitive idea of dcath. To tbis primars and world-accepted meaninz of the word tliere is one exception, Lhat given in the theoloxy of & portion of Christendom. Compelled by “a ter- rific creed of punishment, death is made to conditi mean its opposiie,—~Lif¢, some condition ot being or existence. This late mean- is without force, as re g, rer. : e “23";,‘me word in the Old Testament According to that portion ot the Scripture, doath is o be after judgment the resals of sin, 2s life s the result of rizhtcouszess. The end f the ungouly is aescribed Uy every expression that can possibly be construed to mean lcss of Jite, loss of existerce—resolution of orzanized substance into its_original parts. ‘The wicked are to be destroyed. for them will be a day of Slaughter, the slam ehall be many, their var- & ehall be looked upon, they shall be root- gfiun of the laud of the Jiviuz. shall be con- sumed, cut off, blotted out of the Book of Life. ) g Nerw Testament coincides perfectly with lh’z{hzifl? Chri: says He is the Bread of Heaven. and whosoever will eat of it, and whor soever belieretl in_Him, shall never die. Paul says the wages of sin is death. James de clares that he who converteth a sinmer shall eave a soul from gu:}:i thT ézrt‘ugbolufif teh; i‘l\lcl;: stament it is declared that eternal b <cssion of the just. Thewerd 1878—SIXTEEN PA%ng 1 ¥ 9 Yife ¥ in the original Is * zoe,” and is univer- sally used. Greek dictionarics give as the mean- ing of the word, in fts primary sense, * exist- ence.” James defines it 25 a vapor that appear- eth for a littie time and then vanisheth awarv. & Psyehe,” another Gireck word, is constantly translated * life " in the New Testament, and is never used to express that seuse of * happi- ness * which some crecd-makers would have the world believe. There are other words which are stenifleant of future punishment. Apollumi’ aud *apoleia™ are of frequent occurrenct. ‘They denote an utter loss of life. Matthew, x., 28, says: * Fear not them which Kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is abie to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Paul says, ** Behold, ye despis- ers and wonder and perish.” The unbelievers will first see what they have rejected, will won- der at their folly, and then vanisn out of exist- ence. in speaking of the nugodly, Peter says they, like brute beasts, shall perish fn their own corruption; and the same Greek word is used of the cud of beasts and of tbe ungzodly. The wicked shall be punished with = ever- lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The immortality of the soul with ~which the was 4 T\csuon 1 Greeks were familiar, and the word used in the Gospels in conneetion with the future exfstence were of general use in the discussions on the pagan side of the question, and in both con~ nections had exactly the same meanfng. Toe phrases relative to a futurestate are the same in Plato ana the Gospel, though what the former denics of the souls of all alike, the latterasserts of some of the souls of men. The Gospel brought together the framments of truth scut- tered throughout all human systems. Those who would soar it raises to God; those who would revel i wickedness it sinks to the level of the beasts that perish. There is another pbrase sinificant of Huture ‘punishment. It is in Paul’s wish that he *were aceursed from Christ for his tretbren.” Paul means by being “accursed ' the condition in ‘which the um:olll{ will really be. He could only wish a complete blotting out of his name from the book of life, so that his kinsmen could get the life he had surrendered for himsell. The Greek word *aceursed” was {requently aoplied to animals devoted to death—removal from the sight of man. Throughout Joln's Gospel fu- ture punishuwent is mentioned only under some term of death or destruction. Life is perpetually contrasted - with death— not perish, but have everlasting life. Throughout the Acts all reference to the future state of the wicked is to their destruction, not one word meaning eternal torment. 1In none of the Epistles can anything be found approx- imating in the remotest degree to the doctrine of cternat damuation. Perfectly in accordance with this is the testimony of Leter, who uses **withereth » where James says ‘¢ fades away.” Paul speaks of the enemics of Christ, aud their cnd is destruction. “*O death! where is thy sting: O grave! where isthy victory 1" and then the Apostle adds: *“Thanks be unto God., who giveth us the victory throuh our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is “this victory over death¢ It is the attainment of au immortal life the grave, given only throush “Thoseout of Christ do mnot reap In this connection the words of very apropos. . He says the wicked shall be burned up, and of them shall be left neitber root nor branch. This does not mean the popular idea of burnfng up in a bell filled with blazing brimstone. I simply meaus nositive annihilation. John the Baptist clinches this by proclaiming that Christ will zather the wheat into His garner, and burn up the chaff with unqueuchable fire. Scripture {llustrations overdraw the systems of cternal torment and restoration. The wicked shall be dashed to pieces, they shall be like the beasts that perish, like a whirlwind that passes away, like garments consumed by a moth. They shall burn like the fat of lambs in the fire, meit like wax, and vapish like exhausted waters. They are likcned unto fish cast away to cor- raption, to a house thrown down to its founda tions, fo the _destruction of Sodom by fire. If God had decreed that - in the hercafter there should be an eternal hell of the orthodox pattern He would not have allowed His inspired writers to make use of the gimiles mentioned. The wicked would not con- sume, ete. ‘The poet Lucretius was opposed to the views of Plato. Ile was an absolute annihilationist. e believed that death was the end of body and soul, and likened dissolution to smoke vanish- iuzand dispersing into air, which is a favorite illustration ot Scripture describing the ¢nd of the ungodls. for *into smoke shall they con- sume away." Tertullian and Augustine believed that the wicked shall exist forever in the fire of Hell. For illustration they do not quote Scripture,but from nature take those in direct opposition. The wicked :are likened unto volcanoes which burn but are not consumed, like salamanders which are not destroyed in the fire. Oune of the texts urged in suurofl. of cternal hell-fire is Mark. ix., 44, in which Christ pro- nounces the doom of the ungodly,—where the morm dicth not, and the fire is not