The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-04-19

for this privilege of service, and for
the still larger opportunity afforded me
through the columns Of some of the
principal newspapers of the United
States
My sermons are handled by n Syndi-
cate, and | am advised that now they
appear in nearly five hundred news
papers, aggregating circulation Of
six million copies. or, according to
newspaper count, thirty million read
ers. All Of these dear people of every
denomination who do any thinking at
all, am sure have had similar diff
culties to those which | experienced
difficulties in appreciating how our
Heavenly Father could be good Fa-
aud yet provide for his human crea-
lures such terrible destinies as all the
creeds Of the dark ages set forth
There Is not n thinking Christian In
the world who does not need the cor
rect understanding Of the Bible In
order to be able to stand in the evil
day that is upon us. All need to give
heed to st. Paul's words, Take unto
you the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to withstand In the
evil day, and. having done ALL to
stand" (Ephesians vi, 13. Our day
is blessed one in respect to its won
derful opportunities and privileges,
but It is an evil one in the sense OF
being a time of great trial and testing
Of faith to Christendom.
Thinking minds are rejecting the
doctrine of eternal torment and gener-
ally at the same time rejecting the
Bible and denying that it Is the in
spired Word of God. These dear
friends are stumbling into infdeity
and think that Higher Criticism and
Darwin's Evolution theory are new
light What they need is to see that
the true light is in the Bible and that,
wearing our grandfathers' spectacles,
we inherited the Word of God and
wrested It to our own injury and to
the loss of our peace of mind and fel-
lowship with the Father and with the
Son and with the holy Spirit.
The Key to the Scriptures.
Whoever gets the proper understand
ing of our text has in his possession
the Key to the Bible. If he will use
it, passage after passage will open for
him and the whole Word Of God be-
comes a new and glorious revelation
of Justice. Wisdom, Love and Power
Divine. Jonah was In the fish's belly
he was buried alive. 1t is this that
Is referred to In our text The words
heli-beIW signify OraUe-belly or belly
grGUG. The context shows all this,
telling us additionally that sea weeds
were wrapped about the Prophets
head and that God heard his prayer
and delivered him from the helL-belly
or bellU-grdUG. on the third day by
causing the fish to vomit him up. If
| you have a reference Bible note that
in the margin there is reference to
the words of our text saying, He
brew, the grave" All! says one. The
translators merely made mistake
and translated 1t he'll when they should
have translated 1t OraDe. Yes. ] an
swer, and they made the same mis-
| take I'm every case In which they used
the same word sheol throughout the
Old Testament. AS it Is, Sheol Is trans
lated graue more times than it is trans
lated heH in our Common Version; but
it should be translated 0rare every time.
There we have the Key TO the Bible.
The hell of the Bible, the penalty for
sin, is death. the grave the tomb 1t
Is not mn everlasting hell, for special
Scriptures declare that sheet (Iclh shall
be destroyed. II viii ransom them
from the power Of the Graro (shCOD;
will redeem them from death; o death,
viii be thy plagues o grave (sbcoI,
hcib ! will be thy destruction QIosea
Xiii, lA. ST. Paul quotes this prophecy
In conjunction with his great discourse
on the resurrection, 20 death, where
Is thy sting? o grGre WadCS) where Is
my victory Il corinthians XIV, 31l
we see dear friends what our dear
heueemer suffered on our behalf to re-
lease us from the penalty for sin, He