Ooo
PEOPLE'S
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Putor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.
Ooo
These words from the lips of our
Master, the Great Teacher, have been
fcrlevously misunderstood. The teach
ing of our Protestant childhood was to
the effect that only the saintly elect
would go to heaven and that others
would not only lone heaven, hut gnln
fta eternal life In torment Thus our
teit was understood to portray what
practically the whole world of mankind
would lie compelled to endure. This
bell was pictured to our childhood
minds from outside the Bible as heated
to white heat If we expressed won
der or surprise that any buniau creature
could endure such conditions so long
the answer was that God would exer
cise his ornntHitent power to iiinke us
flre-proof and pain-sensitive. Some theo
logians of the Thomas a Keuipls school
of thought went so fur ns to picture
the poor creatures In their sufferings
and to show Unit the heat would form
a kind of an asbestos covering which
would shield them from a measure of
Its Intensity. I tut those deluded theo
logluns proceeded to explain that these
outer coverings would crnck and shell
Off every little while, leaving the poor
Tlctlm freshly tender that his suffering
tulght he (he mure Intense.
Of course, these theologians of the
pi.st had their difficulty in dealing with
the worms. They could Imagine devils
who would oversee the torture as being
made immune to pain by the chief tor
turer, the Almighty Cod. Hut Just how
to Imagine the worm getting along In
so great a heat and how they would In
any wise Increase the torture of the
poor sufferers was to many a perplex
ity. Hut patient though! fulness along
these cruel and devilish Hues enabled
some to. formulate the theory that the
worms .would be llery ones, living Id
fire, delighting In lire-worms that
would bore through the Incrustations
and mid still further to the horrible
miHerlngs of the world of mankind.
Wee This What Jetui Meant?
Did the I rent Teacher Intend that
such conclusions should be drawn from
Ills language? And did ho stop short
of the description from reasons of sym
pathy or modesty or shame? Is litis
the geniial teaching of clod's Word
or lias a great and terrible mistake
been made? And have we mistaken
a figure of speech and treated It as
literal? We erred. We misunder
stood. The (irent Teacher who rebuk
ed his disciples, James and .lolm, when
they desired to call fire from heaven
upon the City of S:inmii:i, because the
people thereof refused to sell tliem
food fur the Master the sympathetic
One who said to them, "Ye know not
what manner of spirit ye are of; the
Son of man came not to destroy men's
lives, but to save tliein"-coiild that
Son of man in any wise Intend to tell
us that our great Heavenly Father had
less of the spirit of love ami righteous
ness than the two impetuous disciples?
I)ld lie mean to Intimate that while die
disciples Impetuously might have beeu
willing to destroy the earthly life of
the Sainarlta.is, tint Heavenly Father,
of still more demoniacal disposition,
would treat practically all mankind ten
million times worse than that and use
Divine Power to all eternity to perpet
uate the sufferings of his earthly crea
tines which his own Word declare
were born In i i, shapen In iniquity,
In slu did their mothers conceive them?
earthly creatures, too, whose environ
ment was unfavorable and whose Ad
versary, the devil. Cod neither destroy
ed nor bound?
Such an Interpretation, my dear hear
ers, Is not supposable. We must look
for some explanation of the Master's
words more consistent with his own
character and with the Heavenly Fa
ther's character, and more consistent
with our conception of what a Just,
Loving. Wise and Powerful Creator
would do. It does not answer the pur
pose to say, as ho many do, "Bosh, do
not discuss such a matter. Nobody
now believes such things!" This one
Scripture repudiated would shako our
lontldetice In the whole Itlble. Hut
rightly explained and understood It
would settle and Increase our faith la
the Scriptures as a I H vine message.
This, then, must be our object not
merely to cast from us the devilish In
terpretation of the dark age, but to as
certain the true lntcrpre;.itlo:i-;o get
the true lesson from the word of the
Great Teacher. Thousat.ds are drift
ing off Into more u, iess open InlHelity
simply U'ciiuse of !he Ir.'ational Inter
pretation given to 111!' text :.inl two or
three others. And these error have
Imcouic so fusion d hi i.:ir minds from
chlldlusid dtys that they have become
part isnd pn.'i 1 1 o," our very lives, so
that many o" us noiid hive been In
clined at oi. e tb.ie to dispute the very
Mlstence of a Col as iii.irh as to dis
pute such slntideiMM misrepresenta
tions of his glorious character.
Entering Into Life.
