The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-06-13
The Resurrection.


The following beautiful and striking
thoughts are from the pen Of tie late DIR. Ma
son: ..rr..0 b. rE...e
WhaIever have been the disputes about 9TH
cr doctrines of Christianity, no man can de-
nv TINT ittcaches the resurrection of'thc body.
The very gates of he'll, in the shape of that
uuhallowed philosophy which ffitters away
its most precious truths into eastern meta
phors aud Jewish allegories, have not ven
tlIred TO tamper with the faith of'the resurrec-
zion. This stands confessed Christian Res
direction.
This clay which we commit 10 the grave,
under the universal sentence. "Dust thou arr
and unto dust thou shalt return" will he
Quickened again, and resume, even after the
Sinmber Ofages, the organization, the Inca
ments, the expression of the self same being
with whom we were conversant upon earth:
otherwiseit werea new creation, and not u
resurrection; and will be re-animat ed by that
self sainsssprit Which forsook il at death:
otherwise it were u different being altogether,
aud not the one with whom under the form
we held sweet comlIltnon in this life, and
walked 10 the house ofGod in company. -..
The body will be raised under circumstan-
ces and with properties suited to the new
state of being and action on which the saints
shall enter. God shall bring them with the
Lord Jesus Christ. They shall he found in
Christ's train They shall he adorned with
Christ's likeness. "Beloved il does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that
when He shall appear, we shall he like him,
tor we shall see him as he is" The change
requisite for this exaltation shall pass upon
the body without destroying lis sumeness;
MS flesh and blood, it cannot inherit the king
dom of God. at is sown in corruption, j; is
t,u. .nH in n is N Hlslnnnr
it is raised in glory: It is sown in weakness il
israised in power il is sOwn natural body,
tits raised spiritual body" fit for the occu-
pationsand eaioyments ofthe Heavenly world
But how are these transformations to be at
fscted?h How! BY that same power which
cqetli things that he not, as though they
were. God shall bring his risen ones with
Jesus Christ. This is our short, answer
cannot open my eyes to the objections ofnn
belief We are upon too high ground to stoop
70 the caviler who marsllals his Ignorance
and imbecility against the knowledge and
might of God. Let bin puzzle himself with
his theories of personal identity; let him talk
about one part of the body inferred in Asia; IA
mother in Afrcu, and a third in Europe; let
him ask as many questions as he can devise |
about limbs devoured by animals, and becon e
by nutrition, part oftlieir bodies: which bodies
again have passed, by the same prCc ,ss, into |
the flesh ofother animals, and these, in their
turn, consumed by man, and Incorporated |
with the substance OF new human body; let |
himask such questions, and ten thousand like
them Has he done? .'Dost thou not there |
fore err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the
power of God%It will be time enough to plead
thy difficulties when God shall commit to
thee the raising ofthe dead. For as it is suffc-
lent that he who rears up the living blade from
the rotton grain will be at no loss to rear up an
from acorrupted body, through !
what forms aud varieties soever it may have |
passed.
The main question, however, is not what
Omnipotehce can, but what it will perform. !
That God should raise the dead, fit SO please |
him, will not appear incredible to any sober |
man. But what proof have we that our faith |
on this head is not fancy, and that our hope
shall not perishS The best ofall possible |
proof We have, III the first place, the d.
vine promise. God has engaged to raise his
people up by Jesus, and to present them to-
gether with him. Jesus himself has said, 81
am the resurrection and the life; he that liveth
and believeth on me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live; and he That liveth and heliev-
eth in me, shall never die" thousand
scientific demonstrations are not equivalent
as the ground of our confidence, to one word
of Him who cannot lie. And so shall we find |
it in our last extremity. .,ef ...a a.,.
TERRIBLE HAIL STORM AND DESTRUCTION
OF PRoPERTY We learn from the PENN
Danville Democrat, that violent and destruc-
tive hail and thunder storm visited that sec