has been supposed, by some, to be conclusive against this doctrine. The apostle, in answering this objection, employs a simile as appropriate as it is beautiful. "That which thou sowest 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." The grain dies-is decomposed, whilst the germ of life is being developed; but it is certain that the nature of the future plant will be according to the character which this germ derives from the parental stock. This character does not consist in the ultimate elements; for a grain of wheat and a grain of mustard-seed consist of the same elementary principles, yet God "giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed its own body." This germ of vegetable life may exist in a latent state for unknown ages, and then be developed by a concurrence of favourable circumstances, as in the case of seeds brought from the bottom of a deep well, and spread abroad, under the influence of warmth, light, and moisture, still will the seed, even in such a case as this, faithfully transmit to the plant which rises from it the identity of genus and species, surprising the observer with the appearance of blossoms entirely foreign to the superficial soil. We have reason to believe that the same observation may be made in reference to animal life in some of its lower developments. If even vegetable life, though falling within the range of our familiar observation, be so mysterious to us,-if, in reference to the operations of nature, we are "fools," or rather "ignorant persons," after all our researches, with how much reverence and becoming humility should we accept those truths which are above, though not contrary to reason, and which God has been pleased to make known to us.

In regard to the identity of the human body, it may be observed, that identity of component particles is by no means essential. When we affirm that the body which is laid in the grave will rise, we do not therefore assert that the identical particles of matter will be re-collected. The human body undergoes the change of its constituent atoms many times between the cradle and the grave, yet is individuality not in the least affected by the change. There is a certain character stamped on each corporeal structure, which it retains by virtue of that inexplicable something which we call life, although that body is constantly assimilating some atoms to its own structure, and throwing off others; yet is the mind of man in such intimate connexion with material organisation, that any great change in the moral character will be evident in its effect on the countenance, producing different expression; and that a blow on the head, producing pressure on the brain,

has been known to suspend the operations of the mind just so long as the pressure remained; and when this pressure was removed, the very same train of ideas which were interrupted have been resumed. In a similarly mysterious manner has the power of speaking the forgotten language of infancy been restored, by the excitement of a fever affecting the material structure of the brain.

We have great reason for thanksgiving to our God, in the belief that the body will be raised in "the day of the Lord," as well as that the spirit is received by him on its departure from the body; for we must acknowledge that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that we are possessed of very scanty information as to the powers possessed by the spirit in the intermediate state during which, severed from its earthly tabernacle, it awaits the morning of the resurrection. We know that those who depart hence in Christ are gainers by the exchange, and that to be with Christ, as they are, is "far better;" nevertheless, there are declarations in Scripture which intimate that their capacities for serving and glorifying God, and enjoying him, may be very greatly increased by that reunion of soul and body which shall take place at the coming of the Lord.

We learn that those saints who are alive at the coming of the Lord will be caught up, individually and personally, to meet the Lord in the air. It will not be surmised, by any one who believes the Bible, that they will cast off their mortal bodies, as Elijah did his mantle, in the transit. They will be "changed," it is true, and "in the twinkling of an eye" will put on incorruption. They will be made fit for that glorified state, yet will personal identity be completely retained; but we are assured that, in all this, they will not possess any pre-eminence above those who have long slept in Jesus.

Nothing can be more clearly expressed than is the doctrine of the resurrection of THE body, in the fifteenth chapter of the 1st Corinthians; not, as many persons have been in the habit of thinking, the creation of another body, or rather the placing of the disembodied spirit in some glorious tabernacle of God's new workmanship, or its investiture with garments fitted for immortality; but the very truth is this, that which is sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption, that which is sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory, that which is sown in weakness shall be raised in power. This is essential doctrine, because it is all associated with and hangs upon the fact of the resurrection of Christ, who, as the Head of his church, has triumphed gloriously, not only over the pains of death, but over all the powers of the grave, having demonstrated at once the full payment of the ransom

for the captives, the entire destruction of the work of the destroyer, and given this blessed pledge of the full and final redemption of all the members of his mystical body, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe; and when it shall be manifest to an admiring universe, that the saints, fashioned like unto the glorious body of their Lord, have regained, in the second Adam, far more than they lost in the first, and that the will of the Father has been perfectly accomplished; that will of which Jesus spake when he said, "This is the Father's will which sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

Death, then, to the believer, loses its real character, and receives a new name, “sleep in Jesus." The dissolution of the body is but an essential, though painful part of the process of full redemption, -the breaking down the leprous house, (Lev. xiv. 45,) the earthly tabernacle, in which are the remains of the plague of original sin, and carrying the materials, as it were, into "an unclean place" for a time, in order to its reconstruction in honour and glory, and entire freedom from every pollution for ever.

