LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Y. M. C A. OF U. C, 
 
 Accession ;K):1699 Class 
 
 GEORGE : WELLS : ARMES 
 MEMORIAL LIBRARY * * + 
 STiLE5 HALL BERKELEY 
 
&!)CB Mint. 
 
&J)ey $vise. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES 
 
 CONCERNING THE 
 
 Resurrection of the Dead, 
 
 AS TAUGHT 
 
 IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 D. A. DRYDEN. 
 
 W OF THE 
 
 UKlVFfiSITY 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN, 
 
 FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1872. 
 
D7 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 
 BY D. A. DRYDEN, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
To 
 
 Hon. John T. Wilson, 
 
 WHOSE HOME WAS A REFUGE FOR ME IN POVERTY 
 AND SUFFERING LONG YEARS AGO, 
 
 BY WHOSE GENEROSITY THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS 
 SENT OUT UPON ITS MISSION : 
 
 IT IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 n$ author. 
 
 101699 
 
Preface. 
 
 THE character and design of this little 
 treatise are indicated on the title-page. 
 It is an attempt, at least, at an independent 
 and candid study, and suggestive statement, 
 of just what the New Testament does teach 
 concerning the resurrection of the dead. It is 
 written neither in the interest of any Church 
 creed or theological doctrine, nor with the de- 
 sign to controvert any. The author has en- 
 deavored, as far as possible, to free his mind 
 from all prejudice — even from the bias of pre- 
 conceived opinions and theological teachings — 
 so as to go to the written Word itself, dili- 
 gently and prayerfully, seeking to discover 
 
VIII PREFACE. 
 
 just what it does teach on this deeply interest- 
 ing subject. That he has been led to give ex- 
 j^ression to many expositions and conceptions 
 which do seemingly come in conflict with the 
 generally accepted theological doctrines of the 
 resurrection of the body, there is no doubt. 
 And to many, probably, the views expressed 
 on this feature of the subject will be con- 
 sidered as antagonizing the orthodox faith of 
 the Church. But the author, could not do 
 otherwise and give full and free expression to 
 what has to him all the reality of life-giving 
 conceptions, and conscious realizations of the 
 truth of the Divine Word. But if, instead of 
 antagonizing the faith and subverting the hope 
 of the resurrection of the body, these sugges- 
 tive views should but lead to a different per- 
 ception of the Divine order and manner of that 
 consummation — bringing it nearer, giving it a 
 place even in the conscious realizations of the 
 Divine life of the soul — then let them not be 
 too hastily condemned or despised. They may 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 bring light, and comfort, and spiritual life, to 
 some souls, which they may not find even in 
 the venerable and authoritative teachings of 
 orthodoxy. And if even a few souls should 
 be awakened from a mere formal, lifeless, 
 churchly belief in a long, future, earthly res- 
 urrection, to a personal, conscious realization 
 of the life-giving power of the resurrection and 
 the life in Jesus, it will be an abundant reward 
 for all the labor these inquiries have cost, 
 and, at the same time, reach the end aimed at 
 in their publication. 
 
 D. A. D. 
 
 ^*^*fc- 
 
Introduction. 
 
 REV. D. A. DRYDEN, of the California 
 Annual Conference, has written a book. 
 He is not "mine adversary," therefore I did 
 not wish him to write it. He rejects the 
 Eyspatq of the body that dies — at least the 
 common view — and argues with much indus- 
 try and ingenuity in support of another theory 
 of interpretation. He seeks to show that the 
 terms peculiar to the controversy are intended 
 to convey a meaning different from that which 
 is usually accepted. 
 
 I must dissent alike from his premises, his 
 processes, and his conclusions. To me there 
 is nor root, nor. substance, nor strength, nor 
 
xil INTRODUCTION. 
 
 beauty in any extant substitute for the old 
 doctrine of "the hope and resurrection of the 
 dead." But a thoroughly intimate acquaint- 
 ance of nineteen years with the author enti- 
 tles me to say, without apology, that he is 
 studious, large-natured, genuinely honest, out- 
 spoken, generous to his opponents, tender as 
 charity, brave as fidelity, without envy, and 
 without art. He has helped to fight every 
 good fight in his day and place, and has 
 nobly earned the right to be heard. He has 
 felt the wear of hard service, known the deep- 
 est discipline of sorrow, and holds the torch 
 of his cherished belief above three graves 
 where the joy of his life was buried. 
 
 Since controversies must needs arise, is it 
 not well to read what earnest, truth-loving 
 men say on that side which to us, mayhap, 
 is "the other side?" I have tried to under- 
 stand my excellent brother's views. The fail- 
 ure, if failure there be, is the fault of the 
 taught, not of the teacher. To hear them 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 repeated and read them in proof has tended 
 to exalt my appreciation of the venerable 
 "faith which was once delivered unto the 
 saints." I shall read the book again — and, 
 if it be not impertinent, ask all who feel 
 an interest in the great subject to read it — 
 not, indeed, without a mixture of regret, but 
 with the warmest affection for the author and 
 the frankest concession of his right to think, 
 preach, and publish as long as he does not 
 impair the force of Christian motives nor 
 attempt to clothe his sentiments in mislead- 
 ing disguises. The sturdier his blows the 
 better. I should not like to take shelter 
 under a belief which is safe only while unas- 
 sailed. If my friend must follow his convic- 
 tions to such an issue, it affords me genuine 
 pleasure to commend the ardor and skill 
 with which he espouses his task. It greatly 
 pleases me that he has proved able to put 
 the marrow of the prolonged controversy into 
 one small volume, which all classes may read 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with sincere respect for the integrity and 
 ' ability of the writer. It is a happy instance 
 in which we may admire the acumen and 
 weigh the argument, without deploring the 
 animus of the book. * 
 
 The scheme of this work includes one 
 thing which demands special consideration. 
 It has inherent, and historic, and theological 
 importance. I refer to the interpretation of 
 £% as meaning "the under world" or place 
 of departed spirits. There is reason to sus- 
 pect that the Protestant Church, in her 
 resentment against the Papistic figment of 
 purgatory, has taken up a position considera- 
 bly on the other side of the interlying truth. 
 It is certainly desirable that the Church 
 should have a definite statement on so grave 
 a subject. Whatever intelligent readers may 
 think of the use which the author makes of 
 the doctrine of hades, they will find it to 
 their advantage to review the general sub- 
 ject with candor and research. Theology 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 has suffered deeply — I trust not irreparably — 
 from the inexact use of Scriptural terms. 
 When -human language is used as a vehicle 
 for divine thought, every word is entitled to 
 the meaning with which it pleased the Holy 
 Spirit to fill it. 
 
 I am not unaware of the unusual char- 
 acter of this introduction, nor insensible to 
 the probability that strangers may regard it 
 as needing explanation. But to the gen- 
 erous and eminently truthful writer of the 
 work, and to all such as happen to know us 
 both, an apology would appear superfluous. 
 I therefore conclude these hasty paragraphs 
 in full assurance that free discussion will 
 magnify the truth, and in the cheerful hope 
 that those who write and those who read 
 may alike be "raised in glory." "So shall 
 we ever be with the Lord." 
 
 M. C. BRIGGS. 
 
THE 
 
 Resurrection of the Dead. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also 
 allow that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of 
 the just and of the unjust." Acts xxiv, 15. 
 
 WHAT do the Scriptures teach concern- 
 ing the resurrection of the dead ? In- 
 quiry will be confined almost exclusively to 
 the New Testament, because the resurrection 
 is most fully and clearly taught therein, and 
 because the Old Testament can not be inter- 
 preted to teach it differently from the New, so 
 that, given, the resurrection as taught in the 
 New, and you have it as taught in the Old. 
 
 9 
 
IO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 What is the New Testament meaning of 
 resurrection ? Perhaps but little can be spe- 
 cifically determined on this point. In speaking 
 of the resurrection, New Testament authors 
 make use of two Greek verbs in their various 
 modes and tenses, dfcyfcrtyti and lyeipu). The 
 use is about equally divided between them, 
 and sometimes interchangeably as to meaning. 
 But in the main there is to be observed a nice 
 distinction in the use of these verbs. The 
 former is used in speaking of the fact of the 
 resurrection, and the latter in speaking of the 
 manner of that fact. The general term resur- 
 rection made from these verbs, has a very con- 
 siderable latitude of meaning. As applied to 
 the dead, its general meaning is, that they 
 rise, or are raised, from the state of death, and 
 that they have a future immortal existence 
 after death. Not a mere psychical or spiritual 
 rising and immortality, but corporeal too — all 
 that constitutes the complete personality. It 
 is the complete antithesis of dying and death. 
 Mark xii, 27 ; Luke xx, 38 ; 1 Cor. xv, 22. 
 
