Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-04-13


beings, have accepted this heathen
philosophy, without a word Of Scrip
ture for its support, and with hundreds
Of Scriptures to condemn I'll
We can see how the heather philOso-
pliers might be led to conjure up such
theory, because Of their desire to be-
lieve in a future life, and because they
had no revelation from God respecting
a future life. They therefore tried
their best to convince themselves that
man really does not dle-that no man
can die. The Bible theory Is the very
reverse Of this, namely, that man Is
not merely body, that he Is a SOUL a
thinking, sentlent being Neither Is he
bodiless being, and indeed he cannot
be being at all without body. His
body may change, as science declares
1t does gradually, hour by hour, until
complete change is effected In seven
years.
Thus a man, a soul, sentient being,
may in life Of fifty years have slough
ed of gradually sufficient matter to
have composed seven bodies, But the
moment the sloughlng of Of this dy-
ing matter and the substitution Of liv-
ing matter cegses, we have death; and
as soon as the body dies the soul dies
that is, the Intelligent being ceases,
There can be no thinking without
brain, no breathing without lungs, no
maintenance Of life In any sense Of the
word without body.
This would have been a total de-
structiOn Of the soul had not Cod spe.
clally provided, as the Prophet de-
clares. that He would redeem mans
life CsouD from destruction. through
the redemptive work accomplished by
Jesus In giving His soul an Offering for
mans sin, and thus making possible
mans resurrection from the dead.
II Is IN consequence Of this Divine
provision through Christ for a resur-
rection Of humanity that the Scrip.
lures speak Of death as merely fall
ing asleep for a time, to wait for the
new body In the resurrection, rather
than to speak of us as dying as the
brute beasts. The word sleep implies
that IN the Divine purpose future life
Is intended, and will eventually be
given.
"But Now 10 Christ Risen"
st. Paul does not leave the matter
of Chrlsts resurrection undecided. He
positively afilrms that, "Christ is risen
from the dead" and that, thus risen,
"He Is the Flrst.frults Of those that
slept" which implies that when He was
raised the others still slept Jesus slept
part Of those three days, from the
time He died until the Father raised
Him from the dead, from hddes, from
sheol, from the tomb on the third day.
He, as the First.fruits Of the sleeping
ones is an example and guarantee
Of the fuhllment Of the Divine prom.
lse, that there shall be resurrection
Of the dead, both Of the just and Of the
unjust"
II behoOves us 10 take a decided
stand, either with the Grecian pbiloso.
piers and their theories, or with the
Bible, The two are in conflict and
whoever attempts to hold both 10 in
confusion II the dead are not dead,
then no human being Is dead. And II
no one is dead, how could there be a
resurrection Of the dead3
The Inconsistency Of the theory held
respecting the resurrection Of the body
has invited a very reasonable and Just
criticism. The skeptic asks, How
could the body be resurrected, after
It has gone to dust and after the dust
has been scattered to the four wlnds?
They tell us Of a grave that was open
ed near an apple tree, and II was found
that a root from the tree had entered
the coffin aud practically absorbed the
corpse. from which 1t had produced
thousands OF apples, which in turn
had been shipped to various parts Of
the world, some Of the poorer grades
being fed to hogs, whose hams wero
cured and sent abroad and thus passed
into other human beings, to become
parts OF still other human bodies, The
question Is proper one, but II is an
unanswerable one from the standpoint
Of our former mlsbellef and our poor
attempt to combine human phlloso-
ply and Divine Revelation,
Hut such a question brings no con.
sternation to tho Bible student who
follows the Scriptures alone The
Scriptures never speak Of the resurrec-
ton Of our bodies, They do tell Of the
resurrection OF the SOUL and that in
the resurrection God glyeth It (the
soul a body as Il pleaseth Him.
How reasonable II win be for the
world to be awakened In practically
tho condition In which they went down
into deathl Aud these will experience,
II willing and obedient, a gradual res
direction or raising up to the image
and likeness OF Father Adam In his
perfection but some In tho resurrec.
llou viii receive spirit bodies like unto
the angels, and some like unto the
body OF Christ In His resurrection,
which Saul Of Tarsus beheld-"shlnlng
above the brightness Of the sun at
MONDAY"
The class that Is promised a resur.
rectlon In spirit bodies is the church
the sanity few who walk In the foot
steps Of Jesus, The begettlng Of the
Holy Spirit which comes TO these
changes their nature from earthly to
spiritual, II they are faithful to their
covenant their resurrection viii be
10 glory, honor and Immortality, as
explained by St Paul in the context,