Methought, my hearing organs rendered tense, [September, ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. THERE is no intelligent or reflecting mind but what has found this to be a subject of frequent and serious meditation. Shall this body rise again, is a question that presents itself with a vivid and intense interest; and for a full and satisfactory answer to which, we naturally seek for all the aids that can be found both in revelation and analogy. The immaterial seems so closely allied to the material, the metaphysical to the physical, that they have been, and still are, regarded by many as indiscerptible; and although all have to admit that the spirit leaves the body, for a time at least, they still look forward to a period, distant perhaps, when the body and spirit shall again be re-united. In treating this subject, the starting point is to determine two things, viz, what is and what is not-the body either does or does not rise again. To reason at all we must reason on fixed principles; and what we admit in one place must not be denied in another, because it may conflict with either our prejudices or wishes. We know, from the experience of thousands of years, that the body which we call our own, and which lives and moves upon the earth, will, when it ceases to be the tenement of the spirit, return to, or rather resolve itself into its elementary principles, and what is now the visible man, will become invisible matter. The science of chemistry teaches us the exact proportions of each elementary substance that enter into the formation of our bodies; and we find by analysis and comparison, that the same, or nearly the same elements which form the body which we occupy, enter into, in different proportions, nearly the whole material world, and that the same material goes to form other organized bodies; and we find it to be a universal and unfailing law of nature, that the same matter under the same circumstances, forever pursues the same course: for instance, analogy teaches us that the flesh of man and the flesh of the ox is made up of nearly the same gases-the only difference consisting in a slight variation in their proportions of combinations. Now, it will be plain, the above law holding good, that when a decomposition takes place, and each becomes either suddenly or by degrees resolved into its elements, that these elements will each act in precisely the same way, and that the oxygen gas which entered into the formation of the flesh of the ox, which is set free by the decomposition, will be precisely under the same law that the oxygen, set free by the decomposition of the flesh of man, and that they will therefore both be equally under the law that controls the movements or combinations of oxygen in all those substances of which it forms a part. Carrying out this same law, then, in connection with another law of nature, viz., that no particle of matter is ever lost, we will find that the very same gases which compose our present bodies may have, and have formed their respective parts in thousands of other objects and substances. We know that every thing in the material world is constantly demanding something of its fellow-material for its being and wants; and that this constant demand could only be supplied by the changes which are daily and hourly going forward, by which new matter is evolved at the same time that it is taken up. To fully illustrate this, it only requires the history of a little flower: Observe it from the time its seed is first planted in the earth. It first requires moisture to make it expand and germinate; it then requires the sun to shine upon it, and the dews and rain to water it, and the air to nourish it; and deprived of either, it ceases to grow-to live. As it grows it is constantly appropriating to itself new matter, drawn from the earth, air and water. It becomes, as it were, a little machine put in motion by the sun, and manufactures from the materials which surround it a delicate and beautiful flower. If these remarks, then, serve to prove this fact, viz., that the same particles which now form our bodies, will hereafter enter into the formation of others, which none can successfully deny, it at the same time will make self-evident the fact, that the moment a body is resolved into its elementary principles, they at once cease to bear any relationship whatever with the form which they had previously entered into, so that the gases which now constitute any specific body will, when it ceases to exist, and they in consequence become set free-cease to bear forever f terwards any more relationship to that PARTICULAR body, than if they had NEVER entered into it at all. Did a contrary course ensue, the beautiful system of nature which now exists would be broken up, and the world be filled with useless bodies and substances, while the supplies for new formations would become exhausted, and the world would speedily become uninhabitable to mana barren waste, a ruin, and a blank in the universe of God. Our own daily observation teaches us that our bodies are sustained in the same way that other organized bodies are; and that the same food and the same air which supports life in us, will, and does support life in the animal creation, and that the laws of life are the same in both that is, both must breathe and receive nourishment, in order that life may be preserved. The experiment of Lavoisier showed, that an adult man received into his system daily 32 ounces oxygen, (46.037 cubic inches,) which, after uniting with the carbon and hydrogen of certain parts of the body, are given out in the form of carbonic acid gas and the vapor of water. "At every moment, with every expiration, certain quantities of its elements separate from the animal organism, after having entered into combination with the body, with the oxygen of the atmosphere." Now, we find precisely the same to be true in relation to animals. The horse, for instance, consumes 13 pounds 33 ounces of oxygen daily, which unites in precisely the same way with the carbon and hydrogen of certain parts of his body, and is given out in the same form as from our bodies. What, then, must be the result when both respectively resume their elements? The same common law of nature controls the materials of each, and the oxygen in the one case and the oxygen in the other, are both equally ready to fill their parts in any other form. It necessarily follows, then, that as far as our material organization goes, we are under precisely the same laws as other organized bodies, and that a material restoration of our organized bodies would be inconsistent with the laws of nature, (or the laws of God, for the laws of nature and the laws of God are the same,) as a material restoration of any other organized body which may have at any time existed. It is also another wise and beautiful law of nature, that every particle of matter in the universe is appropriated; that there is nothing idle-no atom but what is fulfilling its part. This law would therefore prove conclusively that no restoration of bodies could take place without a destruction and complete annihilation of very much that has been brought into existence, for it is impossible for the same thing to form a component part of two separate bodies or substances at the same time. Hence, the restitution of any specific body whose original elements now form a component part of another body, must necessarily cause, if it took place, a destruction