Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-04-20

showed from st. Pauls words that
without Gods purpose of resurrection
those who have fallen asleep in death
would have periehed as brutes.
You VIII RECAP also that we demon
strated sbat it Is NOT the bodK. but
the soul, that. is promised az resurrec-.
tion-that it was our Lords soul that
went to SseoI, to. hddes, to the death
styte, and that God raissl Him from,
death on the third day. We noted
difficulty into which all Christendom
was plunged by the Theory that 1t Is
the body that is to he.resurrected.
What Went 20 Heaxen2
The ordinary thought In Christian
minds in respect to Jesus death and
resurrection is that when He seemed
to dis He did not die that he, the be
ing, the soul. could not die: that, in
stead. He went to hea ven, and then on
the third day came back tor get the
body which had been cTucified; that He
took ii to heaven forty days later
marred with the print of the nails in
His hands and feet, tie thorns upon.
His brew and che spear mark In His
side What gfiastly Thought!
Our Methodist friends have not yet
changed their statement of the matter
namely. ''He assembled up on high, TAX
ing His fieshly body With Him. and all
that appertained thereto, and sat down
on the right hand of God" This medi
eval statement correctly admits that
the feslay body was not the Lords,
but that He, the soul, TOOK it with Him
as luggage The statement, And all
that appertained thereto" presumably
refers to sandals, walking stick, etc.
All this is of piece with the theory
that the saints when they die go to
{ heaven, and then, batter, come back and
get their bodies f'and all things apper
| tanning thereto'-the Inconvenience,
\ r-esa,saiaDry. that they have been rid
; of for centuriest How many trunk
| loads of ~things 1ppertaining thereto"
may be taken by some is not stated
What Say the Scriptures?
The Bible presentation of this sub
ject is every way reasonable, con-
sistent and harmonious. st. Paul points
out that There. is a natural body and
there is, a spirit body" He does not
mean, and he does nat say, that the
spirit body is 90 human body glorified.
Quite 10 the contrary. He declares
that "desh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God'-no matter how
glorified 1t might be- A human being
would be so totally different from "A
spirit being that, as st. Paul says, 1T
doth not yet appear what we shall be"
in cur change-anGl the Scriptures do
not eHenatternpt to give an explanation.
The Bible merely declares that as we
now bear the image OF the earthly
adam, we. shall, by the glorious res
direction change. De given share In,
the nature and likeness OF the Second
Adam, our glorious. Lo1d. I'VE shall
be like Him, and see Him as He is
an 4, be it noted, we must change from,
flesh and blood conditions to spirit con-
dtions by resurrection power, in order
that we may see Him as, He is.
He Appeared and Disappeared.
Two lines of aia1cufies now present
themselves, one of which can be an
swered, and ahe Otspr cannot. The
unanswerable difficulty is where nat
ural minded man urslertaRes to reason
the subject oat st, Paua explains this,
saying, The, natural man receiveth not
the things OF the Spirit Of God, neither
can lac know them, because they are
spiritually discerned."
The Apostle proceeds (verses 36-0O
To- tell us chat ar men are natural men,
except such as have been begotten by
che Holy Spirit. An natural men will,
in their resurrection. receive earthly or
human bodies, while all spiritual ones.
New Creatures in Christ, win receive
spirit bodies.
Coming to the point Of what is TO be
resurrected, we note that our Lord APP
neared in body of flesh, and showed
the disciples the print of the nails and
bhe hole made by the spear. But we.
perhaps, failed to note that only twice
did He thus appear and but for few
moments each time. His other six or
seven appearances during that forty
days were also very brief, and in vari-
GUS bodies-once as a gardener, another
time as a traveller, His third time as a
stranger on the shore, and to Saul or
Tarsus as a spirit being of more than
angelic brightness-"s shining above the
brightness OF the sun at MONDAY"
Now we see more distinctly why our
Lord did as He did. His disciples were
natural men and therefore could not
appreciate spiritual things. The Lord
adopted the only reasonable way OF
helping them TO understand that He
was no longer dead-that He had risen
from the dead.