Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-07-26

| Christian people the passage Is bewil-
deringly perpleXing, ! suspect; and so
| II is dismissed by them, or II Is very
| lightly passed over, as one Of the things
| hard to be understood" In the Bible.
| IL may nevertheless reward US for be-
| slowing upon II a little well-dlrected
| attention; for the words give us d
| glimpse into the hidden world, and
most OF us are curious to learn all We
can about that.
Well, then. let us first OF all try to
understand clearly what the Apostle
tells US here,
Christ was put to death says he
But mark the qualification, or limta-
ton, which he Immediately appends to
the statement Christ was put to
death In the flesh only. The body
died, that Is; but the spiritual nature
did not die. Death had no dominion
over that, but only over the body, or
the flesh. st. Peter then tells us that In
His spiritual nature-and here the
wonderful part OF the declaration
comes in-Christ went on being put to
death In the flesh to the prisonhouse of
Hadesi and preached the Gospel to
spirits OF men detained In that prison!
"a startling revelation to tost OF us,
suspect; but with when we are 10 deal
honestly, In no way seeking to turn
aside Its force from fear OF what we
may have been taught to regard as
heresy, Evangelical preachers and
commentators tell us that the preach
Ing OF Christ spoken Of here was done
in the days Of Noah. by the Holy Ghost
speaking through the patriarch. But
that you may see for yourselves Is an
evasion OF the truth affirmed by the
Apostle in the passage / am dealing
with, Christ went and preached to
spirits imprisoned In Hades, not In the
days of Noah, but after he had been
put TO death In the flesh. which preach
ing was done, we are to mark, not by
the Holy Spirit, but by Jesus, In His
own personality Yes. that is the plain
declaration OF ST. Peter. His words
cannot be tortured into yielding any
other sense than that the Savior, after
He had bowed His head IN death, went
and proclaimed the Gospel Of reconcile
ation 10 souls shut up in the prison.
house Of hell--to use the common but
misleading term for which the word
Hides ought long since to have been
substituted In the speech and literature
OF the religious world.
Nor does my text stand alone in the
assertion Of this startling truth. We
have another declaration, in the fourth
chapter OF this Eplstle. which ratlfes
the conclusion have just stated "The
Gospel was preached even to the dead"
st. Peter there says, "inat they might
be judged according to men In the flesh"
Wonderful words, again. What can
they mean? How Is II, we may be
moved to ask, that we have been obllvl-
Gus Of this teaching? Because--if |
may adventure an answer-our mas
tiers. our spiritual guides, have been
afraid Of giving II voice, or of suffering
It's free circulation among "the faith
full, lest the notion OF what Is called "a
second probation" Of q possible repen-
lance and salvation after death should
thus gain sanction. From some such
apprehension, our orthodox" teachers
force another meaning into the words
have Just cited than that which Is in
them. Yes say they "the Gospel
was preached to men who were spirit
ualy dead, who were dead In tres
passes and SINS; not TO men who were
literally dead, or who had passed into
the world beyond the grave" And thus
men "wrest' Holy Scripture from fear
OF consequences to their dogmas, or 10
the conceits Of the theological school
they belong to- For manifestly. by the
use OF the word dead" here. st. Peter
does mean men who are actually lit
orally dead, as you may see very plain
~ from words that Immediately follow.
"The Gospel was preached even to the
dead says he. that they might be
Judged according to men In the flesh"
Mark well, nay friends, the antithesls
here between the two states or condi-
tlons so indicated, between men dead"
and men lin the flesh" and not the
shadow Of q doubt will remain on your
minds that the preaching OF the Gospel
Of which st. Peter speaks here, was
done to .nen who had passed
out Of this life into Hades, the
two passages have cited as
serting the same trutht, Wis, that once,
al least, salvation was offered. and that
BY the Saviour Himself, TO men who,
having missed Of salvation on their
way through this world had been con-
signed to the dungeons Of the hidden
world waiting final judgment. That Is
,he teaching Of ST. Peter, as l under
stand him, in the two extracts / have
given you from this first Of his two
Epistles. Having got at his meaning,
then, let us consider Its bearing upon
the solemn question Of Gods dealings
with souls that go hence unforgiven-
the question as to whether their doom
is necessarily final and reversible.
The truth that energies from the ex-
position | have attempted encounters
urejudices in the minds Of many Of you,
no doubt; so long have We been accust-
omed TO think that the destlnies OF all
souls are irrevocably fixed forever on
their going hence. The earthly pro-
baton being ended, there Will never
be found place for repentance" we
hear IL said. by those who have failed
to find II here. Which saying is not
true | trust For think, my friends,
how very unequal the opportunities Of
men have been to learn and to do the
will OF the Great God during their brief |
-tay on earth, our instructive sense OF |
Justice compelling us to conclude that |
all men will not be accepted or rejected |
AZ the judgment upon the same terms, |
Think OF the heavy disadvantages Of |
those who lived In ignorant, barbar- |
Dus agesl What chance had they TO |
make themselves meet for the heaven |
we conceive Of by virtuous. holy life? |
To millions Of our race the knowledge |
never came to them TO guide them In |
Inc good and the right way. They had |
10 other law that that Of their own dis
ordered and degraded natures. They |
were the passive creatures, mostly. OF |
the relations and conditions they had |
their responsibility to God |
being correspondlngly little. Surely we
cannot think, then. that lie will try |
hem by the same standard that He |
applies TO men born and nurtured |
under the dispensation Of Christs
Gospel. II for Christian men the way |
Is marrow" and the way strait" that
cad 10 the heavenly Home, what must |
hey have been for ignorant, heathen-
sh, savage men, left mainly 10 their
1wn Wild Wills and unruly passions? |
Surely the eternal Justice. the God Of |
mercy, will not deal with them as with |
men who have had the light OF Rev
.latlon round them from their child
hood. and the grace Of the Spirit within |
A.