The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1910-09-01

CT the great image after In had b@en
fred 90 . red beat with fuel piled IN
derneafh the image and passing
through IL a. : Cue. The cries Of these
infants 20 horribly sacrificed we're
drowned By the cheers Of the worship
pers and various musical Instruments
All Of thls. indeed everything akin
TO suffering. was strictly forbidden
BIZ the Divine Law given 10 larael
: nd they had been specially warned
against this very form OF idoiatry
Leviticus XVIII. 81: Deuteronomy
xviii. IOp. II Is q gross mistake and
SANDER Of the Divine character and
Law TO suppose that IL ever sanctioned
torture. And IL Is a still worse Sian
der upon God TO suppose that he would
himself do. and that for all eternity.
what be condemned in his fallen crea-
lures
The Lord declares all this through
the Prophet jeremiah (vis. 31-3i1. Here
God particularly forewarned the Israel
ties that their wrong course would
eyentuate in the terrible time Of trou-
year A. u. 30, when ii 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 ii
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 1t might never
afterward be considered fit for any
kind of religious worship, sacrifice or
ceremony. 1t became the valley Of
deflement 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 undisturbed until the car
cases were consumed and the worms
themselves died. Another item here
should be noticed, namely, that say
ing amongst the Jews was, Whosoever
commits such miSdemeanOr will be
in danger of going from bad to worse
until he will be brought before the
tribunal of the Sanhedrin, a culprit.
Jesus took the same line of proverbs
and declared that anyone violating the
Golden Rule to the extent of calling
his brother fool would be in danger
eventually of such depression from
righteousness as to bring him under
sentence of the greater tribunal of
Messiah's Kingdom, and, whatsoever
shall say unto his brother, Thou art
fool, shall be in danger Of gehenna
| fire" CMatthew v, 90.
| What the Great Teacher meant was
| that the earthly 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 1ntimated
there would be an antitypical gehenna
outside the New Jerusalem. AS the
/ trash and offal of the typical city were
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, "as 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
Messiah's reign, will enter in through
its gates and enjoy the blessings of
Divine favor and life eternal. And
then we read, verse 8, "But the fear
full, and unbeGeving, and the abomina-
BILE, and murderers, and whoremong-
ers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brim-
stone, which is the Second Death