 The next point of inquiry may be made 
 much more specific and decisive. Of whom, 
 or of what is the resurrection predicated ? 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I I 
 
 Who or ivhat is to rise? The dead, say New 
 Testament authors uniformly, almost univer- 
 sally, thus : " As touching the resurrection of 
 the dead" Matt, xxii, 31; "As touching the 
 dead, that they rise," Mark xii, 21 ; "As the 
 Father raiseth up the dead" John v, 21 ; "Why 
 incredible that God should raise the dead?" 
 Acts xxvi, 8 ; "If so be the dead rise not," 1 
 Cor. xv, 15 ; "Resurrection of the dead," Acts 
 iv, 2 ; " From the dead" Acts xxiv, 15. Thus 
 uniformly throughout the New Testament it is 
 the dead of whom the rising is predicated. 
 And in this inquiry it is of prime importance 
 that we clearly perceive the true New Testa- 
 ment meaning of this term dead. It is from 
 the Greek wpoq (singular), nzpol (plural). Does 
 this term mean the dead as persons, or does it 
 mean the bodies of the dead, or dead bodies ? 
 Is the term vexpdq used in the New Testament 
 interchangeably with the term ropa, body ? Is 
 the resurrection predicated of the dead as per- 
 sons, or is it predicated only of the bodies of 
 the dead, or of dead bodies ? 
 
 Let us first see if the New Testament au- 
 thors use the terms vtxpoq and <rw;ia inter- 
 changeably, or whether the common term 
 
12 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 dead, so uniformly used in connection with 
 the resurrection, can be at all limited to mean 
 body, or bodies ; and how can we better do 
 this than by substituting body, or bodies, for 
 the term dead in the text ? Thus see whether 
 the obvious meaning will be the same. 
 
 The following will serve as examples : " Have 
 ye not read he is not the God of the bodies, 
 but of the living ?" Mark xii, 26 ; " Blessed are 
 the bodies that die in the Lord," Rev. xiv, 13 ; 
 " This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from 
 the' bodies" Matt, xiv, 2; "Questioning one 
 with another what the rising from the bodies 
 should mean," Mark ix, 10 ; " Nay, but if one 
 went to them from the bodies" Luke xvi, 30 ; 
 44 After he arose from the bodies" Acts x, 14 ; 
 " As those that are alive from the bodies" 
 Rom. vi, 13 ; "Brought again our Lord Jesus 
 Christ from the bodies" Heb. xiii, 20. Now, 
 in these texts is it not manifest that the term 
 dead can not be used in the sense of body, or 
 bodies ? To limit the dead to mean body, and 
 to use vcxpds interchangeably with <rwri.a, does 
 surely destroy the obvious meaning of these 
 verses of the Testament. Nor are these par- 
 ticular texts selected specially ; but the same is 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 3 
 
 true of every text in the New Testament where 
 the term dead is used in connection with the 
 rising or resurrection ; not one in which the 
 dead can be limited to mean the body without 
 destroying the obvious meaning of the text. 
 But may it not be that this term dead is used 
 adjectively, referring to body, or bodies, under- 
 stood, of which bodies the rising is affirmed ? 
 To determine this we need but supply in the 
 texts body or bodies after the word dead, thus : 
 " Questioning one with another what the rising 
 from the dead bodies should mean ?" " Brought 
 again from the dead bodies our Lord Jesus 
 Christ ;" " Marvel not at this, for the hour is 
 coming in which all the dead bodies that are in 
 the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
 forth ; they (dead bodies) that have done good 
 unto the resurrection of life ; they (dead bodies) 
 that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
 damnation," John v, 28, 29 ; "Jesus who is the 
 first begotten of the dead bodies" Rev. i, 5 ; 
 "But the rest of the dead bodies lived not 
 again," Rev. xx, 5 ; " Blessed are the dead 
 bodies that die in the Lord," Rev. xiv, 13 ; 
 " What shall they do who are baptized for the 
 dead bodies if the dead bodies rise not ?" " Why 
 
14 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 are they baptized for the dead bodies?" i Cor. 
 xv, 27 ; " But some man will say, how are the 
 dead bodies raised up, and with what body do 
 they {dead bodies) come?" 1 Cor. xv, 35. Now 
 is it not plain enough that such use of the 
 term dead utterly destroys the meaning of the 
 texts? So then it is manifest that vexpdq can 
 not be used by New Testament authors inter- 
 changeably with aw/la, and " the dead" can not 
 be limited in meaning to the bodies of the 
 dead, or dead bodies ; then the resurrection 
 can not be predicated of bodies, or dead bodies. 
 The rising " of the dead" or "from the dead," 
 means something more than the future resur- 
 rection of bodies. Hence the resurrection of 
 tlie body, or the corporeal rising of the dead, 
 must be incidental to the general doctrine of 
 the rising of the dead, and will be carefully 
 considered when our inquiry reaches the man- 
 ner of the rising, " with what body they 
 come." Let us just here pursue still further 
 the inquiry, What is the New Testament 
 meaning of vsxpot, the dead ? As it can not be 
 limited in meaning to body, or bodies, it must 
 take in the whole personalty. It must be used 
 as the antithesis of living, or the living ; thus : 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1$ 
 
 " That be might be Lord both of the dead and 
 living" Rom. xiv, 9 ; "Why seek ye the living 
 among the dead?" Luke xxiv, 5 ; " God is not 
 the God of the dead, but of the living" Matt. 
 jorii, 32 ; Mark xii, 27 ; Luke xx, 38. Now 
 what constitutes a living personality? Not 
 simply a body. True, in an accommodated or 
 figurative way, we sometimes speak of the body 
 as the person ; yet we know that a living body- 
 is not a living person, and that mere bodies do 
 not fill the meaning of that phrase, the living; 
 no more is a dead body a dead person. True, 
 as in the case of the living, we sometimes speak 
 of the body or corpse, as the person. This is 
 sometimes done by New Testament authors, 
 as in Matt, viii, 22 ; ix, 26 ; John xx, 13. Yet 
 we know the corpse is not the dead person \ but 
 only the dissolving earthly casket. Even so 
 we know that dead bodies do not fill the mean- 
 ing of that phrase, the dead. Hence, the res- 
 urrection must be predicated of the dead as 
 persons, including, of course, their corporeality 
 or bodies. That such is the New Testament 
 meaning of " the dead," we may more fully 
 perceive from Paul's doctrine of the resurrec- 
 tion. Let us turn first to 1 Cor. xv, which is 
 
l6 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 an epitome of the whole Bible teaching of the 
 resurrection ; all other teaching is fragmentary 
 and incidental to this. Take first verses 12- 
 2 1 : " Now if Christ be preached that he rose 
 from the dead, how say some among you that 
 there is no resurrection of the dead ? But 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. Yea, and we are found false wit- 
 nesses of God ; because we have testified of 
 God that he raised up Christ : whom he raised 
 not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if 
 the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and 
 if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye 
 are yet in your sins. Then they also which are 
 fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this 
 life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all 
 men most miserable. But now is Christ risen 
 from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 
 them that slept. For since by man came 
 death, by man came also the resurrection of 
 the dead." 
 
 In these verses the apostle teaches both 
 the resurrection of Christ and of the dead in 
 Christ. He establishes the fact of the latter 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. \J 
 
 by the .established fact of the former. They 
 stand or fall together. If Christ be not risen, 
 then are the dead not raised ; and if there be 
 no resurrection of the dead, if the dead rise 
 not, then is not Christ raised. But now is 
 Christ risen from the dead. The fact that 
 Christ is risen he establishes by the proofs 
 stated in verses 3-8 : " He arose the third 
 day, according to the Scriptures, was seen of 
 Cephas, (Peter,) then of the twelve ; after that 
 he was seen of more than five hundred breth- 
 ren at once, of whom the greater part remain 
 unto this day. After that he was seen of 
 James ; then of all the apostles ; and last 
 of all he was seen of vie also." With such 
 proofs well might Paul say, " Now is Christ 
 risen from the dead." But the single point 
 of inquiry is this : What is Paul's meaning of 
 the dead ? Of ivhat does he predicate the 
 resurrection ? Of what does he predicate the 
 resurrection of Christ ? of his body alone ? 
 Was the material, fleshly body laid in the 
 tomb Christ ? Would the raising of that 
 alone have filled the New Testament teach- 
 ing or Paul's idea of the resurrection of the 
 Christ ? How would such a resurrection fill 
 
1 8 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the meaning of such texts as these : " He, 
 seeing this before, spake of the resurrection 
 of Christ, that his soul was not left in hades, 
 neither his flesh did see corruption," Acts ii, 
 31; " Wherefore he saith when he ascended 
 up on high he led a multitude of captives and 
 gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, 
 what is it but that he also descended first 
 into the lower parts of the earth [under world, 
 or hades} ? He that descended is the same 
 also that ascended up far above all heavens, 
 that he might fill all things." Eph. iv, 8-10. 
 Now, can these texts by any just interpreta- 
 tion be limited to mean only the rising of the 
 body of Christ from the tomb ? Again : "/ 
 am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, 
 / am alive for evermore, and have the keys of 
 hades and of death." Rev. i, 18. Does the 
 Christ mean, in speaking thus, no more than 
 that his body was dead and rose again from 
 the tomb ? Did his body descend into the 
 lower world, or hades ? did his body triumph 
 over hades and bear away the key? Cer- 
 tainly not. The resurrection of Jesus takes 
 in his whole human personality. It includes 
 the fact that his soul descended to hades, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 19 
 
 the abode of the dead, as certainly as that 
 his body was laid lifeless in the tomb. It 
 includes the glorious fact that his soul, his 
 real self, rose again from the place of the dead 
 as certainly as that his body rose again alive 
 from the tomb, and that he bore off in triumph 
 the keys of both hades and death. But this 
 glorious fact will be more fully considered fur- 
 ther on in our inquiry. Is such Paul's idea of 
 the resurrection of Christ ? and was this his 
 idea of the resurrection of the dead ? Does 
 he mean thereby no more than the future 
 raising again of dead bodies ? Are the dead 
 bodies in the graves, or utterly lost in dust, 
 dead persons ? Would the gathering again of 
 such matter, even into former shapes, be a res- 
 urrection of the dead? Is it such a resurrec- 
 tion which Paul so enthusiastically declares 
 and so ably proves in this chapter? 
 