quenched. ‘I'his sayinz of Christ is not orimual; it is taken from Isaiah, 1xvi., 21, which says: *They shail o forth and look upon the carcasses of the racn that have transgressed against me, for their ‘worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be Zucuched. and they shall be an abhorring unto all esh.” The worm and the fire are alike ex- ternal to and distinct from the subject on which they rey, and that upon which they prey are’ not the living but the dead. Isaiah fre- quently uses the image of the worm, but always counected with death. The passage means sim- Dy Hell as the cleanser of God's world by the utter destruction of the remains of the wicked. The passaze in Jude referring to the cternal fire consuming Sodom and Gomorrah means simply the destruction of those citics in the time of Lot, and their abiding condition ever since. It is the eternal sufferiug from fire; aicath and desolation have reigned there cver since. There are distinctiens in future punishment. Hell is not to all a sudden cessation of exist- ence. There is life in that prison, but it does rot coniinue forever. There is weeping and waillng, regrets and augaish, on the part of the Jost. Hegrets and pains precede and produce death in Hell, just as they do on carth. The weepers and gnashers are those who have re- jected the proffcred grace. The Citles of Chorazin and Betbsaida, the children of the Kingdom, the refusers of the Apostle’s mes- sage, the hypoerites, are held up as exceeding inguilt the ignoraut offender, the uncovenanted transgressor, and the men of Tyre and Sidon. }i‘ur the former are many stripes; for the latter, ew. ‘The second death is likcunto the first. Here aman lives nich unto a thousand vears; to an- other the first breath of life is the last. One dies asif he were going to slecp; another is racked with torture for year after year. The devil and his angels will meet the same fate a5 the ungodly. They shall be utterly destroy ‘They are not the tyrants of Hell; they are pun- ished with a severity proportioncd to their guilt. The question of Diviue justice is one that will constantly recur whenever the subject, of future punishment is considered. Is pain inflicted throughont etersity a just punishment for any conceivable amount of sin committed by the worst of mankind! Man did not_ask for life. given him without his knowledge or C nt. The advocates of eternal torment urae that the ungadly perpetually commit sios in Hell, The lost are_incapable 8f sinning, for they arc out of and beyond the law. Where there is no Jaw there can be no transeression. Would it be just in God 1o inflict an eternity of pain on any single creature ot Iis hand! The ver- dict of the human heart answers No. The Church of Rome offers her millions a purgatory, —a finite period of torment,—though she holds ous cternal terrors to those without her pale. The churches of the Reformation, though fol- lowing the Augustinian theory of everlasting , have not_given a rigid_adhesion to it. n, Hall, Taylor, and’ Barnes accepted the theory, but loved {t not. The modern mind, shaken in religious faith, pronounces the whole schicine a Ife, and denounces the inspir: tion of a boolk which is subposed to teach it. The doctrine of the eternal death of the sinner shows an award of justice which, if It brings the sizh of saddess, brings also the full, deep breathing of infinite relief. Looking on e catim face of death, it can be said, “It (3 well.” The Scriptures predict the extinction of evil, and this is fn harmony with the doctrine of cternal death. Evil is not to be everlasting, It Malachi a had a bexiuning and shall huve an end. God bas promised 4 restituzion of all things. Tne time will come when vho_ rcjected God shell be silent in darkoess, and those who did not shall praise the Lord. The Augustinian theory tells us that Geal’s ears shall ve pained throughout eternity by the blasphemies of the wiclked, and Ifis eves otfended with the sight of evil. It sets aside & portion of God's universe for thes everlasting preservation of wicked- ,in the face of what He has expressly nes 3 decreed. The great object of punishment is not retribution, it is prevention. That severity is the Wi and most mercifnl that has for ifs object the protection of the law-abiding classes, and the orevention of L their degencration into law-breakers. — The oritrin of evil 1s aceoanted for by the freedom of the will which belongs to all _beinws above the rank of the brute creation. The tirst appear- auce of moral evil, so faras the human race is concerned, began with the fall of the angels, and we know from Seripture that_tl 1 will nct, never to break out avain. atlizn or believe that of the heath- cn all arc’lost. But we do koow that as a rale their future is without hope. Light enough to condemn but not to save; light so littleas to reduce their guilt to a minimum, but not to make them guiltless, and yet Wwith this small amoust of Jight ana of gnilt they endure a sccond and endly s death. They will suffer far less than the calle ‘us hearts of Chorazin and Capernaum. They * +sinned without the law, and they die the deatl:of the wicked without the law, j Let us contemplate the tinal scene of re ‘tribu- tion,—!leaven on one side, Hell on the o, ther. The redeemed enjoy (he one, the fost fnh, it the oth According to their deserving IS tlieir punishment. Each one’s suffering havhg been undergone, be 13 wrapped in the mantte 6'F cternal death. Gradually life dies out in the lost, and when the Iast man stall have sufferced the chastiscment awarded him, an unbrokem silence will take possession of the fearful prison and keep it-forever. The wicked have «rank the waters of Lethe, evil has died out, and throughout God’s world of life is everlasting joy, peace, and love. v JOSEPH COOK’S VIEWS. 1P SIN BE ETERNAL, SO 13 PUNISOMENT. Spectal Disputch (0 The Chicago Tribune. TrrosvILLE, Pa., Jun. 19.—Joscph Cook hds been here and gone. Ife lectured before avery large audience of the best neople of the city in the Opera-flouse last evening, and, alter the lecture T approached him, and readily obtaiued, an interview. 