The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-04-17

raised. My body will not be raised.
Yet none the less shall l be raised in
body. I shall rise in the spiritual
body"
A solitary but glorious illustration
of the difference between the "natur-
al" and the spiritual body" is given
in the resurrection of Christ. The
study of this may somewhat further
free the subject from misconception.
The resurrection of Christ is present
ed in the New Testament as both the
pledge and the pattern of our own.
eff we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them which also
Sleep" etc. Il Thess. iv. 40 From
this inference is drawn that, as Jesus
rose in the same body that was "cru-
cited, dead and buried" even so
shall our resurrection be, as the
creeds say, in "the self same bodies
and no other" But the question in
terposes:
Would not our resurrection be
essentially like that of Christ if it did
not go to the length of material
identity between the body buried
and the body raised' If Christ rose
in the spiritual body, if we rise in the
spiritual body the parallel is COM
plete. The parallel does not lie in
the stuff of which the resurrection is
organized, but in the power that or
ganizes it, and the relation in which
that body exists to the organizing
power, the spirit. The Apostle says,
He shall change our vile properly,
our humble) body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious
body" phil. iii. 21.) The promise
is fulfilled, and the parallel sus-
tanned, though this change involve
the substitution of new body, hav-
ing, in itself, nothing in common
with the body of flesh and blood.
Now, as to Christ's resurrection, he
had coupled with his sublime claim
to be the divine Saviour of the world,
the declaration that he would rise
from the dead on the third day.
There was moral necessity that this
should be so fulfilled that no unbe.
lever could say to those who pro-
claimed the resurrection of the cruel
fed one, "We have the crucifed
body in our hands still, and you have
been deceived by a ghost" This
would have been said, if it could
have been said, but it never could be
said; the crucified body had disap-
peared.
The facts of the temperance of
the Lord to his disciples are on rec
ord, to show that his body after res
direction manifested new and sur
prising powers. 1t was able to appear
and vanish in closed apartments; it
was able to change its expression.
so as to prevent recognition by &C
quaintances; it was able to rise into
the clouds of heaven till it disap-
peared. The record obliges us to
concludes:
"a 1t could not have been no
body, since it was handled and ate
food, to demonstrate that it was
body.
(2) 1t was, in some respects the
same body that had been crucifed,
since it carried the wounds of the
cross, and permitted them to be ex-
amined by the touch, while at the
same time the crucified body had
disappeared from its keepers.
g. 1t was, in some respects,
changed body, for it manifested pow
ers which it had never before mani
tested. at is palpable, not only as
a whole, but also in its different
parts: raised above space, so that it
can in much shorter time than we
transport itself from one locality to
another; gifted with the capability,
in subsection to mightier will, of
becoming sometimes visible, some
times invisible. 1t bears the unmis-
taxable traces of its former condition
but is, at the same time, raised above
the combining limitations of this. 1t
is, in word, spiritual body, no
longer subject to the flesh, but filled.
guided, borne by the spirit, and yet
none the less body. 1t can eat, but
it no longer needs to eat; it can re-
veal itself in one place, but is not
bound to this one place; it can show
itself within the sphere of this world,
but is not limited to this sphere"
Such was the change that passed
upon our Lords body in the resur-
rection. By this we are to measure
the import of the apostolic doctrine of
the spiritual" body, and the import
of the teaching that his resurrection
is representative of ours. The great
change we anticipate nowise affects