The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-08-06

addressed by Pas
M tor Russell twice.
49, 49, We report one of
llFASiOR RUSSEll)l his discourses, bas-
ed on Revelation
Xxx, 5. 1t was announced that next
Sunday he will address a similar con-
vention in London. He said
The resurrection of the dead seems
to be the most difficult thing in the
Bible for the worldly minded to grasp
by faith. This must be because the hui
man mind instinctively realizes the
majesty of the Power and Wisdom
necessary TO the reproduction of the
same individuality which lived and
thought centuries ago. before passing
into the silence of the tomb. The BIZ
BILE makes no denial of the stupen-
dousness of the resurrection miracle
so far beyond the widest flights of
human imagination-it confesses this
and calls upon US to exercise faith In
the great Creator. the OmnipOtent One.
whose greatness we can but feebly
sense and surely cannot comprehend.
Hence, the doctrine Of the resurrec-
ton of the dead. from its first an
nouncement in the Scriptures, has call
ed for the strongest faith on the part
of believers and has excited the gen
eral resentment of unbelievers, who
seem to find 1t easier to believe any
thing else respecting the dead. I'm
fo hn NH
many who give evidence of general in
telligence accept the absurd theory that
when dog dies he is dead, but when
a man dies he is more alive than ever.
These properly claim to hope for
everlasting life. but not having faith
enough to believe In the Divine power
to perform the resurrection of the
dead. they are driven to the theory Of
Plato. Indeed. who has not heard
Plato quoted by ministers and other
learned men when discussing the fu-
ture life? They do not quote Jesus
and the Apostles, because the explana-
lions of Jesus and the Apostles are all
to the contrary. proving that the dead
are dead, and that the only hope of
future existence Is by resurrection.
Jesus Answer to the Sadducees.
Note the answer of Jesus to the Sad
ducees of His day. who. we are told,
specially denied the resurrection Of
the dead. Jesus answered, That the
dead are Ito bel raised was shown to
Moses at the burning bush," when
Gods message was, Il am the God of
thy fathers, the God of Abraham and
the God Of Isaac and the God of ia
cob" Mark xii. %: Acts vii, 49,
Jesus commented that God would moi
declare Himself to be their God if they
were dead in the absolute sense that
brutes die. Jesus argument was that
the fact that God still recognized them
as persons while dead implied tina
their souls merely slept and will be
granted a resurrection of the dead, in
Gods due time and In better bodies
under more favorable conditions than
those under which they died.
We remember that st. Paurs letters
and sermons abound in references to
the dead. We call to mind his great
resurrection chapter q Corinthians
XVI, in which he declares that las all
die in Adam. so all shall be made alive
in Christ-every man in his own or
der" VERSES %, 81 He does not
say that every man is aliUe, but that
they shall be made alive in the resur
rection. The intermediate state he de
clares is a sleep. from which, by Di-
vine arrangement through Jesus, they
will all be awakened in the resurrec-
ton morning, at and after the second
coming of Christ
We remind you afresh Of his positive
statement that if there be no resur
rection of the dead. then all whom we
have supposed have fallen asleep have
perished. VERSES 16-1SD But thai
God is able to raise all the dead he
declares is demonstrated by the fact
that He raised up Jesus from the dead
on the third day; and so likewise on
the Third Day of larger scale-thc
third thousand year day from the time
Jesus was raised God will raise up all
those who have died because of AID
ans sin.
That Third Great Day, the Millen
mum, will be the Great Seventh Day
or Sabbath. So to speak, our Lord
gave Himself a Ransom-price in the
Fifth Day. from which the Seventh
would be the Third Day. the day of
the worlds resurrection-"the last
Day'-the end of the present Week
of 1OO0-year days in which sin and death
have reigned. ushering In the glorious
Epoch when Gods will shall be done
on earth MS 1t is done in Heaven
The Chief Resurrection.
The tenor of all the Scriptures is that
the Church alone will participate In the
First or Chief Resurrection-the world
In general will have no share in it.
Hearken 10 Jesus words on this sub
ject, and note their explicitness Of
statement to the effect that all who
participate in this First Resurrection
will be the elect overcomers of this
Age, and they will be the Royal Priests,
or PriestIy Kings, of the next Age, in
which the world will be dealt with
and. so far as willing, uplifted from
sin and death. He says. Blessed and
holy are all they that have part in the
First Resurrection; on such the Second
Death hath no power; they shall be
priests unto God, and unto Christ, and
shall reign with Him a thousand
years. Revelation Xxx, 6.
The word in this text rendered first
signifies chief foremost, superior 1t
will indeed be first in order of time,
too; but the particular thought Is that
it is superior Its superiority rests in
the fact that all who share in its bless
ings will not only attain life, full, per-
feet and everlasting, but additionally
they will receive life on the highest
plane. being made partakers Of the
divine nature, by the change" which
this resurrection will bring to them
II Peter /, 4.
The sharers of this resurrection will
not only receive everlasting life, but
more. they will thereby be made death
proof-imnl0rtal in the Bible sense, In
which it is declared that God alone
hath Immortality. God has also given
immortality to our Redeemer in His
resurrection, and has promised the
same to the elect Church, the Bride
the Lambs Wife, in this First Resur
rection. Aside from these, so far as
the Bible teaches, this special kind OF
Immortality goes to no other creatures
in the Universe.
Even angels, both the holy and the