5 «)r, Cook,” said T, *the public manifest a desire to know what yon hold upon that sub- ject so much discussed of late—Ilell. Wit you gratify the public by teling me, so that I ‘an publish your views?? “Well, really Ishall want to post myreif § more fully upon what has been said on zhe other side of the water before making up .y mind exactly what Ishall say. You know b4t only a few weeks since we knew what Canoz Farrar thought upon this subject, ana manyr of the great minds have not spoken atallas yes. Thelr views will not change mine i1 all probabfiity, but the perusal or thelr opinions may change the form 1In which I present my views. You have noidia of the pressurc under which Ilive. My Boston lectures crowding me et the while for nenv | thouehts, and here I am delivering lectnrys nearly every night in tha week. Added to thut 1 am preparing copy and reading proof for my mnew bool which is soon to appear from the press of tae Osgoods. L have not had a night’s rest for three nights. Last night T vode cll nigbt on the cars and wroke witli a lamp on myy lap. When 1 finish my Boston lectures in Avorll, I propose to prepdre some new lectur s for the lycemn platfor. You know peopie will not siand purely rehizious lectures there. “ But yon must have,:Mr. Cools, some well defined and entertainingd views upon this su - ject which Beecher and Swing have startead hefore the public, and upon which ulmost every divive of cither high or Jow degree is ventilaf- Ing his views. There would be much iuterc:st inanything you might offer.” «t Yes, cortainly, 1 have what I consider car. fully matured views. I have dslivered on, lecture that covers the ground quite fully. is my *Permancnce of Moral Character.? It In that lecture will be found my views upon this subject. I hold that in the region of physic al and organic laws there is 3 point beyond whiciy, if the step Is taken, it becomes toolate to mendd, Under the physieal law of gravitation, the ¢ - recning of a ship to the right and to the left for a certain time and to a certaln extent teaches the sailor scamanship;_ it makes them bold and wizes it is remedinl. But a point is reached in the carcening when the violation censes to be remedial, the balance s entirely destroyed, and the ship capsized. Under the physical laws there is_thus o point where it becomes too late to mend. There is thus o cleardistinetion be- tween penalty which is remedial and that which isnot. Thatis plain, is it noté” #1¢ would seem 1o be.” ; “Well the same thing 1s true under the' orzanic law. Tuke certain kinds of trees, where they are gashed to a certain point they may throw out gums and heal the wounds, waking the spot stronger than before. - But when «ashed beyond the centre the organic law is 50 far violated that the tree falls; and after & thousand years you would not expect to sce the tree escape from the dominion of the law which is enforeing upon it penalty, would you? There is no tendency in that penalty toward reme- aiol effcet; none at ail. Therefore, under the oreanic laws there fs such a thing as its being too late tomend. Is that not plain#” I gave assent, aud the great preachertpro- ceeded: 1 simply argue from the great principle of analogy which Newton and Bishop Butler tonght. Here we have two sets of natural laws which both point in the same direction and which arc included under three classes. Bot h these incontrovertibly show that thee is such a thing “as peoslty without remedial effect. May there” mot lwe the same under thé third set! Two fingers shut towards the palm. I caonot quite trace the whole rauze of the moral law; but I know that if two fingers shuz fowards the palin the third probably does. i there is such thing as being _forever too late to mend under the organic and tho physical natural law, probi- bly, gnd_more than probably. there is such a- thwg under the moral maiural law. Julius Muller gays, *Such is theiconstitution of things that unwillingness'to gooduess may ripen into eternal voluntary oppusition to it.” - This brings up the inveteracy of sin. You have heard of that. Out of its fnveteracy will not easily arise its evanescencs, Out of its pro- longation comes its inveteracy, and out of its inveteracy may come its pyrmaucuce. 1 bold irreversible natural law there that uonder W ] may exist in the universe cternal sing Eternal sin is the Secriptural pbrase. As all scholars know, we must _read in the 2Gth erse of the third chapter of Mark, hainartema- fosand not kriseus. Ile who sinneth against the Holy Ghost is in danger of efernal sin. ~ The- odore Parker used to sav that the proformdest cxpressions in the New ‘Testament arc those which are the most likely to bave been correctly reported. What phrase on this theme is vro- founder than ‘eternal sin’? Ido not deem it the best method to teach the truth of future punishment to say that a man is panished for- ever and forever for the gius of that hand’s breadth of duration we call time. If the soul does not repent of these with contrition, the nature of things forbids its peace, but the Bib- Tical and the natural truth is, that prolonged dissimilarity of fecling with God may end in { there is cternal sin, there punishment. Under irre- law there can be no blessedness without holiness. God’s om- ipotence cannot force bleescduess on soul that has lost the predominant desire to be boly. Omniscience caunot make happy o man wlo ioves what God hates, and hates what God loves. If you fall into predominant dis- similarity of fecling with God, it is out of His power t6 give you blessedness. Without boli- ness there can be no blesscdness; but there can be no holiness without' a predominant Iove of what God lovesand bateof what God hates. We grow wrong; we allow ourselves to crystal- lize in habits that imply a loss of thedesire to be holy; #nd at last, having made up our minds not to love predominantly what God loves aud hate what e hates, we are amazed that we havenot blesseduess. But the universe is not amazed. The nature of thingsis but another name for the Divine nature. iGod would not he God if there could be blessedress without holi- ness. Those are py views at present upon the subject of punishwent.” A CATHOLIC THEORY. TIE LOCATION OF HELL AND I3 NATURT. 