Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1909-09-23

The rich man prayer, In this para
BILE disproves the assumption that the
begger represented the GENTLE world.
Send Lazarus, that he may dip the
tip of his finger in water and cool my
tongue. " Did Christ represent him as
requesting that the GENTLE worl
might be sent to his relief9 Did the
Jews ever pray for the mitigation of
their sufferings through the ministra-
tions of the Gentiles' 'Send him to
my fathers house, for / have five
brethren, that he may testify unto
Them" Who can believe that the
Jewish nation, or priesthood, is here
represented as asking Abraham to send
the Gentiles to relieve its own suffer
ing and to warn its brethrenS But it
may be said that this fgurative Ian
guage denotes the anxiety of the Jews
after their dispersion, to obtain the
doctrines of the Gospel then in posses
sion of the Gentiles. Then why was
the prayer addressed to Abraham
And why has this anxiety of the Jews
to receive the Gospel at the hands Of
the Gentiles never been discovered? Z?
And since those who have the gospel
are always ready to impart it to 9TH
ers, why was this request denied? The
truth is the Jews have never sought to
mitigate their sufferings by the con-
solations of the Gospel since their dis
persion, any more than the Gentiles
previously desired to be fed on the
crumbs of Judaism. This explanation
of the chief characters of this parable,
is, therefore, a failure. It is without
foundation in fact, reason, or analogy,
and is unsupported by any authority,
and divised for the support of dis
tressed theory.
g. By the death of the two person
ages, the No-Hellites ascribe the
change in circumstances of both the
Jews and Gentiles, which took place
at the introduction of the Gospel dis
pensation. This is indefinite, not to say
ambiguous. Nevertheless we can learn
its meaning with little effort. The
meaning that is put on this by this
Gospel mob is that the Jewish nation
died politically, while the Gentiles
died unto sin, making the death of the
rich man signify national event, and
that of the begger represent what is
purely matter of individual expert
ence. But where is the authority for
interpreting these deaths in this way
We ask in vain. The Interpretation is
forced, arbitrary, unnatural, inharmo-
nious, impossible. If one death was a
national event so was the other and
if one was a death unto sin so was the
other. Both died the same kind of
death, however changed their circum
stances after death. But both could
not have been national political deaths
for there were no political deaths in the
Gentle world to be represented by the
death of Lazarus. Nor could both
have been death unto sin; for the
Jews did not die unto sin. Besides
Lazarus died first, and if his death
signified the conversion of the Gen
tiles, they should have been converted
before the Jews died politically
but they were not. Both died
suddedly; but the change in the cir
cumstances of the Jews and Gen.
tiles did not take place suddenly,
but after long preparation, and after 9
long struggle, and after having been
the subject of prophecy for many
years. The facts are all against this
Interpretation.
4. The No-Hellite view is 1.-THE
great gulf signifies the unbelief of the
Jews in the Redeemer, whereby they
have been kept in their unhappy state
of alienation unto this day. This
assertion is unfounded, The gulf was
fixed between the parties. 1t was ap
pointed and established by divine or
dination. The unbelief of the Jew
was sufficiently stubborn, and in tha
sense fixed but it was not appoint
ed nor ordained of God. 1t was not th'
product of divine power. On the con
trary they were guilty of their owl
unbelief. They were favored will
evidences enough to convince them o
the Messiahship of Jesus, but the!
| oh inf 70 hn oh
fixed their own unbelief. 'Fathe
Abraham" did not intimate to the ricl
man that he had fixed the gulf him
self 1t was his fault that he was ol
the wrong side of it but the gulf wa
there without his agency.
And this gulf could not be crossed
The separation between the partie
was final. Think of this, ye who i'm
agine probation in Hades But tn
unbelief of the Jews in this life wa
not necessarily so permanent as thi
gulf. However terrible their blind
ness and inveterate their prejudices
the removal of the unbelief of tn
Jews has never been rated an impo'
sibility. The first converts TO Chris
tianity were from the Jews, and i
the early age of the Church man
thousands of that people embraced th
Gospel; and in every period of tn
: Church's history some portion of tn
wonderful people have yielded 70 th
power of the truth, and found n
demption in Jesus Christ. There h'