The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1910-09-06

PEOPLES PULPIT.
Immortal Worms
Unquenchable Fire
Where their worm dieth not and
their FIRE is not quenched' (Mark *.
40.

40. |
death. There are two other words in
the New Testament Greek translated
hell in our common version One of
these, tartdrHs. has no reference to hui
mainly whatever. but merely signifies
our earth's atmosphere-the place
where Satan and the fallen angels are
restrained in chains of darkness III
Peter Ii. A.. The other Greek word
rendered he'll in the New Testament is
hddcs, which corresponds exactly to
the word rendered he'll In the Old Tes-
lament. namely sheoi And all scholars
know that both of these words signify
the same thing They are used inter-
changeably in the Scriptures to desig-
nate the state or condition of death
the tomb No person. of even slight
education, would for a moment at
tempt to claim that eternal torment is
taught by sheol. hGdes or tdrfarus The
great stress of all who terah eternal
torment falls. therefore. upo1 the word
he'll found in our text-in the original
Greek, 0ehenna
What we have to say respecting it
will undoubtedly be news to but few
of this congregation. But since this
sermon will be reported in more than
seven hundred newspapers of the land.
our explanation viii probably eventu-
ally reach ten million people. to whom
the Truth on the subject will be new
What we have to say is not new to ed
ucated ministers. however, and why.
as pastors. they have kept the sheep
OF their flock in the dark on the sub
ject is for them to explain. They GER
tainly cannot plead ignorance At very
most they can apologize that they
hoped that the misunderstanding would
do more good than the truth. They
seem to forget entirely that this terri
BILE misunderstanding is not only
wrecking the faith of thousands, but
dishonoring our Creator disappearing
his holy name. his holy character. by
misrepresenting 1t and the Divine
Plan
A Valley Outside Jerusalem.
l wish that those of you who have
modern Bibles with maps at the back
would turn to the map of the City of
Jerusalem and there notice on the
Southwest side of the City, Just out
side the wall. the Valley of Hinnom.
That "a tho Vo1Iou fhof q, tnrto4 ..x,..
called Geh-hinnon. the Greek of which
is gehenna- All of our Lords uses of
the word gehenna stand related to
that Valley. For the sake of my lar
ger congregation 1t will be worth while
for US to take glance backward at
the history of that Valley during many
centuries before Jesus day
The first mention of this Valley in
the Bible is found in Joshua (xv, 81,
where 1t Is given as one of the boun-
daries of the tribe of Judah, accord
ing to the lot cast by Joshua In the
division of the land that had come in
to possession of the Israelites. 1t is
again mentioned similarly In Joshua
xviii. 10. The next reference to this
Valley is found in II Kings xiii, TO-
There we read of how Josiah, the good
King Of Judah, instituted great re-
form In the nation and abolished idol
airy. one of the mort heinous forms of
the idolatry having been practised in
this Valley Of Hinnom, which had got
ten new name. namely Topheth. His
tory tells us that the Israelites built
in this Topheth, the Valley of Hinnom.
a great brass image to the heather god
Moloch In various places they had
groves in which a licentious form of
worship was enacted and then they re-
sorted to this Valley Of Hinnom TO Of
Avr sacrInce OF d most revolving KIM
to the heather deity. Sometimes 1t
was a boy and some times it was
girl that was placed naked in the arms
of the great image after 1t had been
fred to red heat with fuel piled I'M
derneath the image and passing
through it as flue. The cries Of these
infants so horribly sacrificed were
drowned by the cheers of the worship
pers and various musical instruments
All Of this, indeed everything akin
to suffering, was strictly forbidden
by the Divine Law given to Israel.
And they had been specially warned
against this very form of idolatry
Leviticus xviii. 81; Deuteronomy
xviii, 10). 1t is a gross mistake and
SANDER of the Divine character and
I TO- fhok cd
torture. And it is still worse SIAN
der upon God to suppose that he would
himself do, and that for all eternity,
what he condemned in his fallen crea-
lures.
The Lord declares all this through
the Prophet jeremiah vii, 31-34). Here
God particularly forewarned the Israel
ties that their wrong course would
eyentuate in the terrible time of trou-
BILE which came upon Jerusalem in the
year A. d. 20, when it was estimated
that over a million died at the siege
of Jerusalem. In fulfillment of this
prophecy the Jews cast the dead bodies
over the wall of Jerusalem into this
very Valley. Thus we read. Behold.
the day is come. saith the Lord, that it
shall no more he called Topheth, nor,
The Valley Of the son Of Hinnom, but,
The Valley Of Slaughter; for they shall
bury in Topheth till there be no place
And the carcasses Of this people shall
be meat for the fowls Of the heaven.
and for the beasts of the earth"
After the reformation made by King
Josiah the Valley of Hinnom was desc
Grated to the intent that it might never
afterward be considered fit for any
kind Of religious worship, sacrifice or
ceremony. 1t became the valley Of
defilement. 1t was used at certain
times for the burning of the offal and
rubbish Of the city. 1t became the
dumping place of dead cats and dogs,
etc. If any of these fell upon the
lodges Of the rock, no one thought
worth while TO interfere, and the mag
gots and worms destroyed them. Fires
also were lighted occasionally to burn
the combustible rubbish. and birthstone
was added so that the fumes might
destroy any malarial tendency, in the
interest of the health Of the city.
The Lesson Jesus Taught.
We have before our minds now the
gehenna fire which no one ever at
tempted to quench, but which was de-
signed to consume utterly everything
cast into It We have In mind also the
worms Of which he spake-worms
which were permitted to feed on the
earcasses undisturbed until the car
casses were consumed and the worms
themselves died. Another item here
should be noticed. namely. that q say