The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1910-08-30
PEOPLES PULPIT.
Most Comforting
Words,
Words of Life
Comfort one another with these
words" q Thessalonians w, l6).

many as will. For the world this
means the glorious opportunity Of the
mediatorial reign of Christ which will
constitute their time of restitution, up
lifting. resurrection to all that was lost
in Adam and redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ (Acts iii. 1921.
"comfort-With These Words"
In order to appreciate the meaning
of our text we must consider the
words of the Apostle preceding 1t, be-
ginning with the 18th verse. He de-
clares. II would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them
which are asleep. that We sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope"
All Christian people agree that the
word sleep here refers to those who
died. They are not asleep in heaven,
of course, for there all is wakefulness
and intelligence and joy. They are
not asleep in Purgatory, Of course, for,
according to our Catholic friends, sleep
there would be an impossibility. They
are not asleep In an orthodox hell, for,
according to the description given by
Protestants, none could sleep there.
Where. then, are those who are
asleep? ST. Paul says that we should
not be ignorant concerning them.
Have we not been ignorant in the past
-foolishly ignorant? We have ignored
the Apostles words entirely. We have
refused to believe that any are asleep
and claim that all are awake, alive-a
few in heaven, the many in Purgatory
or eternal torture
But st. Paul was right! The entire
Bible teaches that all who die fall
asleep Thus we learn of st. Stephen,
the first Christian martyr. that he fell
asleep" (stoned to DEATH. We read Of
the good and bad, kings and peasants,
falling asleep in death. We read that
King David slept with his fathers
some of them good, some of them bad.
We read that Abraham slept with his
fathers-some of them heather. The
Bible tells us where they sleep and that
they will all be awakened from the sleep
Of death in due time-in the resurrec-
ton, during Messiah's reign of thou
sand years. The Prophet declares that
Many that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to life ever
lasting and some to shame and lasting
contempt" Daniel xii. p.
Those who viii be awakened from
the sleep Of death unto resurrection of
life will be the blessed and holy, the
sanity, who will be associated with
Messiah in the Kingdom work for the
blessing and uplifting Of the non-elect.
Those who will be awakened from the
sleep Of death to shame and age-last-
ing contempt will be the non-elect
world. Their shame will be in proper
ton as they have enjoyed light. knowl-
edge and opportunity and have failed
rightly to appreciate and use these.
They will have contempt from their
fellows, in proportion as their short
comings Of the present time will be
shown up. Many highly esteemed
amongst men will be awakened to that
shame and age-lasting contempt. But
their case will not be a hopeless one.
Much of their weakness and derelic-
ton were the result of Adams trans
gression and the sinful conditions
which have resulted. including unfa-
vorable environment God has pro-
vided in Christ redemption for all from
the sins and weaknesses resulting
from Adams disobedience and thus
the entire race of Adam is guaranteed
an individual trial under favorable
conditions-for life everlasting or
death everlasting.
All who will render obedience to the
laws and regulations Of Messiah's
Kingdom will begin to rise up, up, up,
out of their fallen, degraded condition
of sin, and be brought back to all that
was lost in Adam and redeemed at
Calvary. In proportion as they will
retrace their steps and come back into
Divine fellowship their shame will de-
crease and their contempt also. Final
ly In the contamination Of that age all
who will may have attained full res
toration and regeneration and free
dom from shame and contempt. The
unwilling and disobedient and rebel
lious will be destroyed in the SkAond
Death-''twice dead, plucked up by the
roots"-without hope Of any further
resurrection or restitution
Comfort With These Words"
st. Paul urges that Christians should
not be ignorant concerning those who
are asleep-that they sorrow not even
as others who have no hope" 1t is
bad enough to think of millions Of the
heather as being totally extinct, hope
lessly dead, without any prospects of
a resurrection. The same would be
true respecting our neighbors and
friends, parents and children, brothers
are not In Christ Jesus" who are not
walking after the Spirit, who are not
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus
Christ our Lord And If it would be
a sore trial to think of them as utter
ly destroyed in death and without hope
of resuscitation. resurrection, how
much worse would it have been when,
In our misunderstanding Of Gods plans,
we thought of them as being in either
Purgatory or eternal torture. Such a
false conception of the Divine plans is
even worse than to believe them with
out hope and extinct.
The Apostle proceeds to point out the
basis of this hope in these words, sIf
we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring Grom the dead
with Cby) him" Il Thessalonians iv, IA.
So, then, the Apostle declares, the
resurrection hope is the Christian hope
and the basis of the hope of this resur.
rection is that Jesus died that he might
be mans ransomer-that he arose from
the dead that he might be the great
Deliverer of mankind, the Prophet
Priest and King Of God, and that he
might gather to himself the elect
Church, the Bride, the Lambs Wife
as his joint-heir
Christians, of course, In thinking OF
the resurrection of the dead, would pri
marily, chiefly, consider their deal
ones of the household Of faith; hence
the Apostle continues his argument
saying, that those of the Church living
at the time of the Second Advent viii
not precede or hinder those members
Of the Church who have died during
the past centuries, for the dead il
Christ shall arise frst-shail be awak
ened first from the sleep of death.
"Them That Sleep In Jesus"
We cannot think that the Apostle re
fers merely to the Church In this case
for uniformly, in speaking Of the resur
rection OF the dead, he refers both t.
the Church and to the world, the