The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-04-22

you the whole armour Of God. thai
We may be able to withstand in thu
evil day. and. having done all. t.
stand" (Ephesians vi 49,. Our day
is blessed one in respect to it's won
derful opportunities and privileges.
but it is an evil one in the sense OF
being time Of great trial and testing
Of faith to Christendom.
Thinking minds are rejecting the
doctrine of eternal torment and gener
ally at the same time rejecting the
Bible and denying that it is the in
spired Word of God. These dear
friends are stumbling into inidelity
and think that Higher Criticism and
Darwin's Evolution theory are new
light. What they need is to see that
the true light is in the Bible and that
wearing our grandfathers' spectacles
we inherited the Word of God and
wrested it to our own injury and tc
the loss of our peace Of mind and fel
lowship with the Father and with the
Son and with the holy Spirit.
Tho Key to the Scriptures.
Whoever gets the proper understand.
ing Of our text has in his possession
the Key to the Bible. If he will use
it. passage after passage will open for
him and the whole Word of God be-
comes new and glorious revelation
of Justice. Wisdom. Love and Power
Divine. Jonah was in the fish's belly
he was buried alive. 1t is this that
Is referred to in our text. The words
hetl-belly signify grare-belly or belly.
Craze. The context shows all this,
telling us additionally that sea-weeds
were wrapped about the Prophets
head and that God heard his prayer
and delivered him from the hell-belly,
or belly-grare. on the third day by
causing the fish TO vomit him up. II
you have reference Bible note that
in the margin there is a reference to
the words of our text. saying. He
brew, the grave" Alb. says one, The
translators merely made a mistake
and translated it hell when they should
have translated 1t grare. Yes. | an
swer, and they made the same mis-
take in every case in which they used
the same word she0l throughout the
Old Testament. AS it is. sheOl is trans
lated Craze more times than it is trans
lated hell in our Common Version: but
it should be translated grave every time.
There we have the Key to the Bible.
The hell of the Bible. the penalty for
sin. is death. the grave. the tomb. 1t
is not an everlasting hell. for special
Scriptures declare that sheOl (heln shall
be destroyed II will ransom them
from the power of the grave (sheob:
will redeem them from death; o death.
l will be thy plaques: o grave (sheol.
hell will be thy destruction" (Hosea
xiii. IA. st. Paul quotes this prophecy
in conjunction with his great discourse
on the resurrection. 30 death. where
is thy sting? o grare blades, where is
thy victory" q Corinthians XIV. 55.
We see. dear friends. what our dear
Redeemer suffered on our behalf to re-
lease us from the penalty for sin. He
did not go to eternal torment for our
sins. He did go into sheol. into hades
into the Craze. Christ died for our
sins. according to the Scriptures q
Corinthians XIV. -. Thus God has pro.
vided for the resurrection Of the dead
all mankind. both of the just and of
the unjust" The inst are the Church.
the saints. The unjust include all 9th.
ers. The blood OF Jesus will avail for
the release of every member of the
race from the great penalty Of death
Now it operates under a special call
to the sanity few who are invited to
become joint-heirs with the Redeemer
in his great Kingdom which shortly is
to bless all the families of the earth
not only those then living. but also all
who have gone do9In to the tomb. The
general resurrection will not be an in
Simultaneous one. as in the case of the
saints. 1t will be a gradual one in
two senses.
On All will not come forth at once,
but. as the Apostle declares. Every
man in his own order" company or
band q Corinthians XIV. 23).
(2) It will be gradual in the sense
that the awakening from the tomb will
be but the beginning of the resurrec-
ton of the world. During the thou.
sand years Of Christ's reign all who
will give heed to his Instructions and
assistance may rise gradually-up. up.
up-and by the close of the Millennium
they will reach the full perfection and
image of God lost by Father Adam
through disobedience The unwilling.
those rebellious after the light has full
~ come upon them. will be destroyed
IN the Second Death. from which there
will be no recovery. They will perish
as the brute beasts.
So. then. let us learn lesson from
Jonah's words. not forgetting the 9TH
er lesson mentioned by our Lord when
he declares that JOnah'S experiences
in the grave-the belly of the fish. end
his release therefrom- foreshadowed
his own experiences in the tomb and
his resurrection in power and great
glory on the third day.
BRYAN CALLS ON president
Two DISTINGUISHED Travellers Ex