The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-04-23

this, saying. 'The natural man receiv-
eth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." The
Apostle proceeds to tell US that all men
IRE natural men, except such as have
been begotten by the Holy Spirit. All
natural men will, in their resurrection
receive earthly or human bodies. while
all spiritual ones, New Creatures in
Christ, will receive spirit bodies. as ST.
Paul explains in our context, verses
B6-50.
Those of my hearers, therefore, who
have never accepted Christ, and made
a full conservation of their all to be His
disciples, following in His footsteps.
may know that they have not been be-
gotten of the Holy Spirit because only
upon these terms are any begotten Of
the Spirit. These, therefore, l will
ask to consider what say, and hold it.
IL they please, tentatively, until such
time as, in Gods providence, they may
be begotten of the Holy Spirit, and
thus be enabled to understand spiritual
matters such as this.
Another class who have difficulty on
this subject are the spirit-begotten ones
who have been entangled in their rea-
soning by the declara ton Of the creeds
respecting the resurrection of the body
1t Is difficult to unlearn error. When
visiting various lands and learning of
the hold of superstition upon the hea-
thens. I said to myself, l believe that
we Christians experience just as much
difficulty In unlearning our errors as
these hesthens do in getting free from
theirs.
The Unconsecrated Cannot Understand
Spiritual Problems.
Coming to the point of what is to be
resurrected, we note the fact that our
Lord appeared in a body of flesh, and
showed the disciples the print of the
nails and the hole made by the spear.
But we, perhaps, failed to note that
only twice did He thus appear, and but
for a few moments each time. His
other six or seven appearances during
that forty days were also very brief,
and in various bodies-once as a gar
dener, another time as a traveler-His
third time as a stranger on the shore,
and to Saul of Tarsus, as a spirit be-
ing, of more than angelic brightness,
shining above the brightness of the
sun at MONDAY" We overlooked the
fact that these appearances, if all put
together, would probably not have ex-
ceeded four hours out of the entire for
ty days in which our Lord tarried with
His disciples after His resurrection
and before His ascension. We were
not critical students when we over
looked those things, and forgot to
ask ourselves why these things were
so.
Now we see more distinctly why our
Lord did as He did. His disciples were
natural men and therefore could not
appreciate spiritual things. Further
more, they could not receive the guild
ing of the Holy Spirit until the Lords
ascension and appearance in the pres
ence Of the Father on behalf of His
Church, to make satisfaction for their
sins, and to make them acceptable
joint-sacrifcers with Him. Meantime,
had Jesus not tarried those forty days
His resurrection-the disciples, stunned
and bewildered, would have had no
assurance of His resurrection. They
would have found it impossible to go
out and tell the people that He had
risen from the dead when they had no
proof to this effect.
And even If Jesus had appeared to
them as He did to Saul of TarSus,
above the bright shining of the sun
this would not have been convincing
and satisfactory. They might have
said, Here is a phenomenon, but how
can we positively associate it with the
life and death of Jesus? Matters were
different with Saul of Tarsus. He
needed something to thoroughly arouse
him and to teach him for all time.
and others through him, that the Lord
is not Man, but that Spirit" Be
sides, some of the disciples WI al
ready believed were able TO give Saul
Of Tarsus assurances of what they
knew respecting the resurrection Of
Jesus and His ascension.
Nc Foolish Suggestions In Bible About
the Resurrection.
The Lord adopted the only reason
able way of helping His disciples to
understand that He was no longer
dead-that He had risen from the dead
and that He was no longer human,
but had been glorified, and had become
spirit being. The two things were
necessary and they were done at the
same time.
Even on the occasions when our Lord
appeared in a body like to the one cru
cited. He took care that the manifes-
tation should be under such conditions
as would positively prove thar He had
become a spirit being. He CANE into
the room where they were while the
door was shut, and after a few words
with them He vanished from their
sight, as no human being could have
done and as He never did during His
earthly career That the Apostles
caught the thought is well evidenced
by St. Pauls argument on the sub
ject in our text. There is no foolish
suggestion in the Bible about Jesus
having feshly body in heaven that
is all in our creeds and hymn books,
prepared for US by our well-meaning
but mistaken forefatheFs, who U, NJ to
burn one another at the stake il ney
failed to promptly agree together on
such propositions.
We mourn ire dead but they shall wake:
The lost, hut they shall be restored
o. well our human hearts might break
Without that sacred word!
Dim eyes look up! sad hearts, rejoicel
Seeing Gods bow of promise through.
At sound Of that prorhetio VOICE
81 will make ali things new