1.A 29. LETTER XXIX
LETTER XXIX
Resurrection of the body an article of belief peculiar to Christianity Obscurely revealed to the Jews A wonderful truth- he germ preserved-Fully set forth in the Sacred Scriptures -Incorporated in the Christian system What sort of body shall be raised Not the same that was deposited in the earth -A spiritual body Tins the triumph of Christianity-Quota- >n from Charles Wesley’s poetry-From Tupper-A thrilling ruth Reason why the body must bo sanctified II, pared to participate with the soul in the joys of heaveu We should therefore keep our bodies pure Soul and body act cou- jomtly, and therefore .share in tho reward-Quotation from Young’s Night Thoughts.
|Mv DEAR M : One of the most glorious truth-: of Divine revelation is that which asserts the resurrection of the just and unjust. And this is a truth peculiar to Christianity. Heathenism taught it not. Its belief in the immortality of the soul was more conjectural than otherwise, and as to the resurrection of the body, and its consequent immortality, it never dreamed of such a thing. Jt remained, then-fore, for Christianity to announce this truth in plain and intelligible lan-uau e, and thus to render that certain which had W,i aforetime left not only in doubt, but altogether unheard of throughout all the Gentile world. And it appears that in our Saviour’s time the Jews themselves had become so blinded, that however clearly some of their prophets mi^ht ln\e pn.rl.- im. d this truth, they had lost sight of it, and hence, while they marvelled when He taught them the spiritual resurrection of the soul from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, He said unto them, " Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." This was a truth which it seems they had never thought of believing; for though it had been taught by some of their prophets, it had been so obscurely expressed, that it had not been incorporated as an article of their religious belief hence their astonishment at its announcement by our Saviour, in the above quoted words. This, to be sure, is a wonderful truth! To think that these bodies which have been mouldering in the dust for centuries, shall finally be raised by the power of God, and made " like unto Christ’s glorious body," is a truth far surpassing the human understanding, and could be believed only on an express declaration of God himself, and this declaration has been made. All that is necessary to form the identity of the human body, shall, it seems, be preserved during all the mutations through which matter shall pass from death to the resurrection, and this shall be the germ of which the future body shall be formed by that Almighty hand wlii-.-h shall raise it from the dead. That this is a doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures no one can seriously doubt., however mysterious it may appear to human philosophy, or incredible to the eye of human reason. The apostle Paul in the 15th chapter of the first Kpistle to the Corinthians, sets it forth in the most express terms, in the following words: "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there be no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised : and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miser able." Ver. 12-19.
How any man can read these words of the apostle, and then doubt of the resurrection of the dead, I am at a loss to conceive, as they as sert most positively the certainty of the fact, so much so as to say, that if this do not come to pass, the whole Christian system is a fabrication. Even the resurrection of Christ, of which there is no fact of Divine revelation more surely asserted, falls to the ground, and of course, all the apostolic preaching, as it was all grounded upon it, is proved false. The fact, therefore, of the resurrection of the body is incorporated into the Christian system, and it is as much an article of faith as is the being and attributes of God, or any other truth whatever. In the subsequent part of this same chapter, namely, from verse 35 to 49, the apostle answers the querist, of what sort of bodies the saints shall come forth from the grave; and he shows that it is not that same body that was deposited in the earth that shall be raised, any more than it is the same seed that was sown that springs up and bears fruit. "It was sown a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body." So changed is this raised body, that it would appear the apostle could find no word in the language to represent the idea that he had of it, and therefore he uses a compound term, " spiritual body," in order to represent it, indicating that it is of such a nature as neither to be wholly spiritual nor wholly material, but partaking some what of the nature of both spirit and matter, or, as he terms it in another verse, a " celestial body," in distinction from a " terrestrial body." What ever may be its nature, however it may be changed, refined, or spiritualized, we are certain that it will be immortalized, be entirely freed from corruption, and put beyond the reach of decay; and thus will be finished the grand work of redemption, not only in the emancipation of the soul from the slavery of sin, but the deliverance of the body from the bondage of corruption. This is the complete triumph of Christ over the power and work of Satan in the introduction of sin into our world, by which came " death and all our woe." Death itself shall be destroyed, and one universal life shall exist and flourish; so that in the " new heavens and new earth," which God shall have formed out of the present heavens and earth destroyed, nothing shall ever again " hurt or destroy;" but one eternal "day without night," life without death, pleasure without pain, union without separation, shall forever exist, live, and flourish in perennial growth and exquisite happiness. This whole subject is beautifully unfolded in words of poetic fire, creating a melody as sweet as ever saluted a mortal ear, and yet as grand as ever expanded before a human understanding, in those well-known, though but seldom sung, lines of Charles Wesley. read them, my dear M., and meditate on every word you read, in the following stanzas, which must have sprung from a heart thoroughly penetrated with a firm belief in the future retribution of the righteous dead, and their resurrection from their dusty tombs. Surely the poet’s pen must have been dipped in the oil of sanctifying grace to enable it to run so smoothly and nimbly over the subject of the final restoration of all things, and to have painted the sublime scene in such varied and beautiful colours :
Stand th omnipotent decree;
Jehovah’s will be done; Nature’s end we wait to see, And hear her final groan. Let this earth dissolve, and blend In death the wicked and the just; Let those pond rous orbs descend, And grind us into dust :
Rests secure the righteous man; At his Redeemer’s beck, Sure t emerge and rise again, And mount above the wreck : Lo! the heavenly spirit towers, Like flames o er nature’s funeral pyre Triumphs in immortal powers, And claps his wings of fire.
