Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1880 — PERSONAL OPINIONS. [ARTICLE]

PERSONAL OPINIONS.

OPINION NO. 4. Inasmuch as tbs Rev. Mr. Beecher, Dr. Thomas, Bob legeraoll said others have given their views ab le tbs condition at Hell, I embrace thisr opportunity to express an opinion respecting tbe Home of tbe M Notwithstanding the Bible ia fifll of eternal condomaatioa, somehow by the common consent of the Christian churches and the public generally, tbe old orthodox hell baa been abolished, and to-day the future punishment of the soul is seldom if ever referred to by oar popular divines. Thirty years ago a good part of every sermon preached was devoted to telling tbe people how, if they did not cease be do evil, they would be eternally scorched by the fires of bell made seven timer hotter than Nebuohadneziar’a fiery furnace, or be condemned to nrim eternally in Milton’s lake of fire, and there should be “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever and ever.” I am lully persuaded that from the days of Adam to the middle of tbe nineteenth century of the Christian era it waa the best and only successful doctrine that oould bate been tought, and for this reason the Almighty penned the Bible in tbe manner in which He did. If He had described the conditions of the righteous and wicked souls in the eternal world His language would have been beyond tbe comprehension of finite minds and the ignorant and illiterate never oould have learned the way of salvation; or again, if the Bible had been, written as plain and as comprehensive as the life of Washington about every person would read it through once and learning all it oontains lay it aside as of no further use. But the Bible waa written entirely, as I believe, by divine inspiration, and it is, in the main, just as the author would have it be and just as it should be. It is figurative, parabali-. cal and allegorical, and for this reaßon it grows brighter and newer as time advances, and th<* principles it teaches are the principles upon which the hosts ot heaven are governed. With all the intelligence men have attained they are yet unable to understand spiritnal things without associating or illnsiraiing them with temperal things, and the m&SRes are yet perhaps unprepared to be tanght that a good part of the Bible is made np ot allegories illustrating facts. Science anil research has proved that the world was l not created in six literal days, and that consequently six great periods of time are represented. The fossil remains now extant prove that animals, some species of which were never known in the history of roan, exiated many thousand years prior to the Adamic period. The reasonable conclusion then is that God at some time established, or created, the laws of natnre, the operations of which produced all temperal things, and these laws, or elements, are still creating and ohanging as certainly and as spi edily as they did when they were first sot id motion. Doubtless also the story of the creation of Adam oat of the clay of the earth, and the formation of Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, together with the story of the garden of Eden, of the trees of life aud death, and the origin of sin, is simply an allegory representing a fact, which otherwise could not have been coirectly perpetuated for two thousand years by tradition; or in other words the traditionary story of the oreation of man and the origin of sin, in existence at the time when Moses wrote,simply presented facts primarily, or in a crude state. How lifu was brought into existence is ms difficult to solve as the truth that, inanimate matter supports and qrpates animate matter. Can anyone tell what oauses the action of the heart? How the brain thinks,hears, sees, feels, tastes and smells? If you cannot then yon oannot deny that the Almighty creates and destroys nothing instantly but through (he laws which he established. Knowledge is power, and If we possessed knowledge equal with God we could also create and destroy in a like manner. " Now if it is an established fact that tbe old testameut scriptures cannot be taken literally then the new testament soripturea may be considered in tbe same light, and every passage it contains concerning the eternal burning of the sonl must be understood as illaetrating the anguish of a lost soul, for spiritual things cannot bo hindered by temporal things. But you may ask if tbe soala of the wicked are not or oannot be punished by bell fire as it waa formerly taught, how will they he punisnedk Before I proeeet t* answer this question let me give my opinImi first as te what the sonl »r spirit of man its origin, Ae.: Tha spirit ivthe immortal, neverdying part of man. It oan only be considered by finite minds as being a sttbbtance, but I will take thepo-

(Wot that hiain Mttj material entirely epirltaaL Sk aim and foam it k the exart oo—ter part of body to whieh it leleage. Nov as to the origin es the eoakt Some teaeh that God ere at a a far the sew-born child s» immortal spirit, others that the eoal of ama l» • part and parcel of God, set apart equally for each individual. Both .40 these theories seem Tory am eases able to me, beoaoee they are sot is accordance with the divine order of thiage. I have said that inanimate matter creates animate matter, wbloh la a fact that no one will attempt to deny, bat t carry the fnveeiigation still farther and declare that ANIMATS MATTS B or MANKIND rsoDCCss tbs spisrrvAL bombs which un aru dsath. Torecapitulate: The inanimate food which we eat produces bur bodies, creates and sustains life, and our perishablo bodies creates within themselves imperishable bodies. I bad thought to pursue this subject and fire mv opinion as to the destiny of the soul, its rewards, punishments, dm., but the length of this article admonishes me to defer it tilt •another issue.