 On the contrary, the whole scope and design 
 of his argument, as we will further on more 
 fully see, seems to be to affirm and establish 
 the glorious fact of a rising of the dead and a 
 future anastasis of the dead from death and 
 after death — an anastasis not merely of the 
 bodies of the dead, but of the dead themselves 
 
20 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 as persons. His argument is not against those 
 who denied a bodily resurrection alone, but 
 who denied that the dead rise or live again at 
 all. Their philosophy and logic of life was, 
 They that are fallen asleep in death are per- 
 ished ; they rise no more. Therefore let us 
 eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die. 
 Let us make the most of this life before we 
 perish. But Paul's philosophy and logic are, 
 The dead in Christ are not perished, but they 
 rise ; they have an anastasis after death. And 
 if in this life only we have hope, we are of all 
 men most miserable. Thus the radical, obvi- 
 ous idea and meaning of Paul's resurrection 
 of the dead is that they rise to a future life of 
 complete personal being just as Christ is risen 
 to a complete personal being such as Paul him- 
 self saw him. Paul's philosophy of the anas- 
 tasis of the dead knows nothing about that 
 psychical, metaphysical immortality of disem- 
 bodied souls or ghosts of which some of the 
 heathen philosophers dreamed, and of which 
 but too many, even in the Christian Church, 
 are still dreaming. Nor does the New Tes- 
 tament know any thing about this ghostly 
 immortality of naked, shapeless souls only as 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 21 
 
 it has been foisted into its meaning by those 
 who have interpreted by the murky lights of 
 human philosophies at best but semi-heathen. 
 It knows the dead as real, substantial persons, 
 angels or men, and in its own language ever 
 introduces them to us as such, and not as 
 mere " shades," psychical essences, or bodiless 
 spirits. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " O death, where is thy sting ? O Hades, where is thy vic- 
 tory?" i Cor. xv, 55. 
 
 "And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." 
 Rkv. xx, 14. 
 
 IN these inquiries it is not the intention to 
 state any thing dogmatically as the teach- 
 ing of the Word concerning the resurrection. 
 Yet it may be assumed that the meaning of 
 New Testament authors will be found within 
 the circumference of these four hypotheses : 
 
 I. That at death both soul and body go 
 into the grave, and there remain until the 
 general resurrection, which will consist in sud- 
 denly raising both soul and body out of the 
 grave at the last day. 
 
 II. At death the dying person is rent in 
 twain. The soul, or spirit, unclothed of all 
 corporeality, goes to heaven or hell. The body 
 decays, corrupts, and mingles again with the 
 general combinations of matter until the time 
 
TIi£ RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 23 
 
 of the resurrection, when the particles will be 
 gathered again by the miraculous power of 
 God, or " be re-infused by the returning soul ;" 
 and the personality thus for years or centuries 
 severed — part in the dust, part in the spirit- 
 world — will be again reunited, and raised from 
 the grave. 
 
 III. As the body is sown in death, like the 
 corn of wheat, it is quickened, or made alive, 
 and rises a spiritual body, suited to the state 
 or condition of the soul, forming its corpore- 
 ality ; so that the dead enter hades — the place 
 of the dead — real persons. And the resurrec- 
 tion consists in their rising out of hades to 
 their ultimate fullness of eternal life in heaven, 
 or of death in Gehenna. 
 
 IV. The soul has its own spiritual body, in- 
 ter-existent with the material body. At death 
 the outer material body is dissolved, and the 
 soul rises in its own spiritual body. 
 
 Leaving you to judge which, or whether 
 either of these hypotheses will agree with the 
 Word, I pass on to inquire as to the teaching 
 of the New Testament — 
 
 I. Concerning the place or state of the dead 
 next after leaving this world. 
 
24 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 II. Concerning the personality of the dead. 
 
 III. Concerning whence the dead rise, or the 
 true scene of the resurrection, and in what its 
 final glorious triumph will consist. 
 
 The varied forms of expression used in refer- 
 ence to the dead may be comprehended in 
 these terms: Death, grave, hades, hell, and 
 heaven ; and I think may be all summed up 
 in the single terms death and hades — the 
 first expressive of the physical dissolution by 
 which the dead pass from this world ; the 
 second indicating the place, or state next after 
 this world, and from whence they rise in the 
 resurrection. 
 
 Our first inquiry is concerning the place and 
 state of the dead after leaving this world. This 
 is a theme of very great interest, and occupies 
 much of our thought. How often we find our 
 thoughts seeking to pass the boundaries of the 
 beyond, and anxiously inquiring what is to be 
 the state, what the place next after life in this 
 world? And when friends and loved ones 
 pass away, and are seen no more in forms of 
 life in this world, how resist the inquiry, 
 What is their place and state? The eagerness 
 with which we seek any thing which promises 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 2$ 
 
 us information on this subject — that millions 
 should be so attracted and interested in the 
 so-called revelations of modern spiritualism — 
 do but prove how interesting is this theme 
 to minds generally ; and, at the same time, in- 
 dicates the importance of a careful and Script- 
 ural study of the subject. For we may not say 
 this is a theme with which we are to have noth- 
 ing to do — so utterly left in the dark that we 
 may know nothing concerning it. At the same 
 time it is a subject we need to approach with 
 great carefulness, much humility, and entire 
 dependence upon the teaching of the Word — 
 so easy is it on a subject like this to supple- 
 ment facts with dreams, and mistake imagin- 
 ations for Revelation. Hence our inquiry is 
 strictly confined to this : What does the New 
 Testament teach concerning the place and 
 state of life next after this world ? In refer- 
 ence to this subject its authors use various 
 terms, which in our translation are heaven, 
 paradise, Abraham's bosom, eternal or ever- 
 lasting life, indicating a place or places, and 
 state of life and happiness. And opposite 
 these are terms — hell, lake of fire, bottomless 
 pit, prison, everlasting punishment, second 
 3 
 
26 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 death, etc. — indicating a place or places, and 
 state of death and unhappiness. These places 
 are generally comprehended by the single 
 terms heaven and hell. And the commonly 
 received idea, or perception, in the Christian 
 jnind is, that at the death of the body the soul 
 at once goes either to heaven or hell ; and, to 
 such as have neither the means nor inclination 
 to look beyond this, it may be all sufficient. 
 But the fact certainly is that this idea does 
 not comprehend the teaching of the Word, 
 nor fill the perceptions of thinking, inquiring 
 minds. There is yet another term used at 
 least eleven times in the New Testament. It 
 is in the Greek hades. There is also in the 
 Old Testament a term which, in the Hebrew, 
 is sheol. In the Septuagint, or Greek trans- 
 lation of the Hebrew Bible, this word sheol is 
 always translated hades — so that the Hebrew 
 sheol and the Greek hades are equivalent terms, 
 and must be equivalent in meaning. What is 
 that meaning? That is, just what did the 
 New Testament authors mean to teach by the 
 word hades f We may have to linger about 
 this single point of inquiry for some time, be- 
 cause, in our English translation, it certainly 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 2J 
 
 does not appear what it does mean, and some- 
 times means one thing and sometimes a very 
 different thing. In fact, in our translation, and 
 modern theology and interpretation, this very 
 important word has been roughly handled. Its 
 true meaning has well-nigh been lost, and with 
 it has been lost to the Christian Church a most 
 important doctrine — that is, the doctrine of the 
 spiritual world, or mediate state of the dead 
 after death. Thus hades is sometimes trans- 
 lated grave, the place of dead bodies, and 
 sometimes hell, the place of punishment of lost 
 souls — a palpable contradiction. Moreover, it 
 is well known to scholars who have given the 
 subject a thought, and I think will appear even 
 to us, that not in a single case can it mean 
 either grave or hell at all. So the term sheol, 
 in the Hebrew Scriptures, is translated some- 
 times grave, sometimes hell. But it is well 
 known that it means neither — that such was 
 not its meaning in the Jewish mind — but that 
 it meant the " unseen world " — the " receptacle 
 of all spirits departed." And I think we will 
 p'ainly see that its equivalent term hades, in 
 the New Testament, means the same, and that 
 such was the meaning intended to be expressed 
 
