The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-04-15

bic dlmculty Is where natnmlmInd.
cd man undertakes to reason the sub.
jcct out lie finds u impossible "
comprehension as be- finds other items
Of Divine revelation st Paul explains
this, saying, THE natural man receive
eth not the things Of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned " Tho
Apostle proceeds to tell us that all
men are natural men except such as
have been bcgottcn again by the Holy
Spirit An natural men win, in their
resurrection, receive earthly. or human
bodies. while all spiritual ones, New
Creatures In Christ, viii receive spirit
bodies as st. Paul explains In our con.
text.-verscs 1850
Not all OF my hearers can appreciate
this --only such as have received tho
begetting OF the Holy Spirit Others.
therefore, | will nsk 60 consider what
say aud to hold Il, II they please.
tentatively, until such time as In Gods
providence they may be begutten OF
the Spirit. and thus be enabled to UNI
derstand spiritual matters, such as this.
Another class who have difficulty on
this subject are plrit-begotten, bur
have been cntangled In their reasoning
/ by the declaration OF the creeds re-
! specting the resurrection OF the body.
! Ii is difficult 20 unlearn error. When
visiting foreign lands and learning or
! the hold of superstition upon the heath
en-, said to myself, | believe that va
| Christians experience Just as much DIFF
| ficulty In unlearnlng our errors Ms these
heather do IN getting free from theirs.
Cannot Understand Spiritual Problems
Coming to the point of what IL to be
resurrected, we note the fact that our
Lord appeared in n 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
only for few moments each time.
His other six or seven appearances
during these forty days were also very
brief, and were in various bodies-once
as gardener, another time as trav-
eler, third time as a stranger on the
shore. TO Saul Of Tarsus He appeared
as Spirit Being OF more than angelic
brightness, shining above the bright
ness OF the sun" at MONDAY. We over
looked the fact that His various APP
pearances before His ascension, II all
put together, would probably not have
exceeded four hours out OF the entire
forty days in which He tarried with
His disciples after His resurrection.
When we overlooked these things, we
were not critical, and we 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 guiding
of the Holy Spirit until the Lords as
cension and appearance In the presence
of the Father on behalf of Ills Church,
to make satisfaction for their sins and
to make them acceptable joint-sacri-
ficers with Him. Meantime, had Jesus
not tarried those forty days-had He
assembled Immediately after His resur-
rectionthe disciples, stunned and be-
wildered. would have had no assurance
of His resurrection. They would have
found 1t impossible TO tell the people
that He had risen from the dead when
they had no proof TO this effect.
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 satisfac-
tory. They might have said, Here IL Il
but how can we positive
ly associate 1t with the life and the
death OF Jesus? With Saul of Tursus
matters were different. He needed
to arouse him thoroughly
and to teach him for all time, and 9th
ars through him, that the risen Lord Is
not a man, but that Spirit" Besides,
some of the disciples who already be-
ieyed were able to give Saul OF Tarsus
assurances Of what they already knew
the resurrection Of Jesus
md His ascension.
The Lord adopted the only reasonable
way Of helping His disciples to under
stand that He was no longer dead
hat He had risen from the dead, and
hat He was no longer human, but had
,een gloriiied and had become a Spirit
Being. The two things were necessary,
md they were done at the same time.
Even on the occasions when our
ord appeared In body like unto the
ne which was crucifed, He took care
hat the manifestation should be under
UGH conditions as would positively
rove that He had become Spirit
BEING. He came into the room where
hey were while the door was shut
nd after few words with them van
shed from their sight as no human be-
lg could have done and as He never
ad done during His earthly career.
That the Apostles caught the thought
! well evidenced by st. PauPs argu-
tent on the subject set forth In our
ext and It's context In the Bible
here Is no foolish suggestion about
esus having q neshly body In Heaven.