Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-04-29

tf2ASIoR RtSS}s9ELGg before-made par.
taker of the divine
nature. His text was. "He was put to
death In flesh. but quickened in spirit
q Peter iii. 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 LObos. the Son of God. left the
heavenly or spirit nature and. accord
ing TO the Scriptures, was made flesh.
and that He was resurrected from the
dead human or fleshly being and as
cended to heaven with a body of flesh.
In the same breath we acknowledged
that human nature is little lower
than the angelic; and thus. while still
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
a body inferior to that of the angels
and out of harmony with His surround
ings; and that this is to be to all eter-
nifty a part of the cost of human re-
demption.
How absurd! Do not the Scriptures
particularly tell us that in His respr-
rection the Son was highly exalted by
the Father, far above angels, princi-
palitles and powers and every name
that is named? Do they not tell us
that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom Of GOdT Do they not
tell us thar the elect Church, in order
to be the Bride of Messiah and His as
sociate in the heavenly Kingdom. must
be "chnn0ed in moment. in the twin
king Of an eye" In order that she may
be made Ike Him. and because flesh
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
sumed 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 were quite likely to be more
or less confused on all questions, But
"the path of the just is as n shining
light, shining more and more unto the
perfect day." and 1t is now our priv
flege TO learn 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.
6eeotten Of the sprit-Then Born.
Our difficulty on this subject arose
from our failure to understand that
hGmuH 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
Is 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 of 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" Nohn |, l4L
He was NOT spirit being incarcerated
in body Of flesh and wearing it as a
garment. or living In II as house. He
tbecame like others Of the race, except
that HE was holy, harmless, separate
from sinners" while all others Nre sin.
ners. imperfect Like other men, the
man Jesus was not dua 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'
tism. Thenceforth, for three and a
half years. until His cruo6Xlon. He
was dHdi The flesh was the same;
but the 'begetting received from
the Father constituted Him a Help Ego.
a new person He not only thereafter
had new hopes, based upon Divine
promises. but He had new mind or
new will specially Illuminated, quick
eRed. enlightened by the Holy Spirit
From the time OF His baptism His
flesh (ali that belonged TO His human
nhtureI was given up TO die In the
carrying uut Of the Heavenly Fathers
purposes Theuceforth the Splrit-be.
gotten One waited merely for the ac.
cOmplishment OF His sacrifice accord
ing TO the Fathers viii and for new