4111l Opened to Christiang™ is the title of a work republished iu recent {numbers of the New York Sunday Democrat.” In some Hoes of the preface to it the Sundaj Democral says: “Yearsagu @ holy Jesuit (the Rev. Fatber Pinamonti) wrote an admirable book of medita- tion on ell, which was reprintzd in this country with the spprobation of Bishop Kendsick, of Philadelphia.” In giving somz passages from it we trust we shall . not diminish their interest by the condensation that is neces- sary, or by leaving out the Lat% or Scriptural quotations which adorn it. Tne Rev. Father Pinamonti says: i (od has framed a prison in the lowest region of the universe, a very suitable place, as the farthest of all from Heaven. erg, though the place is wide enongh, the damned will uot even have that relief which either a poor prisoner has in walking between four sails, or the sick man in turning himself in his bed, because.here they shall be bound up like a famwot, and heaped upon one another hike unfortunate vietfms; and this by reason of the great dumbers of the damned, to whom this great pit will become narrow and strait; as also beeause the fire jtsell will be to them like chains and fetiezs. The walls of this prison arc more than 4,000 miles thick,~that is. as far as from hence to Helly but v.cre they as thin as paper, the prisoners will be too weak to break through them to c their escape. ‘prison will ot only_be extremely strait, Is0 extremely dark. It is true there will ¢, but deprived of light; yer so that the s shiall suffer with the sight of most horribie Dpearances, and yet e _aebarred of thie com- fort which in the midst of- all their terror the lightuings themselves might cause in the fright- fulest tempests. ‘*There willbe heat without brightness,” by a contrary miracle to what was wrought {n the Babylonian furnace, for there, by the command,of God, the heat was taken {rom the fire, but not the lizht of brightuess; versible but in hell the fire will 37 o5 lizht, bat ! 3 : 2 but not its Doat. Moreover, this same fir burning with brimstone will Lavo o scarching flame,which, bo- e mlinf-'le“ with the rolling smoke of that in- ernal cave, will fill the whole place, and raise a 5‘:“(’4\ of darkness. Finally, the same mass of Dadies heaped one on another will contribute to make up a part of that dreadful might, not a £limpse of transparent alr being left to theeyes gfx [t-hu damned, thus darkened and almost put The misfortunes of this prison, 50 strait and wbscure, are heightened by the addition of the ‘ereate:st stench.” Firstly, thither, as to a com- Iwon sewer, all the filth of the earth shall ron after the firc has purged it at the last day. Ser.ondly, the brimstone itself continually burn- iz in such prodigious quantity will cause n ¥ tench not to be borne. Thirdly, thevery bodies of the damned Wwill exhale o pestilential o smell that if any-one of them were to be placed Tiere on carth ft would be enotgh, as St. Bona- venture observes, to cause & general infection. The Devil appearing one day to St. Martia, with purple robes and g cro»m on his head: ** Adore me," seid he, * for 1 am Christ, and_descrve it 82 but the saint, assisted by a celestial lioby noswered him, sxying, “ My Lord is erov with thorns snd covered with blood; I know Him not in tis dress.” The Devil, being dis- covered, fled away, but left so great a stench behind him that this alone was sufficlent for the snint to aiscover him. Lf then one single devil could- ralse such a stench. what will that pestiferous breath be that will be exhaled in the dungeon where all the whole crowd of tormenting devils, and all the bodies of the tormented,wil! be pen- ned up together? Air itself, being for a time closelp shut up, becomes fnsupportable; judge then what a sink of such loathsome filth ‘must be to those that are confined m it forever. The Divine justice has chosen fire as the fit- test instrument to punish those that rebel awainst God. Even amoug men_there never was found a greater torment. Nevertheless, You must not think the fire of tiell is like ours. Happy, I say, would those uniortunate souls be if they met with no other fires than what can e made on carth. Our fire is often appiied to subjeets not at all proportioned to its activity; but the fire of hell is kindled bp a sul- Jphurous and bituwinous matter which will -aiways, burn with an uuspeakable fury, -as it “happens in the thunderbolt, which strikes with se much force caused by the violence of that lizhted exhalation. Finally, our fire destrovs what it burns; therefore, the more intense it is the shorter it is; but'that tire in which tie damned shall forever be tormented shall burn without ever consuming, and is, therefore, by Christ compared uuto salt, which, torturing them with inconceivable heat in nature of fire, will ulso hinder than from being cor- rupted, as it i5 the nature of salt to do. ‘The infernal prison being to contain 811 the Dbodics of the damaed, without being compene- trated one with another, it will be requisite it should be & pit of many milesin circumference, depth, and heighth, cousidering the reat num- ber of its prisoners. Now, all this zreat pit will e full of fire, and if tighted straw, when there is enough of it, will Leat an oven. what will lighted brimstone do, so.violent as to quality, and so grcat as to quantity! Besides, the fire here will be shut up without sny vent, and, therefore, all its flames will return back by re- verberation, and, by _coneequence, be of unspeakable activity. Flame so flerce and so great will mnot only affiict us without, ns it happens with the fires in this world, but will penctratc our vers bones, our marrow, and even che very prineiple of our Jue and being. Every one that is damned will be Sike a lizhted furnace, which has its own Hlames in.itsclf; all that flthy blood will boil in the veirs, the brains in the skull, the beart in treast, the bowels within the unfortunate body, surronded with an abyss of fire, out of which it carinot escape. Couasider that whatever has been said, either to thae strength, the quality, or the quantity of this, infernal fire, it is nothing in comparison to thes intepseness it will bave as beivg tue instru- m ent of the Divine justice, which will raise it 2 gove its natural force to produce most wonder~ ful effects. The. infernal fire will be of that ’zind; it will have its rise from the foot of the throue of God,~thzat {s to say, it will receive an fncredible vigor from the omaipotence of God,— working not with its own activity, but, as an in- strument, with the activity of its agzent, who will give to the flames such intcoseness as he shall thiuk convenieut to revenge the outrages cotmitted against him, sud to repair the fnju ries done his glory. If the fire, like a sword Htalling with its own weight ouly, makes such havoc among us, what will it dom hell, when assisted by an omnipo- tent arm? ‘The company of the devils will prove far more tormenting than would be that of our greatest encmices, they being also executioners aud min- isters of Divine justice. -They will affifct the damned two dilferent ways, by their sight and by reproaches. The sight of a devil is so terri- bie that St. Francis, after having seen one, as-+ sured his compauion, Brother Giles, ¢ that had it not been for a particular help of God, he could not have beheld such a monster, thougi for never so fow moments, without