The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-03-31
PULPll...
CHRIST'S
ASCENSION FROM
HADES
He led forth a multitude Of
captives and gave gifts unto men
Gphesians iv, 81.

mankind. AS perfection is gradually
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 q Corinthians XIV, 14-19).
"But New Is Christ Risen"
The Apostle argues, IF the dead rise
not" If that is an impossibilty so far
as the world in general is concerned
then it is an impossibility 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, 40 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 a first
fruits, or proof, that others still sleep
ing will come forth by Divine Power
to be exercised by him in the resur-
rection morning-the Millennial morn
ing. The Church will be the next in
order-she is to be the Bride-Consort
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-price has been provided in 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
ly Church acts iii, 1920.
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 hell ls
hddeS. His quotation is from the He
brew, in which the word nell is sheOl-
the only word rendered he'll through.
out the entire Old Testament.
| am not stating this as something
new, although | am confident that it
is new to many of my hearers and to
many of the eighteen millions who will
read my discourse in tomorrow morn
ing's papers. For the sake of such,
note the fact that in the morning OF
our Lords resurrection, he said tC
Mary, "Touch me not; for | am not
yet assembled to my Father and your
Father; to my God, and your God
John Xxx, 10. | remind them further
of the language of the so-called Apos
ties Greed, which is coming more anC
more into vogue with all denomina
lions and which declares, "He de
scended into hell and rose again til,
third day" In Il version of this Greco
published by the Presbyterian BoarC
of Publication of Philadelphia, 200
note very properly explains that tn,
word hell here used is, in the Greek
a
dition of death.
consider this very important mat
ter, which should be made Widel,
known, because of the false conception
of hell handed down to us through on
creeds formulated in the dark ages,
and since misinterpretaton of Mco
and hddeS has been given to the pub
lie mind.the impression that thes
words signify place of torture Al
this is wholly false, MS every Gree
and Hebrew scholar knows, and,
cross-questioned, will admit. 1t is n
important question to the public be
cause this misconception of the mean
ing of the word he'll is driving hun
dreds, yea, thousands, away from Co
and away from the Bible They col
rectly reason that the teaching tina
our Creator foreknew and intended
. he'll Of torture for his creatures is bt
yond conception, beyond belief, an
manifesty untrue, as no holy bein
: could be so unjust, unkind, unloyinl
it is time that all such should see tia
the fault lies with the creeds and ne
with the Bible-that the Bible teache
n heU SheOl, hGdes, into which all g
7 both good and bad, and from which a
! will be called forth in the resurrectio
+ morning by the great Redeemer.
Leading Captivity Captive"
I A better translation reads, "Our Lor
. assembled ON high leading a multitude {
captives." These words are a pen pi
: ture representing great King as
: Conqueror returning from victor
= over an opponent Vhe victor rode
a chariot at the head of the prooe
sion, surrounded by trumpets and a
Chalmers and behind him followed Il
evidences, the proofs of his victory
either those whom he had capture
and enslaved or, as in this case, thoi
who had been captured and enslavt
: and whom the COnquerer had set fire.
: The picture is graphic and wonde
:, full, Notwithstanding the fact that