The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-04-19

III Vs3 sermon on 1.-THE
Resurrection Hope
III the Only One" His
text was from
ss Corinthians XIV, L.
gEAslsR fSyaSELL9 49,
How say some
among you that there is no resurrec-
ton Of the dead? - If Christ be not
risen. then is our preaching vain and
your faith is also vain.s Then they
also which are fallen asleep In Christ
are perished.' He said
For years Gods people have had ex.
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 carelessly
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 fri not far to seek.
From childhood we have been taught
that nobody is de0d-that in dying ev.
erybody. good and bad, becomes more
GIipe than ever before; that this alive
ness, to TIE sanity few. means spir-
itusi powers and an immediate en-
trance into heaven. death being swal-
lowed up In life. The insanity masses
also, we are told. have quickened sensi-
bilities after dying-they become more
alive. more able to appreciate and suf-
fer pain.
Our Catholic neighbors tell us that
the majority Immediately go to Pur-
gat0ry, there to be tried by various
sufferings and tortures. and later. en-.
ter heaven. Our Protestant teachings
have been to the effect that the I'M
sanity masses. unfit for the presence
Of God and the holy. will be consigned
to an eternity Of awful torture and
made very much more alive to suffer
ing than before. Thus we have been
taught to believe that death is a portal
or door into an intenser life-that no
body IS dead Many of us perplexed
ourselves, and were perplexed by 9th
ers. with questions respecting how
there could be a resurrection of the
dead" If nobody is dead. We avoided
the question. or gave the answer, "Mys-
terry; 60 run and play"
Some. indeed, attempted'a patchwork
Of the matter and told us that those
in heaven were happy. but not SO hap
py as though they had bodies and that
after thousands of years Of craving for
a 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 a clog
and a hindrance and from the moment
of death we will be better or without
them; and we do not know why the
Bible should teach a 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 resurrected and they would
have double suffering. What bosh!
What foolishness. 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 Find?
With the clearing of the mists Of ig-
norance and superstition. with better
light reelected from one page to an
other of the Bible. the resurrection sub
ject clarifies and the statements Of
Jesus and the Apostles and Prophets,
which we thought so strange, become
luminous and soul-satisfying.
When once we see that 1.-The wages
of sin is death" and not eternal tor
ment; and that the Bible hell is the
tomb and not a fiery furnace; and that
all mankind go to sheot. to hades. just
as did our Savior; then we begin to
see that what we all need is TO be
saved from sheot. from hdGeS. as was
| the Savior. A resurrection-salvation
| is thus the salvation hope of the
! Church and of the world.
What a relief this gives us as re
spects parents. children. neighbors.
| friends and the heather. who have
I died out of Christ. insanity. What
| comfort 1t brings to know that they
are sleeping in the great prison house
of death. unconscious of the lapse of
time, waiting for the Redeemer. Who
will as King set up His Kingdom In
| glory, associating His Bride with Him
self for the blessing Of all the families
of the earth The bringing forth of
the prisoners out Of the prison-house
| Of death will be to set before them
| under the glorious provisions of the
New Dispensation an opportunity for
life everlasting. By obedience to the
laws of the Kingdom under the as