The resurrection of the redeemed...

Preface

THE subjects discussed in this volume have long been themes of study. Upon some of them I was, many years ago, accustomed to consult every lexicon I could obtain, and every translation. I have felt they are not my truths, they are God's ; and there are no thanks to me, if I have believed what I believed I found plainly written. They have not always been plainly translated. The translator ought not to say, " How can these things be ? " and therefore hesitate. It is enough for him that God has said it.

They have been written at times many years apart, and for very different objects ; and are now collected in permanent form, with the hope that God may thereby be glorified.

It is true Jesus is the great theme.

4 Preface.

11 Thou, O Christ, art all I want," is the great theme of the Bible and of all heavens. Without this great truth of truths, I would not give much for the Bible, or any other truth. But with it, every other truth is important. We have no right to neglect any truth — to live in any error. Truth is Divine. Error is Satanic. Truth honors God. Error dishonors him. Truth refines, elevates, ennobles, sanctifies, makes Godlike. Error is the very reverse of all this. It makes the fiend.

No error is harmless. It vitiates and hardens the heart, darkens the mind, veils some truth from the view, and obscures to the vision the full glories of the perfect God. Any error prevents the mind from seeing God, as he would otherwise have been seen. Remove all error from our minds, and we must see a perfectly good, great, and glorious God, whom we cannot but trust, love and obey. The clear perception of all truth would make us perfect Christians — relying implicitly on Christ.

A single thought will often serve to dispel

Preface. 5

darkness and error, and to elicit other thoughts — to set men to thinking, and thus their minds may run on for years. A single thought may serve as a key to unlock stores of truth — shed floods of light, where all before was darkness. The mind must have some initiatory truth, or it must remain in darkness. I trust that, under God, I have been enabled to give more than one initiatory truth — more than one seedthought. If thereby men are set to thinking, and truth is discerned, and mind and heart developed, my labor has not been in vain.

Contents

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Resurrection of the Redeemed. . . 7

Difficulties and Practical Duties

Section II

ril H E question may arise in the mind of the reader, as it has in other minds, how can these things be ? How can bodies which have mouldered back to dust thousands of years ago, and have been scattered by a thousand winds to every quarter of the globe, be raised again ? How can that body which has, perhaps, entered into the formation of a thousand other bodies, and it may be ten thousand others, rise again ? It is an acknowledged fact that the human body, which decomposes and returns to dust and gases, must again enter into the formation of all kinds of bodies. Hence the matter of which our active limbs are formed, will before long enter into the formation of vegetables and animals — yes, the very meanest of animals. A very large proportion of the human body passes the Redeemed. jj

off in the form of gas, and is carried by the wind in every direction. Gas is continually passing off from the living, as well as decomposing bodies, and very readily enters into the formation of vegetable and animal bodies. It is a part of the food on which vegetables live, and through them, on which animals live.

All organized matter on the earth, is continually changing and changing. Indeed, almost all matter on the surface of the earth changes and changes continually. Change is a great law of the universe ; and I believe it will be an eternal law. It is said, a very large proportion of the surface of the earth, has at some period or other, entered into the formation of living organizations — yes, that we can scarcely set our foot on the ground, unless it be on the sand, without treading on that which once was living flesh. Ah, the life of all flesh is short, incomparably shorter than that of the animal of which it composes a part. All over the surface of the earth, there is that which once was

living flesh. Earth is but one vast grave-yard

C an Aceldama. All living bodies are changing. No living organization is permanent. Our bodies are constantly changing. No living body, in its normal state, can for two days be composed of exactly the same matter. Our bodies are not what they were yesterday. They are not what they will be to-morrow. The matter of which living bodies are composed is continually passing away, and its place is supplied with fresh matter. Therefore, everything that lives must eat, for the purpose of supplying this waste. Vegetables, to some extent, undergo similar changes, and must have food to supply their wastes.

