Show FOR TIE DEAD There r some passages of Holy Writ found both J the Old and New Testament upon which our Modern learned pious expositors do not like to touch Tem to eel delicate about It iou may peruse their copious commentaries heir sermon and their theo 1lr Fcrlons anl oglctl ruagazine you may run all he year round from church to church from meeting l meeting and jet never I able l derive any kowhedgi cnneemlng ctrtaln vat sagtsin I Scrtlturo seemingly npl i nough and yet in the present tate of theological development hrouded in dark mysterj And when finally you become tired of your fruitless reirch at nu dom you form a told resolution you conclude to do what itmaibly 1 you ought to have done first vou ake your bible and go to theBes SoaJ thin celebrated scholar the great orator the conscientious shepherd of the flock and you ask hIm for niereVs sake to tell you what thin or that particular passage really men Qui san Did you ever trj thIs If not do anii ii 31 li and if your test Is a very difllcult one you will be surprised 1 t learn that the mal really does not knou j that In fact he Is a uninformed uhosii the sulJect as you are Sot tint he ouIJ b likely to taj 5 himself He would lOt IK honest enough I fear to commit himself to that extent Xor wculd he ac conlingto fie saying of Solomon tr3 to appear wise observing silence si-lence On the contrary he would probably hive a great deal to say He would talk to joti about faith iu Christ the blessedness of heaven atonement 1 and such other fUb ects on which jou had not ques tone him at I lie would inter prse his fine speeches with quo tat locI from Augustine perhaps or from Luther or Calvin or Knox or njbodj and at last wind up by the remark that there were some things written which God did never intend us to know anything about For theologians nowa dJ actually tel us that what Is necessary for ahatlou is clear enough About the rest we must not bother our clvcs As If God did not mean that we should l > e Instructed by all He has written but that He wrote err ain unintelligible passages merely oshou us our ignorance and His jperiorwi = dom The argument of SL Paul 1 Cor xv 29 is one of the passages in which our theologians are at a o to find any sense and for which t fnl nP nnl thy can find no practical applira ton The apostle In proving tie doctrine of the resurrection says Else what shall they do which fire baptized for the dead if the Iend > not at nIl Whv jir they then baptized for the dcadB For tbu dead hat 1 tuodini cultj The little word fo is a erltablo thorn In the flesh h of the whole brotherhood of divines There has been a hard struggle l explain away this passage 01 Holy Writ The apostle evidently refer 10 some practice some doctrine ell known among the Corinthian Christians fnrel ehow could he on this baptim for the dead build an argument for the doctrine of resurrection resur-rection The argument to b an argument all must of course be founded on something knownsome thing already granted and about which there was no doubt Other wise the appeal would 0 void of all logical 1 force But what this pmc tico in the primitive church was that is I the mystery I has boon suggested that the I on translated for ought l b over and that the meaning would b this Some oc the Corinthian curb members had been baptized ott r the del that I on the graves or in the cemeteries and that the Apostle refers t this fact a a proof ot Ute resurrection JUt think of th iis Corinthians supposed to have carried water tanks t their graveyards for baptismal purposes and that such a quaint practice would hen proof of tne resurrectIon oC the dead The Idea Istoo silly l I call for any serious consideration Then It hn been suggested that I the words for the dead really mean in the hope of the resurrcc I lou of the dead The whole las sage of this suggestion would be to I red thus hlse what shall they dn uhkh are baptized in the hope oC the resurrection of the dead if I the dead rise not at am Why a they then baptized In the hope of i the resurrection of the dead Of i course the words for the dead do I not mean any such thing and can1 not by any means within the wide I I range of grammar or logic or I rhetoric combined be made to mean rE To make the word for I stand for In the hope of and the words the dead to be synonymous I synony-mous with the resurrection of the mo wih rrrcton desd I clearly an exegesis that I apple to all ether passages of I Scripture would annihilate the wont of God That theologians have found themselves under theme the-me sjity resorting t this kind of tactics proven effectualthe misery mb of their position a blind leaders tIthe tI-the bil d pton It hn akd tw nci5geted that the common reading Cl tilt fecIted text was corrupted and that the apo < tle orlqlrally I hai written some IhlrigeUej Mrlrtioeh in his critical criti-cal edition proposes to reisi from the work of the dead instead of for the dead although his reasons for M dolhg teem W be very weak f Indeed The Itafntd cfltjfc could evidently find no sense In the words for the pea fypf ton ntTn anl lthc > fijr on account of some variety in the pUuCiatlon or some J h various readings I he proptaes to read from the work of Uie deajcp croon nciron although this emendation emen-dation would by no means render the panflge more intelligible In the least degree For the apostle has on his mind to nroTu the resurrection hi t pry reurrlton of the ihiSiui Kothlna lf yOw the le livini niay L opt irons the works of the dead that I to say they may be baptized with I view to no more practice the bad works of the dead ana yet this fact does by no means prove that the dead will be urrejtej Then Is no contortion between the pre niitsnhd I tuo conblUMtm j slid any reading any interpretation that leaves the main question the resurrection resur-rection out ot sfght must necessarily neces-sarily b rejected The WON stand there plain ton natron for the enough hyper bT ot b r dead They mean on behalf of Instead of or for the advantage l dll of the itvodi Thiymean nothing else The snide exiire ston is UCcU in Rim viil I 20 where the Spirit Is said lT make lnterce I oii for us liypcr ATionU Johnxv IS Greater Great-er Jove bath htj Mad iLttU thlj that a man lay l down his life for nyrtr Ills friends 1 John 116 Her hy > perceive ve the love of God because he IMd down His life for typcr us anti w e wight to Jay down our hives for hyper our brottaers Gulill IS Christ hath redeemed ufrom the curse of the law being made a curse for hyjxr us In these and many other passages for means clearly Instead of or Ion behalf oli and that Is I its only possible sense In than passage under Consideration Consider-ation The lpl 1 fed thededd Is I a baptism Instead of or in behalf of the dead To make lbllc e of it is to violate the simplest rules of Interpretation Mow wonderful now to contemplate contem-plate the fact that Jostph the Prophet Pro-phet without hesitation when the right time come gave to this passage 1Ioi sage as to f others his was coiled upon to expound the pretlse and only correct interpretation He had notto < resort to any learned machinery machin-ery of impossible intricacy to find his meaning of the word The Spirit of God which ones dictated he words to Paul taught Joseph the Prophet to Interpret them and the Interpretation was at once consistent con-sistent and clear tearing the evi dencuof truth onus ver surface Ie there were no other proofs of his divine mission this one would be Irrefutable But the work of Joseph the Pro ihet did not confine itself to inter irctation Ills war above ail a practical work And in giving us he correct understanding of the Word of God In disclosing to us the uonderfUl doctrine of sutslltdtiona work for thin dead us practised among Uie primitive Christian be again opened to the believers the ougcloscd doors of the sanctuaries of the Most High and taught them how to perform this work And gain through His Instrumentality God has reunited the woild beyond will tltlt according to this declare tion of the Apostle Blessed be the GoJ and Father of our lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed > us with all cplritual Llon ins In Icarenty places In Christ According as He hath chosen us In HIm before the foundation of the world having made known unto us he mystery of HIsw III according Isgood pUasurewhlchHehath I nr I xetl In hlniMrlf Tint in the sits KrnsaUoTff fe fulness oftlmexHi night gather together in one all things In ChrI < U both whll are in ieaen and which are on earth Epheslans 12 10 Millennial Star |