The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-07-09

/ will build My church and the gates
Of hell (hades) shall not prevail
against It," Is one that is much mis-.
understood. The gates OF hell are not
gates to some place OF torture, nor
gates to purgatory. They are, in the
Greek. gates OF hades," and hades
signifies a state or condition Of death.
The passage might well be translated.
THE gates of the grave shall not
prevail against 1t. That is to say,
Chris. Jesus invires the church to die
with him, to share In his sacrifice, in
his death, and while, apparently, the
gates OF hades have prevailed against
the church, against Gods people, for
more than eighteen centuries, never
theless, we have the assurance that
they shall not forever prevail The
Masters assurance Is that by his
death he has become Lord Of all and
has the keys of death and hades. He
has the right to open hades, the tomb
f, and to call forth all who have gone
down into II. He assures us that he
Will do this, as he says, "All that are
In their graves shall hear the voice
OF the Son Of man and shall come
forth"
Nevertheless, for all these centuries
u mas required Faith to believe that,
by dying with Christ, His followers
shall yet share with Him In His resur-
recuon to the glory, honor and i'm
mortality of the Divine nature. SO.
then, our Lords words mean that
there will be a resurrection from the
grave, and since the church is TO ne
a kind Of firstfruits unto God OF His
creatures Games 1913; Revelation
l4:4), her resurrection means, indi.
rectly, this result, the uplifting OF
mankind, the opening of the grave to
every member OF the human family.
The giving OF the keys" Of the
kingdom to st. Peter has no reference
to locks and bars OF heaven. over
which st. Peter is the custodian. The
church In the present time Is the
kingdom Of heaven in its preparatory
work to the gospel church. He opened
the door to the Jews at Pentecost
when, as the mouthpiece of the Lord
ne proclaimed the meaning OF the
Pentecostal blessing and the hopes
then open to every Jew coming, in
olVidually into membership In Christ
He used the second key" to open
the same kingdom privileges To the
Gentiles. in that when the due time
came for Cornelous, the first Gentle
convert. to the received. st. peter
ala the work. By preaching to Cor
nelius the gospel and by baptizins
him into Christ he threw open the
door to the Gentiles, as our Lord fore
told In the words Of this lesson.
81. Peters commission that what
ever things he should bind on earth
should be bound in heaven and what
things he should loose on earth
should be loosed in heaven. ia the
same that was given to the othe,
apostles. (See Matthew 1917 n
does not mean, OF course. that the
Lord has turned matters over 10 ar
Peter and made him Lord of HEAVIER
and earth, nor that any or all OF the
apostles were so honored. II simply
means this: God purposes to use his
apostles and to SO hold up thei,
hands, In all their affairs, that the
whole church may have confidence IN
them, and may recognize their teacn
ings az OF God. II they declare thai
certain OF the commandments under
the Jewish law were not binding upon
Christians. we must know that tbe,,
statements werc true, and that aim
ilarly, in heaven, the release n,
change Ia recognized. And n thew
bound certain doctrines and teach
ings, We must know that those are
bound and firmly established IN
heaven. In other words, we must rec
ognize the Apostles as Gods inherent
mouthpieces.
The time for proclain,ing Jesus a
the Messiah did not come until afte,
His death and resurrection. Indeed
His Messiahship proper dates from
His resurrection. He desired His die
ciples TO recognize Him properly. and
He explained TO them about His An
preaching death and resurrection. bu;
He did not wish them to proclaim
this 10 the world until the due tin,A
ST. Peter, perhaps elated with the
Lords concentration OF his previous
speech, undertook now the role OF
! teacher To the one whom he had lust
acknowledged as the Messiah. In this
he erred II was In sympathy that
he urgcl that the Master should not
think Of any steps which lead TO SUI
fefing and death, but should rather
OF prosperity and earthly favor. VET