of that body. Moreover, is it not a fact, that bodies go out of existence, and become as entirely extinct as though they never had existed at all, and therefore a resurrection of this identical body could not possibly be implied or understood; for in order for a resurrection or restoration to take place, the thing so restored or raised must necessarily be in existence. Now, if a body has gone entirely out of existence, it is impossible for it to be restored. Writers on this subject generally go no further than this passage-" Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return;" arguing, that as man was originally made from dust, that he returns to dust, and he can and will be raised from the same dust again. Now the difficulty here is this: writers do not go far enough; they take it literally that man does return to dust, and that the dust remains (where, they cannot tell,) somewhere, until he shall be finally raised. Whereas, the truth is, but a very small proportion of what now constitutes our bodies ever returns to dust. The flesh and all the liquids of the system speedily resolve themselves into their elementary principles; the bones gradually crumble in their decomposition into dust, which itself passes off in gaseous forms; so that not only our dust ceases to remain in existence, but as has already been stated, where and what now composes this body, is resolved into its original elements. It continues from day to day to enter into and forms other bodies, and that proportion of oxygen in common with the other gases may, when it ceases to remain in its present form and place in composing our bodies, and is set free by decomposition, enter the same as other oxygen into the formation of air, water, vegetables, minerals, or any other substance of which it at any time can form a part. In reply, then, to the question, Does the body rise again? I answer, no! It is impossible-wholly and utterly impossible, and incompatible with all that we see and know of the works of God. It is impossible, on the ground that it is contrary to the wisdom that God ever displays. It is incompatible, because if it took place, it must necessarily produce a state of things wholly inconsistent with the character of the infinite, and at variance with all the laws by which he governs the world. According to computation on the subject, there has already existed upon the earth a sufficient number of inhabitants to constitute a bulk of matter approximating in amount to the whole contents of this globe, which amount will increase as time rolls on, until it may exceed it by ten thousand fold. Now, should a restitution or resurrection of these bodies take place at the same time, the original matter which compose them has not only composed thousands of other bodies, but is already at this moment appropriated. How, and on what principle would it be possible? Let them who would answer by the power of God reflect but a moment, and they must see that this very power would forbid such a state of things, for it never can act in contradiction to itself. The grand difficulty with us all is, that we do not define things properly to our own minds. We are content with indistinct pictures, vague imaginings, dreamy and indistinct sensations, instead of fixing and defining things permanently, and giving them a tangible, fixed and definite form or position. I think none will deny that the best possible way to glorify our Maker, is to use aright the talents with which he has endowed us. The parable of the Saviour clearly proves this; and it cannot be surely using them aright to be content to remain in error respecting any vital or important truth. Things either are or are not—they must be or they must not be, and this applies to spiritual things as well as temporal things. There either must be a resurrection of this identical body, or there must not be; one thing or the other must take place. I think it has been proved that it will not take place; but let those who still contend that it does, fix in their own minds, and define to themselves clearly if they can, how it is raised, and at the same time remember, that if our identical body is raised, all must be raised, from Adam downwards. Let them picture to themselves Adam raised up in his body, and the whole billions of millions that have lived. Let them take the figurative expression, " And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ;" and in taking such a view, they must inevitably find difficulties and impossibilities in the way, to account for and explain which they make no attempt; and even a cursory view of which will show that no such state of things could possibly occur in a well organised system of nature or creation. In the first place, supposing this identical body was raised up at the moment of its resurrection, where would it be? Of course, if it came from the grave it must be upon the earth. Now, if a resurrection of all who have lived should take place, even within a short time, without even any material increase of the vast number who have lived upon the earth, where would they find room, even for the shortest space of time, to dwell on? Their numbers would cover the whole surface of the earth in one solid mass, to a depth or height of miles in thickness. If the body be raised, it must have room, and no two could occupy the same identical place. Even the wildest imagination could never conceive such a state of things to come to pass; and yet when the assertion of the resurrection of the body is reduced to a tangible form, such, or a similar state of things must occur. If this identical body was raised, how painful, how awful, would be the sight! It is not difficult to conceive of it, for our own practical knowledge and experience is quite sufficient to enable us to form a tolerably correct picture. There would be the lame, the blind, those who had lost limbs, who were crippled, the maniac, the savage! This must be, if the identical body is raised up; for any different body would not be a resurrection of the body; in fact, would be no resurrection at all, but would be a new creation; so that if the resurrection of the body takes place at all, it must be this identical body, or else it is no resurrection, but a new creation of some other body. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." Now is there actually any dead in the sea? Taking it literally that the sea is meant, do the bodies of those who have been drowned remain in the sea? Of course not. Do not we find them rapidly to decompose and the very oxygen gas that entered into the formation of the body may, and probably does, when set free, enter into the formation of the water of the ocean. These bodies, therefore, have no existence. How, then, can it be possible for the sea to give up what it has not? "And death and hell deliver up the dead which are in them." Hell here is understood to mean the grave. Now as singular as it may at first appear, the dead actually have no graves. Where is the grave of Adam, and all who lived before the flood? where are the graves of Abraham, and all who lived until Christ appear. ed? where are the graves of Alexander and all his hosts? of Xerxes and his armies of the millions who have lived ?-they have no graves. The present generation, it is true, have their graves, and that is about all that can be said, and the coming generation will forget them. So has it been from the beginning, and so will it be to the end. The place where the |