The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-09-17
nonsense! We have been gradually

though fettered by nODg0Dl1n figures
and each others threats and perver-
sions Of the Divine Message. 1t is
safe to say that the Bible Is being
more critically studied today by ear
nest Christians of all denominations
than it ever was before The result
Of this study, and the advantages Of
our time, are manifesting themselves
Divine harmonies are filling heads and
hearts once distracted by clashing
creeds. Take our
Text az an Illustration.
Once blindly we read this Parable of
the Sheep and Goats and applied it to
rewards and punishments as a result
of things done in the present Age.
Now we see that its proper application
belongs altogether to the next Age of
Messiahs Kingdom. 1t distinctly
states this. 1t is introduced thus:
"When the Son Of Man shalt come in
His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then shall He sit upon the Throne
of His glory; and before Him shall be
gathered all nations, and He shall sep
arate them one from another as the
shepherd divideth the sheep from the
goats"
The Church is not included In this
parable at all. 1t relates, as we see, to
the world-"aH nations" Other Scrip
lures show us that when the nations
shall thus undergo their trial for life
or death everlasting the Church will be
glorified. AS the Bride Of Christ she
shall sit toith Him in His Throne and be
associated in His work of judging the
world. Note how clearly st. Paul ex-
presses this, saying, know We not
that the saints shall Judge the woEldY'
q Corinthians vi, p Thus it is the
cords Judgment Day that he else
where mentions, saying, "God hath APP
pointed a Day (future-a thousand
year Day-the Day Of Christi, in the
which He will judge the world in
Righteousness by that Man whom He
hath ordained Acts xvii, 81.
A right understanding Of the doc
trine of Election helps us gradually to
proper view Of the Divine Program.
The Church is being selected out Of
the world according to faithfulness
and development, in prepare
ton for great service for the non-elect
The Messianic Kingdom, with Christ
and the Church in control as the Royal
Priesthood, is appointed for the very
purpose of blessing the non-elect
world-"all nations" For a thousand
years the work of bringing all to
knowledge of the Truth will progress.
To this end Satan will be bound at the
very beginning of the thousand years
and the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God VIII fill the whole earth
MS the waters cover the great deep.
With all thus brought to clear com
prehension of righteousness each will
be on trial and will either come into
harmony with the Kingdom or remain
an alien and lover of sin All the lat
ter are in the parable ciassed as goats
-wayward ones-and will thus place
| themselves at the left hand of the
King in His disfavor On the con
trary, all who learn the ways Of the
Lord and come into accord Herewith
are symbolically styled sheep in the
parable. and by their conduct will
gradually take their places at the
Kings right hand or place of favor.
sheep-Goats-Fire.
The Parable shows the conclusion
of the worlds Judgment All will
then have taken their places either
| 40 sh.n,1 or &c ron &c oi@bor ~, +ao
Kings favor or in His disfavor. The
sheep class will then hear His well
lone" ''Come. We blessed of My Fa-
Their. inherit the Kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the
world from the time the world was
established. Matthew XIV. 81. %. 81
The world was made for mankind
Adam being its representative was the
| King of earth He lost his dominion
when he lost his relationship to hts
| Creator and lost his RICH. to eternal life
| by his disobedience. The sheep class
will represent all of Adams race
brought back to perfection by the proc
esses Of Restitution during Messiah's
reign. (Acts lii, 1921 To them will
come the dominion which Adam lost
and which Jesus redeemed at Calvary
and which He win Sire to the worthy
ones at the conclusion of His thou
sand-year reign. Next, the fate of the
goat class is stated-not In literal Ian
guage, but symbolically Indeed, the
| Prophet and the Apostle declared of
Jesus that HE opened His mouth in
| parallels" and that without a para
BILE spake He not unto the people. !"
In other words, everything that Jesus
said to the people in general was fg-
urative, in order that only those Of
right condition of heart might be able
| to understand Him.
The message of the great King to the
goat class will be, Depart from Me.
We cursed, into everlasting fire pre-
pared for the Devil and his angels. "
Matthew XIV, AID We might as well
insist that the parable applies to literal
goats as to claim that this penalty is
literal fire. All who have studied the
subject will freely admit that fire
l1AOQSAOuJ tue DlDlC 10 ubEu
| ly to represent destruction. Fire is
not used as a symbol for Adamic death.
the sentence upon all Of the race, be-
cause God from the beginning parposed
the setting aside Of that sentence
| through the redemptive work Of Jesus;
hence Adamic death is not destruc-
ton, but in the Bible is styled, sym
bolically, falling asleep" and resur-
rection is styled awakening from
| Sleep"
But when picturing the Second
Death, the Bible uses strong terms,
representing destruction In the fullest
and most absolute sense. Mark the
words used: Perish" Second Death"
Everlasting Destruction" We even
overlooked the plain explanation which
Jesus gave us when He said. 'the lake
Of fire, which is the Second Death"
Revelation Xxx, 14) st. Peter, sum-
ming up the fate Of the incorrig1bly
wicked, says that they shall be destroy
ed like natural brute beasts. QI Peter
ii, 12) Only bugaboo Of eternal tor
ment, hundreds of years cid, could have
so alarmed US that we failed to note
these matters long ago.
Meanwhile, alas, while many of the
learned have abandoned the doctrine of
eternal torment, they have practically
abandoned everything else In the Bible,
because they supposed the Bible to
teach this inconsistency Let us not
follow them into Higher Criticism"
infidelity and total rejection Of the in
SEPARATION of Gods Word, but let us
compare Scripture with Scripture and
use our God-given reason within the
do. IL q Il 4