As far as the same matter is concerned, we are not the same for two hours. From every part of our bodies, old or effete matter is continually passing off. The surface of the skin is covered with pores, or very small openings, smaller than the point of the finest needle. It is said that a single grain of sand will cover 75,000 of these pores. Through them the old or effete matter, as a very fine vapor, is continually escaping. As that waste is continually supplied by our daily food, we do not miss it. It is estimated that the human body — flesh and bones — undergoes an entire change in seven years. Therefore, our bodies must be entirely different from what they were seven years ago. It is evident, that the change is very rapid, for if a person does not eat for several days, whether it be occasioned by sickness or any other cause, his flesh is very much reduced. In a few days it is almost all gone. It, in some diseases, wastes away in a few hours. Ordinarily it is occasioned by the natural waste of the system. In health, our food supplies that waste, and therefore it is not discernible. Usually in health, the waste is equally as great as in sickness, and frequently much greater ; for in sickness, the pores are more or less closed, and consequently they do not perform their office, and therefore more or less effete matter is retained in the system.

Here are difficulties which have been urged against the resurrection. Opposers have told j6 Resurrection of

us of all these changes which our bodies are continually undergoing ; and they wish to know what is the matter which is to enter into the resurrection body ? — whether it will be the same matter of which our bodies were composed at death, or whether they will be composed of all the matter which has ever entered into their formation ? If all the matter shall enter into our future bodies, they will be of gigantic proportions. The man who has lived nearly one thousand years, may be more than one thousand times larger than an ordinary sized man.

Again, it is inquired, where the matter has a great many times entered into the formation of human bodies, whose shall it be in the resurrection ? They tell us, the decomposed matters of human bodies have been scattered by thousands of winds, and may have been taken up by ten thousand different plants, so that they may have entered into the formation of many thousand kinds of different bodies, and into thousands of human bodies. In proportion to the length of time since they came into existence will, usually, be the number of those transformations, or transmigrations of the matter of which their bodies have, at different times, been composed. That which, at one time, was a component part of the body of a king, may at another time have been a component part of the body of a beggar — that of a lord, at another, of a slave or a peasant. The component parts of Solomon's body may have become the component parts of the bodies of idiots, or of your body, or mine. Also, at their deaths, the same particles of matter may have been parts of two, or of many individuals, who have lived in different generations ; therefore, into whose body shall they enter at the resurrection ? The dust of a dead person may be in different parts of the world. One arm may be in one quarter of the globe, and another in another, while the body may be in still another. Also, the gases arising from the decomposing body, may be carried by the wind into all parts of the earth. How then shall the sleeping dust be gathered together ?

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Such are some of the objections which have been urged against the resurrection. In view of them, the resurrection has appeared to some minds to be an impossibility. In the days of the Apostles, as now, there were those who regarded it as impossible for God to raise the dead.

With God, anything and everything, which does not imply a contradiction, or a wrong, is a possibility. He has collected our bodies from every quarter of the globe. He can do it again. The wind, as his minister, frequently passes round and round the earth. It comes from all quarters, bearing gases which enter into the formation of vegetable and animal bodies, and by eating them, they become parts of our bodies. He who can by one agent collect these bodies from every quarter of the globe, can, if necessary, by numerous agencies, which are at his command, collect the sleeping dust from all parts of the earth.

Section III

A QUESTION arises, what constitutes our corporeal identity f Of this we cannot speak positively, any more than we can of what constitutes the I. How often do we speak of I, I, but how little do we know about the great egotistic, self-important I? Indeed, we are almost perfect strangers to everything. The most learned do little more than learn to know how ignorant they are. Few men know enough to know that they are truly ignorant.

