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culty of conceiving the identical resurrection of each individual body , particle for particle , atom for atom . And first , supposing we were called upon to believe such a doctrine , the difficulty would only exist on the supposition that the resurrection would be as natural an event as the germination of a seed which
has been sown . Whereas , for anything we know to the contrary , the laws of nature may be wholly suspended , or superseded , or even abrogated , when it shall be announced that " time shall be no longer , " and " the heavens and the earth shall flee away . " But , after all , what is this identity of which so much difficulty is made ? For a man to be
morally the same to day as he was yesterday , it is only necessary that he should possess a consciousness of his identity . His body is not composed of the same atoms to-day as it consisted of yesterday . On what principle , therefore , must the risen body be necessarily identified , atom for atom , with the emaciated , or possibly mangled and mutilated , frame which centuries before had occupied the grave ?
But , lastly , Holy Scripture , which is supposed to have created the difficulty , clearly solves it . St . Paul tells us , ¦ " thou r sowest not that body which shall be . " " It is sown a natural body , and shall be raised a spiritual body . " In fact , there is not in the whole Bible a more clearly philosophical exposition than that which St . Paul offers in the well-known fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians : —•
" That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die . " Modern chemistry has explained , that the seed must literally die and become disorganized before that mysterious fermenting process can take place which initiates the process of germination . And as the seed we sow remains in the earth while the cotyledons or coverings of the seed rise and expand into leaves having new life , so the dust we bury in the
grave rises not again in its identical atoms ; it is buried or " sown a natural body ( a physical confluence of atoms ) , it is raised a spiritual body , " " bearing the image of the heavenly , " yet clothed with conscious identity . This change will take place on those who are living at the period of the resurrection , as well as on the generations long departed— " We shall not all sleep , but we shall Ann be changed . "
Thus it is made quite clear that , as during life , our identity is preserved even while physical changes in our structure are rapidly going on ; so , after death , the wide dispersion of the atoms of our bodily frame , though it must prevent that remoulding of our substance in its original form and proportions , which some expect , will not render impossible or difficult such a resurrection of the dead as we are taught to expect by the language of the sacred oracles .
The machinery of life , therefore , may be regarded as the tunic of our chrysalis state , in which we live and move and have our temporary being . In a few short years we shall lay it in the grave , and rise in some new and mysterious form , with new powers and functions and capabilities , of which this universe , with all its wondrous analogies , offers no explanation , and into the mysteries of which the whole world of science gives us no clue .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
culty of conceiving the identical resurrection of each individual body , particle for particle , atom for atom . And first , supposing we were called upon to believe such a doctrine , the difficulty would only exist on the supposition that the resurrection would be as natural an event as the germination of a seed which
has been sown . Whereas , for anything we know to the contrary , the laws of nature may be wholly suspended , or superseded , or even abrogated , when it shall be announced that " time shall be no longer , " and " the heavens and the earth shall flee away . " But , after all , what is this identity of which so much difficulty is made ? For a man to be
morally the same to day as he was yesterday , it is only necessary that he should possess a consciousness of his identity . His body is not composed of the same atoms to-day as it consisted of yesterday . On what principle , therefore , must the risen body be necessarily identified , atom for atom , with the emaciated , or possibly mangled and mutilated , frame which centuries before had occupied the grave ?
But , lastly , Holy Scripture , which is supposed to have created the difficulty , clearly solves it . St . Paul tells us , ¦ " thou r sowest not that body which shall be . " " It is sown a natural body , and shall be raised a spiritual body . " In fact , there is not in the whole Bible a more clearly philosophical exposition than that which St . Paul offers in the well-known fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians : —•
" That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die . " Modern chemistry has explained , that the seed must literally die and become disorganized before that mysterious fermenting process can take place which initiates the process of germination . And as the seed we sow remains in the earth while the cotyledons or coverings of the seed rise and expand into leaves having new life , so the dust we bury in the
grave rises not again in its identical atoms ; it is buried or " sown a natural body ( a physical confluence of atoms ) , it is raised a spiritual body , " " bearing the image of the heavenly , " yet clothed with conscious identity . This change will take place on those who are living at the period of the resurrection , as well as on the generations long departed— " We shall not all sleep , but we shall Ann be changed . "
Thus it is made quite clear that , as during life , our identity is preserved even while physical changes in our structure are rapidly going on ; so , after death , the wide dispersion of the atoms of our bodily frame , though it must prevent that remoulding of our substance in its original form and proportions , which some expect , will not render impossible or difficult such a resurrection of the dead as we are taught to expect by the language of the sacred oracles .
The machinery of life , therefore , may be regarded as the tunic of our chrysalis state , in which we live and move and have our temporary being . In a few short years we shall lay it in the grave , and rise in some new and mysterious form , with new powers and functions and capabilities , of which this universe , with all its wondrous analogies , offers no explanation , and into the mysteries of which the whole world of science gives us no clue .