The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-10-24

The faithful Church, sharing in her
Lords resurrection, the First Resur-
rection, to glory, honor and immortali-
ty. will be His associate kings and
priests, to reign for thousand years.
Revelation Xxx, 81
Fire symboIicaI of Destruction.
Let us examine some texts which
seem to teach that our earth will be
destroyed by fire, and note that they
are symbolical. Fire is frequently
| used In the Scriptures as symbol of
| destruction. Thus the Church is ex-
horted to mortify or kill the fleshly
nature, and is told that the fiery
trials of life will assist them in this
work. The opposition OF enemies is
to be destroyed by works of mercy
and kindness. which, figurativeiy will
be "coals Of fire upon their heads"
St Peter mentions special trials and
tribulations coming upon the Church,
designed to purify her-purge out and
destroy the dross. He says Think
1t not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto
| you."-I Peter iv, H.
st. Paul refers to special trials upon
| the Church in the end Of the Gospel
| Age, which will consume false doc
| trines, human traditions, ETC., and all
| false faith, but which will leave I'M
scathed the true Faith and true char
acters. He says: IF any man build
upon this foundation gold, silver, pre-
cious stones, wood, hay, stubble, ev-
cry mans work shall be made mani
fest, for the day shall declare it, be-
cause It shall be revealed by fire; and
| the fire shall try every mans work of
what sort it Is. If any mans work
abide which be hath built thereupon,
he shall receive reward If any
mans work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss; but he himself shall be
saved, yet SO as by ire."-I CORN
thians Iii, 1918.
These various Scriptures do not
prove that the world could not be de-
stroyed by fire In literal way. but
| they do prove that sire" is very fire.
| Quently mentioned in the Bible in a
! ngurative or symbolical manner. We
might multiply the instances: "Our
God is a consuming firer-as regards
everything contrary to righteousness;
the symbolical "lake Of fire." in the
book of Revelation, is explained to sig
nifty the Second Death, utter destruc-
ton, without hope of recovery.
World Burning unsoriptural.
The superstition that the earth will
be destroyed by fire, either soon or
ever, would be contrary to the state
| ment that 1.-THE earth abideth forever"
and the declara ton that God formed II
not In vain, but formed it to be in
habited. isaiah xiv, 49, One of the
very strong passages which seems to
| teach that the earth will be devoured
by fire is found in Zephaniah iii, 8:
"Wait We upon Me, saith the Lord. I'M
| til that Day that / rise up to the prey,
| for My determination is to gather the
nations, that l may assemble the king
| doms, to pour upon them Mine fndig-
| nation, even all Ny fierce anger; for
| the whole earth shall be devoured with
the fire Of My jealousy" anger.
That the fire of Gods anger which
will come upon the world will not de-
stroy the physical earth, with all its
| inha bitants, but will destroy the evil
Of present institutions, is shown by the
succeeding sentence which declares:
''Then will l turn to the people pure
Message, that they may all call upon
the name of the Lord to serve Him
with one consent" If the fire Of this
text were literal, the earth and its peo-
| pie would be no more, but as symbol
ical fire 1t is perceived that it is burn
ing against unrighteousness, iniquity,
sin, the overthrow of all institutions Of
evil, and the awakening Of mankind
and preparing them to hear the Voice
Of God, the language of the Truth,
the Divine Message
What we have seen prepares US for
the somewhat more difficult statement
OF St. Peter: 1.-THE Day of the Lord
will come as thief In the night, in
the which the heavens shall pass away
with great noise, and the elements |
shall melt with fervent heat; the earth |
also, and the works that are therein,
shall be burned up. > The heavens,
being on FIRE, shall be dissolved, and |
the elements shall melt with fervent |
heat Nevertheless we, according to
His promise, look for a New Heavens
and New Earth, wherein dwelleth |
righteousness" I'll Peter Iii, 1913 |
To harmonic these words Of st. Peter |
with other Bible statements, we must |
consider the fire here mentioned to
be symbolfcal Not only the earth is
to be consumed, but the heavens also. |
The 'heavens' will take fire first and |
be dissolved.
What heavens shall we suppose are
here referred to?-not the literal, starry !
heavens, nor even our atmospheric |
heavens, nor yet the heaven of Divine |
Presence and glory. The church sys-
TENS, the ecclesiastical powers, are
symbolically referred to as the ..heav- |
ems" at the present time, supervising |
and overriding the temporal and So
cial arrangements which are repre- |
scented by the earth" The earth" |
represents organized society, as in con-
trast with the sea-" which symbolical-
ly represents disorganized society, the |
uncivilized and all who are rebelIious
against governments. When the "heav- |
ems Ecclesiastical powersl Of the
present time shall be dissolved" it
viii be with great noise, with great |
confusion, cOmmotion. Ecclesiastical
Institutions of the present time are in
q very troubled condition, though they |
are in no danger of immediate col
lapse. The principal cutlery is that
few attend church services, ana that
the collections are small
St Peters words indicate a crisis In
ecclesiastical affairs still future. The
Scriptures show US that great Fed
Grafton is seemingly bringing Ecclesi-
asticism into greater power than it
has exercised in years. Other intima-
tons of Scripture lead US to expect
thRt that federative organization will
attempt a rigid control of the world
through afiliation with political and
civil power, and that considerable
measure OF success will lead to intoxi-
cation on the subject and an attempt
to take away the liberties Of the peo-
- q