The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-01
THE DEATH OF THE BODY THE
LIFE OF THE SPIRIT.
BY REV. T. B. THAYER, D. D.
From lover the River"
From "Over the River"

IA prophetic of the condition into
which Death introduces the soul, is
found in the following from Corinth-
ians XIV, Sc, 80: THAT which thou SOW
est is not quickened except it die; and
that which thou sowest, thou sowest
not that body that shall be, but bare
grain, it may chance OF wheat, or
some other grain, but God giveth it
a body as it hath pleased him, and to
every seed his own body"
The main idea of this metaphor is
too plainly stated by the apostle to
be mistaken. 1t is the same which
the Saviour uttered in almost the
the same words in John xii. "A:
"Verily, verify, l say unto you, except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone; but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit"
And this saying of his was in refer
ence to his own death and resurrec-
ton, as the type, and the pledge, of
the resurrection of mankind; of the
deliverance of the whole race from
the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the incorruptible
and immortal.
The thought set out by this met
aphor, the beautiful truth which it
presents, is worthy of special consid-
Grafton, both for its theological i'm
portance, and for its comforting
power in the most momentous hour
of the souls earthly history.
Planted in the ground the sheath
or body of the seed begins at once
the process of dissolution, or begins
to die; and the moment the process
of death commences in the outward
body of the seed, sit may chance of
wheat or any other grain" that same
moment the process of the new birth
commences with the interior germ.
Nay, the death of the outer tegument
or covering is absolutely necessary
to this renewing process of the soul
of the seed; the life of the one is the
product of the others death. And
the substance of the decaying body
becomes the means of developing the
hitherto dormant powers of the germ;
the medium by which it receives or
appropriates to itself the subtle
forces of the soil, the elements of its
growth into new and larger life. Ii
the body did not die, the germ could
not be quickened, as the apostle
says. 1t is only when the outer
covering moulders away, that the ex-
ternal influences are able to reach
the latent rudiments of the new life
that is to be.
And one cannot but be struck with
amazement, when he carefully con-
siders the matter, to see what vast
and astonishing powers, capacities
and resources, lie folded up in sing
lie grain of corn or wheat; and which
by the decomposition of the body
are, as it were, loosed from their pris-
on, and set free to act.
In 1860 Sir Kenelm Digby saw a
plant of barley, proceeding from a
single grain, from which there came
two hundred and forty-nine stalks, on
which he counted upwards of eight
cen thousand grains But this is
little compared with the experiments
recorded in 5Sth vol. of the Philoso-
phical Transactions. On the I'd of
June he sowed few grains of wheat,
one of the plants from which had
thrown out so many sprouts, and
from these so many stalks, that on the
18th of August he was enabled to di-
vide it into eighteen parts, which he
set out separately. By September
and October these had 80 multiplied
that he had set out sixty-seyen stalks
for the winter. With the first growth
of the spring this multiplication and
division went on till at the beginning
of April the number of plants
amounted to five hundred.
These plants proved more vigor-
GUS and productive than those under
ordinary culture, so that the number
of ears amounted to twenty one
thousand one hundred and nine; and
they we're remarkably fine, some con-
tanning from sixty to seventy grains
each. The wheat, when separated
from the straw, weighed forty-seven
pounds and seven ounces, and meas
ured within two quarts of bushel,
the estimated number of grains being
five hundred and seventy-six thou
sand eight hundred and forty!
What wonderful forces, what subtle
expansive energy and growth, were
silently sleeping in this small, dry,
unpromising looking little seed. And
how amazing the life that came from
this single death. Who could have