CHAPTER III.

THE ERRONEOUS DOCTRINE OF GERMS.

1. Connected with the previous topic is the conjectural induction of germs, or of the resurrection body unfolding, or being educed, from a living germ, in some incorruptible part of the dead body. This, therefore, next claims attention.

2. It has, in the preceding chapter, been shewn that there is no necessity for germs, and that they are in fact precluded, we may therefore conclude that they will not be employed; and I remark that no such doctrine is found in holy scripture. Drawn from false premises the induction of germs falls to the ground; but even from true premises there is no legitimate induction, only a conjecture or supposition.

3. Reasoning from the principles of physiology and analogy, we may infer that the process of germination does not belong to the human body. These disclaim the notion. Every species of vegetable existence is propagated by the reception of

the "bare grain," leguminous or other seed, into a congenial nature. Then the process of germination begins. So it is with animal economy and the propagation of the human race. The earth is not a congenial receptacle for the gestation, propagation or restoration of the human species. Committed to the earth, the dead body, and every part and particle, become, according to the inspired Apostle, corrupt. Analogy and fact, therefore, reject the notion of germs.

4. We know that grain may germinate; but the Apostle in his epistle to the Corinthians, does not attribute to the body of man that which is contrary to its nature. He does not institute a parallel between grain and the body. The giving to grain a body, namely the stem and the ear, and the raising up of the body of man, are both ascribed by him to divine power, without reference to germs, in which there is no point of coincidence; and the teaching of the scripture is, as it ought to be, without any nice distinctions; but noble truths are enunciated. The power of Christ is all-sufficient.

5. If the body contains a germ, how is it that the propagation of the human species is not by the media of germs? Why should the germ lie

in a latent state, or in a state of " passive process,"* until the morning of the resurrection, but to suit the convenience of the respected writer? The voice of the trumpet will then not be addressed to germs, but to the body itself, which is immeasurably more rational.

6. Upon the hypothesis of germs there is no resurrection. Because the germ or stamina cannot in any proper sense be called "the body." A limb is not the body, much less can any minute part be so called. Besides germination is not a resurrection from death, but a vegetation from a suspended principle of life.

7. It appears that in the Corinthian Church there were converts to Christianity who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Apostle asks, "How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" The first part of the two-fold question, "How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?" put by the assumed objector, does not relate to the manner or process of effecting the resurrection of the dead, but to the possibility of it; the word "how," as in many passages of scripture, conveying or implying denial, or at least doubt, or impos* Drew, page 168.

sibility, or incompatibility. The latter part of the question relates to the kind of body to be raised, supposing the fact were admitted. Both questions deny or doubt the fact. The Apostle answers these two questions: and shews the possibility and the certainty of the event-and what will be the condition of the body that shall be raised— not one of imperfection, as probably imagined by the objector-but a condition of true and real perfection; but he never enters upon the manner in which the resurrection will be effected, either by germs, or by any other natural means. It is impossible nature can lend its use in the resurrection. The Apostle ascribes all to the power of Christ, and to the redemption that is in Him.

8. The principal reasoning and meaning of the Apostle, in the portion of the sacred subject immediately referred to, are, it is humbly trusted, elucidated as follows:-A reproof with a full answer is given to the querist. Insensate man, because thou dost not exercise the reasoning faculties with which thou art endowed. Look abroad and use thy reason. "That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." In the vegetation of seed death necessarily precedes life. So as regards the body of man. It dies, and is quickened.

By almighty power a body is given to every seedthat which is peculiar thereto-" its own body." The stem and the ear constitute the body of wheat. The possibility and the probability of the dead body being raised up is argued from the body of wheat now seen in its full luxuriance and perfection. It requires as great an exertion of divine power to give to a seed a body that shall be as to raise the body of man that now is, or greater power; for in the first case, there is not sown a body, but only bare (or naked) grain, without a body; but in the latter case, a body is sown, not a seed; therefore, if divine power does actually accomplish the greater thing, the same power can accomplish the lesser thing. Manifest to observation there are great differences existing between bodies. The great Creator regards these differences, which He has established, by giving to every seed its own body. Besides the difference existing between one plant and another, other differences exist, namely, there are divers kinds of bodiesof flesh, of different sorts-also of terrestrial bodies-and of bodies celestial-the latter differing in glory from earthly bodies and from each other. There are two kinds of human bodies of flesh, namely, the fallen, diseased, dying, and at