The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-17

old Jewish belief in last day resurrection
As he had before declared to the multitudel
for whom he had mysteriously provided foot
in the wilderness, II am the Bread of life,
and to his own disciples in the presence Of
the man, born blind, 81 am the Light of the
world, and again to the ruling Pharisees who
had turned the man out of the synagogue fol-
expressing his faith in him who had given
him bis sight,as prophet of COP, 81 am the
Door," 81 am the true Shepherd, $50 now
to Martha, who only believed that her dead
brother would rise again at the '1ast day.
he declared: 81 am the Resurrection and
the Life; he that believeth in me, though he
die, yet he will live; and every one that
liveth and believeth in me, shall not die
forever" = literally, "to the age" JESUS
abolished death, and brought life and i'm
mortality to light in the Gospel e Timothy
l. 10Y. He came that we may have life and
may have abundance (chapter XIV.
JESUS reveals the fact that the human soul
is the immortal child of Cop. That death
only marks the change from the earthly to
the heavenly. The abundant life which JE-
sUs came to impart is the life of faith and
hope in the immortal existence, and in the
eternal goodness and providence of GoD a
life of filial obedience to the heavenly law of
love. 1t is a life of the soul. 1t is spiritual
life in contrast with sensual life. 1t is the
soul living above and ruling the life of the
body. The true resurrection is the rising up
of tba cof11n onto If ho 70 int he
spiritual. This power is impaired to the
soul through faith in and fellowship with the
life of JESUS. AS his truth is the bread of
heaven, of which men may eat and not die,
his life the light of the world that lighteth
every man in it, and as by him, the Door, We
enter into the heavenly kingdom, and as he
is the Bishop of our souls, into whose graz
cious care and keeping all are given by the
Father, so by faith in bis teaching and fell
lowship with the spirit, believers have the
resurrection-life. Those who have died, like
Lazarus, continue to live; and those who live,
as Martha did, shall not die, but live right
on through and beyond death. The resur-
rection becomes present and progressive
attainment and life, rather than an epoch or
event to look forward to. "The dead are
raised" duke Xxx. 27): the living may be,
ought to be. When, like Paul, "the life which
we now live in the flesh, we live by faith in
the Son of, GoD," we have already entered
upon the resurrection life. We are immor-
tai now and here. The true life of the soul
faith in the Lord JESUS. Death does not de-
stroy nor hinder this life, but perpetuates it
under improved circumstances. 1t intro
duces the soul, all souls, into higher spiritual
conditions. The body is transformed, even
as the body of the seed is transformed into
the flower, and the spirit is renewed. The
Transformation and renewal will bring new
powers, new sources of life and joys, as much
above the former life and joys as the life of
the butterfly is above and more glorious than
the life of the worm from which it sprang
The resurrection life may be attained before
or after death. All souls, we believe, will
finally attain unto it, and become holy and
happy. JESUS is "the Resurrection and the
Life" and he is ''Lord both of the dead and
living"
He is "the Resurrection and the Life.n
The believer in him, though he were dead,
shall yet live; and whosoever believes in him
shall never die. The dissolution of "our
earthly house of this tabernacle" does not
prevent the communication of this life-giv-
ing faith, and he who, in the body or out of
the body, has it is immortal. The true
life of faith once begun, whether in the
earthly Or post-earthly sphere, shall never
end; and if begun in the earthly life, it shall,
by the conviction of Immortality, destroy ali
fQQ am nf Nv
We conceive that the Saviour's affirmation
effectually disposes of the theory that faith,
if not begun during the life of the body, shall
never be begun. And his whole teaching, we
think, is opposed to the theory that the res
direction is material. The body of Lazarus,
and those of the two others recovered from
death by the Saviour, were yet to be dis
solved; while that of JESUS was 'glorified"-
Observation-Disclosures his ascension to the
heavens A truth to be inferred from the
Saviour's declaration is also this: That the
resurrection is not the mere revival or con-
tinuance of being; but its continuance under
such conditions that the soul shall make
progress, and be brought finally to that state
of perfect sanctitication "purposed in him
self" by the Father, for all His children. 1t
is mans and Cons opportunity to work out
the salvation of the whole human race; SO
that at last there shall be no more sin or sor-
row forever.-S. s. Helper, September, 1875.
He said he was himself both the inward
life and the power of the outward from death
unto higher life. He added also that there
was no death, and never would be death to
those who had faith in him; and think that
IN saying this ne meant to make her see that
COP is with us now, and that we are not to
look forward to some distant rising up of the
dead. Rather, we should believe that all who
have the faith which the Master gives US.
rise more above all thought of DEATH Death
comes to all of US who live in him only a
sleep. We pass out of this life into higher
life aft brief sleep.
The Master has become both the life and
the rising up. The life we now live we live
by our faith in him, and by the power of this
life, we rise up every day out of body into
soul, out of death into higher life. We
are renewed inwardly every day while the
body perishes. = James Freeman Clarke,
Thomas Didymus."
Resurrection is the entrance into embodied
existence, after death, of the spirit to which
COP has given the power of building for it
self the spiritual body. The resurrection. in
the Christian and ideal sense of the word, is
the entrance of the Christly spirit with that