Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 86, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1915 — TWO OUT OF HELL; NO TORMENT THERE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TWO OUT OF HELL; NO TORMENT THERE

The Bible Hell Hot the Hell of ; Theology, I - • Hr" - Jonah's Escape From Hell—Josus Was I Delivered From Hell Everybody Goes to the Bible Hell—Jesus Redeemed All From It—Hence All Are 1 to Come Out of It—The Rich Man and Laaarue—A Parable or a Narra- ■ tive? —Unreasonable as a Statement of Faots—Reasonable as a Parable.

Boston, April 11. —Pastor Russell spoke here today. We report his discourse on Luke 16:23, “In Hell he lifted up his eyes.” By way of introduction the Pastor' explained that the Old Testament tells us that at death all mankind go to Sheol —the tomb; and that the

PASTOR RUSSELL

New Testament tells the same story, using the Greek word Hades as the equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol; but that In modem translations of the Bible difficulty Is encountered. Nearly all modern translations have been made within the last five centuries. For thirteen centuries before, the Bible had been little known. When Bible study revived, the errors which had crept in were so entrenched in men’s minds that the translators of the Bible unconsciously gave little twists in their endeavor to have it say what they thought it meant Only when it was impossible to translate the word Sheol as Hell did they give its true meaning—the tomb. But do their best they could so translate only less than half .the whole number of its occurrences. The Revised Version retains the words Sheol and Hades, leaving the reader to discover their meaning. Two Escape From Hell. The Pastor then told of several who escaped from Hell. The Prophet Jonah was in the fish’s belly for parts of three days. He calls it his tomb-belly, a Bbeol-belly. Jesus tells us that Jonah’s experiences typified His own—that as Jonah was in the sheol-belly of the fish, so Jesus would be in the sheol of earth. St Peter shows that this was prophesied of Jesus, saying, “Thou wilt qot leave My soul in Hades”—the tomb, fie declares that God fulfilled this by raising Jesus from the dead.—Acts 2:27.

Whoever gets the proper focus will see that all, good and bad, go down to the tomb—to Sheol, Hades, called in our Bibles Hell. The Scriptures distinctly tell that “the dead know not anything"; that “there Is neither wisdom, nor knowledge, nor device, in Sheol, whither thou goest”— whither all go; that “the wages of sin Is death”; and that “the soul that sinneth shall die.” There is nothing in the Bible for the commonly accepted thought that those who die go to Heaven or Purgatory or eternal torment In this

connection the speaker carefully explained that the term Gehenna, also translated Hell, is a Scripture symbol 'of the Second Death. The Rich Man In Hell. The remainder of the discourse was a very reasonable interpretation of the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. jThq Pastor holds that the story la a parable, not a literal statement He considers it unreasonable to suppose that without a word being said as to his character, a man should be roasted eternally simply because he was well-fed and well-dressed; or, on the 'other hand; that sores and destitution are qualifications for Heaven, j He then suggested that the Rich Man represents the Jewish nation, rich in [Divine promises. Their spiritual table was bountifully supplied. To them belonged the promises of the Kingdom, represented by the purple of royalty. Theirs was the “fine linen” of typical justification, accomplished on their annual Atonement Day. In A. D. TO, the Jewish nation died, and ever since has ‘been in Hades, although the Jews have been very much alive and have suffered many things, especially amongst professed Christians of the Tare class. • Lazarus represents Gentiles who desired God’s favor, but were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.” They had no table of Divine blessings, no promise of royalty, no white linen of typical justification. These things belonged to the Jew exclusively until his national rejection and the subsequent receiving of the Gentiles. As the Jew died to His favor, so the Gentile died to His disfavor. As angels carried Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom, so the early Jewish Church, God’s messengers, received believing Gentiles into full fellowship as brethren. Thus figuratively Lazarus was taken into Abraham’s bosom —treated as bis child. —Galatians 3:8, 16, 29. The Rich Man represented two tribes —Judah and Benjamin. In the same proportion the five brethren would represent the other ten tribes- That only Israelites could be meant K shown in the statement “They have Moses and the. Prophets.”. The Gentiles had them not The name “dogs” Jews commonly gave to Gentiles. See Mar* 7:25-29. Who cannot see In this beautiful parable a teaching In full harmony with God’s Wisdom, Justice, Love and Powjsrf May bur understanding open wide to a true knowledge of God’s Word! Send me a poet-card tor a free hoeMsf #e ReU—Brooklyn, N. X