The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-11-20

man of straw to knock him down for
the entertainment of his followers? No
church in christendom teaches such doc
trine. Come, man, be true and honest,
be sincere. The kind of converts you
get by misrepresentation will not be a
credit to you. Inform yourself before
you presume to instruct others
There will be progress in holiness,
though music will doubtless be one of
the occupations of the blessed. They
will sing the Song of Moses and the
Lamb" the song of the redeemed.
To bolster up his hotch-potch theology,
he resorts to some outlandish exegesis,
that would be laughable were it not for
the seriousness of the subject. For eX-
ample in the Story of the Rich Man and
Lazarus. he says, the rich man repre-
sents the nations of Israel. His tor
ment referred to the prosecutions expe-
rienced by the Jews after their national
death. He might have told US that ac-
cording to the marvellous exegesis of
his cults teacher, that Lazarus stands
for the Gentiles, &c. In Vol. l. No. 4,
of Peoples Pulpit, page 2. we find these
words, by the leader of the cult, "Only
recently we had an exhibition of how
this rich man CIsraeD. dead as a nation,
but alive as people, has appealed to
Father Abraham (who stands for Cod
to have Lazarus cool his tongue with a
drop of water" OF course, the
thought would not be that spirit finger
should take a literal drop of water to
cool a literal tongue. The interpreta-
ton must be looked for along the lines
of parable. The fulfllment came when
the Jews of this country, IN a general
petition, requested the President of the
United States to cooperate with other
christian nations and intercede in behalf
of their members in Russia, that they
might have more liberty and less perse-
cutiOn, that their torments might be
cooled" Really, | don't think there is
much harm in the devotees of this ism
giving homage to this Interpretation,
for there is nothing like it in the heav-
ems above, in the earth beneath, or the
waters under the earth. Such farciful
interpretations have no foundation, in
| fact, reason or common sense, but are
convenient as affording the means of
proving any vagrancY in the vivid imagl-
nation of an ambitious but incompetent
teacher may invent.
Look for a moment at the story, a
fixed gulf. Death fixed the place and
the doom. AS death leaves US so will
eternity find us, and eternity will keep
US in the state in which death leaves
US. If one dies IN Christ he is in Him
/ forever. If he dies out of Christ he is
out of Him forever. There is the fixed
gulf. No second chance, but a second
death. Not a cessation of beng but a
conscious ill-being, lie. existence forever
in evil, or ill-being, away from the
presence of Christ. One means life,
eternal life-the other, eternal spiritual
/ death conscious, active, living death.
with no ray of hope of second chance.
Now is the accepted time. Now is the
/ day of salvation.
Mr.. b. claims it is very unjust to con-
| sign any one, no matter how wicked, to
ages of suffering for the sins of few
! years. But who is this self-stvled pas
| tor and teacher of the Word of God
that he should presume to pass judg-
/ ment on the acts of the Lord or to call
in question His wisdom? Does he not
know that the duration of punishment
of sin can never be determ med by the
time it takes to correct sin?
In moments time man may muir
der another, but just penalty would
! be lifelong Imprisonment. Sin means
/ separation from God, and that is tor
ment. The torment must continue as
long as the separation from God exists,
and the separation from God must con-
tinue until sin is repented of and the Sa-
vior accepted. But the time comes
when repentance and the acceptance of
the Saviour becomes impossible, then
one becomes eternally confined in his
separation from God. and eternal pun
| ishment must of necessity follow.
| But it is not few years of sin that
brings the eternity of punishment. A
man may continue for many years in sin
yet escape punishment by repentance
and acceptance of Christ 1t is the re-
| lection of Jesus, as our Saviour, that
brings eternal torment Nothing but
such doctrine as eternal punishment
for our rejection of Christ will satisfy
our moral munitions, when we see sin
in its enormity, the holiness of God in
its perfection and the glory of Christ in
| its infinity.
THE Fact we dread suffering more than
we hate sin and more than we love the
glory of Jesus-this, and this alone,
makes US repudiate the thought that be-
ings who eternally chose sin should eter-
nally suffer, or that man who despises
Gods mercy and spurns His Son should
be given over to eternal anguish" My
friend, you can't. afford to take any
risks here. Where will you spend eter-
nifty? Your character must determine
that. But YOU are making your char
acter. Let it be like Christ's. 1t must
be if you hope to spend eternity with
Him. Sharing with Him His glory.
"As thy faith is so shall it be unto
! thee" Resurrection in the likeness of