28 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 by the New Testament authors. And to their 
 use of the term let us at once direct our in- 
 quiries. And first to Acts ii, 27, 31: " Be- 
 cause thou wilt not leave my soul in hades ; 
 neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see 
 corruption. He seeing this before, spake of 
 the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was 
 not left in hades, neither his flesh did see cor- 
 ruption." In both these verses hades, in the 
 Greek text, is in our English text translated 
 hell. Now the question is, What was the 
 meaning of Peter, and of contemporary authors, 
 in the use of this word ? What place or state 
 is meant by hades in these texts ? And it 
 may assist us in this inquiry to give a brief 
 exegesis of the context, and thus clearly see 
 of whom Peter is speaking. Verses 27, 28, 
 are a quotation from David in the sixteenth 
 Psalm. In verses 29-34, it is shown that 
 David did not speak of himself. He was 
 buried, and his sepulcher remained to that 
 day in Jerusalem. He was not ascended into 
 the heavens, and his flesh did see corruption. 
 In verses 30, 31, it is shown that David spake 
 in the spirit of prophecy concerning Christ — 
 that his soul was not left in hades, neither 
 
&**/*$• 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 29 
 
 did his flesh see corruption. Then manifestly 
 the doctrine is concerning the resurrection of 
 Christ that his soul rose from hades and his O 
 body from the tomb. The second part of this 
 teaching, in verse 31, we can readily under- 
 stand. It is that the material, or earthly body 
 of Jesus did not see corruption — though dead, 
 it was raised from the tomb before decompo- 
 sition had commenced. What are we to un- 
 derstand by his soul ? Manifestly his immortal, 
 human soul — not in the sense of a breath of "^^A 
 life, or unorganized psychical essence, but his 
 real substantial sc/f, or personality — the real 
 human Christ. ,■: For the body left in the tomb 
 was not the real, personal Christ, any more 
 than the shadow is the real substance, or than 
 k your body is your real, personal self. Yet we 
 have been so long under the teaching of the 
 old Platonic, and other metaphysical philos- 
 ophy, of naked, disembodied, soul-immortality, 
 of mere shades and ghosts, that it is difficult 
 for us to perceive that a living soul out of the 
 earthly body is still a living, real, substantial 
 person, and that the New Testament knows 
 the dead as persons, not as breaths, or unor- 
 ganized shapes. The soul of Christ was the 
 
30 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 real, personal, spiritual Christ, for a time out 
 of the earthly body, which was in the tomb. 
 Now, the question is, Where went this soul of 
 Christ after the death of the body, and where 
 was it during the days the body remained in 
 the tomb ? David, in the spirit of prophecy, 
 declared it would not be left in sheol, or hades. 
 Peter declares as an actual fact it was not left 
 in hades. Then is it not manifest that Christ 
 did descend to sheol, or hades, and that he was 
 there at least for a time ? Then where was 
 that hades ? What place or state of the dead 
 is meant by the use of this word in this 
 connection ? 
 
 In the first place, it was not heaven, as the 
 place of angels and the ultimate abode of the 
 redeemed. I. Because this word is nowhere in 
 the Bible used with such meaning. It has in 
 no case ever been translated in any language 
 with such meaning, nor can it be without doing 
 great violence to the text. 2. Christ himself 
 said to Mary, after his resurrection, "I have 
 not yet ascended," and Luke states as an actual 
 fact that he did not ascend to heaven for forty 
 days afterward. But he was in hades before his 
 resurrection ; therefore hades is not heaven. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 3 1 
 
 II. It is certain it does not mean the grave 
 or the tomb. 1. Because the term hades 
 never does properly mean the grave — is never 
 used with such meaning in the New Tes- 
 tament. True, it is in one place translated 
 grave, but without regard to the true mean- 
 ing of the text, as we shall hereafter see ; and 
 that such is the meaning in these texts surely 
 no one will for a moment assume. 2. Then 
 would we be taught that the soul goes into 
 the grave, or into the dust rather, with the 
 body; and this would land us at once in bold 
 Materialism, and blot out all knowledge or re- 
 liable perception of a spiritual world or place 
 of existence after leaving this material world. 
 
 III. Equally certain is it that hades in 
 these texts does not mean hell as the place 
 of demons and the ultimate abode of lost 
 men. 1. Because the term in the Greek text 
 never means hell in such sense. In the Greek 
 text Gehenna is the term to translate hell, for 
 such is its specific meaning. In our English 
 hades is sometimes translated hell, but, as we 
 shall see, with no more reference to its true 
 meaning than when translated grave. 2. It is 
 little less than blasphemy to say the soul of 
 
32 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the blessed Christ went to hell, the place 
 of the finally lost. Such an idea is repulsive 
 in the extreme, and without foundation in 
 good sense or reason. Why should Christ 
 descend to hell ? Besides, if such is the 
 meaning of hades, if such was the place to 
 which Christ went, then is hell abolished, for 
 he did not remain there. Not only so, but, as 
 we shall see below, when he arose from hades 
 he led a multitude of captives and bore off the 
 keys of hell in triumph. Then has almighty 
 delivering power visited hell, and hell is in 
 fact abolished. But such interpretation would 
 contradict the uniform teaching of the whole 
 New Testament. Then hades in these texts 
 does not mean hell. Then, if it means nei- 
 ther heaven, the grave, nor hell, what does it 
 mean? If Christ at death went neither to 
 heaven, the grave, nor hell, where went he ? 
 Let us for the present assume what may here- 
 after be fully established, that hades here must 
 be allowed its own specific, uniform meaning, 
 the same as its equivalent term sheol in the 
 Old Testament — that is, the "unseen world" 
 or " great unseen," the place of the dead, the 
 " receptacle of all spirits departed," " the under 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 33 
 
 world." Now, reduce these all to a specific 
 meaning and it is the spiritual world or abode 
 of the dead, the mediate state between heaven 
 and Geheiina, from whence the dead arise to 
 fullness of eternal life after tfoe judgment 
 or sink to eternal death in Gehenna. Now, 
 allowing that such is the meaning of hades 
 in these texts, the whole teaching is plain 
 enough and consistent. It means that Christ 
 at his death went where all the dead before 
 him had gone, and where they were. And 
 how significant the fact that his soul was not 
 left there ! All the dead going there previ- 
 ously had been left there. Hence to both 
 Jews and Gentiles the "under world/' whether 
 known to them as sheol, hades, or Tartarus, 
 was the gloomy, dreaded prison of death. As 
 their departed passed the portals of the grave 
 they were heard of no more ; no one had ever 
 returned. And, though the Jews had their 
 brighter conceptions of Abraham's bosom, or 
 a paradisiacal state of the pious dead in sheol, 
 and the Greeks their brighter dreams of elys- 
 ian fields and apotheosis, yet to all the life 
 beyond was shadowy and dark, and the place 
 of the dead the gloomy under world. But 
 
34 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the Christ remained not there. He arose 
 from hades as the first-fruits of the dead, and 
 henceforth, to all who believe in him, it is no 
 longer the gloomy, dreaded under world, but 
 paradise, quite on the borders of heaven, to 
 which they rise as they pass the judgment 
 and attain to the resurrection. Thus viewing 
 the resurrection of the Lord from hades, we 
 see how tremendous a fact it was — no less a 
 miracle in the spiritual world than in the nat- 
 ural world. So, too, the glorious doctrine of 
 the resurrection of the dead, of the resurrec- 
 tion and the life in Jesus, becomes a fact, 
 and a truth of tremendous significance as we 
 come to realize that it means much more than 
 a mere formal assent to doctrinals about the 
 gathering again of the dust of dead bodies at 
 the end of the world. 
 
