The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-04-20

showed from st Paul's words that
without Gods purpose OF resurrection
those WHO have fallen asleep IN Death
would have persisted us hrutes.
You will recall also that We demon
strated that 1t is not the body but
tue. sod, that is promised Il restrree-
tioll-that 1t was our Lords soul that
went to sheol. to hadeS. to the death
state, and that God raised Hin from
death on the third day. We noted "a
difficulty into which all Chrlsteldom
was plunged by the theory that 1t IS
tile body that is to be resurrected.
What Went to Heaven2
The ordinary thought in Christian
minds in respect to Jesus death aud
resurrection is that when He seemed
oydIe He did not die; thai he. the be-
ing. ile soul, could not die; that IN
STEAD he went to heaven, ,spd then on
the lhdfal l;iy came back "a get The
bodywlIcA Lad been cruciBed: that He
TOOK 1t 10 heaven forty days later
marrel with the print OF the nails ln
His hands aud feet, the thorns upon
HIS brow and the spear mark IN His
side. What Ghastly thought:
Our Methodist friends have not yet
changed their statement of the matter.
namely. HE ascended up on high, tax
Ing His feshly body with Him, aud all
that aDpertalned thereto, and sat down
on the right hand Of Cod This medl-
eval statement correctly admits that
the aeshly body was not the Lords
but that He. the soul, took 1t with Him
as luggage. The statement. And all
that appertained thereto" presumably
refers to sandals, walking stick, etc.
All this is of a piece with the theory
that the saints when they die 81 TO
heaven, and then. later come back AND
get their bodies "and all things 'pl'er-
tanning tlereto"-tle Inconvenience.
presumably. that they have been rid
of for centuries! How many trunk
loads of things appertaining thereto
may be taken by some il not stated,
What Say tho seripturesH
The Bible presentation of this sub
ject is every way reasonable con-
slstent and harmonious. st. Paul points
out that "There is u natural body and
there is u spirit body" He does not
mean, and lie does not say, that the
spirit body is human body gloriled.
Quite TO the contrary. He declares
that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom Of Gol'-no matter how
Clorfed it might lie. A human being
would be so totally different from q
spirit being that, as st. Paul says, 1T
doth not yet appear what we shall be-
i'm our chunge-and the Scriptures do
not eveuattempt 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. be given & share in
the nature and likeness of the Second
Adam, our glorious LORD: I'VE shall
be like Him, and see Him as He IS
and, be it noted, we must change from
flesh and blood conditions TO spirit con-
ditlOns by resurrection power, In order
that we may see Him US He is.
He Appeared and disappeared
Two lines of difficulties now present
themselves. one Of which can be an
swored, and the other cannot. The
unanswerahle difficulty is where nat
ural minded man undertakes TO reason
the subject out. St. Paul explains this
saying, THE natural man recelveth not
the things OF the Spirit Of God, neither
can lie know them, because they are
spiritually discerneG."
The Apostle proceeds oversees SG-0ol
to tell us that all men are natural men,
except such us have been begottCn by
the Holy Spirit. All natural men VIII,
In their resurrection, receive earthly or
human bodies, while all spiritual ones.
New Creatures in Christ, will receive
spirit bodies.
Coming to the point of what Is to be
resurrrcted. we note that our Lord APP
pcarcd in 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, aud but for few
moments each time. His other SIX or
seven appearances during that forty
days were also very brief. aud in yarl-
GUS bollcs-once as q gardener, another
time as n traveller, His third time as q
stranger on the shore, and to Saul of
Tarsus as n spirit being of more than
angelic brightuess-"sh shining above the
brightness OF the sun ut noouday."
Now we see more distinctly why our
Lord did as He d!d His disciples we're
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.