The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-03-29


attained the shame of the imperfection
will gradually abate, while all of the
shameless will be destroyed in the
Second Death. Thus we see the Di-
vine Purpose Of the resurrection of the
dead and our glorious hope, far differ
ent from all the fears that were taught
us by the musty traditions of men,
from the dark ages" And thus we
see the force of the Apostles words
that If there be no resurrection of the
dead our hope Is vain, our faith Is
vain Il Corinthians XIV, 14-19l.
"But Now Is Christ Risen."
The Apostle argues, IF the dead rise
not" If that is an impossiblllty so far
as the world in general Is concerned
then it is an impossibillty so far as
Christ is concerned. And 'if Christ
be not risen" then all hope, all faith,
Is vain. And all preaching is not only
foolish, but worse. (See ! Corinthians
XIV, ~ "But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits
of them that slept" The mere awak-
ening from sleep, as in the case of
Lazarus, Dorcas and others, Is here
left out of the question. Nothing Is
counted as resurrection except the
full, complete raising up out of death.
Our Lord was the first that should
rise from the dead" (Acts XVI, 23), In
this full sense. And he was first
fruits, or proof, that others still sleep
Ing will come forth by Divine Power
to be exercised by him in the resur-
rectlon morning-the Millennial morn
ing The Church will be the next in
order she Is to be the BrideConsort
of the Great King and to participate
with him in his glorious work of up
lifting the race which fell from the
Divine Image into sin and death
through father Adam. The redemp-
tion-pricc has been provided i'm the
death Of Jesus; and the time for be-
ginning the great work of restitution
of all things" merely waits until the
completion Of the election Of the saint
iy Church (Acts Ill, 10-2D.
Christ Arose From Hades.
Preaching on the Day of Pentecost,
st. Peter declares that God raised
Christ from the dead. Then In proof
that this was the Divine intention
from the beginning, he quotes from
the prophetic Psalm OF David, "Thou
shalt not leave my soul in hell" The
Apostles quotation (Acts Ii, 20 is in
the Greek, in which the word heH is
hates. His quotation is from the He
brew, in which the word hell Is sheOl-
the only word rendered hen through
out the entire Old Testament.
| am not stating this as something
new, although | am confident that 1t
Is new to many Of my hearers and to
many Of the eighteen millions who will
read my discourse In tomorrow morn
lng's papers. For the sake OF such,
note the fact that In the morning OF
our Lords resurrection, he said to
Mary, Touch me not; for | am not
yet ascendcd TO my Father ana your
Father; to my God, and your God"
John NX, 10 | remind them further
OF the language OF the so-called Apos.
ties Creed, which h coming more and
more into vogue with all denomina-
tions and which declares, "He de.
sccndcd into hell and rose again the
third day" in version of this creed
published by the Presbyterian Board
/ of Publication OF Philadelphia, a foot
note very properly explains that the
word he'll here used is, in the Greek,
h0isS which signifies the state or con
dltiOn OF death.
consider this very important mat
ter, which should be made widely
known. because 0f the false conception
of hCN handed down to us through our
crecdS formulated in the dark ages"
and since mlslnterpretation OF Shc0l
aud hGdCS hnS been given to the pub
lie mind the impression that these
words signify place of torture. An
this Is wholly false, as every Greek
and Hebrew scholar knows, and If
croSs-uucstioncd, win ndmit. II Is On
important question to the public be
cause this misconceplou of the mean.
Ing of the word hcH is driving hun.
drcdS. yea, thousands, away from God
aud away from the Bible. They cor
recty reason that the teaching that
our Creator forekncw and intended II
hcii Of torture for his creatures is be.
yond conception, beyond belief and
m0niIcstly untrue, ~ no holy being
could be So unjust. unkind unloving.
II is tnR that all such should see that
the fault lies with the reeds ANA not
with the BIble-that the Bible teaches
II hcI, hcoi hGdes, into which all go,
/ both good and bad, and from which all
will be called forth IN the resurrection
morning 10y the great Redecmcr,
Leading Captivity Captive
\ better translation reads, "Our Lord
asceuded ON high leading multitude of
captI'es" These words are pen pie.
turc representing u great King ms a
COuqucror feturning from victory
over an opponent, The victor rode IN
chariot at the head of the process.
sion, surrounded by trumpets ana nc,
chalmers, aud behind him followed the