The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-12-22

| fer sacrifice Of q most revolving kind
to the heather deity. Sometimes ii
| was n boy and some times ii was q
| girl that was placed naked in the arms
| of the great image after il had been
| fired to a red heat with fuel piled un
| derneath the image and passing
| through it as Il 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
| Ueviticus xviii, 81; Deuteronomy
xviii, 10). It is a gross mistake and
SANDER of the Divine character and
| Law to suppose that it ever sanctioned
| torture. And it is a 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
/ eventuate in the terrible time of trou-
| BILE which came upon Jerusalem in the
year \. D. 20, when it was estimated
| that over a million died at the siege
| of Jerusalem. In fulfllment 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
afterwarI be considered fit for any
kind of religious worship, sacrifice or
ceremony. 1t became the valley Of
deflemeut. 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
COTS 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
carcasses undisUlrbed until the car
casses We're consumed and the worms
themselves died. Another item here
should be noticed, namely, that say
ing amongst the Jews was, Whosoeyer
commits such a misdemeapOr will be
in danger Of going from bad to worse
until he will be brought before the
tribunal of the Sanhedrin, culprit
Jesus took the same line Of proverbs
and declared that anyone violating the
Golden Rule to the extent Of calling
his brother a fool would be in danger
eventually Of such DEPRESSION from
righteousness as to bring him under
sentence of the greater tribunal of
Messlah's Kingdom, and, "Whosoever
shall say unto his brother, Thou art
a fool, shall be in danger Of gehenna
fire" Nlatthew Y, 22l.
What the Great Teacher meant was
that the ea.thly Jerusalem was a pic
ture or type of the heavenly Jerusa-
lem, which represents the Divine Gov
eminent or Kingdom-the New Jeru-
salem which, by and by, will come
down to earth-when Gods will shall
be done on earth as it is done in
heaven.
As gehenna lay outside of the wall
of Jerusalem, so our Lord intimated
there would be ain antitypical gehenna
outside the New Jerusalem AS the
trash and offal of the typical city We're
| consumed in the Valley of Hinnom, so
the offal and trash Of humanity who
will refuse all Of Gods favors, mercies,
blessings and opportunities, will be
treated as disgraceful wretches and be
| consumed, destroyed, in the antityp-
ical gehenna-which is the Second
Death. Concerning this antitypical ge-
henna, the Second Death, we are def
nitely Informed of the characters which
will there be destroyed utterly, as Pc
ter says, cas- natural brute beasts"
We have description of this sym
bolical New Jerusalem or Divine King
dom Revelation xxD, composed pri-
marily of the Church, and secondarily
| of all from the world who during