Answers to Correspondents.
By Uriah Smith
J. H. C. of Kansas writes: Will you explain how, or in what sense, Christ is the first fruits of them that slept? Ans. He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, the first fruits of the harvest. He was the first born and first begotten of the dead, Col. 1: 18; Rev. 1: 5, in reference to the rank his resurrection holds as compared with that of others. He is the pre-eminent or chief one among them. He was the first to rise from the dead, as in Acts 26: 23, and by that means show light to the Gentiles. Though others were raised before Christ, these expressions are all true as applied to him, because these resurrections all depended on that of Christ, and they were not raised to demonstrate the way of life and immortality, as he was. C. Uhles: See an exposition of the undying worm and quenchless fire in the work, “Man’s Nature and Destiny,” pp. 279–286. Published at this Office. D. Ball: Whoever says that S. D. A. ministers call the first day of the week “the Lord’s day” states that which is not only false but self-contradictory. Very inconsistent it would be to preach, as all S. D. A. ministers do, that Sunday is not the Lord’s day, and then call it by that name.