expiring.” St. Autoninus making mention of a relizious person, who, having seen the deril, said he would ' freely go into a fiery furnace rather than sce him any more, St. Catharine, of Sienna, speaking to.our Savior, said much more: “Tiyt, rather than to behold again so frizhiful an.infernal_form, she would choose to walk fu a road all of fire to the very day of judament.” sceording to this, ooe of thosé monsters alone would be cnough to make a hell of the place he 4vas inj yet in hell they will be without num- ber. Waat a life will that be, worse than o thor sand deaths, to live among such cruel enemies and such blgody exceutioners! Consider that were the pains of hell less racking, yet, being never to have an end, they would become infinite. What, then, will it be, they beine intolerable a5 to sharpness and end” less as to duration? Who cau couceive how much it adds to grief, its being never to have an_end? The torment of one houris a ereat pain, that of two must be twice ss much; the torment of a hundred hours must be a huodred times as much, and 80 on, the pain still_increas- ing in proportion of the time o its duration. What, thea, must_that be which is to fast iv- finite hours, infinite_days, jofinite azesi That pain certainly must be jufinite, nod surpass all our thouzhtstoconceive it; for were ft proposed to the damued to sutfer either the stingof a bee in their eye for a whole eternity, or to under- go all the torments of hell for as many ages as there are stars in heaven, they would, withou’, doubt, choose to be thus miserable for so many awres, and theri to gce an end of their misery, than to endure a pain so much less that was to have no end. Take an hour glassinto thy hamd, and say thus to thyself: If I were to be buried alive in the middle of a fire for as many thou- sand years as there are grains in this little parcet” of sand, which measures the llceting hours, when should I sec an end of my pain ‘The world has lasted so fong, and yet pas not completed 6,000 years, so that there would not as yet be above five grains taken away, which would not be more than some few toms, in respect of the remaining quantity; sud yet, if I dic fn mortal sin, I am obliged by faith to believe that, after having “suffered all these ages, none of my pain due to it will be passed, and_eternity will remain as en- tire g3 ever. Let us go ow, and imagine to ourselves u mouutain ol this small sand, so bigh as would reach from earth to heaven; then let every oné say (o kimself, Were I to continue in flamcs so many thousand years as there are grains of sand in this* vast mountain, when should ever see zn end of my torments? -Let us, then, imagine this great “mountain to be multiplied as often as there are sands in the sea, Jeaves on trees, feathers on birds, scales on fishes. bairs on beasts, atoms fn the afr, drovs of water that have rained or will rain to the day of judmmnent. What human understanding can ever comprehend so great a number, which can _scarce be comprebended by au angel himsel{? 11 this succession of :\]Eei without. end could in hell give any refief by variety, {t would, on that score, be inore tolerable; tbut how can {t be tolerablé, it being to be alwaya the sams ia torments BRIMSTONE. REPLY TO B. W. HOLMES. To the Editor of The Tribwne. Quiscr, H.,Jan. 15.—In Tue SuNpay Tiiz- uxE of Jan. 13 I notice an article on eternal punishment sizned Burton W. Holmes, in which e aflirms that, according tothe Bible, the etern- al punishinent spoken of is to be eternal death, znd as Toe SuNDAY TRIBGNE in par- ticalar scems to be devoted to the spread of Gospel truths, ellow me through its columns to briefly reply to Mr. Holmes. One fact of vital fmportauce which nearly all writers who are opposed to the doctrine of eternal punishment gencrally ignore is, that God is a God of justice s well a5 2 God of mercy. Let me ask those who say they caunot reconcile the idea of ctern~ al punishment with God's zoodness and mercy, how they can reconcile the idea of eternal bliss with God’s laws and justice. The Bible plainly says the wicket shall o away into everlasting punishment; now if they suffer death accord- inz to Mr. Holmes’ argument they will not suf- fer that punishment, for two reasons: viz., they cannot suffer after death, for suffering implics a state of concionsness; eccond, they conld not be dying always. r. Holmes saysif the first die,—meaning that the body shquld cease to Yive,—that by parity at reasoning the second die must mean that the soul should cease to live alio, Are v then 19 measure the spiritual by the temporai? Ithinknot. God ssid to Adam, *Tr the day thou eatest thereof thon shalt surely dic. But did Adam die that day, or year. or centary? He didnot. - God simply mcant that iu that day Adam should become subject unto death, tozether with ail bis postecity, Spiritual deatn means dead to happiness, —dead to life. aud light, and joy. But life means one thing and existence another. Now, the idee. that some writers on this sabject advance, iz, : that we do not kuow the esact meaning of the words endless, and eternal. and everlasting, I do not sce onc afom of consistency Am. A werd may become obsolete, or it may have two or more meanings: bat no word means one thing yesterday and another thing to-day. In sap- portof my arsument let me refer Alr. Holmes to the following passages of Scriptuze: **The Son of Msn shall “send forth Iis angels, and the: ahall " gather - owt of s - Kinalom | ai things “that offend and them which do iniquity. and shall cast them into & furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of tecth." —(Matt., xiii., 41 and 42). How will they wail and gnash their teeth {¢ thoy are dead? It speaks of everlasting fire 1 Maithew, xilil., 8. K'tow why does the re last fo; if they (the wicked) are gd!llffnvsu’mlly‘ it d . 1ot take (Khem Torever erlnating punishment is again mentione in Matthew, xxv., 4"1 and € el 1t speaks of the that never shall be quenched In Murk, ix., 43 +*But the chafl He will burn up “#ith fire unquenchable. "—(Luke, iii., 17). There shail be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abrabam and Isasc and Jacob and ail the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you your- seives thenst ont.