Let us go back to Jesus' day and In
mind place ourselves with those who
lieard him utter the words of our text
ami context. The Teacher had Just
anld, "If thy hand offend thee, cut It
off It Is better for thee to enter Into
life maimed, than, having two hands,
to go Into hell, Into the fire that never
shall be quenched, where their worm
dleth not and their fire Is not quench-
V
00i
PULPIT...
Immortal Worms
and
Unquenchable Fire
"Where their worm dieth not and
their fire is not quenched" (Mark ix.
44).
ooo 1 ' ' '
ed." He said the same in the follow
ing rentes respecting the foot and the
eye. Was be speaking literally or fig
uratively? Does any sane person sup
pose today tbut Jesus advised a literal
cutting off of a band or a foot or the
plucking out of an eye? Assuredly
not And the person wbo would fol
low bis counsel in that way would be
considered unbalanced in mind. We
all recognize what be did mean, name
ly, that If any who desired to have
eternal life found that tbey bad hin
drances of appetite or pleasure or
what not, as dear to them as an eye,
foot, hand, these precious, but disqual
ifying sins or wrong-doings, should be
put away no matter bow precious
they were no matter how highly es
teemed. By way of contrast, the Mas
ter suggested that If the retaining of
these things would binder them from
entering Into life they could not af
ford to retain them that even if they
were to carry the figure further and
suppose that in the future life they
would lie deprived to tho extent of be
ing maimed to all eternity It still
would bo preferable to them to prac
tice tho self-denial now mid to enter
Into life.
He it noted that the reward here In
dicated is In the entering Into life, and
the Intimation 1a that those who fall
will not have life at ail-that they will
fall to attain life; that they will have
no eternal life, either In pain or in
pleasure. Let us examlno our text
further and seo tills.
Gehtnna Typed the Second Death.
Tho word hell In our text Is from the
Creek word yi henna, which, In turn,
was a corruption of the Hebrew word
lchhlnwm, which signifies rulley (if
death. There nro two other words In
tho New Testament Creek translated
hull In our common version. One of
these, tarturun, lias no reference to hu
manity whatever, but merely signifies
our earth's atmosphere the place
where Satan and tho fallen angels are
restrained In chains of darkness (11
I'eter II, 4). Tho other Creek word
rendered hill In the New Testament Is
hmlen, which corresponds exactly to
the word rendered hill In tho Old Tes
tament, namely nhinl. And all scholars
know that both of these words signify
the sumo thing. They are used inter
changeably In tho Scriptures to desig
nate the state or condition of death
tho tomb. No person, of even slight
cdiicutlon, would for a moment at
tempt to claim that eternal torment Is
taught by nhinl, hade or tartaiux. The
great stress of all who teach ctcrtml
torment falls, therefore, upon the word
hill found in our text-lu the original
Creek, yihtnmi. 1
What we have to say respecting it
will undoubtedly be news to but few
of this congregation. Hut since this
sermon will bo reported in more than
seven hundred newspapers of the land,
our explanation will probably eventu
ally reach ten million people, to whom
the Truth on tho subject will lie new.
What we have to say is not new to ed
ucated ministers, however, and why.
as pastors, they have kept the sheep
of their flock In the dark on the sub
ject Is for I hem to explain. They cer
tainly cannot plead Ignorance. At very
most they can apologize that they
hoped that the ml.uiml i st.iiiding would
do more g",u than t!ie uuih. They
seem to for;et entirely that this terri
ble mlsundentamllng Is not only
wrecking the faith or thousands, but
dishonoring our Cr-aiwr- blaspheming
his holy name, lilt holy character, by
misrepresenting it and the Divine
Flan.
A Volley Outeide Jarunltm.
I wish that those of you who have
modern Hlbles with maps at the buck
would turn to the map of the City of
Jerusalem and there notice on the
Southwest side of the City, Just out
side the wall, the Valley of Hlnnom.
That Is tho Valley that In brief was
called Gchhlnnon, the Greek of which
Is gehenua. All of our Lord's uses of
the word gehenna stand related to
that Valley. For the sake of my lar
ger congregation It will be worth while
for us to tako a glance backward at
the history of that Valley during many
centuries before Jesus' day.
The first mention of this Valley in
the Itlble Is found In Joshua (iv, 8),
where It is given ns one of the boun
daries of the tribe of Judah, accord
ing to the lot cast by Joshua In the
division of the land that had come In
to possession of the Israelites. It Is
again mentioned similarly In Joshua
xvlll. Id. The next referenco to this
Vulley Is found In II Kings xxlll, 10.
