The Gospel Trumpet - 26:06

              AltO HE 8HAI.L SEItD HIB ANGELS WITH A GREAT SOUND OF A TRrIMPE1 AND 1HEr SHAll. (lA1HER
TOGETHER ... ~ ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDB, FROM ONE END OF HEAVEN TO THE OTHER. MAT. 24:81.
SO WILL IBEE/c nUT MY SHEEt>. AltO WILL DELIVER THEil (JUT OF ALL PLACES WHEf(E THEr ~
BEEN SnATTERED 'I (HE OLOUDY AND DARi' DAY. EZEll. 34:12. JER.8218t1.
VOLUl\fE NO. XXVI. MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA., U. S. A., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1906. NUl\ffiER 6.
A CHANGED HYMN.
SENT IN BY IDENTA OUTLA...'<D.
"He hath put a new song in my mouth." Paa.
40: 3. ' 'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all
the day long, and he shall dwell between his
shoulders." Deut. 33: 12. .
, , Jesus, lover of my soul,"
Rins me in his bosom stay;
And though billows round me roll,
1 am safely hid away;
Por he holds me in his arms,
Quite beyond the tempest's reach,
And he whispers to my heart
Words unknown to human speech.
• 'Other refuge have I none,"
He my habitation is;
Here no evil can befall,
1 am kept in perfect peace;
I am covered all day long,
With the shadow of his wings;
Dwell in safety through the night,
Waking, this is what I hear:
, 'Thou, 0 Christ, art all I want,"
Rest my helpless soul in thee;
Thou wilt never leave alone,
N or forget to comfort me.
Thou hast saved my soul from death,
'l'hou hast scattered doubts and fears;
And the sunshine of his face
Sweetly drieth all my tears.
"Thou of life the fountain art,"
Thou dost wash me white as snow,
I'm content to dwell apart
From all else, thy love to know.
Blessed Sun of righteousness,
I so love to look on thee
That my eyes are growing blind
'1'0 the things once dear to me.
---0-
ABHOR EVIL.
THE Scripture command to the Christian
i" to "abhor that which is' evil." Rom. 12:
9. '1'0 the extent you love God, to t.hat
pxtel1t. you hate evil. "Ye that love the
. f.Jonl, hate evil." Psa. 97: 10. If you are
losing hatred for evil, you are losing love
for God. If you are gaining love for God,
yonI' abhorrence of evil is increasing. One
good way t.o keep an abhorrence in our
souls against sin is to give strict heed to the
Scripture injunction, " Abstain from all ap­pearance
of eviL" God has made our mor­al
nature of quite delicate texture and it is
yery capable of being impaired or improv­pd.
If we are accustomed to viewing every
day some wicked acts, our moral feelings
are inclined to become less excited.
/
To illustrate: if, when your soul is full
of the love of God, you are thrown int.o
the company of vicious men and hear their
vile speech, your moral feelings are aroused
to awful abhorrence. But if you are thrown
into such company day after day, the ten­dency
is for you to become less indilPlant
and your soul to lose much of its horror at
the sight of such wickedness, because of
the mOl'bid influence such crime exerts over
the moral feelings. "Evil communications
corrupt good morals." If a Christian's
daily occupation threw him into the com­pany
of the vicious, it would be advisable
for him to change his occupation if possi­ble.
Of course, so long as we are in this
world, we shall come more or less in con­tact
with t.he wicked and shall be compelled
to behold more or less of sin and crime, and
nod can keep us pure, but the general ef­fect
of iniquity is to cause love to wax cold.
I have known those who when first saved
felt an awfnlabhorrence in their souls
when thrown into the company of those
who were smoking cigars. They would
rather stand outside of the railway sta­tion
and endure some cold rather than be
in the company of those who were smoking,
because they hated such evil. But after
repeatedly being thrown into such com­pany;
they lost this abhorrence and could
sit. in the station or ride in the smokillg­('
a1; with considerable comfort. Let us be
eareful lest we lose abhorrence of evil. I
WOllld rather stand in· the other cal' than
to have a seat in the smoker. It is better.
to shun such company as much as possible,
but what you can not avoid, then trust God
to keep, but see that sin loses none of its
horror.
" Abstain. from all appearance of evil."