 Our next step, of course, will be to see how 
 this interpretation of hades will agree with its 
 obvious meaning in other texts, and with the 
 general teaching of the New Testament ; for, if 
 it contradicts the obvious meaning of a single 
 text or the general teaching of the Word, it must 
 be mistaken, and we may not safely adopt it. 
 Let us take next the passage in Rev. i, 17, 18 : 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 35 
 
 " I am the first and the last ; I am he that 
 liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive 
 for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of 
 hades and of death." In our translation hades 
 is rendered hell. But cm the supposition that 
 it means hell, as Gehenna, the place of the 
 finally lost, it is exceedingly difficult to see just 
 what is the obvious meaning of the text. What 
 can be the meaning of the saying, " I have the 
 keys of hell!' unless it be that Jesus pro- 
 claims himself as the custodian of hell, receiv- 
 ing lost spirits and locking them up there ; 
 or does it mean that he has conquered hell's 
 kingdom and borne off the key ? Such meaning 
 is openly repugnant to every idea of this text 
 and of the general teaching of the Word. Then 
 if hades here means lull as the place and state 
 of the finally lost, what is the obvious meaning 
 and teaching of this text ? Who can tell ? 
 But allow the term its own true meaning, the 
 whole teaching of the text is obvious. Thus, 
 Jesus proclaims himself the first and the last, 
 the Jehovah of eternity, manifested in human- 
 ity. He was dead, in that his body was cru- 
 cified and laid in the tomb, and his soul 
 descended to the place of the dead. He is 
 
36 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 alive, in that his soul was not left in hades, the 
 place of the dead, but " ascended," Eph. iv, 7, 
 10 ; and raised his body from the tomb. He 
 is alive for evermore, in that death can have 
 no more power over him, either body or soul. 
 In rising from hades he bore off the keys and 
 left its gates open evermore. The idea is that 
 of a conqueror entering a strong and well-bolted 
 fortification, its every gate locked ; such was 
 hades when under the dominion of death, and 
 to all who entered there before Jesus descended. 
 But he left its portals ajar and bore off the 
 keys ; not only so, but he has in like manner 
 conquered death and hades for all who are in 
 him. They fear neither the death of the body 
 nor hades, the abode of the dead in the spirit- 
 ual world. Thus, not only is the meaning of 
 this text obvious, beautiful, all-glorious, but also, 
 how perfectly it harmonizes with the teachings 
 of David and Pe$er already considered ! 
 
 Again, we find the term hades in the follow- 
 ing texts from Rev. xx, 12-15: "And I saw 
 the dead, small and great, stand before God ; 
 and the books were opened : and another book 
 was opened, which is the book of life : and the 
 dead were judged out of those things which 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 37 
 
 were written in the books, according to their 
 works. And the sea gave up the dead which 
 were in it ; and death and hell delivered up tfie 
 dead which were in them : and they were 
 judged every man according to their works. 
 And death and hell were cast into the lake of 
 fire. This is the second death. And whoso- 
 ever was not found written in the book of life 
 was cast into the lake of fire." 
 
 Now, allowing hades in these verses to mean 
 hell as the ultimate abode of the lost in the 
 English translation, the meaning of the. texts 
 is not obvious at all. It is exceedingly ob- 
 scure and even contradictory. What can be 
 meant by the saying, " Death and hell deliv- 
 ered up the dead which were in them ?" Can 
 it mean that hell is eventually to be abolished ? 
 compelled to deliver up the dead lost in its 
 abodes of despair ? or does it mean that they 
 are only to be given up for a time to be judged, 
 and then sent back again ? That is to say, the 
 lost who have been in hell for centuries and 
 ages, are to be brought out to judgment ; that 
 is, to determine whether works during their 
 life in this world were such as to justly con- 
 demn them and send them to hell. That is as 
 
38 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 though a civil court should condemn a man to 
 the penitentiary, and after he had been there 
 thirty or fifty years, have him brought out for 
 trial to determine whether he ought justly to 
 be there at all ! Surely there can be no such 
 transactions as that in connection with the 
 final judgment of men. And yet, what else 
 can be meant by hell delivering up the dead ? 
 And that other saying, " Death and hell were 
 cast into , the lake of fire :" what can that 
 mean f Lake of fire we know very well is 
 equivalent to Gehenna, the ultimate hell or 
 place of the finally lost. Now if hades also 
 means hell in the same sense, then verse 14 
 must teach that hell is to be cast into hell, the 
 meaning of which is not very obvious. 
 
 Now allow to hades its true meaning, the 
 place of the dead ; the place and state of all 
 the dead intermediate between death and the 
 judgment. Then the meaning is obvious that 
 all the dead come forth, or are delivered up, 
 from this hades to be judged according to 
 their works, that their ultimate state and des- 
 tiny in heaven or in Gehenna may be justly 
 determined. The meaning of the fourteenth 
 verse may be that all in hades who are under 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 39 
 
 death or in the lost state, will, after judgment, 
 be cast into hell, Gehenna, or more likely it 
 may teach that hades itself, as an intermediate 
 world, will cease ; and all that pertains to 
 death or death's dominions, either in this world 
 or the spiritual, either as affects body or soul, 
 will be abolished forever. At any rate it must 
 be obvious to any one that hades in these 
 verses can not mean hell. 
 
 Once more we find the term hades in I Cor. 
 xv, 55 : " O death, where is thy sting ? O hades, 
 where is thy victory ?" In this verse the 
 Greek is translated grave. But as this text 
 will claim full and careful consideration when 
 we come to inquire as to the true scene of the 
 resurrection, or whence the dead rise, we will 
 pass it here with the statement that the word 
 in this text can no more mean grave here than 
 it does hell in the other texts. 
 
 There is but one other text in which this 
 term occurs which demands extended exami- 
 nation in this general inquiry ; it is in connec- 
 tion with the parable of the rich man and Laz- 
 arus. But I wish to make the examination of 
 this parable the closing feature of this im- 
 portant part of our inquiry. I will next call 
 
40 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 attention to certain other texts in which oc- 
 cur terms that in the New Testament are evi- 
 dently equivalent to or cognates of this word 
 hades, and obviously with the same meaning. 
 They are the terms " paradise," " Abraham's 
 bosom," " lower parts of the earth," " under 
 the earth," the " prison," and the " deep," or 
 "abyss." These terms occur in passages 
 which, according to our English translation 
 and accepted expositions, are very obscure of 
 meaning. 
 
 Let us look at some of these : Eph. iv, 8-10 : 
 " Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on 
 high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
 unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it 
 but that he also descended first into the lower 
 parts of the earth ? He that descended is the 
 same also that ascended up far above all heav- 
 ens, that he might fill all things." This, as it 
 thus stands in our English translation, is con- 
 fessedly a very difficult passage. Its meaning 
 is not obvious. Hence the multiplicity of in- 
 terpretations scholars have given it. But with 
 these we have nothing to do ; we will simply 
 assume that the phrase "lower parts of the 
 earth," is equivalent to hades, and precisely 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 41 
 
 the same in meaning ; that is, the " under 
 world " or " place of the dead." And in this 
 assumption we are sustained by many of the 
 best scholars, who admit that in the parallel 
 texts of the Hebrew in Psalm lxiii, 10, and 
 Ezek. xxvi, 20, the equivalent term is sheol ; so 
 of course the equivalent term in the Greek 
 would be hades. But it is for us to see what 
 is the obvious meaning of the passage when 
 we read it thus : Now that he ascended, what 
 is it but that he descended first into hades ? 
 Thus understood, it is plain, 1. That Paul cor- 
 roborates the statement of Peter, Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and John, that Jesus rose from the 
 dead and ascended into the heavens. 2. Also, 
 the statement of Peter, Acts ii, 31, that before 
 he thus ascended he descended into hades ; 
 also the statement of Peter that his soul was 
 not left in hades, but the same Christ who 
 thus descended did also ascend. 3. We have 
 the additional statement that as Jesus thus 
 ascended from hades he led a "multitude of 
 captives," verse 8 — no doubt those of the 
 Patriarchal and Jewish Church who had re- 
 mained under the dominion of death in hades 
 until the descent and resurrection of Christ. 
 4 
 
42 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 Then in the tenth verse we have the glorious 
 antithesis of the death and resurrection of 
 Jesus, in the full depth and hight of their sig- 
 nificance. He (Jesus) that descended down 
 to the lower world, or hades, to the dead who 
 had gone before him-^who was thus for a time 
 in the depths of death's dominion — is the same 
 (Jesus) also that ascended up far above all 
 heavens, that he might be the fullness of all 
 things. How wonderfully does this harmonize 
 with that glorious saying of Jesus, " I am the 
 First and the Last. I am he that liveth and 
 was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, 
 and have the keys of death and hades !" Now, 
 thus rendered, is not the meaning of this diffi- 
 cult passage obvious enough and perfectly in 
 harmony with the New Testament doctrine of 
 hades in all the other texts we have examined ? 
 Next come in order those texts in which oc- 
 cur the phrase " under the earth :" " Where- 
 fore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
 given him a name which is above every name : 
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
 and things under the earth ; and that every 
 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 43 
 
 Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil, 
 ii, 9-1 1. Now as this passage reads it is not 
 obvious just what is meant by things " under 
 the earth," But when we allow " under the 
 earth " to be the same as " lower parts of the 
 earth" and equivalent to hades, then the mean- 
 ing is just the same as the text last considered. 
 The " highly exalted," the " name that is above 
 every name," verse 9, is the same as the "as- 
 cended up far above all heavens" or the " I am 
 the first and the last." Then verse 10 pro- 
 claims the absolute and universal sovereignty 
 of Jesus over all existent things in all the 
 heavens, in this earth, in hades, or the invisible 
 world of the dead. 
 
