The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-01-27
ne church class only. were appnea TO

For instance, In first Corinthians.
the fifteenth chapter st. Paul dis
cusses the general fact Of death reign
Ing through Adam and OF the prOvi-
sion. through christ, of Il esurection
OF the dead. Then he proceeds to
speak specially of the Church rlass.
saying, "this is lhc resurrection OF the
dead" The (emrhattr, resurTpctioa sig
nifies the special or First resurrection
class, and the dead similarly MARKS the
special class of dead oneS-the sanity
dead. the Church of Christ. begotten
Of the holy Spirit to new nature, the
heavenly nature.
Not noticing this, commentators and
people in general have applied these
words to humanity in general and I'M
derstand them to teach that all that
are sown in corruption will he raised
in interruptions; that all who die in
weakness, will be raised in power; that
mised spiritual bodies. But the Apos
ue is endeavoring to impress a very
different lesson. namely, that the
Church is a special class and will have
a special resurrection to spirit condi-
tons which the world will never know
anything about. cxperimentally.
The Bible shows this had we but
noticed it: The Apostle says, God
giveth TO every seed its own body;
that is to say, IL we SOW wheat we
expect TO reap wheat. If we sow oats
we expect TO reap oats. The Apostles
argument is that none need expect to
be OF the wheat class. the spirit class.
unless they are Of that class when
sown in death. In other words. he
would have them understand that a
natural man. an animal man. in the
resurrection will be an animal man,
but those who accept the Divine offer
Of this Gospel Age. to become new
creatures in Christ Jesus. begotten
again by the holy Spifit-these will
not come forth in the resurrection
human beings, but. being in full har-
mony with tho begetting Of the spirit
which they have received. will in the
resurrection be born Of the spirit.
The Hidden Mystery Revealed.
Of change of nature from human to
spirit had been received by any men,
Der of our race The Lord Jesus him
self became the Captain and Forerun-
ner of the Church. which Is his
Body" and which, during this Gospel
Age. has been walking in his steps Of
self-sacrifice The special privilege Of
this Gospel Age is the sacrifice of the
earthly nature in order to the attain
ment. instead. Of the heavenly nature.
This was an incomprehensible mat
ter 10 those to whom it was preached
at first. No Jew had ever thought OF
anything higher than the human plane
and Divine service on the human
plane. But the message Of the Cos
pei was call or invitation to the
heavenly nature and heavenly service
AS the Bride Of Christ and his Joint
says that 1t is a mystery that was
hidden from past ages and dispense
tions. but that it Is now revealed unto
the saints Colossians j, 26l 1t was not
proper that any but the saints should
fully appreciate and comprehend this.
ITO you it is given to know the things
Of he Kingdom, bnt to outsiders
these things are spoken in parallels and
dark sayings that they might not un-
derstand."
This Mystery was, therefore. never
understood by many because the saints
were never many. and by and by,
when saintship was ut a discount and
merous and influential and made the
creeds il was but natural that the
Mystery should become more or less
befo--ed. Eut instead of going back
~ preach human restitution to the
human plane in a world wide Eden.
tho misinformed theologians hung their
own homes and the hopes Of the world
upon The heavenly assurances-just
where they did not belong.
Thus it was that, despite our five
senses and every plain statement of
the Bible. K has become the prevalent
belief that humanity is of spirit ma
ture. and not earthly, human; that dy
Ing is but getting him either to
Heaven. Purgatory or He'll. With this
confusion the danger ell along theo-
logical lines has become great, so that
practically every doctrine of the
Church is more or less confused there
by. This is the secret, this is the
reason why the Bible is misunderstood
and being cast aside with the creeds
Of the Dark Ages as no longer worthy
Of consideration. while the bulk of
Churchianity rushes madly toward
the ditch Of Higher Criticism. Evolu-
ton, Agnosticism"-w little faith in
personal God and no definite hope
"Seek Ye the Old Paths"
1t is time. my dear hearers. that we
seek the old paths. the Bible paths.
and that we seek them iptelligently
and reverently and honestly. There has
been much searching Of the Bible
to find proofs Of what we believe and
to entrench ourselves in t.Tors handed
to us from the past by well .mea ping
but deceived forefathers. It is time
for us to be honest and to search that
we may know Gods message to us
through his inspired prophets and his
Son and the Apostles.
1t will not do to say that doctrines