"THERE IS A HELL!"

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 143, 18 June 1924, Page 17

"THERE IS A HELL!"

GIPSY PAT SMITH'S CONVICTION THE POWEE OF THE CHTJECH. There can be no doubt of the telling force of Captain Gypsy Pat Smith's Gospel message. He is a man -with whom religion' is a passion, not because of any possibility of self-gain, but because he is a believer in, the almighty power of the Creator. As he stood before (he large assembly at the Town Hall last evening and expounded in telling manner the reasons for his belief in the existence of a hell—a place for punishment for sinners after death—one could not but be struck by his sincerity of purpose; jhe had a message to tell and tell it he must in'the most vivid manner possible. He must drive it home so that the words he uttered would not simply be taken away and lost, but that they might be retained for all time, 'a warning before people that sin is not regarded lightly by the Great Judge. Vivid! That was' I Gipsy Smith ■ last evening. He spared .neither himself nor, the feejings of his hearers in order to drive'his points home. His effect jon. his hearers was.remarkable. One man was heard to remark at the-close of the service: "There is a man who lives close ,to his Maker." That sentence seems to sum up Gypsy Smith. . / i • .

In opening his address last night, Gypsy Pat' dwelt on the two meanings of the'word hell as it was found in the New Testament. In the first ,place, there was the word which meant merely the grave,' Hades, or the unseen world; anJ there was the'word Gehenria, which had- another meaning. It was, with- the" latter word which he intended ,to deal in particular that night. His message 'was one of 'lqve.' A mother did not "warn her child of'the danger of crossing a road fecause she'hated her child, but because she loved-her child. God did: >n6,t warn them of Gehenna; because he hated his people,., because -he loved, them. "I believe," said Gypsy Smith,' "that the5 Church of Jesus Christ is the most powerful organisation in -the- world to-day. Can it be said-, that the Press as the most powerful organisation? I don't think so. Politicians? No, sir! Press- and . politicians combined? There is not a politician in New Zealand who: would dare stand up in yonr House;of Parliament ,-and. try :to get a Bill through if lie, knew.'that on- the next Sunday morning every, minister in New Zealand would preach against it. He would never put it through. I don't like Idck'ing-i a man when he's down, but, I don't mind telling you that we ha,d to fight a : thing like that in England at the time when Horatio Bottomley was in the. heyday of his power. He-brought down the. National Sweepstake Bonds Bill, and the papers took it up and the politicians;, sided \yith . him. .Then, the Churches took it- up,- and the Bill was .swept; out. r Why?.., Because the Church 'of Christ is the .most powerful organisa-. tion in the world.' I wouldn't like to live in the world if the Church, were taken from it. I kno.wit has its flaws, ;and I know the: Church makes many mistakes. ' . ■ " 71 ■ ..■',' '

"Wherever you -have preachers of' power, you find them,talking about the lack of moral consciousness that is being experienced' today, and I think that the Church of Christ has failed to pro'claimto men and women'the existence of that place,called hell. The only time jou.hear about^hell is. when someone stands up and says, that there is.no such, place. I honestly" believe it'is better to stand up . and tell! men the known God's.'truth. -I don't believe in' hell— I would be driven mad if I did-4but I do believe about hell. \ I believe because it is necessary. It is a' hard word ■ to say—necessary: I suppose you1 think of your mother in the same way as>l do of mine. Would you.like her tq go to the same place; in the next world, as, Nero, that r>2Tpetrator of crimes? Then! believe in hell, too . Would you like the young Christian; boy who left your congregation arid was: killed in Flanders to go' to the same place as the profiteer who stayed at home and cornered every commodity? Then believe ,in hell, too ! I also believe in ■ Sell; "because it's. logi-: ca'l. • I remember an incident in France when we took a German'position and found the body, of a- poor woman who' had been done to" death in "a most horrible manner. Some of my' men whom, I had never thought' of as being anything but Godless men, came to me and said: "If there's no hell in the next world,1' there, opght to he." I don't know much about logic, but It seems to mo as if it's logic Jesus Christ spoke of hell \in parables, j and people' think that because of that hell is not ,a place of fire and brimstone., I; grant you that. Bu if you asked me -what war is. like I would say .."War is hell,", and yon would know that it was worse •than that. „ My ! God, what must hell itself be like^ If there-is no,hell, can you please tell -me what .Jesus Christ die 9to ,save us from? If there, is no hell, Calvary was a ghastly, failure." Gypsy Smith went ;on to remind his hearers that there was no secondl chance. Life was the testing ground. ; It might be. said.that Christ would-not condemn his children to the tortures of a hell,, but it had !to' be ' remembered 'that His children were divided into two sections. 'If any of them ever found themselves in: a lost hell, they' could not blame- God:, ' They._would be there because' they Jiad stepped across the . tjady a : crucified Christ. fSins were like a snowball, and k~ept on getting larger, larger, and larger. He believed in two hells—one within a sjnner while he lived .on earth and one in. another world. / ; -