A RESULT OF ERRONEOUS TEACHING.
By Editor
The Enquirer of this city gives the following as a fact: "A little East Oakland girl six years old attended Sunday-school for the first time, and heard a young teacher give a glowing description of heaven. A great impression was made upon the child's mind, and for days after she reasoned to herself about it, and finally concluded if heaven were so desirable a place to live in, and people expected to reach it some time, why was it worth while to wait to grow up to be a big woman for death to release one. A short time before a man had been run over by a train and killed near where the little one lived. It occurred to her that that would be a good way to die, so she left home one day without taking her mother into her confidence, for her mother had a way of interfering with her plans occasionally, and deliberately lay down on the track, and waited for the train to come along. She was rescued by a gentleman who was passing. The little girl protested vigorously, explaining that she was going to heaven, and did not want to be detained." If the doctrine of a conscious existence of the soul or spirit separate from the body be true, the child's reasoning was logical, and her conclusion sound and beneficent. But in truth it was cruel, because the basic premise of going to heaven when one dies, on which her conclusion was based, was false. "The dead know not anything." God's people are rewarded not at death, but when Christ comes. Matt. 6: 27. A little properly taught would never commit suicide. God loves life, not death. —An exchange, referring to the meeting of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, says:— "Here Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah, who had been dead many hundreds of years. This absolutely proves that the spirits of deceased persons can make themselves known to living people." Now this "proves" nothing of the kind. Elijah did not die, but was taken to heaven—translated—without tasting death. See 2 Kings 2: 1, 11. That Moses was raised from the dead is inferred by Jude 9. "The Lord rebuke thee," from the lips of Michael, was sufficient, and the body of Moses returned to life. Therefore it was literally Moses and Elijah on the mount. Jesus glorified represented his second coming. Moses raised from the dead represented the sleeping saints who will be raised at Christ's second coming. And Elijah represented the living righteous who will be translated at Christ's second coming without tasting death. This is what the transfiguration signified. See 2 Peter 1: 16-19. —The following words from a contributor will speak for themselves. We appreciate the good spirit which prompted them:— "Among the kind words addressed to contributors in the SIGNS of August 26, there was one sentence that made a deep impression upon my mind. It was this: 'While the editor wishes to encourage all, his first endeavor must be to make the SIGNS OF THE TIMES preach the Gospel of Christ with the best material at hand.' With this noble purpose steadily in view in our work for the Lord, we can safely leave the results in his hands. If he has intrusted to us a thought, and we are not able to express that thought in a way to accomplish the greatest amount of good, he is able to give it to one who can; and thus his work goes on, while from the depths of our hearts we would say, Amen."