The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-17

made to the temple, which must be
the temple at Jerusalem, entirely de-
stroying the speculative idea that the
temple had been Wondering in the
dust of the earth twenty six years be-
fore John was commanded by the
angel to rise and measure it with the
reed given him for that purpose.
And in relation to being trodden
under foot by the Gentiles we find
that the Saviour used language to the
same import when speaking of the
days of trouble which were soon to
come upon the Jews. He said,
And they shall fall by the edge of
the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations; and Jerusa-
lem shall be trodden down by the
Gentiles until the time of the Gen
tiles shall be fulfilled" duke xxi,
25.)
We have been thus particular in
attempting to decide the question
relative to the time the book from
which we have taken our text was
written, and it is believed that evil
dence sufficient has been adduced to
satisfy every unprejudiced mind
that it was written before Jerusalem
was trodden under foot by the Cen
tiles, or, in other words before it was
besieged and destroyed by the Ro
mans. 1t was necessary if possible,
to settle this point before we could
well proceed in the explanation of
our subject.
We now pass to more close in
vestigation of the text.
The Text Analysed.
The text, after giving description
of the events or circumstances which
were to take place at its fulfillment,
brings the scene to close in the fol-
lowing important language: "This
is the second DEATH" You must
readily perceive that there could be
no propriety in speaking of second
death unless there had been first
death. And it must also, I think, be
evident to all in order to be second
death there must not only have been
a first death, but it must also have
had resemblance to the second.
Now, l can behold no consistency
in the opinion held sacred by ma
jority of protesting Christians, that
the death of the body is to be con-
sidered the first death, and the eter-
nal death of the soul in hell the
second: inasmuch as there is no sim
ilarity existing between them-the
one affecting the body only, the other
the spiritual part of man.
believe there must be likeness,
similarity existing between the Sec
ond death spoken of in our text and
the first death, which the phrase Sec
ond death implies there must have
been.
Therefore, before coming direct to
the inquiry, what is to be understood
by the phrase second death? Let us
devote few moments to the inquiry
which presses itself upon our notice,
namely: what is, or what was the first
death? You must all perceive that
this query is closely connected with
our subject and that if satisfactorily
answered, it will assiet us not little
in arriving at the truth of our text,
particularly in relation to the proper
understanding of the second death"
Jewish History In Evidence.
We learn from Sacred History that
at the death of King Solomon, re-
quest was made by the twelve tribes
to Solomon's son who reigned in his
fathers stead, to tighten their bur
dens. In consequence of neglect or
refusal on the part of the king SO to
do, ten of the tribes revolted, and
made Jeroboam their king. These
ten tribes continued to become more
and more corrupt until they were
carried from the land of their nativity
by the King of Assyria, and their
country was given into the hands of
strangers. The two tribes which did
not revolt were those of Judah and
Benjamin. They continued to enjoy
the privileges peculiar to their fathers
for a season; but ere long, they, too,
forsook the true worship of the sane
tuary and polluted the temple with
service rendered to idols until the
measure of their iniquity was full,
when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby
Ion, went up against them with
mighty army, demolished the great
and beautiful temple built by Solo,
mon, which had been standing as the
pride and glory of the nation for $40
years, and carried the people away
captive into Babylon.
Here, then, at this time we learn