Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-07-30

! penalty for sin II rrai.S Means the -
verse Of this - lite etPrnai i'r ~ go
mai torture Who had the right
! twist the inspired words in ~ a u Gps
Iish fashion: Who had The ri@it =
add to the Word OF God aud IL ua5t
void it's true reaching in This manner
| Hear the words Of the Apostle TIL
wages Of sin Is death: bur the gift -
| God In eterne life through Jesn
| Christ our Lord" tRomans vi. ri
| What statement could be more sim
plef The wicked will not be granted
/ life at all, either In pleasure or in pain.
| They are under sentence of death-de-
structlon. Eternal life Is gift And
| Ii will be given only to those to whom
It will be a blessing-to those who will
accept 1t through Jesus Christ our
Lord
| Let US turn to Genesis and note the
statements made TO our first parents
respecting sin and its penalty. Let us
note that, without the twistings of
theology. we should have no difficulty
In understanding the Divine sentence.
as our first parents evidently had no
difficulty. The sentence upon Father
| Adam for disobedience was. Dying
thou shalt die: Dust thou art. and
unto dust shalt thou return; Cursed
is the ground for thy sake: ''Thorns
and thistles shall 1t bring forth unto
thee until thou return unto the ground
| from which thou vast taken" Genesis
Iii. 2. 3, 1919. "a
Thus we see that the penalty for sin
upon Adam and bis race was that they
/ should return 10 the dust. As we read
again. Thou turnest man TO destruc-
ton" psalm xc. ~. And this penalty
| is sufficiently awful when we think of
what 1t means to die. 10 lose mental.
moral and physical perfection and
gradually go into the tomb-into the
Bible hell tsheoi, throughout the Old
, Testament And this Sheol the OrGDe.
go. good and bad. rich and poor. holy
and unholy. was the only hell known
amongst any of the people of God for
/ the more than four thousand years.
| represented 10y the teachings of the
Old Testament. Then came the New
Testament times and the teachings OF
Jesus and the Apostles TO the same
effect. In the New Testament the
Greek word hGdes, representing the
tomb. the death state, takes the place
OF the Old Testament she0l In every
passage translated from the Old Tes-
/ f,to ba raCtananf
Ii was nearly three hundred years
after Jesus and the Apostles. after the
writing Of the New Testament. before
the doctrine of Purgatory was invent
/ ed And for this reason neither the
word Purgatory nor the Purgatory
thought is expressed In the Scriptures.
, But Bibles were few, and the people
could not have read them even II they
had possessed them; hence for long
centuries the teachings Of the clergy
were accepted without Bible proofs.
and the doctrine of Purgatory spread
all over Christendom. All of our fore
| fathers believed in it. 1t became the
teaching OF Christians everywhere that
the mere handful of saints, instead Of
dying when they seemed TO die. went
| to heaven and that the great mass OF
! humanity. instead of dying when they
| seemed to die. went In some mysteri-
Gus manner TO a mysterious place
! called Purgatory. Of which nobody
knew anything except what they were
taught The teaching is that practi-
cally all Of humanity go TO Purgatory
! there to be roasted and otherwise tor
tured for ultimately 10 gain
release from the torture. when fitted
for heaven Upon this doctrine in turn
sprung the doctrine of saying masses
for the dead. who were believed not
| TO be dead but intensely alive. The
fear of Purgatory drew the people very
| close to the priests as the supposed
counsellors of the Almighty and the
4 close TO the people. They were all
! honestly intentioued. but all deceived
! by the great deceiver-Satan.
A Bad Matter Made Worse.
| BY and by a priest, a Catholic theO
| Logan and teacher In one Of their col
leges, by name Martin Luther, acct
| dentally ran across a copy Of the New
| Testament in the Latin language. Be
, ing an educated man he was able to
read It; for there was not one copy In
the German language anywhere. Lu-
ther tells us Of his perplexity in not
finding Purgatory in the New Tesla
ment He tried to interest the Pope
/ In Bible study. but failed. and instead
was branded a hereto. He protested,
and others protested; hence came the
name prOtestants,
These Professionals were undoubtedly
as sincere before their protest rs they
| were afterward; hence their prot est
was against the very doctrines which
once they had proclaimed as the