The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-08-29
PEOPLES PuIpit
tcon.Inuea rrom &c ,.Iyslls

Continued from rage Flve.l
fer sacrifice of a most revolving kind
to the heathen deity. Sometimes 1t
was a boy and some times II was a
girl that was placed naked in The arms
of the great image after II had been
fired to a red heat with fuel Piled IN.
derneath the image and passing
through 1t 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 idolatrys
Heviticus xviii. 81; Deuteronomy
xviii, 10,. 1t is n gross mlstake and
SANDER Of the Divine character anu
law to suppose that 1t ever sanctioned
torture. And 1t 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. $3.50. 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 A. D. 20. when 1t was estimated
that over a million died at the siege
Of Jerusalem. In fnlfllment 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 Hlnnom. but.
The Valley of Slaughter; for they shall
bury in Tophcth 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 Hlnnom was desc
Grated to the intent that 1t might never
afterward be considered ct for any
kind of religious worship. sacrifice or
ceremony. 1t became the valley of
defilement. 1t was used ut certain
times for the burning of the ofral 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 combustlble 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 tile
worms Of which he spnke-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. whatsoever
commits such mlsdcmcanor Will be
In danger OF going from bad to worse
until he will be brought before the
tribunal Of the Sanhedrln. n culprit.
Jesus took the same line of proverbs
md 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. "whosoever
shall say unto his brother, Thou art
q fool, shall be in danger Of gehenna
fire" GIatthew V, 22l.
What the Great Teacher meant was
that the earthly Jerusalem was pie
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 enrth-when Gods will shall
be done on earth as 1t is done in
heaven.
As gehenna lay outside Of the wall
Of Jerusalem. SO our Lord intmated
there would be IN 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 farors. mercies,
blessings and opportunities. will be
treated rs disgraceful wretches and be
destroyed. in the antItyp-
lcal gehenna-which is the Second
Death. Concerning this nntitypIcal ge-
henna, the Second Death. we are def.
lltely Informed Of the characters witch
will there be destroyed utterly, as Pc
.er says, "as natural brute beasts"
We have description of this sym.
bolical New Jerusalem or Divine King
lom Revelation xxD. composed pri-
narily Of the Church, and secondarily
Of NIL from the world who. during
Afesslah's reign, will enter In through
It's gates and enjoy the blessings of