The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-04-25

taker of the divine
nature. His text was. ''He was put to
death in flesh. but quickened In spirit"
q Peter Ill. 49,. The speaker said:
In the past those of us who contin-
ued to believe in the resurrection Of the
dead. held some inconsistent theories
respecting the matter which served to
make the resurrection doctrine the
more absurd in the minds of those op-
posed. For instance, we claimed that
the Logos, the Son of God. left the
heavenly or spirit nature and. accord.
ing to the Scriptures. was made fiesh
and that He was resurrected from the
dead human or fleshly being and as
cended to heaven with body of flesh.
In the, same breath we acknowledged
that human nature Is little lower
wishing to honor the Redeemer and to
see wisdom and love In the Heavenly
Fathers Plan. we assumed that the
Savior, since His ascension. has had
body inferior to that of the angels
and out of harmony with His surround.
tngs; and that this is to be to all eter-
nifty part of the cost of human re-
demption
How absurd. Do not the Scriptures
particularly tell MS that In His resur.
rection the Son was highly exalted by
the Father. far above angels. rrinci-
p0lities and powers and every name
that is named? Do they not tell us
that "fesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of GodT' Do they not
tell us that the elect Church, in order
to be the Bride of Messiah and His as
Bociate in the heavenly Kingdom, must
be "changed. in II moment. in the twin.
king of an eye" In order that she may
be made like Him. and because .fesh
and blood cannot inherit the King
DOM? We have been too careless in
our study of the Divine Word. On this
subject, as upon others. we have as.
suned that our forefathers of the
Ozark Ages" understood the matter
thoroughly. We forgot that those who
lost SO much of the Holy Spirit that
they could burn fellow Christians at
the stake We're quite likely to be more
"the path of the just is as shining
light shining more and more unto the
perfect day" and 1t is now our priv.
ilege tollearn the way of the Lord more
perfectly in the light now shining upon
the Bible through the aid of our won.
derful concordances and other Bible
study helps.
Beeotten of the Spirit--Then Born.
Our difficulty on this subject arose
from our failure to understand that
human and spirit natures are distinct.
and that God has provided two dis.
tinctly different salvations for man.
kind-the salvation of this Age being
exclusively spiritual, while that of the
next Age will be exclusively human.
We are not TO think of these natures
as blending, but according to the
Lords Word. we are to view them as
distinctly separate. Whoever is of the
human nature is earthly, heshly,
whether perfect or degraded. Whoever
ts Of the spirit nature Is heavenly,
whether perfect or degraded. Thus,
when the Logos was made flesh and
dwelt among u.s." He was human.
though unblemished. And the fallen
angels are still spirit beings, although
cut OFF from Divine favor and fellow,
ship. In other words, human nature
is not an imperfect form of spirit ma
ture but totally separate and distinct
nature.
The Logos. the Only Begotten of the
Father. was made flesh" (John 1. 14).
He was not spirit being iDcarcerated
In body of fesh and wearing 1t as a
garment, or living in 1t as house He
became like others of the race, except
that "He was holy, harmless. separate
from sinners" while all others are sin.
ners. imperfect. Like other men, the
man Jesus was not dual being-a
spirit being living in human frame.
He was merely human.
But the Redeemer became dual being
when He received the begetting of the
Holy Spirit at the time OF His bap.
tsm. Thenceforth, for three and a
half years. until Els crucifixion, He
was dual. The flesh was the same;
but the spirit-begetting received from
the Father constituted Him ncio Ego.
new person He not only thereafter
had new hopes. based upon Divine
promises. but He had new mind or
new will specially illuminated, quick.
cned. enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
From the time of His baptism His
flesh (all that belonged to His human
nature, was given up TO die in the
carrying out Of the Heavenly Fathers
purposes. Thenceforrb the Spirit.be-
gotten One waited merely for the ac.
complishinent OF His sacrifice accord
ing to the FntlleIs viii, and FOR new