The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-03-31


shall be in the coming [Parousia-
presence of the Son of Man; they shall
be eating, drinking, planting and mar
rying, and know not" (Matthew "a :37,
3d. He said in part:
/ was prompted in the selection OF
my text for today by reading an ex-
tract from the sermon Of a Canadian
minister delivered recently. In it he
declared that 1914 would witness the
Second Coming of Christ, etc. His
statement allowed the inference that
he holds the view common to nearly
all the creeds; namely, that the earth
Is to be burned up and the human race
blotted out; and that, incidentally
Christ will come second time. to see
that none Of the Church are included
in the destruction.
Mistakes of Dark Ages Being Cor
rected.
To my understanding, all such ex-
pectations are wholly unscriptural. I'M
true, misleading, and hindrances to
right understanding of the Bible. They
belong to the Dark Ages, when public
teachers seemed to lose all apprecia-
ton of poetic language, figurative Ian
guage, mental imagery. They belong
to the time when Christ's references to
Gehenna Fire, which burned outside
the wall of Jerusalem, were under
stood to mean an eternity of torture
for all except the sanity few. They
belong to the time when Jesus words
respecting the cutting off of the right
hand and the plucking out of a right
eye were misunderstood, and taken lit
orally.
st. Peters words are generally urged
to be the foundation for the theory
that the world viii be destroyed by
literal fire at the Second Coming of
Christ when the heavens shall be on
fire, and the earth also and the things
therein shall be burned up e Peter
S:1O). A literal Interpretation here
overlooks the fact that st. Peter, speak
ing of the very same time, in Acts
1922, declares that Times of Restitu-
ton and blessing-not times of world
burning follow the Second Com
ing of Jesus. 1t also Overlooks the
fact that st. Peter and the other Apos
ties, as well as the Master, frequently
used the word fire in symbolic sense,
to represent trfbulation. Thus st. Pc
ter, addressing the Church, says.
think 1t not strange concerning the
fiery trial that shall try you"
St Paul says that the fire of that
Day shall try the work of every man
[the Church,, of what sort it is. Those
who have built with gold, silver, pre-
cious stones 1.-THE promises of Gods
World, shall be fire-proof in that Day;
while those who have built with the
wood, hay and stubble of human ira
dition-Higher Criticism, Human Evo-
luton, etc-will find their faith struc-
ture amenable to the fire; and they
viii suffer the loss OF faith and have
tribulations accordingly. Yet the
Apostle explains, such will themselves
be saved, but these very fiery trials
will destroy their misconceptions.
They will be saved because, in spite
Of their errors, they built their faith
upon Christi Corinthians 3:11-15.
The Apostle, however urged that all
should build with gold, silver and pre-
cious stones characteristics which
would enable them to pass through
the fire of that Day observation-disclosures
than conquerors." Similarly, Jesus re
ferred to a testing of faith. by the fig
ure of a flood, telling that those who
built upon the sand would suffer loss,
but that those who built upon the
Rock would be safe All these Scrip
lures, however, these references to
fiery trials, ETC., belong to the end of
the Age-not the end of the world.
1.-THE Earth Abideth Forever"
The Bible teaches that in Gods great
Plan He has provided various epochs,
or ages. each for the accomplishment
of its own special work; as for in
stance, the Jewish Age with its work,
and the Gospel Age with its work. to
be followed by the Millennial Age and
its still different work The Bible de-
elares that 1.-The earth abideth forever"
Ecclesiastes Ia; that God created it
not in vain: He formed it to be inhab-
tied" isaiah 1919 The earth has
never get been inhabited There are
immense tracts of country still unoc-
cupied The Divine Plan for the earth
has not yet reached contamination. 1t
viii require the thousand years of Mes
slabs glorious Kingdom Power to
bring the world out of present sin and
death conditions. and into the glorious
conditions Of Millennial blessings and
Restitution, of which the Scriptures SO
frequently speak, and which St Pc
ter declares God has spoken by the
mouth of all His holy Prophets.
So then, the basis for thinking of the
end of the world, now or ever, is pure
ly misunderstanding, due largely to
the fact that our English translation
uses the word world where it would
more properly have used the word Age
Epoch, or order of things. In a word
the present order of things, of which
the Scriptures declare Satan is the
prince, or ruler, is not to be perpetual;
it Is to pass away A new order of
things, under the control of Messiah.
the Prince of Light. is to take the place
OF the present reign of the Prince of
Darkness A reign of righteousness
and life is to succeed the present reign
of sin and death, according to ST. Paul.
Romans 5:17, 81
Christ's Second Comma.
The Bible everywhere represents
that Christ left Heavenly glory when
He came to earth nearly nineteen cen
turtles ago. THE Logos was made
flesh and dwelt among US" The Bible
explains that the necessity for this
humiliation. this leaving the glory and
taking a bondman's form, lay in the
fact that God had pronounced a death
sentence upon man, which mankind
could not be released unless some one
would become their redeemer and meet
the penalty for them-a death penalty
not an eternal torment penalty, of
which the Scriptures know nothing
The Bible nowhere tells that Jesus
took the human nature to keep it for
ever, and to return with it to Heaven,
where it would be completely out Of
order and out of place. The Bible
teaches, on the contrary, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom
Of God" q Corinthians 1850; and that
Jesus was made flesh merely that He
by the grace of God should taste death
for every man" Hebrews go; and
that after doing this work He would
ascend up where He was before"
John 6:62). st. Paul assures us that
this. the Divine Program, has been car