~—(Lake, xiii., 28). How conld they aee those thingy, or how could they weep and Znash their teeth it they were dead? In Luke, xvi., 30, the rich man speaks of his own condition a8 being that of the dead, but in the twenty-fourtn versc of the same_chapter e suys, **Tam tormented in this flame.” So it is evident he was not dead. What conld be more explicit or more positive proof of the doctrine of endivss punishment than the followfug: **And the third 2angel followed them eaving, with & loud voice, {f 2ny 1nan worship the beast ind bis jmage, and re- ceive his mark in his forehead o fn his hand. the samdshall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured oat without mixtur: into the cup of His indignation, and he hall i tormented with fire and brimstone in the Yiesence. of the holy avgels and fn the presence of the Lamb: and tne smoke of their tormedt ascendeth up for: ever and ever; and they have #8 rest day nor night, who worship the beastand hisimage, and wlhosoever receiveth the mark of his name.™ (F Siv., 9, 30, 11). **These both were cast alic 2 lake of fire burning with bri Rev. xix., 20). **And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast ond fulse prophet are; and shall be tor- mented day and night forever aud forever, and whosoever was not found writien m the Book of The lake of fire. guotations wiil suflice for the présen as miuny more are wanted, they will be forthcoming, In his concluding remarks, Ar. Holmes says: **Pen- alky for a violated luw m suffer- inz connected with it." There hie I8 wrows a There never was penalty paid for o violited ‘but Wwhat had more or less snflering connected with it. ' This death-venalty which thie unregenerate will pay, says he, commends itself to huuan reu- son In not being excessive. 18 the Justice of God, then, to be measured by human reason? It is to be hoped nat, at any rate.” Ie adas further: **The wicked go'back to the condition as thonzh they had never b Ts not this far preferuble to the untold, never-endingnzes of terriolc agony we have been ta is good. Ile does notbelicve ineternal punishment, simply because he prefersto believe something else. 1f have often Thonght dome refused to believe the Bihle because they were not williug to believe t, bnt 1 peverdid hear avy one ndmit it before. 'In conclusjon let me gay, ive us the truth ug it is fn Christ, without any perversion, whether ft is congenidl to onr tastes or not. It is this perversion of Scripture by professed Christians that hus bronght the Charch to hier presenticomparatively weak colidition; avaw- ed infidelity is a pigmy compared with it. 1 shall be nleased” to beir rom Mr. Holmes ngain on this sabject. D. M. Davis. NOT ANNIIILATION. FOR ALL MEN SHALL LR SAVED. “To the Editor of The Trilune. Cmicago, Jan. 18.—~Several articles have re- cently appeared in Tie CHICAGo TRIBUNE in defense of the annihilation of part of mankind. 1t is thought the Lord will burn up the wicked, not burn them forever. .That would certainly be better. But it is hard to accept of that theory for various reasoms. As we read the Bible, man is a child of God, created in His image, and therefcre an immortal being. And God said, *Let us make man {n our imaze, after our likeness. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him.” (Gen. i., 26,27.) “ln the day God cre- ated man, in the likenessof God made he him.” (Gen. vy 1) * Wh sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his bood be sheds for in theimage of God made he man” (Gen.ix.. 6.) In the first book of the Bible, then, it is repeatea four times that man was creeted in the image of his Creator. This fs said of notbing but man, and Jsvery significant. The record caunot mean that the body js in the image of God, for God is aspirit The body, rather,isin the image of the carthy. It is taught by the creeds that this imaxe was lost in Adam, and that all his posterity have y or may not b this is not the theology of the New Testament. The epostle Paul says, “ Forasmuch ns man fs the image and glory of Gud.”” (I. Corinthians, xh, 7.) Another testilics to the same, “* Where- fore bless we God, even the Fatler, and there- with curse we men, which are made in the simil- itude of God.” (James, iii., %) May it not, then, be safely aflirmed that mankind from the moruing of creation to the present time bave been created in the imageand glory of God? The fish of the scu, the fowls of the air, the beast of the forest, are_all created,—~but not in the image of God. Man only is thus dis- tingaished. This view enables” human nature. God is & spisit, an immortal spirit; man is a Epirit, an immortal spint. This Is what is meant by man being iu the image and glory of God. Wicked men morally are not in the image of God, but all mankind in their essential na- ture are In the divine imawe, and that is im- mortal. Will God ltke some foul beasts destrey His offspring—destroy those made in His own im- mortal image! The Bible nowhere teaches that He will. It speaks of mau’s body being de- stroyed; of the destruction of his suul, or enimal life, but never thus of his spirit. OF the latter it says: “ Dust returns tojdust as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” It is of heaven, aud will return to heaven. True, the Bible says much about destruction, but it is the earthy of mau that is subject to destrit tion. not his divine vature. Let this be remem- bered. One of your correspondents, B. W. IL., cites the words of God to Adam, if **thou eatest thereof _thon whalt surely die.” Bat why not quote the whole passuge? **For in the day thon cateat thercof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. xi., 17.) Notin the immortal world, nat in hell, not 3t the ond of life’s journcy, but in the dav of trans- gression. This death, then, i3 not annihilation, a3 zou correspondent supnoses, bat a death o in- | cerning thie vassages B. ¥, H. quotes sbout. **per- 18hing,* being +*consnmed, ™ ** slaying the wick- ed," " whose cnd is destraction, " ehall be ag nothing, " etc. The contents show that temporal judgments are meant—nothing more. Buotif he Will' have it that such words mean the annihilation of soul and body, the very best of mankind share that fate. Let the reader scan the followin: ‘*David anall decend into the battle and perish. (I. Sam., xvi., 10.) *‘There i3 & juat man that risheth in his rightconsness.” (Eccl., vii., 15.) **The righteous perish, and no man layeth it to heart.” (lsa..lvii., 1.). This destruction only re- lates to the body—not to the indwelling spirit. Let this be remembered in all those passages he cites. St Pan} sdys. - For we know hatif our earthly b asu_h his mortal body] of the tabernacle were disidlved [died. perished, destroyed], we have = building of God, a buuse not made \with hands, eternal in the Heavens." (L. Cor., v., 1.) Lét'it be noted that the words *‘perish, ™ ¥ destroy,™ **lost,” -*&on of perdition, " are all from **apolinmi* indifferent