Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

1'897.] 403
whereto I sent it." If hi11 children are growing into his likeness,
to be one day accepted as sons and daughters, can there
be an age-lasting state of puui>~hment other than as they
willingly or through ignorance remain in an unhappy condition,
the re11ult of such a conclition being to m~use them to
struggle ont of it, whiuh, in that t•espect, would resemble a
fathe•·'11 angPt' '?
Because of a mi>~nn•lerst:uuling uf the Scriptures the idea of
a pl:\ce of eternal and hope)e!1s tornwnt ha..~ been so thoroughly
fixetl in the ot·thudnx mind, tlmt, in cet·tain instances, they have
heen to Rome pain11 tu fine] out wh~t snb11tances might, by burning
continuuusly, SIIJllX'rt the reqni11ite tire. Even so gooll a
man as .John \\' esley-in one of hi11 J)llhlishe~ matter, speaking of a snbstance called "a~~bestos,"
which fi•·e cannot eonsnme. ancl as being a possible co~st.ituent.
lie fails, l1t1wever. tn show that even this substance wnultl
maintain the flame.
~evertheles!l , thet·e i>~a •·em:u·kahle unity of expre!lsion among
atwi.-nt teachet·s concet·ning fire as the means of punishment, or
the r~>sult of evil tloing; auul, since the itlea of a litetoa,l fire in
a place callecl hell is dying out, eYen among the orthodox, it
i11 well to Rea•·ch and see what the ma-1ter minds of the past
give as their undet·standing of this burning flame, the re.~ult of
broken law. We find that the Rible compat·es Gocl's anger to a
fire. Snch expre11sionR &!I God's anget· " waxing hot" are quite
common, conveying the thought of a fit·e. The terms Hell,
Sheol, Hades, Geheuna, ek, so far a.s theil· meaning is concerned,
are in inextricable confu!\ion: to the ordinary mind
they convey t.he indiscriminate itlea of a place or condition, or
placea and condition11, undesirable in their nature at11l the t•esnlt
of acts contrary to the divine pnrpose.
The words, "Let us make man in our image antl after our likeness,"
appeat· to express this purpose fully. "' e need not here
inc1uit·e into what the "image anti a.ml likeness" is; bnt, in observing
life and devt>lopment, we find that the process of living
is in itself the process of the attainment of the image and likeness
of the Ct·eative ){incl. It is ct•rtain that the dead do not grow,
Digitized by Coogle