be used. A similar remark will apply to the well known passage in Ezekiel, in which is mentioned the valley of dry bones. After the vision, the prophet was directed to say: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves. Another more striking passage is found in Daniel: And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. In the 19th chapter of Job, we have language, the apparent import of which strongly favors the doctrine in question.

In the Septuagint version, which was commonly used by the Jewish nation, in our Saviour's time, we find a remarkable addition to the last verse of the book of Job: So Job died, being old and full of days; but it is written, that he shall rise again, with those, whom the Lord raises up. This last clause, whether it be part of the original book, or not, proves only, that whenever the passage was written, some ideas were entertained as to a resurrection.

It is not my present purpose to inquire, whether in all, or any of the passages, cited from our English version, the literal and obvious meaning is the true one. I only remark, that it must have been from such passages, as these, whether rightly or wrongly explained, that the doctrine of a resurrection had, obtained so considerable a currency, among the Jews, even before the introduction of Christianity.

In the apocryphal writings, there is a remarkable passage, showing, that on the minds of some, this doctrine had the most powerful practical influence. When the seven brethren were tormented by the impious Antiochus, for not violating their law, one of them is represented as saying: The king of the world shall raise us up, who have died for laws, unto everlasting life. Speaking of the members of his body: These, saith he, I have received from heaven, and for his laws I despise them; and from him I hope to receive them again.

But whatever may be our opinion as to the degree of evidence, afforded by the ancient dispensation in support of the doc

trine, the divine author of Christianity has, in the largest sense: brought life and immortality to light. He has shown not only, that the grave cannot confine the soul, but even, that the body shall be set free from its bondage.

This expectation it appears was observed by the pagan enemies of the Gospel as the cause why Christians so willingly and courageously encountered death. And it was with design. to frustrate this hope, that their persecutors consumed their bodies, and scattered their ashes in the rivers.

The importance, which Christianity attaches to this doctrine, is asserted by St. Paul, in very strong terms: If the dead rise not, then is not Christ risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. This reasoning the apostle repeats in a following verse.

We now proceed to notice those texts in the New Testament, by which the doctrine in discussion is directly proved: This is the will of him, that sent me, that every one, that seeth the Son and believeth on him, should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.-The hour cometh when they who are in their graves, shall hear the voice of God and come forth.-If the spirit of him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he, that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken, that is, make alive, your mortal bodies.-As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. The former part of this sentence expresses the death of the body; the latter part, its revival. There shall be, saith the same apostle: a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. St. John, as appears from the revelation, had a vision of: the dead, both small and great, standing before God.-Even we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body.

That this doctrine implies no impossibility, is apparent, both from the nature of the case, and from particular facts.

I. From the nature of the case. He, who creates, must be able to renew. He, who first collected and united the various parts of the human body, and organized them according to his VOL. II.

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pleasure, can never want power to recompose and revive the same body. The substance of the human frame is collected from the air and water, from vegetables and from other animals. Vegetables, produced in one quarter of the globe, unite with those, which are reared in another, to increase its vigor, and advance its growth. Particles of these bodies, which we now possess once belonged, it may be, to distant islands and continents: they once passed into the canes of India, or were suspended from the fig trees of Turkey. Were the mass thus composed once dissolved, would either more power or more wisdom be required for the reunion of its parts, than was employed in its original formation or its subsequent support? St. Paul's appeal to Agrippa was therefore unanswerable: Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?

II. The possibility of the resurrection has been proved from particular facts. Three persons were raised from the dead by our Saviour; Dorcas, the widow's son of Nain, and Lazarus. Jesus himself rose from the grave. At his death many bodies of saints, that slept, arose, and went into the holy city and appeared to many.

There can be no more difficulty in restoring to life one body, than another; and it is absurd to speak of the impossibility of an event which has already happened.

Our next inquiry is, concerning those bodies, to which the soul shall be united.

I. The language of Scripture leads us to consider them as the same with those which the soul inhabited previously to death: If the spirit of him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he, that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies. Here the revived body is declared to be that mortal body, which was the original. tenement of the soul. To the same purpose is the passage, already cited: They, who are in their graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth. As nothing but the body is left in the grave, nothing else can come forth out of it. That body

which was raised, is the same, therefore, which was deposited in the grave.

Further, we are told by St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, that at the resurrection: this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and that this mortal shall put on immortality. The word body is doubtless to be here supplied. The meaning must therefore be: This corruptible body shall be incorruptible, and this mortal body shall become immortal. Hence you perceive, that the body which existed before death, is represented as existing afterwards, notwithstanding the great change which it must undergo. It is the same body, though in one case mortal, and in the other immortal.

A similar mode of expression is continued through the chapter: It is sown a mortal body: it is raised a spiritual body. As the pronoun it must have the same reference in both these clauses, identity is predicated of the body at both these periods.

But though we are justified by these Scriptures, in saying, that the body raised shall be the same with that deposited, we are not under the necessity of concluding, that it will consist of the same numerical parts. When the saints shall arise we cannot rationally believe, that their bodies will be marked by the diseases, of which they died. We cannot suppose, that bodies will then be seen, enlarged by dropsy, or emaciated by consumption; or that those, who died after having lost some parts of the body, will appear with this defect, when they shall be raised again.

If you ask, how the raised body can be the same, which died, unless it consists of the same numerical parts, I answer, that there is no reason to think, that the apostle was more rigid in the use of language, than other writers; or that he comprehended more than others, in the term identity. Now it is well known, that our bodies, while living, are continually undergoing a change. Particles are constantly going off and new ones are added. Yet we do not consider, that corporeal identity is here

by destroyed. If it were, the body of no living person would continue the same for two hours. One tree does not, either by age or growth, become another. The full grown elm is the tree, which its possessor once transplanted. Now, if such changes, either in vegetable or animal bodies, do not destroy identity, neither will the sameness of the human body be destroyed, because some particles are either lost or added.

The following objection is sometimes made to the doctrine, under discussion. Particles of a human body may, after death, constitute part of a vegetable; and this again may be incorporated with another human body. Two persons, therefore, may, at different periods, die in possession of the same particles. But, that two bodies should, at the same time, viz. at the resurrection, have the same particles, is an absurdity.

To this objection we return a twofold answer. 1. If the same numerical parts were necessary, to constitute the same body; as it has been divinely declared, that the same bodies shall rise, the wisdom and veracity of God would be engaged to prevent the occurrence, here contemplated.

But 2. If, as we have endeavored to show, all the same numerical parts are not essential to the same body, the objection ceases to have any weight.

Though the body after the resurrection will be greatly changed from what it previously was, the Scriptures authorize us to speak of it as the same body. How great a change may be produced without destroying the propriety of this language, it would not be easy to define. Such language as the Scriptures contain, would not, I think, be used, however, if the renewed body contained none of the parts, which the mortal body possessed. Without this, it would hardly be said, that those who are in their graves will come forth; that these bodies shall be quickened; and that this mortal shall put on immortality.

But whatever may be the addition or diminution of parts, that there will be a great change in appearance and qualities, is certain Though sown in weakness, it shall be raised in power; though sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in glory; though