The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1910-09-30
PEOPLES PULPIT.
PREACHING
TO
IMPRISONED
SPIRITS
by which also he wen. and
preached unto the spirits IN prison"
q Peter III. l9). -

continually" What a terrible picture
of the condition Of things before the
food! But God was not astonished
for be had foreknown everything
Hence he had great canopy Of waite,
in the sky which temporarily gave the
earth an equable. temperate climate
but which he intended should fall
upon the earth and cause the great
flood in Noah's day Hence at the ap.
propriate time God gave instructions
to Noah to prepare an ark for the saw
ing Of himself and his house. Noah
and his family were the only members
of Adams race In all the earth who
were not more or less contaminated by
those angels. How wide must have
been that influence when we read as
an exceptional matter, Now Noah
(and his family was perfect in his
generation" - the disobedient angels
had nothing whatever to do with gen.
Grating them
Fallen Angelo Changed.
While the angels preferred to 1--we as
men in human bodies. they would not
be overwhelmed like humanity In the
flood. but merely dissolve, by Donate
REALIZATION, their human bodies and be,
as originally, spirit beings. Satan was
the first sinner against the Divine gov
eminent, In his endeavor to set up
separate empire and to have humanity
for his subjects. Although God had
full power to destroy Satan and the
other disobedient angels, he has not
exercised that power Instead he mere
ly isolated them from himself and the
holy angels and imprisoned them, in
the sense that he no longer permitted
them to materialize. either as a SER
pent or us humanity for the tempting
and injury of our race. In this sense
they are NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of lib
erty
Now let us hear st. Peters words re-
specting these angels who sinned. He
says Oh Peter ii. a., God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them
down to hell. and delivered them into
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment" The word tartarts here
rendered hell" in our Common Yer
sion. is found nowhere else In the BIZ
BILE. It refers to our earth's atmos-
phere and to the fact that those fallen
angels, called demons or devils, are
''the power of the air. And Satan,
who was originally an angel Of much
higher rank and nature, Is their
Prince, 1.-THE Prince of the power of
the air." the Prince Of demons They
are cast down" in the sense of being
treated ignominiousfy. They are 'tn
chains of Darkness" not In chains OF
iron. They can still go and come and
be sources of temptation to humanity
who are in a sinful attitude of mind.
They are restrained in chains Of dark
ness in the sense that whatever they
do must be done In the dark-until
their Judgment time at the Great Day
lat the beginning Of Messiah's thou
sand-year day Of the reign of right
eousness.
Turn to St Jude's Epistle. There
we read (verse 81, 'sThe angels which
kept not their first estate. but left
their own habitation. he hath reserved
In age lasting chains, under darkness,
unto the Judgment of the Great Day."
Their first estate in which they were |
created was the spirit or angelic con-
dition. They left their own proper con-
dition Of living and nature, in viola
ion of the Divine VIII, that they might |
i've on a lower plane-live In sin; for |
the angels are sexless, though always |
to as masculine. And our |
Lord declares that those begotten Of |
the holy Spirit, who during this age
shall attain to the resurrection of the |
dead, the First Resurrection" viii be
like unto the angels" In several re-
spects-one Of these being that they
Will neither marry nor be given in |
but be without sexual dis
1nction.
In harmony with this note how
hold their seances, either
N absolute darkness or In a very faint |
light They claim now that the spir-
is are getting more and more power
If naturalization and that soon they /
Will be able to materialize in broad |
lay light and go about amongst hu-
nanity as members Of the race. We
10 not question the power Of God to
'estrain these fallen angels, these de-
nons-his power to restrain them from
and thus doing great
harm In the world Nevertheless, we
wonder If they VIII not be permitted
~ God to find some greater powers
# naturalization, contrary to the Di-
Tine decree. that their course In this
natter may more particularly mani
est TO what extent some Of them
lave changed and reformed and de-
IRE to be obedient. for instance, while
'thers are still as opposed to God and
righteousness as ever. There Is room
or this understanding In the state
nent Of the Apostle that the chains Of
darkness were TO control them until
he Great Day-not necessarily into
hat day-perhaps at fits very begin
ing they may be permitted TO gain
ertain liberties and do a certain
mount Of injury to humanity, to all
vho are not attentive TO the Word Of