Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-03-01

word OF God. That theologians
have found themselves under the
nj @ ssity Of resorting TO this kind OF
tactics proves efectually the misery
Of their position as blind leaders Of
the blir d.
1t has also been suggested that the
common reading Of the feesived
text was corrupted, and that the
apostle originally had, written some
thing else; grieshaeh. In hts crit
cal edition, proposes TO read ''ftom
the works Of the dead instead Of
ssfor the dead, although his reasons
for 20 doing seem to be very weak
indeed. The leatned e,itjc could
evidently find no sense in the words
''for the dead- (hHper. ton neIronl.
ami. thnrsf1re, on account Of some
variety in the punctuation, or some
various readings, he proposes to read
s'from the works OF the dead" zap
cr0oR neLron), although this emen-
dalton would by no means render
the passage more Ineligible In the
least degree. For the apostle has on
his mind TO prove the resurrection
of the lead. Nothing else Now,
the living may lie baptized
from the works Of the dead;
that is to say, they may lie baptized
with q view to no more practice the
bad works Of the dead, anu yet this
fact does by no means prove that
the dead will be resurreeted. There
is no cuu1ectiOn between the pre-
misses and tho c0nclusioni and any
reading, any Interpretation, that
leaves the main question, the resur-
rection, out of sight. must neees-
sarily be rejected.
The words stand there, plain
enough, hyper ton RekroR, for the
dead. They mean con behalf Of"
''instead OFFS or, "for the advantage
of'' the dead, They mean nothing
else.
The same expression Is Used in
Rom. viii, %, where the Spirit is
said to make intercession ''for'' us
hyper heRlonl: JOHNNY, Is, "Great-
er loee hath no man Thai this, that
man lay down his life for lhyTsrl
his friends.o | John Iii, Is, "Here-
by perceive we the love of God,
because he lsid down. His life for
lhyperl US: and we might TO Ia doEn
our lives for Upper our brothers,"
Gal. iii, Is, "Ch1st hath redeemed
us from the curse Of the law, being
made n curse for (hyper) u.s." In
these and many other passages
s.for' means clearly s'instead
Off or son behalf Of,
and that is its only possible
sense in the passage under consider
alton. The baptism joF the dead Is
n baptism instead Of or in behalf Of
the dead. To make anything else Of
it is to violate the simplest rules of
Interpretation.
How wonderful, now, 10 contem-
plate the fact that Joseph the Pro-
phet, without hesitation, when the
right time cnme, gave to this pas
sage-as TO all Others he was called
upon to expound-the precise and
only correct Interpretation, He had
not to, resort to any learned machin-
cry Of impossible intricacy to find
this meaning Of the word. The
Spirit Of God, which ones dictated
the words to Paul, taught Joseph
the Prophet 10 interpret them, and
the Interpretation was at once con-
sistent and clear, bearing the evil
dence Of its truth on its very surface.
II there Were no other proofs Of his
divine mission, this one would be
irrefutable.
But the work of Joseph the Pro-
phet did not confine itself to inter-
probation. His was above all a
practical work. And in giving us
the correct understanding OF the
Word Of God, in disclosing to us the
wonderful doctrine of suhstitutional
work for the dead, as practiscd
among the primitive Christians, he
again opened to the believers the
lOng-closed doors Of the sauctuarieS
Of the Most High, and taught them
how TO perform this work. And
again, through His instrumentality
God has reunited the world beyond
with this, according to the declara-
ton Of the Apostle:
Blessed be the God and Father Of
our Lord Jesus Christ who hath
blessed us with all spiritual bless
ings in kedreHly places in Christ.
ms He hath chosen us in
Him before the foundation Of the
world, having made known unto us
the mystery Of His will, according TO
Hisgood pleasure whichHe hath pur-
posed in himself. That in the dis
pensation oftie fulness Of times He
might gather together in one al
things in Christ. both which are in
heaven and which are on earth. p
(Ephesians l, 2-10.-MlienHiai Star.