The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-08-27

generation" The spirit beings had
nothing to do with generating Noah
or any of his family.-Genesis 6:9-22.
While these spirits, materialized as
human beings, lived in human bodies,
yet they could not be overwhelmed
like humanity in the flood, but had
the power to dematerialize or disap-
pear just as the angels had at the
time Of the resurrection of the Lord
and at the time they appeared unto
Abraham. Jehovah could have de-
'stroyed them in some way; but it ev-
identity was not His purpose to do 50,
as other Scriptures show that His
purpose was to teach them a wonder
full lesson, showing them what bl
ings obedience to His law will bring.
Therefore, instead Of destroying them
He isolated them from Himself and
from the holy angels, and imprisoned
them in the sense tina. He no longer
permitted them to mate :a!i2e; and
being restrained in darkness, they are
said to be imprisoned.
The same apostle Peter who speaks
Of Jesus preaching to these spirits
wrote: God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to
hell Greek, tartaruS, condition eX-
isting outside the atmosphere of the
EARTH, and delivered them into chains
| of darkness, to be reserved unto judg-
ment." e Peter 2:4) We know that
| the hell here referred to is not place
of torture, for if there were fire and
birthstone, there would be light, and
| Il ,plx hnt he,
are in darkness. The word here
translated hell is nowhere else found
! in the Bible. When st. Peter says
they were cast down he means that
they were reduced to an ignominious
state. Their chains were not of iron
heated red hot, but the chains are
ENTHUSIASTICALLY showing that the
word chains is used symbolically to
| represent restraint. St. Jude corrob-
crates this when he says (verse 81:
"The angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation,
he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of
| the great day." The first estate which
they had was the state in which they
were created-a spirit condition. They
left that proper condition of being or
estate in violation of the divine will,
and lived licentiously on the human
plane. Being themselves in darkness
explains why the spirit mediums OPP
crate in the dark. We would not be
at all surprised, however, if in the
very near future they may appear in
the light, in view of the fact that now
is the time of their judgment.
In what sense, then, did Jesus go
and preach to these? Did He, after
His death, enter tartarus and there
deliver oral addresses? We answer,
No; there are more effective ways of
preaching than by oral speech. 1t is
common expression that one speaks
louder by his actions than by his
words. st. Peter clearly shows Il
Peter 3:20) that the spirits to whom
Jesus preached were these disobedient
ones-"which some time were DISC
bedient, when once the long suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was preparing These
spirit beings saw the degraded condi-
ton in which the human race was
as a result of Adams sin. They had
the opportunity, by themselves re-
naming pure and holy, of rendering
aid to the human family. Just how
much, the Scriptures do not say. But
instead of doing this they violated
their obligations to God and did evil
to mankind, debauching the entire
race, aside from Noah and his house
hold.
Jesus, in the beginning the Logos,
was a spirit being on the spirit plane
and He by Gods will was made flesh
and dwelt amongst men. John Ill
8, 14) When He reached His legal
majority we find Him coming to the
Jordan, as it was prophetically writ
ten of Him, saying, "Lo, come to do
thy will, o my God; for thy law is
written in my heart" He rendered
!