Keep away from sinful things. as much as
you consistently can. Shun the ways of
evil men as niuch as possible. Keep out of
the way oI'temptation, as much as you can
without being uncivil. When you are un­avoidably
thrown into the company of the
worldly and wicked, see that you do not
participate in the least of their worldli­ness,
and see that sin loses none of its hor­ror.
Keep away from all wieked places. Do
not go to town on the day of the street car­nival
or the parade; do your shopping the
day before or the day after. Close your
eyes and ears as much as possible to the
evils of this world but keep them open to
see and hear the things of God. A man
who has :fine literary taste will not read a
badly written book, for fear of dulling his
taste. Do not t.ake any part in conversa­tion
that is not pure.
Do not laugh at the foolish remarks of
others. Do not give too much thought to
the evils that are being done; do not talk
too much to others about the sins and
crimes in . the land, only to picture their
horrors. It is a shame to speak of some
things that are being committed. If we
are not watchful, many of these things will
dull the sensibilities of the moral being.
You had better not read about the mur­del'S,
the suicides, the bank robberies, the
elopements, and t.he adulteries, and broken
hearts, as reeorded in the newspapers. At
first. they will fill you with horror, but be­fore
you are aware, you will be taking
more int.erest in such reading than you do
in reading the Bible.
Beloved, abhor and avoid all thoughts
and reading and conversation and com­pany,
as much as possible, that would in­troduce
a morbid influence to your moral
being. A.void everything that would rob
you of a lively sense of the divine presence.
Keep JTour soul full of the love of God,
of deep gratitude and thankfulness, of ten­der
compassion, of reverenee and devotion
to God, and you will "abhor that which is
evil." If you begin to find some enjoy­ment
in worldly society, in foolish talking,
or unholy meditations, you may know you
are departing from the love of God.
---0-
HELL.
ARTICLE XI.
c. Eo O.
PSA. 37: 1, 2, 10, 35, 36, AND OBAD. 16.
"FR:ST not thyself because of evil doers,
neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut
down like the grass and wither as the green'
herb. . . . For yet a little while, and
the wicked shall not be: Yea, thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall
not be. I have seen the wicked
in great power, and spreading himself like
a green bay-tree. Yet he passed away, and,
10, he was not : Yea, I sought him, but he
could not be found."
"For as ye have drunk upon my holy
mountain, so shall all the heathen aTI.nk
continually, yea, they shall drink, and they
shall swallow down, and they shall be as
though t.hey had not been." .'
These texts are regarded as deci~ive in
proving that the wicked will be blotted
Ollt· of tlxi~w!i~~, 'l'hey: are quoted over and
over again, and in such a positive manner
that the simple and uninformed are led to
believe that they clearl:y teach the opposite
of everlasting punishment. False teachers
find little comfort in the teachings of Christ
in the New Testament, and therefore resort
to prophetical and poetical sayings of the
Old Testament. Their proof texts are largely
drawn from this source. These they wrest
from their true meaning and applieation,
and thus build up their theories. That the
aforementioned texts prove the annihila­tion
of the wicked beyond the great day of
judgment, is false, and as baseless as the
shadow of a dream. The texts have no
reference to the state of man beyond the
resurrection. Materialists can not prove
. that they apply there. There is not a
single hint at such a thing. Let us briefly
consider each one.
In the first we are commanded not to fret
because of evil-doers, nor be envious at
them; for the Psalmist assures us that they
will soon be cut down like grass. Does he
refer to their state beyond the resurrection
at the last day , No; he is speaking of
natural death. "For he knoweth our fr8.llle;
he remembereth that we are dust. As for
man, his days are as grass: as a flower of
the field, so he fIourisheth .. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the
place t.hereof shall know it no more." Psa.
103: 14-16. "Man that is born of a woman
is of few days, and full of trouble. . He
cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down :
he fIeeth also as a shadow, and continueth
not," Job 14: 1, 2. l\fan that is born of
a woman "is dust," he is "of few days,"
his days are "like grass"; namely, soon cut
down. This speaks of the shortn~ss of life.
Evil-doers and workers of iniquity may
prosper, but their prosperity lasts but. a
few short years. They are soon cut down
by death and go hence. Does that oyer­throw
the doctrine of eternal punishment?