 Again, Rev. v, 3 : "And no man in heaven, 
 nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able 
 to open the book, neither to look thereon." 
 And verse 13: "And every creature which is 
 in heaven and on the earth, and under the 
 earth, and such as are in the sea, . . . 
 heard, saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory 
 . . . unto the Lamb forever and ever." 
 Allowing " under the earth " the same mean- 
 ing — hades — and the meaning of these verses 
 is obvious enough, and entirely harmonious 
 
44 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 with all the texts previously considered. The 
 third verse teaches that the future history or 
 development of Christ's kingdom in this world 
 was a sealed book to all the inhabitants of the 
 angelic world of this earth, and of the mediate 
 world of the dead. The thirteenth is a pro- 
 phetic vision of Phil, ii, 10 — the absolute 
 sovereignty of Jesus acknowledged by every 
 living being in heaven, in earth, and in the 
 mediate world. 
 
 One other passage will claim our close and 
 somewhat extended attention. It is that text 
 in i Peter iii, 18-20, which has caused com- 
 mentators so much trouble : " For Christ also 
 hath once suffered for sins, the just for the 
 unjust, that he might bring us to God ; being 
 put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the 
 Spirit. By which also he went and preached 
 unto the spirits in prison ; which sometime 
 were disobedient, when once the long-suffering 
 of God waited in the days of Noah, while the 
 ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight 
 souls, were saved by water." It is no part of 
 our task to notice, much less controvert, any 
 interpretations or creeds. But the commonly 
 received interpretation of these verses, by 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 45 
 
 which they are made to teach that Christ — 
 long before he, as Jehovah, had become the 
 Christ at all— went and preached to the sin- 
 ners of the antediluvian world through the 
 ministry of Noah, is so arbitrary — such a rare 
 specimen of theological dogmatism — that we 
 can not afford to pass it unnoticed. It is 
 simply a complete perversion of the text, which 
 completely empties the passage of its true 
 meaning, and fills it with a meaning which is 
 not expressed in the text at all. Not a word 
 is said about Noah, Christ, or any body else, 
 preaching in the days of Noah. It simply 
 says the spirits to whom Christ preached were 
 sometime disobedient, when the long-suffering 
 of God waited in the days of Noah. For a 
 masterly refutation of this most bungling exe- 
 gesis see Lange's new Commentary, which 
 also contains the best exegesis of this difficult 
 passage to be found in any commentary. Now, 
 of course the key to this whole passage is the 
 word prison (<pulaxri). What was the meaning 
 in the mind of Peter, and to what place, to 
 what spirits did he refer in the use of the word 
 here? Let us assume that the word trans- 
 lated prison is equivalent to hades t or at least 
 
46 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 a region or place of some of the dead in hades. 
 Then the passage would read thus : Because 
 Christ also suffered for sins once — a just per- 
 son on behalf of unjust, in order that he might 
 present us to God — put to death, indeed, in 
 the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in 
 which, also, he went and preached to the spir- 
 its in prison, which were disobedient formerly, 
 when the long-suffering of God was waiting in 
 the days of. Noah, while the ark was prepar- 
 ing.* Thus understood, Peter expresses pre- 
 cisely the same idea, or glorious fact, that he 
 does in Acts ii, 31 — that is, that immediately 
 after his crucifixion death in the flesh, Christ, 
 in soul or spirit, descended into the place of 
 the dead. There are variations of statement, 
 it is true, but these only bring out the great 
 fact with greater clearness. Thus in Acts it 
 is not explicitly stated that Jesus did descend 
 into hades, but that his soul was not left there. 
 But here Peter states explicitly that after his 
 crucifixion, or when put to death in the flesh, 
 he was made alive in the spirit, and went 
 to the souls in prison. And this, too, har- 
 monizes perfectly with Paul's statement that 
 
 *See Lange. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 47 
 
 "he descended into the lower parts of the 
 earth." 
 
 Another variation is in the terms Iiades, in 
 Acts, and prison in this text. These are not, 
 of course, equivalent terms. The first is the 
 place of the dead in general ; the latter is 
 some particular, or limited locality, or state 
 of some of the dead in Jiadcs. Thus in Acts 
 the descent to hades is stated in general. Here 
 it is said he went to a certain locality, or state 
 of the dead, to a certain class of the dead — 
 that is, to the prison, and to the spirits there, 
 who had been disobedient in the days of Noah. 
 That is as if you should say of a certain person 
 at one time that he had gone to England ; and 
 at another time should say he had gone to 
 visit the prisoners in the Tower of London. 
 Thus the prison is not hades, as paradise is 
 not heaven. Neither is it a place entirely dis- 
 tinct and other wheres than hades f but a place 
 or state of certain of the dead in hades. Again, 
 in Acts, it is not stated for what purpose Jesus 
 went to the dead, or why he was in hades. 
 Here it is taught he went and preached, " her- 
 aided deliverance" to the spirits in prison. 
 And in this statement is a fact from which we 
 
48 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 shrink, looking at it through the light which 
 our theologies throw upon the future destiny 
 of the dead. And here, too, the reason why- 
 theologians have refused to the word prison its 
 true meaning and locality, and have insisted 
 on locating it away over somewhere about the 
 Ark of Noah, and really make it mean noth- 
 ing, and nowhere. Of course with this teach- 
 ing of this portion of this passage we need 
 have nothing to do. We are not writing a 
 Commentary, but searching after the New Tes- 
 tament teaching concerning the place of the 
 dead. We have to do with the word prison ; 
 and we see that by allowing it to mean a place, 
 or state of the dead in hades, the meaning of 
 this whole passage is obvious enough, and 
 does truly harmonize with all the other texts 
 we have gone over. Concerning this state- 
 ment of Christ's preaching to the spirits in 
 prison I will make this remark: that Peter 
 means by it just what he says — that when Jesus 
 was in hades he did proclaim deliverance to cer- 
 tain of the dead who were in the place or state 
 of the prison. And if we can not understand 
 what this means we would better wait until 
 we can. And if we can not harmonize it with 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 49 
 
 our theological notions about the future destiny 
 of the dead, let us consider whether the Spirit 
 of God wants any such harmony, or ever de- 
 signed it. Any thing is better than to make 
 God's Word teach nonsense to harmonize it 
 with our private interpretations and dogmatic 
 platitudes. 
 
 We may next give attention to certain 
 texts in which terms are used with seeming 
 contrariety of meaning. Thus, Luke, in his 
 Gospel, chapter xxiii, 43, states that Jesus said 
 to one of the malefactors, " To-day shalt thou 
 be with me in paradise!' Peter says, Acts 
 ii, 31, that "his soul was not left in hacles, ,, 
 thus indirectly saying that he went to hades. 
 Again, in his first epistle, chapter iii, 18, he 
 says he went to preach " to the spirits in 
 prison," while Paul says " he descended into 
 the lower parts of the earth." Now, here are 
 at least very apparent difficulties, and, as the 
 texts stand in our English translation, where 
 hades is made to mean hell there are palpable 
 contradictions. Thus, it is stated that Jesus, 
 after his crucifixion, went to paradise, that he 
 was in hell, that he appeared among spirits in 
 prison, and that he descended somewhere into 
 
50 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the bowels of the earth. But these difficulties 
 vanish when we allow hades and lower parts 
 of the earth to mean one and the same place, 
 the place and state of the dead in general. 
 Then paradise, or Abraham's bosom, its equiv- 
 alent, stands for the heavenly state in hades, 
 the place and state of the righteous, the dead 
 in Christ, those who sleep in Jesus. It is, so 
 to speak, the heavenward side of hades, and 
 from whence the redeemed rise to celestial 
 paradise — 2 Cor. xii, 4; Rev. ii, 7 — after judg- 
 ment, and as they attain to the fullness of 
 eternal life. Then the prison, the abyss or 
 "bottomless pit," and equivalent terms stand 
 for the opposite place and state, the hellward 
 side, so to speak, of hades, the abodes and 
 states of the ungodly, the impenitent, and 
 from whence they descend after judgment to 
 Gehenna, the hell or lake of fire, the second 
 death. 
 
 Thus understood, the use of these terms, 
 even in our English translation, makes no 
 difficulty in our perception of the New Tes- 
 tament teaching of Christ's descent into the 
 place of the dead. We can see how he could 
 at the same time, the same day, be in hades 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. SI 
 
 and with the penitent thief in paradise or with 
 Lazarus in Abraham's bosom ; and, also, we 
 can see how, during his abode in the unseen 
 world, he could go and preach to the spirits 
 in prison. The only difficulty is the state- 
 ment of this last fact that he did so preach 
 to spirits in the other world. That is so 
 shocking to all our theological ideas of the 
 future destiny of souls, that we would rather 
 throw a cloud of obscure, far-fetched, dog- 
 matic interpretation over all these Scriptures 
 than admit this fact. But we may yet learn 
 that there are a great many more blessed 
 facts in the manifestations of the mercy and 
 love of Jesus toward a redeemed race than 
 are dreamed of in all our theologies. 
 
