The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-04-29

Hence all of his race inherited If,
from him, sharing his weaknesses anS
his condemnation TO death.
God, having sentenced man to death
as unworthy of life, could not con
sistently have any dealings with him
while still condemned. Hence God;
| provision that Jesus as the Son of Coo
should recover Adam and his race
from the sentence of death-in ordel
rnat all might have an opportunity rt
return to harmony with God, and thui
to everlasting life
This, said the Pastor, is clearly sci
forth in both the Old Testament an6
the New. If we would forget ouI
creeds and rid our minds of the false
theories which they inculcate, these
Scriptures would now guide us with
out difficulty. Christendom is handi
capped by the creeds of the Dark
Ages, which confuse u.s. On this sub
ject, for instance, of Christ's redeem
ing work, we are met with the propo-
sition of the creeds that the curse OF
God against our race Is eternal torture
in some far-off place, we know not
where-possIbly within the earth.
The misconceptions of our forefa-
theirs on the subject of punishment for
sin were built upon mistranslations or
fgurative statements meant to be un.
derstood symbolically For instance
we read of our Lord, HE opened His
mouth in parallels and dark sayings"
When our Lord illustrated the utter
destruction of the finally incorrigible
by the destruction of the offaI of Je-
rusalem. cast into the Gehenna fire
outside of the city wall, it was not tor
ment that He taught, but humiliation
Nothing was tormented In the fire of
the valley of Hinnom. In the Book
Of Revelation, wholly symbolical, the
plain statement is made that the lake
of fire represents the Second Death.
"The Wages of Sin Is Death"
Most emphaticalIy the Bible declares
the wages of sin to be death-not tor
ment. And lest any one should think
Of this as merely meaning the death of
the body, while the soul continues to
live. the Scriptures expressly state
more than once that the death of the
soul is meant 1.-The soul that sinneth
it shall die" God is able to destroy
both soul and body" In Gehenna. the
Second Death. The penalty against
Adam, dying. thou shalt de-" signi-
fies the death of his soul. his entire
being Under that sentence, unless re-
deemed, Adam and his race would
have had no future life
But God from the very beginning
purposed to redeem man from this
death sentence In due time He sent
forth His Son to pay mans redemp-
ton price. Jesus redemptive work
will restore mans soul from the power
Of the tomb. by a resurrection of the
dead Therefore. even before Jesus
had died for our sins, He said to some
Of the people, Fear not them which
can kill the body" and thus take from
you all that remains Of the present
Adamic life Fear God, with whom
are the issues of the future life, for
He is able to destroy not merely the
temporary life Of the present time, but
also your prospective life, which He
purposes to secure for you through the
Redeemer's sacrifice. and by the resur-
rection from the dead
We see, then. that God rested every
feature of His Plan for mankind upon
the great work which from the begin
ming He intended Jesus should accom-
plish for our race. st. Paul, said the
Pastor. expresses this in few words.
saying, "As by a man came death mot
eternal torment. by man also comes
the resurrection of the dead. For as
all In Adam die. even so all in Christ
shall be made alive. every man in his
rection. is that of The Christ, Head and
Body, to glory. honor. Immortality. on
the Divine plane of being. Search
carefully the Old Testament Scriptures
every word of God through Moses
and the Prophets-and we find not
hint of any other penalty for sin than
this death penalty
What the Death Penalty Includes.
The Pastor declared that many fail
to grasp the full import Of the death
penalty. 1t includes not only the final
act of dying, but all the steps leading
thereto. Had there been no sin and no
sin penalty. there would have been no
dying process-no aches, no pain, no
signing nor crying, nor dying.
Man lived in Eden as happily as an
oil IL, III
the spirit plane. for he is an earthly
being. adapted only to earthly condi-
tons. Besides, had it not been for sin.
God would not have permitted the
curse, nor brought thorns, thistles.
storms, cyclones, drouth and deluges.
which in death-dealing power have
been permitted to come to man, be-
cause he is a convict. He is already
under sentence of death, and not en-
titled to any consideration.
The favors that God has promised to
him through Christ will come In their
due season. They will make earth
Paradise garden, with nothing to hurt
or destroy. The Divine blessing will
bring to all mankind the opportunity
to return to the image and likeness of
God, and to everlasting life, under the
New Covenant.
Another of Our Difficulties.
An additional difficulty under which
we labored as Bible students in the
past, said the Pastor, is that we con-
fused the special work Of this Gospel
Age with the general work of the next
Age. Gods provision. through the
death of Christ, for rolling away the
curse of sin and death from mankind
applies to the next Age, and not to the
present Age. When His due time shall
arrive, everything will be in readiness
for the great work which He has
promised shall be satisfactorily con-
summated Divine Wisdom, backed
by Divine Power. win establish Mes
siah's Kingdom in power and great
glory bind Satan, break the shackles
of ignorance. error and sin, and set
humanity free from the slavery of sin
and death, under which 1t has rested
for six thousand years.
This great work is spoken of In two
different ways: ~ 1t will be a time
for overthrowing and breaking down
the powers of sin, darkness and evil
(2) 1t will be time for uplifting man
kind to the original Divine image in
which Adam was created.
As the entire reign of sin and death
eame through Adams disobedience
upon the whole world, SO the entire re-