Though we are told our bodies have been entirely changed within the last seven years, so that, in some sense, they are entirely different bodies, yet we know that in a most important sense, they are still the same. Change as I may, and often as I may, I know it is the same body. Its identity has not been lost with its perishing parts. It may be fifty or one hundred years old, or like Methuselah, nearly one thousand years old, but still it has not lost its identity. Notwithstanding the constant changes which have been taking place in your body, you know you are the same person you were seven, or seventy-seven years ago. No time, no change can destroy your identity. We all know ourselves as the same, and others know us as the same, though we or they may be unable to tell all the whys and the wherefores. Though you may be unable to answer all the objections, no one could possibly convince you, that during the last seven years you had lost your identity, either in body or mind. Hence, notwithstanding our ignorance, we learn that it is not necessary for us to have exactly the same matter in our bodies, nor any part of the same, in order to constitute us the same persons. Were it necessary, we would not be exactly the same persons for two days ; and in seven years, we would be entirely different — a somebody else. If the arguments of the Infidel and the Sadducee are valid, then the man who has lived fortynine years, has during that time been so changed, that he has been seven entirely different persons, or he has entirely lost his corporeal identity seven times. The man who has lived seventy years, has lost his corporeal identity ten times, and Methuselah must have lost his, during his lifetime, more than one hundred and thirtyeight times. Now, though we may be unable to give the correct why, yet we know that such arguments as would prove that we have in any sense lost our identity, must be false. We know that we neither have lost, nor can lose, our corporeal identity — nay, that it cannot in' the least be changed. The man who has lived seventy years, notwithstanding all the changes his body has undergone, is, in every important sense, the same person. No possible argument would convince him or you to the contrary. Therefore, we learn that there is a something else than the same matter entering into the formation of the body, that constitutes

its identity. What that is may puzzle the 4* philosopher to tell, but the fact the most ignorant know.

Hence we learn from the phenomena of life, that it is not necessary that the very same matter that is laid in the grave should enter into the resurrection body, in order to make it the same. If it is true that the body undergoes an entire change in seven years, and does not lose its identity, then it is not necessary that any of the ordinary matter that was laid in the grave — any of the visible, tangible matter — should enter into the resurrection body, in order to its identity. Thus, though we may be unable to give the whys, yet we see that all the difficulties which infidelity can urge against the resurrection of the identical body, can be urged against our every-day corporeal identity.

I believe I have met all the principal objections which have been urged against the resurrection. If their arguments prove anything, they prove too much — they destroy our every-day identity. Hence, notwithstanding our ignorance, we can see the utter falsity of their objections. Here we might drop our argument, and conclude, that if Infidelity cavils, she does so, because she wants to cavil — she will not believe, because she does not want to believe. Oh, who can honestly and carefully reflect upon our every-day, and e very-year changes, and yet think it "a thing impossible for God to raise the dead?"

But let us go to the Word of God, and see if it throws any light on this difficult question of identity. If it does not, in vain do we speculate — in vain do we look to any other quarter for light. If God does not give us light, the subject is too deep for mere human speculation — too deep for the philosophy and science of man to penetrate, and tell us the hows, the whys and the wherefores. Philosophy could never have invented the glorious doctrine of man's resurrection, spiritualization and glorification — no, never.

With the aid of Revelation, Philosophy can see beautiful analogies in nature ; and talk very learnedly of the changes which insects undergo

— of the butterfly having passed from its larva or worm-state to its pupa, nympha or chrysalis state, and then passing into its imago or perfect state, a perfect butterfly. In these changes, they can see that which is somewhat analogous to the resurrection. In its last change, as if resurrected, it seems to come to life again — a new life — an incomparably more glorious and beautiful one than that of the low, ugly, despised, crawling worm. It now soars above the earth, and seems to be destined for higher spheres. But with all the analogies of nature — with all their butterflies, and insect changes — the learned philosophic Greeks were so perfectly ignorant of the resurrection, that when Paul preached it to them, they seem to have taken the very word for the name of a new and unknown goddess.

, The fullest account we have of the resurrection is in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians. In that chapter Paul entirely disclaims the idea that the entire matter of which the body is composed will be resurrected. He says : " But some man will say, How are the dead raised up ?

and with what body do they come ? Thou fool ! that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die : and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain : but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body." Every one knows that the grain of wheat which is sown in the field, produces a grain of wheat, not barley nor oats ; and while it produces wheat, it is not the precise matter which was sown. To us it would seem that there is not a particle of sensible matter that was sown, that is reaped. The grain perishes, and yet there is a something in the grain which does not perish with the perishing body of the seed. We do not know the name nor the nature of that something, yet we do know there is a something. We cannot say whether that something is sensible matter or not. To me, it seems that it must be insensible. We cannot tell the how, but we know there is a something, which, while almost the whole of the grain perishes, and becomes the food of the young plant, does not perish. It appears evident that all or almost all of the sensible matter of the old grain perishes, and becomes the food of the new plant. Its perishing is necessary to the existence of the young plant, for it draws its nourishment from the parent grain, before it is capable of obtaining it from any other source. For the want of a better name we will for the present call that imperishable something, a germ.

