…to a Christian the true tragedy of Nero must be not that he fiddled while the city was on fire but that he fiddled on the brink of hell. You must forgive me for that crude monosyllable. I know that many wiser and better Christians than I in these days do not like to mention heaven and hell even in a pulpit. I know, too, that nearly all the references to this subject in the New Testament come from a single source. But then that source is our Lord Himself. People will tell you it is St. Paul, but that is untrue. These overwhelming doctrines are dominical. They are not really removable from the teaching of Christ or of His Church. If we do not believe them, our presence in this church is great tomfoolery. If we do, we must sometime overcome our spiritual prudery and mention them.
–C.S. Lewis, from a sermon at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford on October 22, 1939, quoted by yours truly in yesterday’s sermon
Thanks, Kendall, for that indeed memorable quote. The whole, lengthy sermon ([i]The Weight of Glory[/i]) is “notable” and filled with quotable parts. But I’ve always loved the willingness of C. S. Lewis to mention “the H word,” Hell, from the historic pulpit of Oxford’s official University Church. For, of course, Lewis is absolutely right. Dead on target. The reality of hell was taken as axiomatic by our Lord himself.
It’s the same pulpit, of course, that my hero John Henry Newman preached from in the 1820s and 30s, when he was the vicar of St. Mary’s. And naturally, Newman shared Lewis’ unabashed conviction about the fearsome, terrifying reality of hell. And so do I.
And FWIW, I’ve preached it too. Unashamedly.
David Handy+