The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-04-23

This is going on with you. There is incessant,
| unremittIng re-arrangement and reconstru6-
ton of your earthly tabernacle, and yet through
| it all you are the same 1t is not the real body
| which is wasting and changing day by day. but
the clothing in which it enfolds itself. 1t is not
the spiritual which decays md dies. but the
| material flesh The spiritual is ever Iaboring
| to repair wounds and heal what is injured.
| That which fights and works and builds is the
/ typal within, the ideal man. the spiritual b. dy
| but it is hampered now by the grossness and
| gravitation of the material with which it has to
| achieve its task. When these exceed its power
| to welcome. it ceases We say that nature was
| unable to overmaster disease. and that death
| has superVened ut what really Is the case is
| that the spiritual has shaken of its cumbrous
| wraps and wells, and stands naked in its i'm
materialism, waiting patiently till God calls it
| to clothe itself again in substance.
| Unless we accept the Apostles teaching that
| it is not the precise body, particle for particle.
an atom for atom. that rises again. but the
germ of spiritual life which has power 10 at
| Gract new body to ITSELF the doctrine of the
| resurrection would be al most impossible of ac-
ceptance Science laughs to scorn the doctrine
of a resurrection as it IS popularity explained.
| 1t tells us how he hCman body, as to the par
tcles that compose it, is in state of perpetual
hux; that portions OF II are streaming of every
moment from every port; that at the end of
seven years not one atom shall be found in the
body which was there at the beginning. and
that at the end of seventy years a man will
have mad no less than ten different bodies AS
one puts it-no sooner is the body dead than tha
various particles begin to liberate themselves
from each other and in the course of time mix
themselves up as part OF other existences. they
flow in the stream, float in the air, go to form
fruit and flesh, and in the course OF ages these
same particles may have formed the frame of a
thousand different men. But according to he
Apostle, these objections cannot hold against
his teachings. These are no5 concerned with
the garb buG the life. Though every particle
of the buried body perish, Yet so long the
life, the germ remains Then If the natural
seed has the power TO ciothe itself, the spiritual
must also. and this thought places the resurrec-
ton beyond denial or doubt Seeds have been
buried IN darkness. shut out from light and air
ppO OfI1rI M " q I0fn tho aIaI
air and sunbeam, burst forth into life. May it
not be that in the human body there is an in
visible, indestructIble spiritual germ that will
spring to life when. by the interposition of
Heaven, all the graves of the world shall be
thrown wide open. In our Holy Faith. Jesus
exalted not the outward, formal action. but the
vitaliZing, cleansing spirit or grace, and in
this was the difference between Himself and
the Pharisees. This idea was that God should
be content with The deed, not the motive. The
Lord said, there is connection between the
motive and action; the latter is the garb in
which Ihe former arrays itseIf'' We love God
because He first loved us. otherwise, if action
and motive differ. the doer Is a hypocrite, out
Wardly, only, religious. Our lives may be such
to crush out the spiritual and impIant the
selfish, luStful or other baneful seed There are
instances where lust survives the bodily
mechanism. through which 1t worked and In
which 1t was encased. Utterly impotent in
body. the fire of passion consumes unabated-
death IS to 1t q prison; II raised and clothed
with body which by mutual attraction grows
by what it feeds upon, lmagin alton would run
riot. if not in actual trans sfon in mpotent
and fancied vice. w haIsoeVer a man soWeJh,
that shall he also reap - The kind is not
changed by death. The SEED Of our future,
this life. Tine desire to serve God is ours
pressing; yet an infrmity ciogs-bodily disease,
aWronG inclination, prejudice, an inheritance
Tor which We are not accountable; in Peter,
rashness; in Thomas, unbelief; ins auI, pr .ide;
in Demas, WorldlIness, These hinder now If
anyone can obtain desire. was il ever heard he
would not strive? Saints have always longed
for ability to serve God. 10 be glorlfed is to
abhor vice, to love virtue, to carry them into
living ho
fault is not in the composition of our bodies
now. but in the IL PRODUCTION OF spiritual dis
ease or weakness 1t Is possible and very prob
able that under d process through death the
curative agency. Goa seeks TO introduce in our
bodies as well, though they be made in the
resurrection OF the dust of the earth as now.
Years ago. the cbelisks were Brought to Lon
don and New YORK. Enduring untouched in
the dry climate OF Egypt in the moisture OF
our climate and the smOke of London they are |
scaling, wasting away. so it may be while sin |
decays our motUal frames. in Gods future as |
we know II is IN our present. correct living and
holiness may preserve and keep our outer fab |
ric, though composed OF the same substances. |
This is st. FauIs doctrine in the text Not a |
miracle will God Work. buG His love and life the
germ, shall keep us immortal. How surround |
ed then in solemn care and reSpOns ibility daily
living isl As we die mortal and evil. or i'm |
tai and spiritual. SO shall we arise. # dis |
eaSed and worldly. these will give us then an |
unpleasant aspect to all holy ones. Ii, instead |
spiritual all these will foster due growth. The I
outward shall then correspond to the inner life |
Bodies buried IN dishonor shall be raised in |
glory; now in weakness, then in power; now |
natural. then spiritual bodies. The Apostle |
would show tue change between now ana then /
by d comparison OF the dull atom seed and the |
beautiful plant and flower sprInging from it, |
Jesus ana dis service are now very unattractive
and dull, and yet here amid SO many hindrances |
they have dlgnited The lowly ones, raised the |
brought joy and bloom, radiant sun
shine into faces, homes. obscure lives, as shown
in noblest deed, saintliest patience, undying
trust and con1iding love, Let these same in
fuences. life giving, remain in the grave and
after in the other world. be growing. .peImeating,
entwInIng In tendriL like gentleness the whole
inner man and beautiful beyond compare shall
such lives be- The light from above shall fall !
upon them. In that lite, nothing from without
or within shall hinder al shall encoura ge-an
endless state, work without weariness praise
without dislike. Jesus in our midst. Ih0se Who
understand this biessednesS cannot mourn,
though they may fear and call it death, il it
ushers into the new world of Gods love.
For there shall be no night there.''