Now, as Paul uses the figure, we may be allowed to suppose that there is an analogy between the resurrection of the human body and that of the new grain from the old seed. As has been stated, the precise what in the old grain that does not perish we know not, but we do know that there is a something. Hence, we are justified by the reasoning of Paul, in believing that there is a something which does not perish ivith the human body — a something which is in some sense analogous to that something in the grain of wheat or other seed which does not perish.

That unknown something in man, which is imperishable, and is the germ of the resurrection body, as it has been the germ of the present body, is, doubtless, that which constitutes its identity. Man has it in infancy, he has it through life, he will have it in the resurrection, and through eternity. It changes not with the changes of the body, and it will not perish with the body, any more than it perishes with the sown seed, which grows.

Section IV

THERE is an invisible something which God brings into existence, before the visible, sensible plant, tree, animal, or man, is brought into existence. It appears to be the germ and model of that which is to be. In the original creation, in each and every species, it was the first created. Thus we learn in Gen. ii. 5, that God created every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. That first created something, which constitutes the identity of the plant and herb, was, and doubtless is, invisible ; and from this invisible the visible was produced. Hence, we learn, in Heb. xi. 3, as translated by the Vulgate, and the Syriac, two of the oldest and very best translations, " So that the things that are seen, were made from things that are unseen." This translation is sustained by Calvin, Erasmus, Grotius, Tholuck, Olshausen, Elrain, an others. It appears to be certain, that prior to the visible plant, there was an unseen living something, which constituted its identity, or in which its identity lay. This something was the first created of the plant, and from it the plant was produced. From the language of Paul, in Hebrews, and from collateral passages, it seems evident that the visibles have been produced from their own invisibles.

In view of various passages and facts, we are led to believe that when Adam was created, his invisible was first created, and from it, God produced his visible body. In him, as in every other living thing, the seen was made from the unseen. That unseen, which was the first created in every living thing, from the vegetable up to man, constitutes in each its real identity. The invisible most probably constitutes the identity of the visible ; and while the visible changes and changes, the invisible remains the same. It does not, and cannot pass from us, and enter into the composition of plants, trees, animals, nor other men ; but it is ours — our identity. It will enter into, and constitute the identity of the spiritual body.

Having this unseen something, notwithstanding all the changes from infancy to extreme old age, we are still the same. We may be amaciated by disease, but we know that, in the most important sense, our bodies are still the same. Disease may reduce the extremely corpulent man from hundreds of pounds to less than fifty ; but still he has the same body. No one doubts his identity. The shadow of a doubt never enters his own mind. A sudden restoration to his extreme corpulence will not shake his faith in his identity.

This invisible something helps to explain a great many changes, and strange phenomena, with which surgeons are familiar. Were our readers surgeons, it might be profitable to refer to many very striking and indisputable phenomena which are often witnessed — phenomena, which prove that though a member of the body may be amputated, sensation does not entirely cease with the amputation. There are facts — not fancies — not mere imagination, which prove, though we may not know how to explain it, that though the visible is amputated the invisible is not. It remains intact. It is a strange and interesting field, one which throws light on some dark points in Revelation. Indeed, it is exceedingly interesting to see how science and Revelation mutually throw light on each other. This invisible is not mind ; for, though it may be of an almost infinitely lower order, the the plant as really has it as the animal — the brute, as the man. It would seem to be of a semi-spiritual character, — in man, a kind of connecting link between the visible and the spiritual. But as the plant has it, and as God has not told us what it is, it does not become us to speculate. Perhaps, as is the rank of visible in creation, so is the rank of the invisible. The one is the proper counterpart of the other. Truly, we now only "see through a glass darkly " — we know only in part ; bat when that which is perfect is come, then shall we know, even as also we are known — " that which is in part shall be done away." But we must wait for the perfect vision, before we can fully know what that invisible is.

The unseen germ will constitute our bodies always the same ; for it changes not in a century — nay, not in ten thousand centuries, and it will not change in the resurrection. That is, it will not so change, nor be changed, as in the least to affect our identity. Therefore, you and I will be the same persons after the resurrection, that we were before. Our identity will not be lost, nor in the least changed. Our bodies will be identically the same that they were at death — yes, the same they were in infancy. We will find in the resurrection, that we are the same identical selves that sinned against God ; or that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted and loved him as our all in all.