And as a pledge of this complete redemption; the believer is sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest (something paid in advance as a security for the whole) of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession. Believers are, personally, the purchased property of the Lord, and belong to him in body, as well as in soul and spirit. Their bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, through whose indwelling in them they are so united to Christ "THE life," that when he who is their life shall appear, they shall also personally appear with him in glory; for, "if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by (or because of) his Spirit that dwelleth in you,” (δια το ενοικουν αυτου πνευμα εν υμιν.)

From this all-important word, IF, we learn that the Spirit does not dwell (as the Friends have erroneously imagined) in the hearts of all men, else all would be partakers of the resurrection to eternal life. The writer once asked a firm believer in the doctrine of the inward principle, what became of this seed in any man in which, according to Barclay, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell, when the man is cast into hell. His reply was, that he did not know, but supposed its nature was changed! This shocking absurdity, involving change in Him that changeth not, or the equally erroneous alternation of indiscriminate resurrection to eternal life, and disbelief in future punish

ment, follow, as necessary consequences, from the Quaker doctrine of universal and saving light.

The resurrection of the body, in its simple, unsophisticated sense, is, then, intimately associated with all the essential verities of the Christian faith; for, "if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; ye are yet in your sins." But, knowing that Christ was raised up, we have an assurance that he is the first-fruits of them that slept. We know, also, that the risen and glorified body of Christ is that which our nearest and dearest friends, who have slept in Jesus, shall resemble, when he shall come, and all his saints with him; for we know that when he shall appear they shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is.

To form some more definite idea of this glorious body, let us turn to Revelation, where John describes Jesus like unto the Son of man, "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead." We need not fear that, by stretching our imagination to its utmost bounds, we could exceed in our conceptions the glory that is to be revealed; but we may rest assured, that if the beloved disciple could not bear the scene in vision, without falling at his feet as dead, its brightness would indeed overwhelm us. We may, with more calm composure, ascend the mount of transfiguration, and, standing afar off, listen to that sublime colloquy between the Lord, transfigured there, and exhibiting a foretaste of the glory of his kingdom, and those glorified saints already participants in the privileges of the resurrection.

We e may notice here, that each saint will retain his peculiar and diatinctive body, and, probably, in some manner, the character stamped on earth, as far as that was formed after the image of Christ. John recognised immediately his beloved Master and Friend, when he beheld him in vision-" one like unto the Son of man ;" like him with whom he had ofttimes journeyed across the hills of Judea, or walked by night in the garden of Gethsemane, or held sweet converse around an earthly table. So also, Moses and Elias, on the mount of transfiguration, each retained their distinctive character as persons, though in

vested with heavenly glory. "One star differeth from another star in glory;" and, doubtless, the difference will not be small between the apostle John, for instance, in his resurrection glory, glowing as he was, even on earth, with almost the love of a seraph, and a Christian “saved, yet so as by fire." This is a consideration we too much lose sight of, that though every one that attains unto the resurrection of the dead will be full of joy in beholding the countenance of the Redeemer, and be satisfied when they awake with his likeness, yet that the backsliding, inconsistent, unstable believer will doubtless suffer great loss, and cannot expect that a character so marred here will shine with the same glory as those bright constellations of saints who have been faithful unto death, and shall have received abundantly the crown of life in the kingdom of their Lord. There is, also, great practical stimulus to active service to the Lord and to his church in the belief that every deed done from love to Christ, and for the good of his people, will then receive a special reward, a reward so much sweeter as it is of free grace, and not of merit. See Matt. x. 42, comp. xxv. 40.

It is not real humility which would induce us to feel perfectly satisfied if we are but saved, though it be as by fire; since, if we set the glory of God before us as the object of our lives, we must desire to live so as bring the highest glory to him, and, consequently, the greatest possible blessings to ourselves.

There is also connected with this part of the subject a joyful theme for contemplation, in the assurance of future recognition amongst believers. Whatever be the case in the intermediate state between death and the resurrection, there cannot be a doubt left on the mind of any person, who will examine 1 Thess. ii. 19, that, after this joyful event, a very large share of happiness and rejoicing will be granted, especially to the faithful and successful labourer in the Lord's vineyard, through such mutual recognition. The apostle Paul, in addressing his beloved Thessalonians, says, "What is our glory, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" He seems, as it were, at a loss to express the bounding joy of his heart in the thoughts of meeting there those whom he had been the means of bringing to Jesus. It were strange indeed to affirm that this could take place without his recognising them, and equally strange to suppose that the delight would not be mutual. There will then be a joyful meeting, not between Paul and his beloved Thessalonians alone, but amongst all who have loved and served the Lord together, and who have been