The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-04-27
THE RESURRECTION OF THE PLY
SIOAL B0DY.*
BY REV. j. P. MAcLEAN.

The beliefs of the masses are due to
their environments. In all departments
of thought-politics, art. religion--men
inhale their opinions from the atmos-
phere which happens to surround them.
The great mass of professed Christians
of this age accept the doctrine of the
rising again Of the body deposited in the
grave. This opinion has not been
reached through independent or un-
trammeled investigation. If asked for
the reasons upon which their opinions
are based an intelligent answer would
be wanting, and the indefinite excuse
that the Bible teaches it would be af-
frmed.
Any doctrine persistently taught from
generation to generation, however crude
or illogical it may be, is very hard to
dislodge. To greater or lesser degree it
becomes hereditary, and its advocates
become morbidly blind to the weak side
of their position. Hence such doctrine
will sometimes require generations of
persistent teachings in order to eradi
cate it.
Historical Review.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the
flesh is not only older than the Christian
church, but is of heather origin. In the
history of opinions it first appears among
the ancient Hindus. where it constitutes
part of vast conception, embracing
the whole universe in an endless series
Of growths, decays. and exact restora-
tions.
The Stoics of later Greece, in greater
detail although modified in form, held
the same general conception.
The disciples of Zoroaster maintained
the resurrection of the body; but not on
fatalistic grounds, as did the Hindus
and Stole.
The Egyptians had profound belief
that the future life was somehow con-
nected with the continuance of the body
and hence resorted to the embalming of
the bodies of the dead in most scien-
tific manner.
Even the most hardy advocates of the
opinion refuse to claim that their doc
Urine is taught in the Pentateuch. 1t
must be admitted however that the Jews,
in their long continued intercourse with
the Persians. became more or less i'm
pressed with the melodramatic outlines
OF the Zoroastrian doctrine Of the re-
surrection; for we discover there are GER
tain explicit declarations of it in the
Apocryphal Old Testament. The Tar
gums and Talmud contain abundant
statements of it in copious forms.
AS the first Christians were Of Jewish
birth and indoctrinated into Jewish
thought, it would not be unnatural that
many of the old forms of teaching would
be preserved; and after the death of the
Last of the Apostles, controversies on
certain points would not only break out;
but, in fact, such was the case. A con-
troversy on this very point ragged soon
after the death of St. John, as may be
learned from fragment on the "Resur-
rection." which by some has been as
cribed to Justin Martyr. 1t must also
be admitted that the doctrine of the re-
surrection of the flesh early became one
of the orthodox doctrines of the church.
From the days of Jerome and Augustine
the literal resurrection of the body in
it's totality although NEE ing with op
position, has been the prevalent view.
1t has been used as field for morbid
imagination. and yielded play to the
language of the poet, as may be seen in
the description, given by Young:
Now charnas ratte scattered limbs. and all
The various bones. obsequious to the call;
Self-moved advance, the neck perhaps 10 meet
The distant head; the distant head the feet.
Dreadful to view! See. through the dusky sky
} Fragments of bodies in confusion fly,
To distant regions journeyiDg there to claim
Deserted members and complete the frame.
The severed head and trunk shall join once
, more,
Though realms now rise between, and oceans
roar.
The uumpet's sound each yagrant mote shall
hear.
And, whether fixed in earth. or free in air.
Shall heed the signal. waited in the wind.
And not one sleeping atom lag behind"
Pictures more repulsive have been
given in discourses, even during this
generation. Gravestones turning over,
and spirits resting on them, waiting for
] the bodies to rise have been pictured
: to the fancy. And so on. ad nauseam.
Smooth sailing has not been accorded
to the advocates. Viewing the over
whelming difficulties in the way, Knapp
held that only "the most fit and the
most noble" from all the parts of our
present body will be chosen. Another
affirms that "some invisible compound
of an annihilated body may hover, by a
divine decree, around the site of death
} till it is wanted, sufficient to preserve
/ the identity of the now and the future
bodies" Others speak of some invisible
and indestructible germ of the body laid
in the grave. which shall rise, and still
others hold that it is the os eOeygis.
The dusty. faded old leaves of the
Scholastics reveal that the resurrection
'READ before the Ministerial Association Of