It has no bearing on the subject..
"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall
not be." "I have seen the wicked in great
power, and spreading himself like a green
bay-tree," says the Psalmist, "yet he
passed away, and, 10, he· was not." And
the prophet adds that he is "as though he
had not been." David says, after the
wicked man had passed away. he sought
him, "but he could not be found." When
he diligently considered his place, it was
not. What weight. have these poetical say­ings
of the Psalmist against the everlasting
torment of the wicked in hell? )Jone what­ever,
They have no reference to the sub­ject..
David was speaking of the folly of
wickedness. He testifies how he had seen
wicked men make a great. display in the
earth and spread themselves like a green
bay-tree, but they soon passed away, and
were not. Death eut them down in the
midst of their great honor and prosperity,
and they were no more seen upon the earth.
They soon passed out of people's memory,
and were as though they had not been.
Their place in earth's circles and societies,
in the hearts and minds of the people,
coUld not be found. '
We all have seen the same thing-men
who for a time swept to the height of world­ly
honor, and drank to the fun of worldly
applause; who were very popular in the
people's minds, and had a place in their
hearts and affections. Thus, like a green
bay-tree, they spread themselves. But in
a few years, death cut them off, and they
passed away. They were no more. Soon
the memory of them was almost forgotten.
They lost their place in the affections of
the people. They are 1161 thouJ?;h they ha.d
not been. Take, for example, Napoleon or
Alexander the Great. These are but two
,examples in thousands. Their place in
worldly IlOnaI' is no more.
This is precisely 'what the Psalmist and
prophet teaches in the texts aforemen­.
tioned. To apply them to eternity beyond
the judgment, as expressing the state of
the ungodly, is ignorance and folly. It is
'wresting Scripture out. of its true meaning,
and applying it elsewhere. Such are the
absurd wrest.ings of Scripture to sustain
false doctrine, resorted to by Russelites,
Adventists and all No-soulists. May God
awaken their sleeping souls, ere they
awaken in hell, to :find their punishment
just. what. the Bible declares-et.ernal dam­nation
.
Similar texts to the aforementioned re­fpr
direct.ly to death and the grave. For
example, Job 7: 9, 10: "As the cloud is
conslllled and vanisheth away: so he that
goeth down to the grave shall come up no
llJore. He shall ret.urn no more to his
honse. neither shall his place know him any
more. " To take this text and build a
theory upon it, a man might say there will
he no resurrection of the dead. But the
writer has exclusive reference to this life
and natural death: so wit.h "the texts at
the head of this chapter. They have no
bearing OIl the future state of t.he ungodly
beyond the judgment-day.
The wicked shall be burned up root and
branch. Proof: "For, behold, the day com­eth.
that shall burn as an oven; and all the
prond. yea. and all that do wickedly, shall
he stubble: and the Jay that cometh shall
.bnrn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that
it shall lea,e t.hem neither root nor
branch. " ?lIaL 4:: 1.
Before this text ean be made to prove the
future annihilation of the wicked, two posi­tions
will have to be sustained. First,
that. this text applies to the state of the
nngodl~' beyond the judgment. Second,
that it is not metaphorical language.
Xeither of these positions can be sustained.
This I shall clearly prove.
1. It does not apply to the state of the
wicked in the eternal ,vorld. This great
day that was to burn up the proud and
those who do wickedly, was to be ushered
il! by the coming of Elijah the prophet.
,. Behold, I will send you Elijah the proph­et
before the coming of the great and dread­ful
day of t.he Lord: and he shall turn the
heart (If the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the childr:en to their .fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a
curse. " Vers~ 5, 6.
'When did this reach a fulfilment? "But
the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zach­arias:
for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife
Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John. And thou shalt
have joy and gladness; and many shall
rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great
in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink
neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from
his mother's womb. And many of the
children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
their God. And he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and
the di<Jobedient to the wisdom of the just;
to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord." Luke 1: 13-17.
"For all the prophets and the law proph­esied
until J ohn. ~<\.nd if ye will receive it,
this is Elias, which was for to come." Mat.
n: 13, 14." And his disciples asked him,
saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias
mn~t first come? ann ,Jesus answered aud