 Now, I know not how it appears to the 
 reader, but to my mind the explicit and har- 
 monious teaching of the Scriptures we have 
 considered concerning the place of the dead 
 is even wonderful. There is no doubt on my 
 mind. But there is yet one other Scripture 
 to which I must call your attention. It is the 
 parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 
 xvi, 19-31: "There was a certain rich man, 
 which was clothed in purple and fine linen 
 
52 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 and fared sumptuously every day: and there 
 was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which 
 was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring 
 to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the 
 rich man's table: moreover, the dogs came 
 and licked his sores. And it came to pass, 
 that the beggar died, and was carried by 
 the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich 
 man also died, and was buried : and in hell 
 he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and 
 seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his 
 bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abra- 
 ham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, 
 that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, 
 and cool my tongue : for I am tormented in 
 this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remem- 
 ber that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy 
 good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : 
 but now he is comforted, and thou art tor- 
 mented. And besides all this, between us and 
 you there is a great gulf fixed : so that they 
 which would pass from hence to you, can not ; 
 neither can they pass to us, that would come 
 from thence. Then he said, I pray thee there- 
 fore, father, that thou wouldest send him to 
 my father's house : for I have five brethren ; 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 53 
 
 that he may testify unto them, lest they also 
 come into this place of torment. Abraham 
 saith unto him, They have Moses and the 
 prophets ; let them hear them. And he said, 
 Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto 
 them from the dead, they will repent. And 
 he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and 
 the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 though one rose from the dead." 
 
 In this parable we have the whole doctrine 
 of the place and states of the dead photo- 
 graphed in a single picture by the Master 
 Artist. In the truly wonderful disclosures 
 of this parable Jesus lifts the curtain which 
 hides the beyond from the present, and gives 
 a most comprehensive view of the spiritual 
 world, the world next to this in which we 
 now live ; and, from what we have already 
 learned from other texts, we have the key 
 to this parable. In Lazarus, the beggar in 
 Abraham's bosom, we see one of the dead in 
 Christ in paradise, on the heavenward side of 
 hades, the heavenly state of the blessed dead. 
 In the rich man in torments of flame — not 
 of literal fire flames without him, but of lust 
 flames within him — we see one of the dead 
 
54 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 out of Christ, one of the lost on the hellward 
 side of hades, the abyss, quite on the verge 
 of Gehenna, the second death. And these are 
 divided by the great gulf or chasm — not a lit- 
 eral cleft or chasm, but the wide difference 
 between the moral and spiritual character and 
 state of the righteous and unrighteous in the 
 spiritual world. Thus we see the same gen- 
 eral states of human life in the world beyond 
 that we see in this ; but on the one side it is 
 lifted much nearer heaven, and on the other 
 sunk much nearer hell, so that paradise in 
 sheol must be a state of blessedness unspeak- 
 ably more heavenly than any state of life in 
 this world, and the abyss, or state of flame 
 torments, unspeakably more wretched than 
 the lowest abyss to which human life sinks 
 in this world. Moreover, the moral and spir- 
 itual separation or gulf is vastly wider, so that 
 with the good there is less of evil, and with 
 the evil less of good. So little the affinity 
 and so wide the moral separation between the 
 good and the evil that even missions of mercy 
 that might be done here can not there. But 
 our task is not an exposition of this para- 
 ble, but in a suggestive way to call attention 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 55 
 
 to the -wonderful light it throws upon the 
 place and state of the dead. 
 
 And just here I will close this directly 
 Scriptural inquiry. There are a few other 
 Scriptures which might be considered with 
 profit in this connection, but they are compar- 
 atively unimportant. As the results of the 
 above inquiry, the following truths and facts 
 are clear to my mind: 1. That heaven, as the 
 celestial paradise, or final state of blessedness 
 and eternal life ; or hell, as Gehenna, the state 
 of the finally lost — is not the place or state of 
 the dead next after they pass from this world. 
 2. That the Hebrew sheol and Greek hades, 
 with their equivalent and cognate terms, do 
 not, and can not mean anywhere in the Script- 
 ures either the grave or hell, as the place 
 of the finally lost, nor heaven. 3. That the 
 uniform and obvious meaning of hades and its 
 cognates, as used by New Testament authors, 
 is the " unseen spiritual world," the place and 
 state of the dead in general after they leave 
 this world. 4. That to the dead in Christ 
 hades is the paradisiacal state, mediate between 
 life in this world and the judgment and resur- 
 rection, and from whence they rise to heaven 
 
56 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 as they attain to the resurrection or fullness 
 of spiritual life in Christ Jesus. 5. That to 
 the ungodly or impenitent the state in hades 
 is that indicated by the abyss or prison, and 
 torments of flame. It is the opposite of para- 
 dise ; it is the mediate state between the life 
 of sin and evil in this world and the final Ge- 
 henna, lake of fire, or second death to which 
 they sink after the judgment. So that we may 
 say, in brief, that the place of the dead in gen- 
 eral next after they leave this world is clearly 
 and obviously indicated by New Testament 
 authors, by the word hades and its cognate and 
 equivalent terms. And this conclusion we 
 reach, I can safely say, without any arbitrary, 
 far-fetched, or unnatural interpretation of the 
 Scriptures. Nay more. I may say we have 
 taken some passages from the rack of dog- 
 matic exegesis, where their true meaning has 
 been wrenched out of them, and have filled 
 them with their own obvious meaning by sim- 
 ply allowing the term hades and its cognates 
 their own true meaning. And this we have 
 done, not in a dogmatical or theological way, 
 but simply in the spirit of suggestive inquiry. 
 And is there any other safe way to expound 
 
the; resurrection of the dead. 
 
 57 
 
 the Word of God? Ought any one ever to 
 come to it in any other spirit than in entire 
 dependence upon the Spirit of God which 
 wrote the Word, and which alone can interpret 
 the Word to any mind ? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HADES CONTINUED — TEACHINGS OF SCHOLARS — OF PHILOS- 
 OPHY AND HISTORY. 
 
 AFTER the extended Scriptural inquiry of 
 the last chapter, we might rest the con- 
 clusions reached concerning the place of the 
 dead, on their purely Scriptural basis. But 
 this is a question of very great interest and 
 importance to the Christian mind, especially 
 at this time. And as we make no pretensions 
 to learning or scholarship whatever, it may be 
 well to see what scholars say of this matter ; 
 not that scholars are really any better fitted 
 simply by their learning to interpret God's 
 Word. They may even thereby be less so, for 
 the real spiritual things of the Word are often- 
 times hid from the wise and prudent and 
 revealed unto babes. But we know how cus- 
 tomary it is in all such things to depend upon 
 58 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 59 
 
 and be governed in our opinions by the say- 
 ings of the learned, so that many might not 
 listen to the teachings of the New Testament 
 on this subject as allowed to speak in our hum- 
 ble inquiries until they hear what the Doctors 
 say! and possibly, but too many will wait to 
 inquire what do our Doctors say ? 
 
 Mr. Olshausen, in his commentary on the 
 parable of the rich man and Lazarus, says of 
 hell or hades, " the dwelling-place of souls 
 when unclothed from the body, is termed in 
 the Scriptures hades — sJicol ; n and with special 
 reference to the sinful individuals who are 
 found in this place, "abyss, hell, ox prison" 
 while with reference to the pious it is styled 
 " Abraham's bosom — paradise." Although 
 separated from each, yet all souls while waiting 
 the resurrection, are assembled in this place, 
 only in a different state of felt joy or suffering 
 according as they have devoted themselves to 
 good or evil, and in different gradations of feel- 
 ing according to the degree of their spiritual 
 development. 
 
 Dr. Trench, in his notes on the same para- 
 ble (p. 379) says, " in hell*' or in hades rather, 
 for as Abraham's bosom is not heaven, though 
 
CO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 it will issue in heaven, so neither is hades hell, 
 though it will issue in it when death and hades 
 shall be cast into the lake of fire which is the 
 second death, or proper hell. Rev. xx, 14. 
 
 Dr. Krapp, in his theology (Vol. II, p. 604) 
 says, " This place was denominated by the He- 
 brews, sheol — by the Greeks, hades, the word 
 by which the LXX always translate sheol. 
 Neither of these is used in the Scripture to sig- 
 nify exactly the grave, still less, the place of the 
 damned ; nor are they used in this sense by any 
 of the Fathers in the first three centuries." 
 
 Dr. George Campbell, in his dissertations on 
 the Gospels, has in Vol. I, (p. 179,) a treatise 
 on the terms Gehenna and hades, doubtless 
 the most critical and able in the English lan- 
 guage. On page 180 he says of hades, " The 
 corresponding word in the Old Testament is 
 sheol, which signifies the state of the dead in 
 general, without regard to the goodness or 
 badness of the persons, their happiness or 
 misery. In translating that word the LXX 
 have almost invariably used hades." Again, 
 on page 1 87, he says the word grave, or sepul- 
 cher, never conveys the full import of the He- 
 brew sheol or the Greek hades. Again, on page 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 6l 
 
 191 he says, " So much then for the literal sense 
 of the word hades, which, as has been observed, 
 implies neither hell nor grave, but the place or 
 state of departed souls." 
 
 Dr. Lange, in his comment on Luke xvi, 
 says, " Hades is the general designation of the 
 abode of departed spirits." And throughout 
 his truly learned and able Commentary, this 
 specific, obvious meaning of hades and of its 
 cognates is uniformly and distinctly observed 
 and stated. 
 