There we rend of how Joslah, the gtsid
King of Judah, Instituted n great re
form In the nation and abolished Idol
atry, ono of the most heinous forms of
tho Idolatry having been practised In
this Valley of 1 1 intuitu, which had got
ten a new name, namely Topheth. His
tory tells us that the Israelites built
lu this Topheth. the Valley of Illnnom,
n grent brass Image to the heathen god
Moloch. In various places they had
groves In which a licentious form of
worship was enacted nrd then they re
sorted to thl Valley f Illinium to of
fer sacrlfli of a most revolting kind
t tLe bentbea deity. SctncttiueH i:
wts a boy und some time It wr.s a
girl that was placid nak's) In the nrms
of the great image i:ftr it had U-en
fired to a red heat with fuel piled un
derneath the Image and pacing
through It as a flue, ibe cries of these
Infants ho horribly sacrificed were
drowned by the cheers of the worship
pers 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 Idolatry
(Leviticus xvlil, 21; Deuteronomy
xvlll, 10). It is a gross mistake and
slander of the Divine character and
I.aw to suppose that it ever sanctioned
torture. And It Is a still worse slan
der upon God to suppose that he would
himself do, and that for all eternity,
what be condemned In bis fallen crea
tures. v
The Lord declares all this through
tbe Trophet Jeremiah (vll. 31-34). Here
God particularly forewarned the Israel
ites that their wrong course would
eventuate in the terrible time of trou
ble which came upon Jerusalem in the
year A. D. 70, when it was estimated
that over a million died at the siege
of Jerusalem. In fulfillment of this
proplh'cy the Jews cast the dead bodies
over tho wall of Jerusalem Into this
very Valley. Thus we read, "Behold,
the day is come, sulth the Lord, that It
shall no more he called Topheth, nor,
Tbe Valley of tho son of Iliiiiioin, but.
The Valley of Slaughter; for they shall
bury In Topheth till there bo no place.
And tho carcasses of this people shall
be meat for the fowls of the heaven,
and for the beasts of the earth."
After tho reformation made by King
Joslah the Valley of Illnnom was dese
crated to the Intent that It might never
afterward be considered fit for any
kind of religious worship, sacrifice or
ceremony. It beet me the valley of
defilement, it was used at certain
times for the burning of the offal and
rubbish of the city. It became the
dumping place of dead cats mid dogs,
etc. If any of these fell upon t lit
ledges of tho rock, no one thought
worth while to Interfere, and the mag
gots and worms destroyed them. Fires
also were lighted occasionally to burn
tbe combustible rubbish, and brimstone
was added so that the fumes nii;:lit
destroy any malarial tendency, in the
Interest of the health of the city.
The Lesson Jesus Taught.'
Wo have before our minds now the
gehenna fire which no one 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
casses were consumed and the worms
themselves died. Another item here
should bo noticed, namely, that a say
ing amongst the Jews was, Whosoever
commits such a misdemeanor will be
lu danger of going from bad to worse
until lie will be brought before the
tribunal of the Sanhcdrln, a culprit.
Jesus took the same line of proverbs
and declared that anyoiuvlolatiug the
Golden llule to the extent of calling
his brother a fool would be lu danger
eventually of such digression from
righteousness ns to bring hir.i under
sentence of the greater tribunal of
Messiah's Kingdom, und, "Whosoever
shnll say unto his brother, Thou art
a fool, shall be lu danger of gehenna
lire" (Matthew v, li.
What the Great Teacher meant was
that the earthly Jerusalem was a pic
ture or type of the heavenly Jerusa
lem, which represents the Divine Gov
ernment or Kingdom the New Jeru
salem which, by and by, will come
down to earth when God's will shall
be done en earth as It Is done lu
heaven.
As gehcnnn lay outside of the wall
of Jerusalem, so our Lord Intimated
there would be an antltyplcal gehenna
outside tint New Jerusalem. As the
trash and offal of the typical city wero
consumed In the Valley of Illnnom, so
the offal and trash of humanity who
will refuse all of God's favors, mercies,
blessings and opportunities, will be
treated as disgraceful wretches and be
consumed, destroyed, In tho nntltyp
Ical gehenna which Is the Second
Death. Concerning this antltyplcal ge
henna, the Second Death, we are deft
nltcly. Informed of the characters which
will there be destroyed utterly, ns I'e
ter says, "as natural brute beasts."
We have a description of this sym
bolical New Jerusalem or Divine King
dom (Revelation xxl), composed pri
marily of tho Church, and secondarily
of all from the world who, during
Messiah's reign, will enter In through
Its gates and enjoy the blessings of
Divine favor and life eternal. And
then we read, verse 8, "But the fear
ful, and unbelieving, and the abomina
ble, and murderers, nnd whoremong
ers, and sorcerers, and Idolaters, nnd
all liars, shnll hnve their part in the
lake which burneth with fire nnd brim
stone, which Is the Second Death."
