The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1880-01-01

OUuy OuTltu. H II Tue same. Dull I'LL
ferent. There is no contradiction here.
The raised body Of Jesus was the same |!
that lay in the tomb. But while il |
was thus the same, it was changed. 1t |
was released from many of the limit
ing, restraining qualities and defects
OF matter, as found in our material |
bodies, and in His body before death.
II was made glorious. etheriaiized |
body, possessed Of higher qualities
suited to the higher state of being upon |
which il was now entered. For ia |
stance, II was no longer restrained b. |
our feeble, slow powers of loconlotion.
by the law OF gravity. or the ilnpene-
tYability of matter. You remember il |
penetrated, at two different times, the |
solid matter surrounding the room i'm !
which the Disciples had concealed /,
themselves and fastened theA.door for |
fear Of the Jews. Through no visible |
means of ingress He entered with His !
resurrected body into that room with |!
bOlted doors and stood before them, !
proving the reality Of his body by eat !
ing meat, and its identity with the |
body that was wounded on the cross !
by exhibiting the wounds before them |
and letting them handle him.
The Apostle says, "He shall also +,
change our vile bodies and fashion
them like unto His glorious body. Be |
hold show you a mystery. We shall
not all sleep, but We shall all he chang
ed, in moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, ut the last trump-for the |
trumpet shall sound and the dead shall
be raised inrOrruptible, and We shall
be changed" And again he says :: !
For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with shout, with the
voice OF the areh-angel, and with the
trump Of God, and the dead in Christ
Shall rise first. Then we which are
alive and remain shall he caught up
together with them i'm the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air, and 50 shall
We ever be with the Lord. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words"
And, oh Is there not blessed comfort
III them when We lay our loved ones in
the silent grave, or lock death in the
face Our-elves-comfOrt to know that
He shall not only bring forth these vile
bodies, but change them-"fashion
them like unto His glorious body"
Is not this change desirable: The
bodies Of many in this life are shock
ingly mutilated; Others crippled and
disfigured. The bodies of most people
who die of disease become unnaturally
bloafed or fearfully emaciated before
they leave the world. Now il would
not be desirable for the saints To rise
in this state and continue in II through
all the endless years Of heaven. And
we are told that they who are thus
sOwn in corruption. weakness and dis
honor, with blOated and emaciated
bodies, are raised in immortal glory,
power and interruption. | believe
that in whatever condition believers in
Christ have laid down their bodies.
they will receive them in maturity and
perfection at the resurrection, not
dwarfed in infancy or crippled in old
age, but perfect like unto Christ's glO-
rifieJ body.
This body will he a spiritual body
| 1t Will not be- a gros, holy of flesh and
blood, but ethcrealized and made in
corruptible.
This does not imply it will be spirit
apd not matter. 1t will still be IA ma
ftertaf body but the matter of it will
hDe 80 changed as to its properties, so
pbiiniated and refined, 40 adapted to
me Uses of the spirit. that il may prop
erly be termed IA spiritual bodv'Ia
body still, but no more flesh and blood
4
G0d," but can be changed, ms was
Christ's body, keeping still the marks
ct identity, the very wounds and scars
by which the earthly body was mark
ed and knOwn-changed into a body
that can inherit the Kingdom of God.
Ii will hardly be necessary now, in
view of the above explanation of iden-
tity, to stop here and formally apply
our view Of identity the objections and
ridicule of disappearing skeptics. You
already see the irrelavancy and weak
hess of their objection to and ridiculc
of :his glorious truth. We have seen
, that strict and universal identity of
substance Is not necessary to identity
of body. The body of a man j. an in
, tegral part Of himself, sustained and
animated by his life. and quickened
J by his soul and spirit. And the raised
!, body belongs to the same spirit and j.
animated by the same as before, or a.
, this body Is. 1t constitutes part and
an important part of the same person.
} In strict propriety. therefore. as terms
are used, il may be denominated the
same body.
Equally irrelevant is the suppose
: ton that there is not matter enough in
the round globe to clothe all the hui
man spirits that have ever lived upon
it with bodies. Ii all the matter of
! the earth is exhausted before all the
, spirits are clothed, let il be remember,
ed that the Being who undertake s this
+ work spake all the matter in the uni.
. verse into existence by the simple word
! of His power. There can be no def.
cheney in physical creation that His
exhaus'less resources cannot supply.