Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-03-24
Mr.. CARLTON REPLIES
TO DR.. ARMSTRONG

Editor of The Journal:
In replying to Brother Armstrong; arti-
Gle of the 9th, wish TO say, lest my
position be misunderstood, that l DO not
deny that there is celestial Worlu OF
sphere called heaven, suited only to celes-
tial beings. And I wish to call attention
to the fact that the word heaven does not
always refer to this celestial world, Tor we
read that the old heavens are TO pass
away and there shall be new heaven
The old order of things is to pass away
and a new order Of things is to be inau-
g1lrated. John in Revelations speaks Of
the heavens being rolled together like a
scroll. This is figurative language, and II
we force a literal Interpretation on ngur-
alive language we destroy the harmony
of the Scriptures, and this Is just what
Brother Armstrong does in his reference
to Matthew V, Il, and others he quotes'
'sFor our conversation is in heaven. Now
I know my Brother Armstrong viii not
say that our conversation is at the present
time in the heaven where he thinks the
good go at death, or some other time,
for we are yet on the earth in the world.
Again, he says, Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven" What kind of treas
ures? Gold and silver, houses and lands,
stocks and bonds? OF course not. This Is
fgurative language and If the treasures
are fgurative the heaven is ngurative
also. So Brother Armstrong has failed to
produce a single text that refutes my
statement, that God has nowhere promised
to reward any one by taking them TO
heaven such as that to which most Chris
tians aspire.
Brother Armstrong doubtless believes in
the unscriptural doctrine Of the immor-
tally of man, and says, because quote
the language Of Solomon, that the dead
know not anything" 1t seems TO place me
in that class who believe that the soul as
Ill ~. h,r7x T.nr al In
scious condition until the resurrection.
Certainly, I plead guilty to the soft i'm
parchment, for that is exactly what the
Scriptures teach from lid to lid. The
Adamic death is characterized as a sleep
all through both the Old and New Tes-
lament Scriptures 1t is the soul, the be-
ing, that dies. 1t is the dead souls or be-
ings that are to be resurrected. And If
there are no dead there can be no resur-
rection of the dead. 1t is not the dead
bodies that are to be resurrected either
as Paul explains in I. Corinthians, XIV. Our
Savior poured out his soul unto DEATH in
order to ransom the dead soul Of man
from death, not from a hell of torment.
II the dead know not anything, as Solo
mon aff1rms, Brother Armstrong asks,
how came Moses and Elias on the Mount
of TRANSPORTATION? They were not there.
They only appeared in vision to the apos-
ties, and vision is never a reality.
As Tor the rlcn man anu Ld1dTuss SpOk-
en- of in the parable, a literal rich man
nor a literal Lazarus was not meant.
Space allowed me viii not permit Of an
explanation OF 1t here. Suffice 1t to say
that. II you hteralize it, as most people
enormously do, you make a very bad
mess Of IL. You make the imaginary
heaven far above the starry skies to which
the good go, and the imaginary hell OF
torment to which the different creeds
falsely consign the wicked so close togeth-
er that they can talk one with the other
and see and know the condition of each
other little too close. Brother Arm
strong, to be comfortable for those in
heaven, don't you think?
As for Enoch, what disposition God
made for him we know not, but we do
know that our Savior said more than two
thousand years afterwards, that mo
man hath assembled to heaven" John
iii, Is. And If we deny his words we might
with equal propriety deny anything else in
the Bible. ]. G. c. CARLTON.
IS Walker street, Atlanta, Ca.