This unseen something is entirely different from the soul and the spirit, for the plant has it, and it is totally destitute of both soul and spirit. Every living thing has it ; yet it is, doubtless, as much more exalted in man, an he is exalted above the plant, or as he is exalted above the lower orders of the animal kingdom. We know that amid all the changes the plant undergoes, it is still the same individual plant. Amid all its mutations, its nature and its character have not changed ; and in the most important sense, its body has not changed. During the period of its existence, we never once doubt its identity. Its natural mutations alter not the character of its fruit. Only a power foreign to, and superior to itself, can do that. It may eternally change and change, but it works no change in the character of its fruit. Its only tendency is to degenerate. An intelligent being can improve — yes, by budding or grafting, can work an entire change in its fruit. Different species of plants may be fed on the same food, but in their characteristics they do not in the least approximate to each other. At the end of years

or centuries, they are just as different as their 5* invisibles were ; and just as different as their visibles were, when first brought into existence. So all the natural changes of our bodies, work no change in their nature-^-no change in our character for the better, and no change in our identity. We ourselves can work no change for the better — God only can. We are wonderful mutabilities, but, unaided, are only mutable, morally, for the worse. Indeed, without divine assistance, degeneracy is the only law of fallen nature.

In the light of what has been said, it can be seen that no external changes change us. We are continually changing, and yet remain unchanged. In sickness and in health, in infancy and in extreme old age, we are still the same. However much we may have been maimed and marred, we are the same persons. The loss of all our members does not in the least affect it. After the lapse of half a century, with all its mutations, no one doubts our identity — no, not even the sceptic. In this all-important sense, time does not, death does not, and the resurrection will not change us. Hence, that body that has sinned will be punished, and not some other one; and that body which has prayed, labored and suffered for Christ will be rewarded, and not some other one.

Again, as in nature everything partakes of the character and nature of its parent, — even the plant partakes of the nature of the parent plant, and it cannot better its nature, — so we partake of the corrupt nature of our original parent, and of each intermediate parent, and like everything else, are unable to ohange our nature, or better our character. All our trying and trying is in vain. Therefore, would we have a change for the better, we must look to the Power above us — look to Jesus, or remain forever corrupt and unchanged. All the changes of time, death, and the resurrection will not change our natures, our characters, nor our identity.

God only can renew us morally and physically. We are perfectly dependent on him for every change for the better. If there is an entire change in our moral natures, he must work it. If we would have the glorified change, we

$6 Resurrection.

must have the moral change. If God does not change us morally, having the nature of the first Adam, instead of being glorified, we must be destroyed. The volume of Revelation promises us no glorious changes in the resurrection, unless God has wrought in us the great moral change.

DIFFICULTIES AND PRACTICAL DUTIES OF LIFE;

OK,

THE OBSCURITIES OF THE SCRIPTURES, THE INE- QUALITIES AND MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE, THE INCONSISTENCIES OF PROFES- SORS OF RELIGION, ETC.

Section I

THE Word of God clearly reveals that our understandings are darkened by sin. We also see it, and we feel it. All experience attests, and our own assures us, that God alone can open the eyes of our understandings, and can make us to behold wondrous things out of his law. Sin has veiled our understandings — has so clouded them, that it is easier for us to understand any other truth than spiritual. Hence, many very intelligent men are ignorant of the very elements of religion. They can talk very learnedly of the laws of nature, and of nations ; but they are totally ignorant of the way by which the sinner may become righteous, be reconciled to, and walk with God. The Holy Spirit alone can remove this veil, clear away the darkness, enlighten the mind, and enable us clearly to behold those things which are spiritually discerned.

There are great, essential, glorious truths, which no man can teach us — which no man can make us understand, if we are not taught by the Holy Spirit. The natural man cannot receive nor know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. ii. 14.) He may study them, but his mind is shrouded in darkness : the veil is on his heart. He who would learn God's truth, must be taught of God ; and to be taught, he must earnestly seek. " If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." (Prov. ii. 4, 5.)