Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-20
SPIRITS IN PRISON.

An English paper has been sent to
the Deseret News, containing a report
Of a discourse by the Venerable Arch
deacon Taylor on the subject Of "The
spirits In prison" II is an attempt 10
explain the statement Of the Apostle
Peter in First Eplstle. chapter ri.
1920.
For Christ also hath once suffered
Tor sins, the just for the unjust. that
He might bring US TO God being put TO
death In the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit
by which also He went and preach.
ed unto the spirits In prison.
Which some time We're dlsobedient.
when once the longsufiering Of God
waited in the days Of Noah. while the
ark was preparing, wherein few. that
is eight souls, were saved by water"
The learned divine presented three
questions arising from the text, namely
Who are the spirits spoken or When
whore and how was the preaching? And
for what purpose did Christ preach 10
them?' He went on to describe the con-
tradlctons among the various religions
scots as to these questions. and after
showing, as he supposed, that there is
no obvious scriptural answer, he adj
yanced the same theory that the Elders
Of the Mormon Church have met and
overturned, time and again, and many
years ago. It is this:
That the preaching was not during
the interval between Chrlsts death and
resurrection, but In the days of Noah
while the ark was preparing. that It
was not by Christ In person, but by His
spirit In Noah. and that the people then
preached to were spirits when Peter
wrote. He admitted however that the
text is by no means obvious in It's
meaning but that any idea that 1T
gives some hope Of further chance
after life. Is to be utterly rejected as
having no warrant Of holy scripture"
The theory that there can be no OPP
portunity for salvation to mankind af-
ter they leave the mortal body, is the
stumbling block In the way TO the un-
Outstanding Of Peters declaration con-
corning Christs preaching. Remove
that from the path Of the inquirer, and
the scripture Is as plain and obvious"
as anything revealed by the sun at
monday Peter states that Christ died,
the just for the unjust; that being put
to death in the flesh He was qulckened
by the spirit; that by this He went and
preached to the spirits in prison.
Who died? Why, Christ. Who was
qulckened by the spirit? Christ, Who
went somewhere? Christ. who preach
ed to the spirits in prison? Christ.
What spirits were they 10 whom
he went and preached? Those who were
dsobedlent in the days Of Noah while
the ark was a preparing. II It was
Christ who died in person, and who
was quickened By the spirit in person,
IL was Christ in person who, being
in spirit Himself. went and preached
to spirits who had been disobedlent
and were in prison Then Peter speaks
in the following verses Of His resur-
rection and His ascension 10 heaven.
The sequence is regular and natural.
Christ made His atonement. died as to
the flesh, lived as to the spirit, went
and preached to the spirits in prison.
was raised from the dead and then
went into heaven,
Observe, II was not Noah who did
any Of these things. 1t was Christ
Himself. And what He preached and
why He preached, to those spirits who
so long before their Incarceration had
been disobedient 10 Noahs preaching
and warnings, is not so obscure as the
Venerable Archdeacon intimated in his
learned discourse, For the same Apos-
tie. in the same eplstle tells It in the
elearest manner. In the very next
chapter We read.
who shall give account to him that
Is ready to judge the quick and the
dead
For, for this cause was the gospel
preached also 10 them that are dead:
that they might be Judged according
to men In the flesh but live according
to God In the spirit Peter iv: 8, 6.
Here are two classes Of persons
spoken Of, all Of whom are to give an
account to Christ, they are the quick,
that is, alive in the flesh, and the dead,
that is, those who are not in
the flesh. The latter had TO be
preached to as well as the former, that
they might be justly called to account.
The dead, who were not "men in the
flesh had the same gospel preached
TO them that was preached to the
quick so that they might be judged
in the same way. and by the same
Gospel as those who heard Il in the
flesh, and also that by receiving 1t they
might live according TO God In the
spirit, just as the quick who received
IL might live according to God in the
AtN'Af Ali' hAoNhNNiAHN III liA' ddso VI
Noah, thus heard the Gospel from
Christ Himself in the spirit and both
what lie preached and why He
preached it are definitely explained.
The scriptures are all right, It is the
creeds Of Chrlstendom that need to be
revised.
The learned Archdeacon, when con-
templatlng this subject. ought to have
remembered the third OF the thlrty-nine
articles Of his own creed which says.
AS Christ died for us, and was
buried; so also Is IL 20 be believed, that
lie went down into He'll" IHades.l
The questions might be turned on the
Church Of England divine, what ala
Christ go there for? Did He 60 In per.