The herald., 1896-03-16
YESTERDAY Al THE CHURCHES
SOME OF THE MANY SERMONS THAT
WERE DELIVERED
What the Bible Teaches About the Reap
pearanc.s Of the Dead to the Living-How
to House and Hold the Young-Other
Addresses and Church Notes

The pastor of Unity church, Rev. J. S.
Thomson, preached a sermon on What
the Bible Teaches About the Re-appear-
ances of the Dead to the Living, taking the
prophets, neither will they he persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. Luke
1881. In part the gentleman said:
In the Bible we learn that angels and
other celestial beings appeared very often
to the inhabitants of the earth, and that
Samuel appeared to the woman of Endor:
Moses and Elijah showed themselves to
Christ, Peter, James and John, on the
mount of TRANSPORTATION; Christ showed
himself frequently to his disciples for
several weeks after his resurrection; and
heavenly places with human brother as
his guide. The question is What doctrines
do these re-appearances OF the dead 10 the
living suggest, or teach?
Samuel's temperance to the woman of
Endor shows that the dead at certain
certain purposes, do appear to the living.
That Samuel did not like to be disturbed
in his long sleep and rest after death is
true. From the scene of the transfigura-
ton we learn that there is faculty in the
human spirit that can recognize dead
friends and persons that have been hum
dreds of years dead; that the dead take
much interest in human affairs; that
beauty of form and dress is feature of
heaven, and that light plays a prominent
part in the revelations of celestial things
to the dead, and that personal immortality
is truth.
Each person has trinity of spirit, soul,
and body, as thinkers like Paul and Aris-
totle teach. Christ at his death delivered
into the hands of his Father his spirit, not
his soul, nor his body; and his soul in his
body preserved the body till the spirit re-
turned and took possession of it again. He
appeared to two of his disciples ''in an.
other form,' as they were journeying to
Emmaus. They did not know him, their
minds were SO intensely concentrated upon
the subject of Christ's death and resurrec-
ton. This appearance teaches that the
dead can teach the living, that they vanish
as soon as the senses begin to assert them
selves, and that spiritual communion can
be easily interrupted.
Christ appeared suddenly in rooms when
the doors were shut, and this shows that
spirits have bodies that can pass through
matter, as wood, iron, stone, clay. 1t may
be that the bodies of spirits are made of
ether. The appearance of Christ in Cali
lee suggests that the dead can and do visit
the places on earth most dear to them,
that the scenes of former labors and
achievements may be always dear to the
dead, and that the love of earth is not ex.
tinguished by death.
bodies or forms. We cannot conceive of
spirits without forms, and Paul assures us
that there are spiritual bodies as we'll as
natural, physical. psychic, or soul-bodes.
Matter has form everywhere. We never
saw piece of matter that had not form
of some kind. Matter is capable of won
derful manifestations of beauty and deli.
cacy. IL its last analysis, it becomes but
mass of force-points.
John was on Patmos in the spirit on the
Lords day, and he saw in his visions very
strange and beautiful things and persons.
His vision shows that seer may have for
n guide one that used to live on our planet,
that the dead grow wiser and stronger in
the other world, that inspiration comes to
| lis i'll the things which we study and love,
and that visions come to the man who is
prepared to receive them. The reappear-
ances OF Christ, except one in Galilee,
which was prearranged, were all spon-
taneous and sudden; and they occurred in
daylight. except one. Appearances of
the dead do not necessarily make
people moral. They may conn
fort and inspire the heart, and
make life on earth brighter. Abraham told
Dives that the appearance of one from the
dead would net save his brothers if they
paid no attention to the virtues which
Moses and the prophets had taught: and
the characters of people that profess to
have large acquaintance with angels and
Tue splrlts OF tne ueau, Wnetner IN the
Protestant or Catholic churches, or in spirit
ualstic circles, show that a man may he a
great seer and great imposter. A ghost
cannot teach the virtues of life and its
amenities any better than Moses. or Christ,
or Paul taught them; but it may teach
some things about the spiritual life that
would inspire US. Christ said the spirit
would lead us into all truth and show us
things to come; and, by obedience to
spiritual and moral laws and the laws of
health, everyone can hear the whispers of
God, feel the blessed presence of the dead.
and realize that he is "surrounded by
great cloud of Witnesses
AbbOtt Clark