inflections. Persons in the condition these words indicate are the very ones Jesns came to save. lence He aays, ** For the Son of Man is come to geck and to save that which was fost.” Such persons then are not an- nihilated, but liviay, and so precions in God's sieht that he sent His Son to save them from their Iost and perishinz conaition. A passage is cited second death, " and that he o of the soul. Bat °*sec- ond ™ qualifies deatk ta intensify it. It means a terrible, crushing, overwhelming destraction. Jesus seems to refer to it in these words: Let them which be in Judea flee into the moun- tains, . . . For then shall be great tribulas lion, such as was not since the begioning of the world, to this time, no, nor nevershalibe. " . . . Verily Isay unto yon, this generation shall not gass tllall )Lhese things be falfilled. (Matt.,xtiy., This destruction threatened the Jewish nation fe doubtless what John calls the ** second deatn,™ and note it wasto comeon the gencration with whom Jesus 1 Josephus tells all abont that deatl and destruction of his nation. But we are assured that ull death and destruction will finally be destroyed. ~ Says St. Paul: _ **Then cometh the end, when He shall have de- * livered up the kingdom o Gud, even the Fathers , when Heahall have pat down all rale, all authority, aud power. ** For He must reign, till He bath put all enemies under ifis feet. dcartie 1ast cnemy that shall bo destroyed Is eath. : ** For He bath pat all things undee His feet. But when He saith, all thinzs are pat wader Bim, it s manifest that He fs excepted, which did put all things under Him. e d when il things shall be subdned nnto Him. then shall the Son also Himself be subject untc Him that put all thinze under Ilim, that God may benllinall." . Cor., xv., 24-18.) **30 when this corruptible shall have put on in- corruption, aud tais mortal shall have put on im- mortality, theu shull be brought (o pass the saying that s written, Desth 1s swallowed up in victory. O desth, where Is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? “The sting of death is sin; and the strensth of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which civeth us_the vic- tory throuzh our Lord’ Jesus Chnst.” (L Cor., XV, 54-537.) It is written in Isaiah. xxv., 6, 7, 81 **And in thiy mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leex, of fat things full of marrow, of winea on the lees well refined. **And e will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering caxt over all people, and the vail that {s spread over all nations.” . ** He will swallow up death in flclag: and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His peovle shall He take away from oif all the earth; for the Lond hath spoken it. " ‘This is to be the end, the consummation—death the Jast enemy, sbohished, and God in all. Amen. E. Maxvonp, Editor Munford's Magazine, JEREMY TAYLOR. I8 VIEWS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT AS EX- POUNDED BY DX. THOMAS CALLED IN QUES+ ‘TION. To the Editor of The Tritune. €mcaco, Jan. 18.—In his discourse of Iast Sunday Dr. Thomas, devoting his energies mostly toa denunciation of Presbsterianism, did not confine his strictures absolutely to that body of Christians. He was fortunate enoazh to finda Pittsburg divine of the Presbyterfan faith whose lanauage may have been, and proba- bly was, used in the same fizurative sense incer- tain expressions of the New Testament, whosa Hell was of a fiery order. And to mateh the Pitts- burg divine he was obliged to go away back 200 vears for words of asimilar character In the mouth of that cminent prelate and more emineat preacher, Jeremy Taylor. I wish, with your permission, to correct the false impression which the sermon of the excel- lent brother made upon the community touch- ing the views of that glorions old pulpiteer of the seventecnth century: ‘The correctness of Dr. Thomas' quotation is not called in guestion, and only in very smali part anything that he said about Jeremy Taylor; but rather the natural Inference from the quotation and from his remas! i _harsh views of the Divine vovernment in general, ‘And the state of the impenitent dead in pacticufar. itisa mistike. and xo great & mistake " that “lig anight Just as propecly have brought him forwnrd as ay illustration of the methods 1o which orthvdox minds resort to tone down the severer features, of their belief. . That Jeremy Taylor held to the doctrine of eternal pupishment, defined in his own way, is not a matter for aoubl. It is not so cleur, however, that he held toa material Ifell-fire or the sca of fire, as represented in the sermon of Dr. Thomas. at sermohs, entitled toJudgment ™ nd certainly hiere. if anywhere, we shall find his views ou thix zreat question. I will not say that in pomnt of fact he did not believe’ in the flery sea #nd *‘screamfuy women™ of Prol. Swing, ot fn the heated oven hotter than the red— hot brizen bull of Philuris, but that in this quite wide discussion of the theme be vays nat one word to indicate sach a view, and not one word incon- sistent with a contrary belief. It is, however, the temper of Jeremy Taylorto “which'we desire todirect attention.~to the moder- ation, carcfulness, and mecifainess of his views, Yonr readersishall jndge woether this great fire- eater, this monster of *‘crucl opinion, ' hns not shoswn quite as much dlscrimination, and quite us gentie aspirit asthe Centenary pastorbimself. 1 will natargue. Simply quote some portions of these Qiscourves, 50 great, 8o eloquent, 50 jnetly terrible, and withal so appreciative of the weakness of man and the yoodness of God, that the utterance of ths Centenary pulpit isno inore than u fartning rin lizhtin the comvarison, albier it1s the ninetecnth century. Aftef speaking of the certafnty of punishment Jeremy Tavlor zoes on to protest against the idea of an Indicriniinate and_ arbiteary divine jadg- ment. He tuys sentence shall pass . Not by, the Jituie ersor of one day, bot by the sreat proportion of onr lLife, for God takes not Rotice of honest persons who always endeavor to avoid sin, but in Uttle intervening -instances are surprieed; but He judzes us by single nctions it they aze great and of evil effects, and by smail fn- stunces {7 they be habitnal. No'man can take care concerning every minute, and therefore Christ will not pass sentence bat 33‘[ .