The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-09-09

xviii 10). II IL n gross mistake and
Islander OF the Divine character anu
Law TO suppose that 1t ever sanctioned
torture. And II 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, 3l-34j Here
God particularly forewarned the Israel.
ties that their wrong course would
eventuate In the terrible time of trou.
bic which came upon Jerusalem In the
year A. ID. 20, when II was estimated
that over a llillion died at the siege
Of Jerusalem. In fulfillment OF this
prophecy the Jews cast the I'd 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 Hirnom was desc
Grated to the intent that 1t mi. ut 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
tirnnc ht,rnipo of tha nffnl
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 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 il. We have in mind also the
worms Of which he spake-worms
which were permitted to feed on the
carcasses undisturbed until the car.
casses were consumed and the worms
themselves died. Another item here
should be noticed, namely, that a 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 a 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
fool. shall be in danger Of gehenna
fire" (Matthew 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
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 an 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, las natural brute beasts
We have a description Of this sym
bolical New Jerusalem or Divine King
dom Revelation XXI, 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 unbelieving, 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"
Note that this lake Of fire and brim-
stone into which all the offscouring OF
humanity will be cast is a symbol, and
the meaning OF the symbol is plainly
stated in the words, (which is the Sec
ond Death" The first death passed
upon all mankind on account Of father
Adams disobedience. Our Lord Jesus
was appointed the Savior OF Adam and
his race and gave his life ransom for
ALL TO rescue all from death, to give
TO each and every member of Adams
race one full, fair opportunity for q
test Of loyalty to God and righteous
ness and TO secure life eternal in the
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