nation was going to have to die as a nation, so those who had been outcasts from them were going to be received into God's favor. You remember that Jesus gave an illustration of this woman of Syrophoenicia, and how she spoke to him. She wanted favor and he granted the favor of healing her daughter, you remember.

You remember how this Lazarus was taken into .Abraham's bosom. Whom did he represent? He represents you and me, and all who by nature are Gentiles-not Jews. We were not part of the rich man, we did not have purple or fine linen. We were poor outcasts, without God and without hope, but now we are brought in as the apostle says, and we become the children of Abraham, and we are in the arms of Abraham, in this figurative sense- -Abraham representing the father of the faithful. We have become the children of Abraham.

Wednesday Evening, February 26, 1908.

(Chairman, SCOTT BONHAM, Attorney, Cincinnati, O.)

FOURTH PROPOSITION.

The Scriptures clearly teach that the first resurrection will occur at the second coming of Christ, and only the saints of this gospel age will share in it; but that in the resurrection of the unjust (Acts 24:15) vast multitudes of them will be saved.

C. T. Russell, affirmative.
L. S. White, negative.

C. T. RUSSELL'S FIRST SPEECH.

I take this opportunity to assure Brother White and this audience that my opening remarks two evenings ago were in no sense intended as jibes or slurs against my opponent. He evidently misunderstood my statement. I did not say that his arguments on the subject were idiotic and nonsensical, for the gentleman had not yet presented his arguments. How could I antagonize them? What I did say was that the idea that when a man is dead he is more alive than when he was alive is an idiotic and nonsensical idea. But I confess that I myself once believed this nonsense, as many bright and able men besides Brother White still believe it. I expressed

surprise that a man of his caliber, after studying the subject, should still be willing to undertake its defense. My endeavor is to awaken all such intellects as Brother White's to a realization of the absurdity of such false reasoning which so long has held able and brilliant minds. Brother White's antagonism by no means discourages me. I remember that Saul of Tarsus once persecuted those in this way, and thought he did God service. Many persons at first so antagonistic that they burned my books have afterward become my warmest defenders, my friends and colaborers. I call to mind a Methodist minister, Mr. Rogers, of Homestead, near Pittsburg, who, when proffered the reading of "Millennial Dawn," refused, and was so prejudiced that he declared that if it were left in his house he would burn it. Later on, in the Lord's providence, he did read it, got a blessing, and is now a colaborer in the work. I call to mind Dr. Simpson, of Allegheny, a United Presbyterian minister, who at first was terribly incensed against "Millennial Dawn," but after a careful, prayerful study of it became a firm friend of the truth. On the platform with me this evening is Brother Paul Johnson, once the pastor of one of the most prominent Lutheran churches of Columbus, Ohio. Brother Johnson was once in such opposition to the true interpreta-` tion of God's word that from the pulpit he urged those of his congregation who possessed "Millennial Dawn" to burn it. Let us hope that Brother White may yet sit down to read the "Dawns" carefully and prayerfully, and not merely in a spirit of opposition which always blinds the truth.

The topic under discussion this evening-"The Resurrection of the Dead and What It Implies"-is a very prominent one in the Scriptures and a very important one, without which it is impossible to understand the divine plan of salvation. But this subject of the resurrection has been little studied by Christian people in general, because their minds were diverted away from it by the erroneous supposition that the dead were not dead, but alive in heaven or purgatory or hell. The doctrine of the resurrection, therefore, has been rather in the way of Christian people and theologians who, following the style of Brother White's comments of the other evening, have claimed that it is a resurrection of the body, whereas the Scriptures declare that it is a resurrection of the soul, and never once referred to a resurrection of the body. Elder White, the other evening, endeavored to read in the word "body," claiming that when the apostle says, "It is sown," and "it is raised," the body is meant. But if the "it" means the body, how does it apply when the apostle says, "God giveth it a body as it has pleased him"? Does it mean that God giveth the body a body? Surely not. The "it" is the being, the soul. The matter is clearly stated in respect to our Lord; his soul was not left in Sheol, was not left in Hades, was not left in the grave. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades" (Acts 2:27-31). Theologians, in wrestling with this subject of the resurrection, are so confused by the error of thinking that the man is alive in the interim between death and the resurrection, that they formulate some peculiar absurdities in trying to explain the matter. They would tell us, for instance, that Adam has

been over five thousand years living without a body either in heaven or hell, but if he is in heaven his happiness is not quite complete, because he needs that flesh; and if in hell he is not suffering as much as he would do and ought to do, and, therefore, needs the resurrection to complete either his joy or his pain, and similarly with all the other thousands of millions. The mere statement of the matter should show the absurdity of it. According to science, our bodies experience a change, throwing off all effete matter, and taking on new, so that our organisms, our bodies, are completely changed every seven years. Evidently, therefore, these changing particles of matter are not important; it is not particular atoms of matter that the dead will desire in the resurrection, but a return to being, a return of soul, a return to conscious personality. I have not the time on this occasion to discuss the meaning of the word "soul," but have a free tract on this subject which I will be pleased to send to any who will write a postal-card request to me at Allegheny.

The resurrection is what the apostle terms the salvation that will be brought unto us at the revelation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (I. Pet. 1:13.)

Any salvation which we enjoy in the present time, the apostle explains, is salvation by hope, by faith, and is not an actual salvation. Rom. 8:24, “We are saved by hope." If our hope continues, and if we are energized by it to obedience to the divine Word, the result will be our actual salvation, or resurrection, full and complete-a salvation from sin and its death penalty. But notice that as the Scriptures clearly distinguish between the trial of the church during this gospel day and the trial of the world during the millennial day, so it distinguished between our special salvation and the world's common or general salvation, and similarly it distinguishes between the first resurrection, which the saints will enjoy, and the general resurrection, which will be for the world.