Nothing hath the just to lose, By worlds on worlds destroy d;
Far beneath his feet he view*, With smiles, the flaming void; Sees this universe renew d, The grand millennial reign begun , Shouts, with all the sons of God, Around th eternal throne!
Resting in this glorious hope, To be at last restored, Yield we now our bodies up, To earthquake, plague, or sword : List niug for the call divine, The latest trumpet of the seven, Soon our soul and dust shall join, And both fly up to heaven." The same thought is expressed, though in less beautiful language and poetical grandeur, yet equally true to inspiration, by Tupper, in his chapter on " Immortality," a chapter which you, my dear M., I know have read attentively, for I find it full of your marks, especially these lines which speak of the love of God displayed in this sublime work of the resurrection of the dead, and hence I conclude, that this is a subject on which you are wont to contemplate. The following are the words to which I allude :
" Why should it seem a thing impossible to thce, O man of many doubts, That God shall wake the dead, and give this mortal immortality? Is it that such riches are insearchable, the bounty too profuse! And yet, what gift, to cease or change, is worthy of the King Almighty?
For, remember, the moment thou art not, thou mlghteit M well not have been." But poetry apart, is not this a subject on which angel minds must ponder with supreme delight? To behold the dead, small and great, "new rising from the tomb," coming forth at the command of God, renovated, refined from all those grosser compages with which they were before disfigured, clogged, and rendered mortal, now made "like unto Christ’s glorious body," all " immortal and divine!" Surely, if at the first creation, " all the sons of God shouted for joy," those same "first-born sons of light" must raise a more thrilling shout of praise to God at beholding this new creation rising into existence by the command of the most high God! And with what holy delight will the redeemed souls hail the appearance of those raised bodies, their old companions in tribulation, in labour, in watching, and fasting?
O, my dear M., with what rapturous delight may the saints look forward, and joyfully anticipate the day, when their bodies shall be raised, reanimated, immortalized, and thus become the fit receptacles for their purified souls, and they shall unitedly enter the paradise of God, to go no more out forever and forever! This is a con summation not only " to be devoutly wished," but to be looked for with the most longing expectation, and laboured after with the utmost diligence and steady perseverance.
Now we see a reason why the apostle prayed that we might be " sanctified throughout soul, BODY, and spirit," and that we might be " pre served blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus," in the clouds of heaven, to awake our slumbering dust, and to fashion us " like unto Christ’s glorious body." We see also a reason why he said, " Your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, if any man defile the temple of God," that is, defile the sanctified body by sin, "him will God destroy." These bodies of ours which have been thus sanctified set apart for the ser vice of God, and in which the Spirit of God dwelt, and by whose holy influence they have been actuated in all their movements, have been watched over by our Divine Shepherd, even after they were deposited in the tomb; all that is necessary to form their identity has been preserved amid all the mutations through which they may have passed from death to the resurrection, and then, at " the voice of the Son of God," they " shall come forth," as the poet teaches us to sing, " From earth they shall quickly remove, And mount to their native abode, The house of their Father above, The palace of angel* and God."
