The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-05-29

AASES we TAAA now JpbidI5 LttS Cow
king OF judah, instituted d great re-
form ia the nation and abolished idol
atry. one Of the most heinous forms OF
the idolatry having been practised ia
this valley Of Hinnon, which had got
ten a new name, namely Topeth.
History tells us that the Tsraelites
built In this Topeth, the valley Of
Hinnom, a great brass image II the
heather god Moloch.
In various places they had groves
In which q licentious form OF worship
was enacted and then they resorted
to this valley OF Hinnom to offer
sacrifice of a most revolving kind to
the heather deity. Sometimes it was
a boy and sometimes it was a girl
that was placed naked in the arms Of
the great image after IL had been fired
to a red heat with fuel piled under
meath the image and passing through
It as a Hue. The cries of these infants
so horribly sacrificed were drowned by
the cheers OF the worshippers 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 idoIatry
(Ley. xviii, 81; Deut. xviii, 10). 1t is a
gross mistake and Islander of the Di-
vine character and law to suppose
that it ever sanctioned torture. And
It is still worse SANDER upon God to
suppose that he would himself do, and
THAT for all eternity, what he con
demned in his fallen creatures.
The Lord declares all this through
the Prophet jeremiah (vii, 31-34).
Here God particularly forewarned the
Israelites that their wrong course
would eventuate in the terrible tins OF
trouble which came upon Jerusalem in
the year A. d. 10, when it was esti-
mated that over 1000, 900 died at the
siege of Jerusalem. In fulhllment Of
this prophecy the Jew cast the dead
bodies owe the wall Of Jerusalem into
this very valley. Thus we read, Be
hold the day is come, saith the Lord,
that it shall no more be called Toph-
eth, but The Valley of Slaughter; for
they shall bury In Topheth till there
be no place. And the 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 Hinnom was des-
ecrated to the intent that 1t might new
er afterward be considered fit for any
kind Of religious worship, sacrifice or
ceremony. 1t became the valley of de-
Element. It was used at certain times
for the burning of offal 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 inter-
fere, and the maggots and worms de-
stroyed them. Fires also were lighted
occasionally to burn the combustible
rubbish and birthstone was added so
that the fumes might destroy any ma
lariaI 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 n ever at
tempted to quench, but which was de-
signed to consume utterly everything
cast into it. We have in mind also
the worms Of which he spake-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 a say
ing amongst the Jews was, whatsoever
commits such a misdemeanor will be
in danger Of going from bad to worse
until he be brought before the trib-
unal of the S~anhedrin, a culprit. Je-
sus took the same line Of proverbs
and declared that anyone violating the
golden rule to the, extent Of calling
his brother a fool would BIO in danger
eventually of such aggression 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
a fool, shall be in danger of gehenna
fre."-Matt v, %,
What the Great Teacher meant was
that the earthly Jerusalem was a pic
ture d type Of the heavenly Jerusa-
lem, which represents the Divine Gov
eminent of Kingdom-the New Jerusa-
lem, 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
L ia 1OA GbAACAAAs 81 OuL AOA0 4AAlAAAAdASh
there would be an 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 favors, mercies,
blessings and opportunities, will be
treated as disgraceful wretches and be
consumed, destroyed, in the antitypical
gehenna-which is the second death.
Concerning this ~antitypical gehenna,
the second death, we are definitely in
formed of the characters which will
there be destroyed utterly as Peter
says, ''as natural brute beasts"
We have a description of this sym
bolical New Jerusalem or Divine King
dom Grew. xxi), composed primarily
Of the church, n ~secondarily Of all
from the world who, during Messiah's
reign, will enter in through it's gates
ond onjov fha hInssinpa nf nivina Fo