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-Paul complains (1 Cor. i. 23) that it was "unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness."

Not only in these passages, but constantly throughout every portion of the New Testament, is this fundamental doctrine of the necessity of a restoration of the body of man, its previous functions, so insisted on, as a condition of a future life, in contradiction to the notions of a soul capable of existing separate from it, that it really seems the distinctive mark of Christianity.

It remains that I should notice a few passages which are supposed to indicate the existence of an immaterial soul distinct from, and having consciousness after, the death of the body.

And first, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus has been supposed to indicate a state of happiness or misery immediately after death, and consequently the existence of an immaterial soul,

But, to say nothing of the absurdity of taking as actual facts the incidents of a tale invented, like the rest of our Saviour's parables, to illustrate a particular point of doctrine, it happens, unfortunately for the immateriality of the theory, that the whole story is full of material allusions; for the rich man is tormented with flame; he begs that Lazarus may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool his tongue, &c.; all plainly shewing that the state of existence supposed was a material, and not an immaterial one.

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The declaration of our Lord to the thief crucified with him, " To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," is also rested on as an argument of an intermediate state of conscious existence between death and the general resurrection; but, as has been before remarked, the present time is frequently used in Scripture to denote the certainty of any event. Thus when God says to Adam, Gen. ii. 17, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," it evidently means no more than that the instant he transgressed the command he should subject himself as surely to death as if it were an instantaneous consequence, though we all know that he lived more than nine hundred years after that event. So in the present case, our Saviour meant no doubt to merely assure the penitent thief of the certainty of his salvation: for, that Christ's human nature passed into any state of conscious existence previous to his resurrection, not a tittle of evidence exists; on the contrary, the whole of his prophecies concerning his death, the narratives of the events which fulfilled them, and, above all, the scheme of Christianity itself, shew the absolute necessity of his suffering that death, to which the transgression of Adam had subjected all his descendants, as fully and completely, in every respect, as the rest of the human

race.

With regard to the transfiguration, (Mat, xvii. 1 to 9; Mark ix. 2 to 10,) when Moses and Elijah appeared in company of Jesus, and were seen by Peter, James, and John, it is clear, from their being the objects of sight, that they must have been endowed with material bodies. In truth, an impenetrable veil seems to be thrown over this and one or two other passages in Scripture, where a partial resurrection of the dead is mentioned. Thus, (Mat. xxvii. 52,) "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, (ver. 53,) And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

From which, at all events, it is clear, 1st, that previously to the resurrection of Christ, these saints slept, were devoid of consciousness; and 2dly, that their bodies arose, were again restored to vitality before they were capable of acting, thinking, or being seen.

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CHAPTER IX.

The Epistles and the Revelations.

THE Epistles being the works of the Apostles, who had been chosen by Christ to be the witnesses of his death and resurrection, and had been expressly commanded by him to bear testimony to the truth of these events, and to preach the religion founded on them to all nations, may be considered in some measure as commentaries on the occurrences and precepts recorded in the Gospels. They contain, of course, reiterated assertions of those most important truths*; with earnest exhortations to a belief in them, as being the foundation on which Christianity is erected, and to a life conformable to the rules it enjoins.

* See, among many others, the following passages: Rom. i. 4; iv. 17, 24, 25; viii. 19 to 23; x. 6 to 10.-1 Cor. vi. 14. -2 Cor. iv. 7 to 14.-Gal. i. 1.-Eph. i. 20 to 22; iv. 8 to 10. Phil. iii. 10, 11, 20, 21.-Col. i. 13 to 22; iii. 1 to 4.1 Thes. i. 10; iv. 13 to 17; v. 9, 10.-2 Thes. i. 6 to 10.2 Tim. i. 10. Tit. ii. 11 to 14.-Heb. vii. 22 to 28; ix. 27, 28; xii. 22, 23.-1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 5; iii. 18.

But as this head (namely, the proofs of Christ's death, and the restoration of his body to life, clothed with the same form, and possessing many of the same qualities as before his death, with others of a higher order added; vide Luke, xxiv. 36; John, xx. 26; Acts, i. 9,) has been enlarged on in the last chapter, I do not think it necessary to repeat the arguments here, and shall therefore proceed to examine one or two of those passages which relate more especially to the general resurrection of mankind, the certainty of which our Saviour, previous to his crucifixion, foretold to his disciples might be depended on, from his own particular resurrection on the third day after his death.

Of these, perhaps, the most important, as being the most explicit, and entering into details, is the fifteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, which I shall insert at length, because it seems to me to comprise in itself a chain of argument the most conclusive I know of on any one subject in existence.

The first eleven verses contain a summary of the main doctrines of Christianity—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and the testimony to the truth of these several events.

1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

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