Yes, at that glad hour, " Our mourning is all at an end, When, raised by the life-giving Word, We see the new city descend, Adorn d as a bride for her Lord : The city so holy and clean, No sorrow can breathe in the air : No gloom of affliction or sin : No shadow of evil is there ." The bodies, therefore, that have participated with the souls in labour and suffering, in joy and sorrow, in temptation and deliverance, in all the meanderings of human life, shall share with them, after the morning of the resurrection, in all the joys, the rewards, and all the glories of heaven. They shall be completely fitted, not only by having been sanctified to the service of God while on earth, but also, and more espe cially, by the refining process of the grave, by which all the mere fleshy particles are destroyed, and all the carnal propensities have been forever annihilated, to be^ as the angels of God, " who neither marry nor are given in marriage," pure, etherial beings, or, as the apostle expresses it, " spiritual bodies," by which we are to under stand that they are as nearly assimilated into the likeness of angels as they can be, with out participating with them entirely in their purely spiritual nature they being so entirely clianged, that their bodies themselves are no longer earthly, or fleshly, but spiritual and heavenly. what a motive does this present to impel us forward in the grand work to which we are called! To think that these bodies of ours, while actuated by our souls, may, by being consecrated to the service of God, be made sub servient to the advancement of the cause of Christ what an inducement is this, to employ our tongues, our hands, and feet, with all our material faculties, in the holy service of Al mighty God! How careful should we there fore be not to defile our bodies by any sinful indulgence, but to "keep our garments unspotted from the world!" The chief instrument, indeed, of sin, is the body. It is through the medium of the body that temptations are presented to the soul, to draw off its allegiance from its rightful sovereign, and whenever the soul yields to the temptation, the body itself is precipitated with the soul into the vortex of sin. Hence the necessity of watching these natural " avenues of evil," that no temptation be permitted to gain an ascendency over us, or to start us aside from the straightforward course of obedience to the com ands of God. For this the poet prays in the following wordb :
" Take my soul and body’s powers;
Take my mem ry, rniud, and will; All my GOODS, and all my hours;
AH I know, and all I feel; All I think, or speak, or do; Take my heart, but make it new." Do you not perceive, my dear M., how the poet recognises the truth I am endeavouring to inculcate, when he prays that his body may be taken into the service of God, and not only " all he thinks," but " all he speaks," for we speak with our tongues as well as think with our minds may be taken under his direction. Indeed, while we continue in this world, the soul and body are so closely united, that they must work jointly; the body is the instrument of conveying ideas or thoughts to the mind, and then the mind puts forth its volitions, and moves the body to action; and all this is done, reciprocally acting upon each other, like true bosom friends, who move each other forward by mutual acts of kindness, until they are separated by death, when the soul flies away to paradise, and the body, no longer moved by an active spirit, sinks away to the grave, there to sleep until the resurrection. Then it may be said and sung, " Angels catch the approving sound, Bow, and bless the just award;
Hail the heir with glory crown d, Now rejoicing with his Lord, Fuller joys ordain d to know, Waiting for the gon ral doom, When the archangel’s trump shall blow RISE, TE DEAD, TO JUDGMENT COME "
This, my dear M., is the consummation of our wishes! What more, indeed, can we ask? Both our souls and bodies, having been sanctified by the blood of Christ, "washed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit," the one passed from the other immediately into the presence of God, and the other passed through the grave, and ultimately is raised by the power of God, are finally reunited, and now spend an eternity in " praising God and the Lamb!" This is " above all we could ask or think." Let us therefore, this once, unite in ascribing " honour, and glory, and power, and dominion, to God and the Lamb, forever and ever." The following lines of Young are so full to the point, <is well as expressive of the most joy ous and triumphant faith in the resurrection of the body, and its consequent immortality in end less felicity and as I know that you, my dear M., delight to luxuriate in the prolific field of sacred poetry I cannot conclude this letter more appropriately, than by quoting th-m. They are as follows :
" The theme, the joy, how then shall man sustain! O the bunt gates! crush d sting Ueinolt.sh d throne!
Last gasp of vanquish d death! Shout earth and heaven! This sum of good to man! whose nature, then, Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb!
Then, then, I rose; then first humanity Triumphant pass d the crystal ports of light, (Stupendous guest!) and seiz d eternal youth, Seiz d in our name. E er since, tis blasphemous To call man mortal. Man’s mortality Was then transferr d to death; and heaven’s duration Unalienably seal d to this frail frame, This child of dust Man, all-immortal! hail!
Hail, Heaven! all-lavish of strange gifts to man!
Thine all the glory; man’s the boundless bliss.
Bound, every heart! and every bosom, burn!
O what a scale of miracles is here! Its lowest round, high planted on the skies; Its towering summit, lost beyond the thought Of man or angel! O that I could climb The wonderful ascent, with equal praise!
Praise! How for ever (if astonishment Will give thee leave;) my praise! for ever flow;
Praise ardent, cordial, constant; to high Heaven More fragrant, than Arabia sacrificed, And all her spicy mountains in a flame." The wonderful theme which inspired the poet’s heart, and gave such eloquence to his pen, was that of redemption, including the death and resurrection of the Son of God; but from this sublime fact he deduced the certainty of the resurrection of the pious dead, and hence he sung,
" O when will death (now stingless,) like a friend, Admit me of their choir? O when will death This mouldering, old partition-wall throw down? Give beings, one in nature, one abode? O death divine! that givest us to the skies!"