The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1912-06-06

in the flesh, but
quickened in the spirit. by which 0wo
experiences-death and resurrection)
lie preached unto the spirits in prison.
q Peter Iii. IS. 19).
This text has been made the basis TO,
some very peculiar presentations. The
difficulty in every case seems to he the
failure to remember that the Bible ul-
ways and everywhere teaches that the
dead are really dead. that they know
nothing. and that. therefore. 1t would
be impossible to preach TO the dead.
Spirits Once pisebsdisnt.
The spirits to whom the message was
given had proven themselves disobe-
dient, says st. Peter. He even tells us
the time of their tianbedsanee--',in the
days of Noah. while the urk was pre-
pairing"
Turning to Genesis vi. 1-J. we find
there the cause of the diS0badience Of
these angels who for u time had been
permitted to see what they could do for
the up!ift Of humanity. or. rather, per
mitted to demonstrate that the down
cept in the manner which God has al
ready arranged for through Messiah
and His glorious reign of 1000 years.
Instead Of those angels helping MAN.
kind out of sin. they helped themselves
into sin; and by SO doing they increased
the dcpravity amongst humanity until
the astounding record is that "thc
% in hn
earth. and that every imagination of
the thought of his heart was only evil
continually The particular sin Of
those angels was that when they were
granted the privileges of materializins
of tuking human bodies-for the sake
of helping and instructing mankind
they nisused this power and took to
themselves wives.
We are particularly told that the of
spring of this improper union were
giants. both physically and mentally
superior to the fallen human family
.'mcn Of renown." The race thus IL
several centuries became SO corrupt
that apparently only Noah and his
family were left uncontaminated.
1t was then and there that God i'm
prisoned these spirits t'angels. who
kept not their first estate''l. and are
therefore called fallen angels. devils.
demons. They We're not imprisoned in
some far-cff world called he'll. nor are
they engaged there in stokins fires.
The record is that God cast them
down. that they might not longer aSso-
ciate with the holy angels. but must be
reserved in tdrtarus-our earth's atmos-
phere-.Iude G: ii Peter ii. 4. 5.
When imprisoned or cut Off from the
privilege Of naturalization, many of
the fallen spirits continued their active
opposition to God. after the manner OF
Satan. Heifce they are spoken of as
his angels, his messengers. and he is
spoken Of as Beelzebub. their Prince.
How Jesus Preached In Death.
Here arises another question: If
Jesus was really dead. as the Scrip.
lures declare; If He poured out His
soul unto death" and made His soul
an offering for SIM" and His soul was
not raised from the dead until the third
day after His crucifixion, how could
He in the meantime preach to spirits
in prison, or to anybody else? We re-
ply that He could preach in the same
way that the Apostle refers to. saying
"Abel. being dead. yet speaketh" Ole
brews xi, ~; and again. in the same
way that the blood Of Abel is said to
have cried to God-fguratively. OF one
thing we are sure. namely, that Jesus
gave no oral address while He was
dead He preached in the way VIC
sometimes refer to when we say, "Ac'
tions speak louder than words"
It was the great object lesson which
the fallen angels saw that constituted