Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-06-06

ture of the rich man and Lazarus:
One place of torment; the other,
called "Abraham's bosom,' or para
disc, a place of feasting and repose;
and between them was a great gulf
fixed. Christ himself descended to
Sheol or Hades, and told the dying
| thief he would be with him that day
in Paradise Uuke % :39-43).
Since the ascension of our Lord, the
| location of Paradise seems changed:
Stephen looked ''up" into heaven and
saw Jesus (Acts 1850 and Paul was
| caught sup" to the third heaven, to
Paradise (II Cor. IL :2-4). It is sug-
gested in Ephesians 4:8 that when
| Christ ascended he delivered from Sheol
or Hades all the righteous dead, from
Abel onward, and carried them with
| him into the presence of God. Hence
we understand that in this age the
righteous depart to be with Christ in
a Paradise which is on high.
| The state of the dead in Christ
is restful one. They "sleep in Cor
through Jesus Il Thess. 4:14). He
| died, bearing our sins on the cross;
because of this fact we do not die,
| but rather fell to sleep. Rest is very
attractive in this weary world; the
power of this attraction is suggested
by the fact that Buddhism, the re-
ligion having the largest number Of
adherents, holds out annihilation as
the chief boon for man.
Are the Dead Conscious?
The state of the dead in Chist is
conscious one. Some have inferred
from the sctiptural language about
sleep that the soul slumbers in the in
termediate state. But the Scripture
Nowhere asserts that the souls of the
dead are asleep. Even in normal sleep
we are quite conscious Charles Spur
geon once arose from his bed, light
ed lamp and wrote the full outline of
a sermon which he preached the next
morning. Yet he was sound asleep
while writing the sermon and could
hardly believe the testimony of his
own eyes when he saw the outline on
his desk in the morning. The Bible
clearly teaches that the dead are con-
scious. If it were otherwise how could
Paul say it would be better for him
to depart to be with Christ than to re-
main on earth to work for him (Phi1.
1:23)?
The state of the righteous dead is a
blessed one. The expressions used in
the Scripture to describe it are full
of significance. For example, Para
disc was a name applied to a kings
park and suggests ordered and stately
beauty, together with noble society.
The dead are said to be ''at home with
the Lord" <(II Cor. 5 g r. W A.. one
has put it, home is s'the scene where
our whole being is in sweet and vivid
harmony with surroundings" We
grieve over our departed frienos as if
they had gone out into a world of
and i'll at ease. How blessed to know
that they are "at home with the Lord p
They do not wait even a single mo-
n1eBt to enter into this bliss, for ''to de
part is to be with Christ (Phil. 1 :23)
5 State of the Dead.
Finally, the state of the dead may
be described as an uncIothed one. Pau
! speaks in II Cor. 5 of the "earthly
t house of this tabernacle" being dis
D solved. He goes on to say, in
: verses two to four: "For in this we
i groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
S upon with our house which is from
heaven: if so be that being clothed
, | we shall not be found naked. Fol
we that are in this tabernacle dt
. groan, being burdened: not for thai
, we would be unclathed, but clothed
) upon, that mortality might be swal
, lowed up of life" In other words
while glad at the prospect of being
absent from the body because he would
=, be at home with the Lord, yet he doe:
not consider this the highest possible
boon. The intermediate state would
find him unclothed, without a body
Paul evidently felt he would not b,
u perfect until he received a glorifiet
l. body. Hence he hoped that the Lore
himself might come before death over
took him so that he might be "clothet
upon," as with a garment, with hi
: house from heaven. What significance
this gives, for both the living and th'
dead who are in Christ, to the word
of Paul: "Now is Christ risen from
S the dead and become the first fruits O
l. | thcm that silent