+ -+ thinga of cholcs and deliberation. . . . The sentence of tnat day shall be passed, notby the proportions of an angel, but by tte measures of a man: the irst follics 3 B nocence, to puriiy—moral degradation, debase- ment. This fv the wages of win of which Pyl speaks, *‘The wages of sin is deatil” Your correspondent quutes, **The gouf that sm- noth, it shall dle, ™ and then cites \Webster to show that aic _means t0 **cease to live," ctc. But why clip the dictionary? Webster says one should infer Thatthe *primary sense is to plunge, fall orsink. * ‘The son} that 8ins plunges, sinks {nto corraption, falls from purity ana innocence. _Adam fell from his heavenly condition, but he was not annihilated, neither 14 any soul annihllated when it sios, but fallz 1nto a debased condition. W. I, cites several paasages from the Dible in which the destraction of ceriain wicked persons i referred 1o, snd jumps 10 the conclusiou they were or will be aunihilated, body and spirit. Let ug fee If he is not awin mistaken, O Isracl. thon hast destroyed thyself; but in Me there is help.” (losca, xiik., 9.) Was the whole Jewish nation onuinilated 2500 yearaago? Thoush de- stroyed, the Lord szid unto them,”** [n Me there is help.” So of all who are in that condition, fa dod there s help. The immortal spint #till bears the image of God. and is not beyoud the reach of almict says, **Thon tarnest man to de- and sayest, Return, ye children of men.” {Psalms, ¥c., 3.) Thoush destroved. they cannot e annibilated. for they ae told to retarn. True, when the Eible speaks of men being cut down by war, peatilence, famine, it often ¥y they are de- stroyed. We eay the Russians sre destroying the Turks, and the Turks are destroying the Kussians, bat we do not mean sopimlation, only killing temporarily. So when the Bible spesks of men being destroyed, it often means the <ame. Tt 43 even #aid the Jews wonld_be punished with +ieverlasting destruction.” B. W. 1L cites this. ‘Thatnation Jong simce was cast out of the Kinz- dom, bat it will dnsliy return. Read Romaoa, eleventh chapter: S Fori7 ibe casting aswar of them be the recon- clling of the world, what shall the receiving of et be but life from the dead? . . . . Be- bold thercfore the goudness and severity of God: on them which fell. severity; but toward thee, gooduess if thou continve in Iiis goodncss; Otherwise thou slso shalt be cotoff. . . . Forlwould not, brethren, that ye should be ignorantof this mystery, lest ye should be wiscin your own conceits: thatblind- neas in part ks heppened (o Tsracl, until the fuil- ness of the Gentile he come in. “*And 50 21l Isract shall be saved: asitiswritten. These sbal) come out of Zion the Deliverer, and ahall_turn away unzodiiness from Jacob. .. . For God bath concluded them all_in unbellef. that Dbe might have mercy uponall. Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge or God! How unscarchable are His judzments, and Bbisways past findinyont! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been lis coun- selor? Or who hath firstgiven to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto THim agsin? For af Him, and throush Him. and !e Him, are sl thinge; to whom be glory forever. Amen. " 1 ey were -+ sast amay, " *fell.” **destroyed, «*dead,” but not annitulated. They sre Anslly to be.'*received,” ** and soall Isracl shall be saved. It is as true now as it was long ago, ** O lsrael, thon hast destroyed thyscif, but in me thereis et Similar remarks may be truthfolly made con- st not nnpardonable; the second are dangerous; and the third are more fatal; but nothing is unpaz- donabie but perseverance in evil conracs, It s well to observe that the people wwio get Into Jeremy Taylor's hell are the incorrigible who bave made an absolsie and 85 ehoice of esil. He szvs urtier: **The last judgment shall be transacted by the same principies by which we are gaided here, not by strange and sccret propositions, o by. the f: cles of men, or by the vubtleties of iciess destins- tions, . . . butby the plain rules of justice, by the Ten Commandments, by the first spprehen- slon of conscience, by the plain rules of Scripture, and the rales of an bopest mind. . . . We ahall stand or fall by easy propositions, by chistity ar uncleanness, by justice or injustice, by robbery or restitution. . Ye must not fook for that Bentence by sceret decrees or obscure doctrines, bat by plain precepts and certain rales. But thero are yet morc degrees of mercy. That rentenco shall pass npon us, not after the measare of natare, aud possibilities, and utmust extents, but by tha mercies of the covenant. . . . The sentence is to he given by Him that once dled3forms. . . . and upon souls that Ie loves. And .now. upon these premises, we may dare to consider what the sentence shall oe that shall never be roversed, but 1e preacher says of the olace of perditfon: did not desizn it in the first_intention of thinza. He madc the Kingdom of Heaven from the fonndation of the world. . . . but it was accidental and a consequent to hotrid crime that 0d was forced to invent and to after-create that place of torments. And when God ald create and prepare that place, Ife did not at ali intend it for man; it was prepared for the Devil and his angets. . . . For ¢o great was the love of God to mankind that e prepared joys infinite and never ceasing for man. _Ile did not predetermine nim_1o_any evil, but when he was forced to it by man's malice *and notning would lead him to repentance,’ lle threw man into another portiun, becanse he would not accept what was destmed 10 be bis own. ™ Origen tanzht, or sécms (0 teach, that the repro- bate remained awhile in Iell, then had a respite .and sojourned awhile in Heaven, then retarned “azain to periition, and so passed back aud forth forever. Justin Martyr, Ircneus. znd otbers tanght that while the ames (metaphorical) of Hell were everlasting, It did not follow that the souls cast therein remained forever. Alinding to these viesws Jeremy Taylor says: *'1 observe that the primitive doctors werc very willing to believe that the mercy of God would find out a period to the tormeat of accused eoula; but -such 3 pericd which wonid be nothing but eternal destraction, called by Scriptare the second death.” Now observe what this old divine, breathing oat fire and brimstome (23 the brother would lead ua to suppose), saya of theso views: . *“Concerning_this dactrine of theirs, so severs and yet 20 moderased, there is less to be objected than against the nnpzwcd fancy of Origen (that reprobates pass back ‘n:‘d foth from | :;f—;:o Hell forever. never gaining Heaven - nent residence) : for it is astrange consideration #8 £0ppose an eternal torment— ‘0 those to whom itivas never threatenedy To those who never heard of Chriat, = T those who lived probably welly To heathens of xood livea, N