Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-01-24
the Church class only. were applied to


cusses the general fact of death reign
ing through Adam and of the provi-
sion, through Christ, of resurrection
of the dead. Then be process to
speak specially of the Church class,
saying, ''this is the resurrection Of the
dead" The (emphatic) resurrection sig
mites 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 a 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 thss all that
are sown in corruption will be raised
in interruption; that all who die in
weakness, viii be raised in power; that
all who die animal bodies, viii be
raised spiritual bodies. But the Apos-
tie is endeavoring to impress a very
different lesson, namely, that the,
Church is special class and will have
a special resurrection to spirit condi-
tons which the world will never know
anything about. experimentally.
The Bible shows this had we but
noticed it: The Apostle says, GOD
giveth to every seed its own body;
that is to say. if 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 0aath. In other words, he
would have them understand that a
natural mai, 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 Spirit-these will
not come forth in the resurrection
human beings, but. being in full har-
mony with the begetting of the spirit
which they have received. will in the
resurrection be born of the spirit.
The Hidden Mystery Revealed.
Up to the time of Christ no promise
of a change of ma lure from human to
spirit had been received by any mem
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-sacrifce. 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 vas an incomprehensible mat
ter to 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 a call or invitation to the
heavenly nature and heavenly service
as the Bride of Christ and his Joint
Heirs in glory OF this call St Paul
says that it is a mystery that was
hidden from past ages and dispense
tons, but that it is now revealed unto
the saints (Colossians i. 26l 1t was not
proper that any but the saints should
fully appreciate and comprehend this
"To you it is given to know the things
of the Kingdom, but to outsiders
these things are spoken in parallels and
dark sayings that they might not I'M
derstand."
This Mystery was. therefore, never
understood by many because the saints
were never many, and by and by,
when saintship was at discount and
when nominal Christians became nu-
merous and influential and made the
creeds, it was but natural that the
Mystery should become more or less
befogged. But instead of going back
to preach human restitution to the
human plane in a worldwide Eden,
the misinformed theologians hung their
own hopes 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 it 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 all 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
Churchianfty rushes madly toward
the ditch of Higher Criticism, Evolu-
tien, Agnosticism little faith in
a personal God and no definite hope.
"Seek We the Old Paths"
1t is time. my dear hearers, that we
seek the old paths. the Bible paths,
and that we seek them intelligently
and reverently and honestly. There has
been much searching of the Bible
to find proofs of what we believe and
to entrench ourselves in errors handed
to us from the past by well-meaning
but deceived forefathers. 1t 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
are unnecessary. The Bible puts faith.
proper faith, at the very foundation of
Christian character 1--WE behave and
therefore speak.
Let us do this. let US not be content
until we know exactly what the Bible
teaches concerning What is man"
and respecting the hope. mans restitu-
ton. and respecting the high calling.
the heavenly calling of the Church.
When we begin to see these matters
clearly the entire Bible shines as never
before. our faith becomes strong as
never before. And then. if we are
honest. our love for God and our zeal
for his service must also increase pro-
portionately.