The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-07-12

he n1te0 up his
eyes. being In torments. and seeth
Abraham afar off and Lazarus In his
bosom" duke xvi. 81 Addressing the
public under the auspices Of the In
ternational Bible Students Associa-
ton, the speaker said:-
l am not choosing my topic for this
occa sion according to my own prefer
ences nor do l wish to do so. Reallz-
ing that a great cloud of superstition
and erroneous Interpretation Of Gods
Word acts as an earth-born cloud to
hide the heavenly Father from our
eyes Of faith. am continually address
ing myself to the removal Of this bar.
rier, to the intent that the light OF
the knowledge of the glory of God as
It shines in the face of Jesus Christ
our Lord may shine into the hearts of
all of Gods dear people more efful-
gently than heretofore: to the intent
that, with the clouds removed, our
eyes may behold the King in His
beauty, and our hearts be dra wn to
Him as to Father. as to a God of
love. as to an Almighty Savior
Time and again as I haveodelivered
an address setting forth the Divine
Plan of the Ages from the Bible stand.
! point, | have been approached after
! ward by Christian brethren who said
What you say, Pastor Russell, is
cheering, is God-!iie, is just what our
hearts are hungering for and crying
for, but--but | cannot accept it be.
cause of the Lords Word respecting
the Rich Man and Lazarus. and His
description OF their fates"
What | say to these privately never
reaches the ears of others who have
the same query and the same obstacle
to meet, hence l take this us my topic
on this occasion, not only for the bene-
fit of this audience. but for the bene-
fit of the larger audiences to whom
| speak weekly through the columns
Of the press Of this land and Great
Britain and Australia numbering mil.
lions. All need to have this stumbling
stone removed from their pathway. and
by Gods grace we will remove it. He
will remove it, using our stammering
lips for the purpose.
Literal or ParsboIc-Which?
1t is not sufficient that declare that
in the Scripture under consideration
the great Teacher was giving parable
1t is not sufficient that l quote. With
out parable spake He not unto the
people" Some dear. earnest children
of God would object. saying. at reads
there was n certain Rich Man, etc"
must. therefore, prove that it is a
parable and not n literal statement by
showing that, considering it as a lit
eral statement, 1t would be untrue and
absurd. After thus proving it to be a
parable will discuss it as such.
IF It he n statement of literal facts
then all the facts must be taken lit
orally. This would mean that because
certain man was rich and Jared
bountifully every day and was clothed
in purple and fine linen he would go to
an eternity of torment. without sin
gle charge being made against him
along the lines Of murder. or injustice
or blasrbemy, for In the account moth
ing Of the kind appears. Furthermore,
nothing Is said Of the poor man as be
ing n godly man, saint. but merely
that he was poor. full of sores. which
the dogs licked; and that he ate the
offal from 1.-THE Rich Mans" table.
If those he the grounds and condi-
tons upon which any of us have had
hope for eternal bliss. surely a com
paratively small number could claim
It, Did we ever have such expert
ences? If not what ground have we,
according to this teaching for a hope
Of reaching Ahraham's bosom? And.
additionally. II the statement is a 1T
eral one, Abraham and his bosom must
be considered literal also. and II only
two or three who were beggars like
Lazarus were before us. what hope
would we have for room in Abraham
bosom? But enough of this We see
clearly that the statement is para bolic
and we must look for such an interpre.
tation az will At all conditions And
here II Isl
Viewed as a Parable.
Viewing the matter as a parable, our
difficulties all disappear as soon as we
get the key The great Teacher In
this parable was criticising the lead
ers of the Jewish nation and fore
telling their fate. He Himself was an
outcast, so were His disciples and 50
have all been since who have become
yr-D - .rr. n,rr- 80 q. $3.50