Note that this lake of Are and brim
stone Into which nil the offscourlng of
humanity will be cast Is n symbol, and
the mennlng of the symbol Is plainly
stated In the words, "Which Is the Sec
ond Death." The first death passed
upon all mankind on account of father
Adam's disobedience. Our Lord Jesus
was appointed the Savior of Adam and
his race nnd gave bis life n ransom for
all, to rescue nil from death, to give
to each nnd every member of Adam's
race one full, fair opportunity for n
test of loyalty to Cod nnd righteous
ness and to secure life eternal In the
New Jerusalem. Contrariwise all who
will reject that full opportunity will die
the Second Death, from which there
will lie no redemption, no resurrection,
no recovery of r.ny Unr7,
L
Being a Practical Engineer He
Jumps Into the Engine to
Discover the Trouble.
Dan Wlllard, formerly vice presi
dent of the Burlington and now pres
ident of the Baltimore & Ohio, is
finding the engines of this new road
too slow. The other day just be
fore starting for Europe he left his
private car at Philadelphia and en
tered tbe engineer's cab, in which he
made the rest of the Journey.
Being an expert engineer himself,
It was not long before he discovered
tbe locomotive was not doing its
best work. This was no fault of
tbe one In charge, hut was due to
some inaccuracy in the engine it
self. Reaching Baltimore, he at once
had the engine sent to the testing de
partment, and a new one ordered on
the train to make the rest of the
distance to Washington. The fault
In the first locomotive was soon dis
covered and remedied.
Tliis did not wholly suit the wide
awake railroad chief. He gave or
ders for the testing of all the passen
ger engines and put them In such
shape as to make the speediest time.
To do this properly necessitated the
riding on the cowcatcher of two test
ing experts between Washington and
Philadelphia. These held a speed
Indicator and also noted the vibra
tions and movements of the locomo
tives at varying and speed. It was
said that President Wlllard was not
satisfied until the high power en
gines were capable of making at
least eight-four miles an hour, day
or night. This most of them, It Is
said, can now do.
THE "FIELD GLASS" EDITOR
(Communication) Since the edi
tor of the Weeping Water Republican
who for these "last twcntyelght
years has advocated temperance,
been a clean, moral toned paper,
etc.," has taken occasion again to
make a personal trust at the editor
of the Religious Field Class, I take
the trouble to give just a brief state
ment of facts, and for which ample
proof is In my possession.
It Is true that for the "six weeks"
past as sighted by the noted editor,
the Field Glass has not come out, bat
there may be some consolation nt
least in the fact that another pa tier,
which, by the woy, Is the official or
gan of the Nebraska State Sunday
School association, Is a!so in the
same predicament and for the very
same reason. This paper Is the
State Record which is published at
Lincoln.
Now, the fact is, that both these
papers have been anxiously waiting
ever since the state convention at
Beatrice for the convention report
from the stenographer who was hir
ed to furnish the same for both pa
pers, and ns yet neither have been
nblo to get the report sent in full,
though both have done everything
we knew how to get It finished up.
Tho State Record Is obliged to put
out a July-August-September number
all In one on account of it, but in
course of time both will be out again;
and, inasmuch as the editor of the
Republican and the Republican post
master (who, by the way, may pos
sibly have supported the Democratic
candidates at the recent primary, be
cause, for the most part the Repub
lican candidates were In fvor of
county option,) is not himself a sub
scriber to the Field Glass, the writer
cannot see that the noted and worthy
gentleman need loose any sleep over
the matter in question.
We know that this will be ac
cepted by our good patrons as suffi
cient reason for the delay which we
have been caused whether it is suffi
cient for the Loyal Republican editor
or not we Bomehow are not caring.
C. A. Burdlck,
Nehawka, Neb.
Returns From Canada.
J. P. King and wife who reside on
the Iowa side, returned this morning
from a visit with their daughter near
Calgary, Can. The crops there this
year are short owing to lack of rain,
notwithstanding the drouth. Mr.
King will visit their daughter, Mrs.
C. II. Rlst west of the city for a few
days. They spent twenty-five days on
the Canada trip.
Miss Mamie O'Donnel of near Un
ion Is visiting at the home of Pat
Kngnn and family this week. She
was a pleasant caller at this office
yesterday afternoon and left the
price of another year's subscription
to the old reliable which we very
much appreciated.
