Pleasantville weekly press., 1910-09-17


our fathers for centuries supposed
were in Purgatory roasting, stewing,
tortured, but hoping for heaven. They
looked at one another in CONSERVATION.
They had hearts and sympathies and
felt that as 1t had devolved upGi them
to smash Purgatory, it must also de-
volve upon them to relocate all those
thousands Of millions whom they had
on their hands. They felt the weight
of the responsibility. Could they de-
mand of God that they should be put
into heaven? Surely not! Surely only
the sanity few are fit for heaven!
They, as well as all, recognized that
fact Then, with blank CONSERVATION,
they determined that they must crowd
the entire mass into a hell of eternal
torture and shut the gates upon them
forever and write upon the gates,
"Who enters here abandons hope"
Brother Calvin to the Rescue.
Taking from practically all human
ity all future hope made the Reformers
for the time heartsick. 1t would be
awful to do that for one person, but
to thus "do" all humanity seemed ter
rible. And then to be obliged to label
that gospel "Good Tidings" must GER
tainly have been a trying experience
for the Reformers.
But Brother John Calvin helped
them amazingly and took from them
their burden He told them that they
should not worry, because it was all
Gods fault and not theirs. God had
predestinated them to that awful fu-
ture long before he created man. Now
they should merely try to think of
themselves as the "elect'' and try to
forget everybody else. OF course, it
seemed horrible to charge all these
things against the God of all Justice.
Wisdom, Love and Power. But 1t was
the only solution which occurred to
them. John Calyin's theories were
afterwards embodied in the "West-
minister Confession of Faith" And
that confession Of faith became the
foundation of nearly all Protestant
creeds Brother John Wesley after
ward objected, but admitted that only
the sanity went to heaven and every
body else went to eternal torment
His protest was that, instead of this
being by Divine foreordination and in
tention, 1t was, on the contrary, be-
cause Of Divine unwisdom and incom-
potency.
"Good Tidinss Of Great JOY"
Surely no sane person can any longer
defend any Of the above Gospels as
the true one, of which st. Parsr was
not ashamed! Surely st. Paul .ever
preached any Of those Gospels, nor did
any Of the Apostles-nor does the Bible
support such theories, except by the
turning and twisting Of language, mis-
translations of the original and misin-
terpretations of some parallels. The
plain statements Of the Scriptures are
all directly to the opposite. y
The Bible teaches that "the wages
Of sin is DEATH" not Purgatory nor
eternal torment "The soul that sin
meth, it shall die" Adam, the perfect,
was placed on trial for life eternal or
death eternal. He sinned and the SEN
tence against him was, Cursed is the
earth for thy sake; thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth unto thee. In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread
until thou return unto the ground from
whence thou vast taken" Genesis iii,
1910. ST. Paul declares the same:
'By one mans disobedience sin enter
ed into the world; and thus death
passed upon all men, because all are
sinners" (Romans v, 12).
Looking about us we find this true.
Everybody who is not dead is dying.
AS the Bible says, we are living un-
der reign of Sin and Death. Nothing
that man can do can either eradicate
sin or lift us out of our dead and dy-
ing condition. God alone can help US!
He proposes to help us and the mes
sage respecting that help is, in the
, Scriptures, called the Gospel. Its an
nouncement by the angels on the night
Of Jesus birth is full, complete, sat
isfactory, viz: Behold, we bring you
good tidings Of great joy which shall
be unto all people; for unto you is
born this day in the City Of David
Savior Qife-giver) which is Christ the
Lord duke ii, 1O.
All, now we have the Truth! The
penalty of sin is death. And the good
tidings" is that God has provided for
our recovery from sin and death. The
Savior gave his life for the cancella-
ton of our sin, for the satisfaction OF
Justice, that in due time Adam and all
his condemned and imperfect race
might be released from the condemna-
ton and be lifted out Of the sin and
death conditions which now prevail.
That uplifting is Scripturally called
the resurrection OF the dead. Hence
the preaching Of the early Church was.
"Jesus and the Resurrection"-the Re
deemer and his work.
Still More Good Tidings.
The good tidings for the race in gen
eral is that the Redeemer in Gods due
time ,oiH become King of kings and
Lord of lords-the Messiah of glory,
Gods glorious Representative. For
a thousand years the regenerating
work for Adams race will progress
(Matthew xix, IS; Acts Iii, 1929.
Gods Chosen People, Israel, will be
the earthly agents Of the heavenly and
invisible King Of glory. BY the close
of his reign the whole earth will have
been transformed into the Paradise Of