The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-03-03
TIE RESURRECTION
OF The DEAD
INTERESTING LECTURE DELIv-
Erred AT THE RlJou THEATRE
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON BY
Mr.. sAPHoRE-BELIEvEs DEAD
WILL LIVE AGAIN.

The lecture at the Bijou theatre yes
terday afternoon, on the subject, The
Resurrection of the Dead, was Of the
most interesting kind. Those present,
although Mr.. Saphore spoke for an
hour or more, were greatly impressed
and came away feeling that they had
learned more concerning that import
ant subject than they had perhaps In
all their previous years put together.
In brief, Mr.. Saphore said:
I'VE go to the scriptures to learn
from them what is meant by the res
direction of the dead, and in what
ann and why the scriptures speak
of the resurrection as the hope, the
only hope. the blessed hope, not only
Of the Lords people, who are to have
part in the first resurrection, but of
the world in general, who are to have
an opportunity to share In the resur-
rection of Judgment, improperly trans
lated, the resurrection Of damnation.'
(Johnrv:29) See revised version.
AT this point permit me to call to
your attention a booklet entitled Food
for Thinking Christians from the pen
Of Pastor Russell. l am advised that
it will be mailed free to all addressing
him at the Brooklyn, N. Y, tabernacle.
1t treats every passage in the Bible In
which the word hell is found.
Whoever would believe the scrip
tural doctrine of the resurrection must
also believe the scriptural doctrine re-
speeding death-that death is death,
the cessation of life. Then, and not
until then, will he be able to under
stand the apostles words in our text,
IL there be no resurrection of the dead
=. then they which are fallen asleep
in Christ are perished.'
Nor is this statement by the great
Apostle Paul an exception to or diff
fnrpnf from the tnaRhinO nf fhn eorip-
lures elsewhere. Their unanimous tes-
timony is that the dead are dead; that
in that very day their thoughts per-
ish.' ( Psalm 146:4.) of the dead
scriptures further declares, His sons
come to honor and he knoweth it not;
to d%ishonor, and he ~perceiveth it not of
them'-Job 14:21. For there Is neither
wisdom nor knowledge. nor device in
the grave Wither thou goest.'-EccL
10: 10.
THE scriptures answer our inquiries
respecting the dead. While assuring
us of the justice of the divine sentence
OF death, they nevertheless declare that
our, Creator is a God Of mercy and of
pity, and that when there was no eye
to pity and no arm to deliver us, His
arm brought salvation to us. The
scriptures, moreover, point out to us
the Lord Jesus Christ as the arm of
Jehovah, stretched down for our re-
lief from sin and sickness and pain and
trouble, and for our deliverance from
the prison house of death, and for our
restoration to the liberties and prlvi-
leges of sons of God.
This brings US to the scriptural
proposition, that there is first, a chief
or special resurrection, and a general
one later. The first or superior resur-
rection includes the resurrection Of
Lord Jesus Christ and of the entire
- l--..- l. III L-I
more, no less. Blessed and holy are all
they that have part in the first resur-
r~ection; on such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be kings and
priests into God and shall reign on the
earth-the Messianic kingdom class.
Those who will share in this first res
direction will experience an instan-
taneous change from the human ma
ture to the divine nature-the highest
of the spirit natures; not human, not
flesh and blood, for flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God
And, likewise the world of mankind,
even though they know not of the
Lord as yet, are spoken Of as being
asleep in Jesus because Jas the whole
world was under condemnation of
death through Adam, and that with
out knowledge or violation on their
part, at the time of the sentence, for
they were then in the loinS of their
father, Adam, so now, since Jesus laid
down His life a ransom for all, and
because they all shall be awakened
from death, therefore it is proper for
all those who are aware of the divine
provision for the awakening, by faith
to speak of the interim tiguratively as
a sleep.
THE moment of reawakening will
seem to the awakened ones to be the
next moment after their death-for
there is neither wisdom, knowledge nor
device in the grace The bodies in
which the world will be awakened will
be practically the same as those which
died, though not the same atoms of
matter; for in the hands of u Gre
ator one atom of dust is as good as
another in this great work. Thus the
apostle says, Thou sowest not that
body which shall be- The bodies Of
the world, as they shall be when awak-
ened, will be really new bodies, in the
sense that they will be different atoms
of matter; but they will be old bodies,
in the sense that they will be dupli-
Gates of those which died and went to
dust.
1--WE cannot wonder that the worldly
mind, which knows not God and knows
not of His power, cavil at the thought
of resurrection 1t will be a most stu
Ipendous work, more wonderful by far
than mans original creation; it will
thus be to the world of mankind, and
to the angels of heaven also, the grand
est exhibition ever given of divine