HUM
ALCOHOL 3 PER cmi
ANegelaWelVrparalionCrAs
s IraiLa ling tte FrjotfantfRcguta
ting (lie Sionods andBowki
i m sms i
PrortwlcsDigft)nlwnijr!
ncss and Restlontalnsneithir
OpiuTtijMorphinc iwrMioaalJ
&OT NARCOTIC.
Rmpta Sttdm
Jibiiaum
tixtrtti&dit-
Jvtuiiot
IttlutowsliSth
WmStrtl'
ffmfrd Supr
hutofna tlarr.
ADcrfcct Remedy for Cmsfipa-
Hon . Sour Stoiuaeh.Diarrtoei
Worms .Coro'ulsKms Jhtrish
ncss anil Loss OF Slexp.
Facsimile Signature of
pe6 w
NEW YORK.
Guaranteed under the tSwfii
CASS COUNTY SUNDAY
SCHOOL CMENTION
The tenth annual convention of
the Cass County Sunday School as
sociation will be held at Greenwood
Wednesday and Thursday, Septem
ber 2Sth and 29th. This association
being intedenominational takes In all
the protestant Sunday schools In the
county and has come to be one of
the strongest religious factors in the
county. This will be the tenth meet
ing since Its organization and prom
ises to eclipse all its predecessors.
The star speaker on the program
will be Dr. II. M. Hamill of Nash
ville, Tenn., who is known through
out the Sunday school world as the
dean of all Sunday school teachers,
lie has been connected with the bible
school and Its development most in
timately during the past forty-five
years. For a number of years a
member of the international commit
tee and Instructor in the leading
conventions of the association all
over the United States and Canada.
His coming to Nebraska has been
planned for some time and that
the six counties in the eastern
part of the state combined In the
effort to secure his services. He is
a man of ripe age and equally ripe
experience and one hour under his
tutelage will be worth more than a
whole week under the ordinary in
structor. If the Sunday school work
ers of Cass county can but realize
the privilege they have in hearing a
man of this ability they will make
not only an effffort but a sacrifice
to attend this meeting. There are
many other strong speakers prom
ised for this convention Including
Edward F. Dennison, director of the
boys work In the Omaha Y. M. C. A.,
who Is one of the most practical men
In the solution of the boy problem
In the work. His work at the Beat
rice state convention was most high
ly commended and appreciated. Miss
and guarantee each one to
O r I I 11
$J for you when yo
you are getting.
I it
Ml b 1 I 1 l-j : j
n i nil ithiu in m fcvj ii iv j mi ii ins
Exact Copy of Wrapper. TMt nimmt mtm eiTf
rrTggrrarrr." - 1
iry Batteries j
are made for variety of purposes. Foi Gasoline En-1
gine work you should use a battery made for that 8
b purpose. '
WE SELL THEM -
b Spark Plugs, Secondary Cable, Primary Cable, S
Flash Lights, etc., etc. N
Uevrieh & Ma. I
THE RED CROSS DRUG STORE
For Infants and Children.
The Kind You Have
Always Bought
Bears the A y,
Signature Ay
of
In
Use
For Over--
Thirty Years
Margaret Ellen Brown, state elemen
tary superintendent and Mr. Lewis,
general secretary will be present.
The officers of the association are
looking forward to a most enthusiast
ic and profitable convention. The
people of Greenwood have promised
to take care of all delegates who
come so that every school in the
county should now begin to select
representatives to attend this meet
ing and send their names to the
secretary as soon as possible.
C. E. MctKcr.
C. E. Metzger of Cedar Creek was
a Louisville carnival visitor last
week. Mr. Metzger was nominated ' .
by the Democrats of Cass county for 4
a member of the legislature although
he was not a candidate for the place
and his name did not appear on the
ballots. He tells the Courier that
since his friends have forced the
nomination upon him he will make
the race and use all honorable means
to secure the election. Mr. Metzger
is a Cass county product, bright,
capable and most popular. Although
a Democrat he is much In favor of
the Oregon plan of electing United
States senators and says If he is
elected he will pledge his vote for
senator to the candidate who receiv
es the largest number of votes, be he
Democrat or Republican. Louisville
Courier.
Minister (Jets Settled.
From Suturdny's Dally.
Rev. W. T. Ratcllffe received his
car of household effects last evening
which had been shipped from Ver
don, Neb., and had them placed la
his residence a block north and a
block west of the Christian church.
Rev. Ratcliffe went to Pacific Junc
tion this afternoon to meet his wife
and family who have been visiting
relatives at Corydon, and Cambria,
la., for some time.
William Puis, Sr., from west of
Murray was here today looking af
ter some business matters.
be fresh. We test them
ii i. ..... 1.. ... U 4.
you buy them, so that you know what fi