In other words, the great general penalty that came upon Adam and all his posterity that was sentenced to death was, "Thou turnest man to destruction" (Ps. 90:3)-to "sheol," to "hades," and to the grave. The second step in the divine plan was the redemption of Adam and all his race by the great Redeemer Jesus. The third step will be the deliverance of the world from the sentence of death-otherwise called the "curse," the "wrath of God," etc., that is resting upon our race because all are sinners. (Rom. 5:12.) Have in mind, then, these three parts: 1. Adam's sin and its death penalty. 2. Our Lord's righteousness and the giving of his life as the redemption price for Father Adam, and, incidentally, for all his children. 3. The resurrection of the dead. The race was treated as a whole in the original sentence which passed upon all men, and in offset of that "Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man." And in response to this, "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust" (Acts 24: 15).

It will be noticed that the resurrection is in this text divided into two parts,

the just and the unjust. Similarly the prophet Daniel, speaking of the matter, divides it into two parts, saying: Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, (1) some to everlasting life and (2) some to shame and age-lasting contempt. (Dan. 12: 2.) Notice that they were not enjoying everlasting life, but were asleep in death, and the others were not suffering shame and lasting contempt, but were also asleep until awakened. But particularly notice the two classes, both participating in the resurrection.

Come now to our Lord's statement on the subject, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29). Note here, again, that all are in their graves, and not alive; and that all must come forth from their graves, not from heaven, or purgatory, or hell. Note that the coming forth is not the resurrection, either, but that they come forth that they may have a resurrection— they come forth "unto resurrection."

The Greek word signifying resurrection is anastasis, and does not mean merely an awakening from the dead, as in the case of Lazarus. The meaning of the word is "standing up again." The thought is that a fall took place. Adam was created perfect and upright, in the image of his Maker, but through sin and disobedience he experienced a fall, which affected him mentally, morally and physically. Christ's redemption of Adam, his payment of Adam's ransom price by His own death at Calvary, secures much more for Adam than merely the coming out of a state of unconsciousness. Imagine Adam in his dying moments, 930 years old, weak, emaciated, all run down every way. Let us not get the thought that our Redeemer's death was intended merely to justify Adam to return to that enfeebled condition. Oh, no; the payment of his sin penalty justified his return to the condition in which he was when he transgressed. Or, as Jesus expressed it, he came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Human perfection was lost; the right to a return to human perfection was bought by the precious blood of Jesus, and the time for the return will be at our Lord's second coming, when all shall hear the voice of the Son of man and come forth from the tomb in practically the same condition in which they entered it; but unto, or with a view to, their resurrection or raising up again out of the sin and death condition into perfection, etc., from which they had degraded. So, then, in Adam's case it may be plainly seen that he not only will be awakened in the condition in which he died, but he will be granted the opportunity of standing up again, of resurrection, of full recovery from his fall into sin and imperfection. This is the glorious meaning of the word "resurrection"-standing up again.

True, only Adam and Eve ever fell from perfection; but all their race were reckoned as sharing in their fall, because if they had not fallen their children would have been born on the same plane of perfection and to divine likeness; hence in the divine arrangement the redemption of Adam to all

that he lost includes also all of his children, all of whom, under the Lord's gracious arrangement, will have a full opportunity of coming back to the perfection of life, to the image of God.

Now let us note the processes of the divine arrangement.

Adam and his race did not lose their perfection in the divine image suddenly, but gradually during the six thousand years the race as a whole has been going downward, so that while Adam, even under adverse conditions, was 930 years in dying, the average length of life to-day is thirty-five years. And so we find that the Lord has arranged that the resurrection-anastasis, raising up again-shall be a gradual one.

All of God's blessings began with the church, which the apostle tells us is to be "a kind of firstfruits unto God of his creatures" (Jas. 1:18). If this were the only Scripture on the subject, we should be able to gather from its statements that God intended the salvation of an after-fruits, else what is the signification of the church being a kind of firstfruits? Again, the church is called "the church of the first-born," or, more literally, the “firstborns" (plural); others of the human family to be saved later will come in as the after-borns. (Heb. 12:23.) It should be noticed that the Scriptures use this word "born" in respect, to the perfecting accomplished in the resurrection. Hence the church is spoken of as being begotten of the Holy Spirit, and a later experience, which we enjoy, is called the quickening of the Spirit. When we begin to be active in the service of Him who hath called us from darkness into his marvelous light, then the embryotic condition is represented as progressing and preparing us for birth in the resurrection. Thus our Lord, begotten of the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism, quickened by that Spirit to energy in doing the will of him that sent him, and finishing his work, was developed and made ready for his birth of the Spirit in his resurrection. We read, "He was the first-born from the dead," a death in the flesh and quickening in the Spirit. And again, "the first-born among many brethren"-we his brethren are to be similarly born in the first resurrection, as we shall see later. (Col. 1:18; I. Cor. 15:20.) Only this firstborn class is being dealt with at the present time. God's time for begetting the world with the Spirit of the truth, and for the world to be developed, and for the world to be born, in the sense of reaching perfection of life, will be in the next age during the millennium. No one will question that the heathen are not begotten of the word of truth at the present time, when we know that more than 1,200,000,000 of them have never heard of the only name whereby we must be saved.

Pardon me if I emphasize this thought, for I realize how important it is to your clear comprehension of the divine plan as revealed in the Scriptures-that the church, the elect, the saints, will alone constitute the resurrection of the tested holy who shall be associated with Christ to share with him in his throne of glory and in his work of blessing all the families of the earth as members of the spiritual seed of Abraham. Let me quote again: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the