The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-04-17

How say some
among you that there is no resurrec.
ton OF the dead? . II" If Christ be not
risen. then is our preaching vain and
your faith is at-o vain. Then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ
are perishcd" lie said:-
For years Gods people have had OK
cellent Bibles. and thus have been
blessed far In advance of our brethren
who lived during the Dark Ages. But
we have read our Bibles too carelcssly
and often have most of us wondered
at the great stress st. Paul laid upon
the resurrection. Rarely is the subject
preached upon now and rarely is IT
ever thought of except as an absurdity.
The reason for this Is not far TO seek.
From childhood we have been taught
that nobody is dcdd-that In dying ev.
erybody. good and bad. becomes more
dliro than ever before; that this alive
ness, TO the sanity few. means spir-
itual powers and nm immediate en-
trance into heaven death being Swal-
lowed up I'm life The insanity masses
also. we are told. have qulckened sensi-
billties after dying-they become more
alive. more able to appreciate and suf.
fer pain.
Our Catholic nelghbors tell us that
the majority Immediately go to Pur-
gatory. there 10 be tried by various
sufferings and tortures. and later. en-.
ter heaven. our Protestant teachings
have been TO the effect that the TN.
sanity masses. unfit for the presence
OF God and the holy. will be consigned
to an eternitysof awful torture and
made very much more alive to suffer.
ing than before. Thus we have been
taught TO believe that death is portal
or door into an intenser life-fbdt no
body Is dead. Many of us perplexed
ourselves. and were perpeXed by 9th
ers, with questions respecting how
there could be n "rcSurrcCiion Of he
dead" If nobody Is dead. We avoided
the question, or gave the answer, "Mys.
terry; go run and play"
Some. indeed attempted n patchwork;
Of the matter and told us that those
I'm heaven were happy. but not so hap
py as though they had bodies and that
after thousands of years of craving for
body (Which they had used for only
few years.. they would get it back
again for all eternity. Others said,
"No. our bodies have been only clog
and hindrance and from the moment
of death we will be better Off without
them; and we do not know why the
Bible should teach resurrection of
the dead. TO get back bodies that we
would be glad to be rid Of" Respect
ing the wicked. we said that after
roasting for centuries without body,
then. to Intensity their pain. the body
would be resurrccted and they would
have double suffering. What bosh,
What foolishncss, Is it any wonder
that many of the bright minds of the
world learned to doubt everything con
nected with religion and the Bible?
Rather the wonder Is that, seeing
things so obscurely, we did not all re-
pudiate everything,
Now What Do We Find2
With the clearing Of the mists of ig-
norance and superstition, with better
light reflected from one page TO an
other of the Bible, the resurrection sub.
ject clarifies and the statements Of
Jesus and the Apostles aud Prophets,
which we thought so strange. become
luminous and soul-satisfying,
Sf sin is death" and not eternal tor
ment; and that the Bible he'll is the
tomb and not II fiery furnace; and that
all mankind so to shoot TO hados, just
as did our Savior; then we begin to
see that what we all need Is to be
saved from sheoi, from hadss, as was