 Dr. Whedon, in his notes on Luke xvi, says, 
 " In hell, or hades, or the great unseen ; that is, 
 the invisible place, or region of disembodied 
 spirits." 
 
 This list of names and quotations might be 
 indefinitely extended. But why do so ? These 
 are sufficient to show that the New Testament 
 teaching concerning the place and state of the 
 dead has not escaped the notice of some of the 
 most able scholars and Biblical expositors of 
 the world; and for those who want learned 
 opinion to lean upon, this is sufficient. If they 
 will not hear these, neither would they hear 
 though a thousand more were added to them. 
 
 There is a philosophical argument in favor 
 
62 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 of such a place and state of the dead as the 
 New Testament teaches ; not an argument of 
 mere speculative philosophy, but of the philos- 
 ophy of human life, resting upon the well-known 
 facts of human life and human character in 
 this world. Human life is a moral compound 
 not pure ; human character is a mixed char- 
 acter, neither absolutely good nor bad, but a 
 blending of the two. In the best and purest 
 there remain some elements of evil, and in the 
 worst may be found some remains of good. 
 An absolutely bad, evil, or pure and good life 
 and character you may not find in this world. 
 And this is so until the moment of death. 
 Then must not the place and state beyond be 
 such as the moral and spiritual state of human 
 character is fitted for as it leaves this world ? 
 These facts would lead us at least to suppose 
 that the destiny of souls immediately after death 
 can not be heaven, the celestial paradise, or hell, 
 as the second death. Of the ultimate heaven 
 we must suppose a place of absolute good and 
 purity ; no possible shade or spot of sin or evil 
 can pertain to life or character there ; a state, 
 too, of full maturity and development in spirit- 
 ual divine life. So, too, on the opposite must 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 63 
 
 we suppose hell to be a place and state of 
 absolute evil and badness, where no possible 
 element of good or purity can enter or remain ; 
 a state of absolute spiritual death. Now we 
 may suppose the possibility of some human 
 souls at death being either so absolutely good 
 and pure, so fully matured in the fullness of 
 the divine spiritual life in Christ Jesus, as to be 
 fitted to pass at once to the ultimate heaven ; 
 or so absolutely bad and evil, so utterly dead 
 spiritually, as to pass at once to Gehenna. I 
 say we can suppose such a fact in human life 
 and destiny ; it may possibly be so — we do n't 
 know. But we do know that such can not be 
 the case with the mass of human character 
 and life ; therefore the commonly expressed 
 conception of the theological and Christian 
 mind that heaven or hell is the immediate des- 
 tiny of souls at death can not be true, simply 
 because souls are not fitted for such destiny. 
 True, we are taught in one of the old cate- 
 chisms that souls of believers are at death 
 made perfect in holiness and received to glory. 
 But where is there authority for such teaching? 
 Death is no soul-purifying process ; no divine 
 life-giving or life-developing process, but sim- 
 
64 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 ply a transition. It is absurd to suppose that 
 the man, a spiritual infant at death, is a full- 
 grown spiritual man in Christ Jesus imme- 
 diately after death. The man is doubtless the 
 same as to his spiritual life and moral charac- 
 ter after death that he was before. Equally 
 unfounded and unfortunate is that conception, 
 the logical sequence of most all our teaching 
 on this subject, that souls at death go imme- 
 diately to heaven or hell, but at judgment and 
 resurrection return again to this earth to re- 
 ceive their bodies, be judged, and return again 
 to heaven or hell to realize a greater complete- 
 ness of bliss or depth of misery. There is so 
 much that is crude, unphilosophical, and even 
 absurd about such conception, that it would 
 be waste of time to consider it. How much 
 more philosophical and in harmony with com- 
 mon sense, to suppose that for all human be- 
 ings as they leave this world there is provided 
 a world with states and conditions just suited to 
 the mixed, imperfect, and undeveloped states 
 of their lives and character, where they will 
 be judged, where they will be fitted for their 
 still higher destiny in heaven — and to which 
 tJicy rise as they attain to the resurrection of 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 65 
 
 the dead ; or from whence they will pass to 
 their deeper death in Gehenna as their evils 
 become absolute ! That such conception of 
 the destiny of the dead, and of hades, the place 
 of the dead, is in harmony with the Scriptures, 
 is at least clear to my mind. 
 
 There is one other consideration on this 
 subject deserving a moment's thought. It 
 may be termed the historical argument. It 
 rests upon the fact that the doctrine of hades 
 as an intermediate world was held very gener- 
 ally by the primitive Church succeeding the 
 days of the Apostles. True, this fact alone 
 does not prove the doctrine true. At least I 
 am not one of those who believe that the doc- 
 trine and faith of the primitive Church were 
 any more infallible than the Church now. No 
 doubt the early Fathers held and taught a 
 great many notions and doctrines as unreason- 
 able and as absurd as we do now. But this 
 fact is of great importance, as it shows what 
 was the understood sense of these terms in 
 the days next the Apostles. Dr. Knapp, as 
 we have already seen, says this word hades 
 was not used in the sense either of hell or 
 the grave by any of the Fathers during the 
 
66 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 first three centuries. And Dr. Shedd, in his 
 History of Christian Doctrines, says the doc- 
 trine of an intermediate state not only main- 
 tained itself, but gained in authority as late 
 as the seventh century. After that period, 
 and during the dark ages, when the whole 
 Church became apostate, this doctrine was 
 perverted into the absurd and abominable doc- 
 trine of the Roman Catholic purgatory, which 
 transformed the New Testament hades and in- 
 termediate state into a kind of ecclesiastical 
 limbo, where souls were exposed to all imagin- 
 able sufferings, and from which they were to 
 be delivered by the prayers and money — espe- 
 cially the money — of their pious friends. So 
 that buying souls out of purgatory became an 
 extensive commerce in the fallen Church, and, 
 to some extent, continues to this day. At the 
 rise of the Reformation, this doctrine of pur- 
 gatory, with its absurd and pernicious results, 
 constituted one of the leading abominations 
 of the Roman Church ; and, in order to put 
 this pernicious doctrine out of the Church, no 
 doubt Luther and his coadjutors allowed their 
 disgust and zeal to go too far. Hence the 
 translation -of hades grave and hell. Thus, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 6j 
 
 instead of reforming the abuse of the truth, the 
 truth itself has well-nigh been lost to the Chris- 
 tian Church. Other translators have followed, 
 and even our own English translation has done 
 the same. True, it has swept all foundation 
 for a purgatory out of the New Testament, but 
 at the same time it has well-nigh swept out of 
 it the most important truth concerning the 
 place and state of the dead ; so that the 
 teaching and faith of the Protestant Church 
 are exceedingly dim and shadowy concerning 
 the state of the dead after they leave this 
 world. For some it is a state of unconscious 
 existence — a sleep of both body and soul until 
 the resurrection. To others it is an eternal 
 sleep. Others seem to have the conception of 
 a shadowy existence of mere ghosts. Many 
 seem to speak of it as a state in which the 
 personality of the dead is rent in twain — the 
 soul somewhere in the skies, and the body, still 
 an essential part of the personal being, some- 
 where in the dust. And the fullest realization 
 reached by any is that immediately after death 
 the souls go either to heaven or hell, and must 
 remain there to the last day of this world, 
 when they will return again to thfe world, to 
 
68 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 receive their bodies again, and then return to 
 renew their life in heaven or hell. 
 
 And not until we return to the true New 
 Testament teaching of the place and state 
 of the dead, will we find a rational and satisfy- 
 ing realization to our faith. Not until then do 
 we realize by faith that the dead who have left 
 us are still persons — real, substantial, spiritual 
 persons — and that they have reached a sub- 
 stantial spiritual world, with abodes or states 
 just suited to their conditions of spiritual life, 
 and with all the conditions of their spiritual 
 development, until they attain the resurrection, 
 and rise to the fullness of eternal life in the 
 heavens, or sink to the abodes of eternal death, 
 accordingly as they pass the judgment, and as 
 their life in this world was in Christ, who is 
 the Life, or was without him. A brief inquiry 
 concerning the personality of the dead will 
 close this chapter. Our metaphysico-theolog- 
 ical teaching on this subject is exceedingly 
 shadowy. It gives us the idea of a personal 
 existence, without body or parts — a mere 
 ghostly existence, in which personality must 
 consist in little else than certain psychical 
 proper ties-*-so that it is worth while to look 
 
TH-E RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 69 
 
 closely to the Word to see what conception it 
 helps us to, and in what tangible properties it 
 clothes the personality of the living dead : 
 
 " And as touching the dead, that they rise ; 
 have ye not read in the book of Moses, how 
 in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am 
 the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 
 and the God of Jacob ? He is not the God 
 of the dead, but the God of the living: ye, 
 therefore, do greatly err. ,, Mark xii, 26, 27. 
 
 "And it came to pass, about an eight days 
 after these sayings, he took Peter, and John, 
 and James, and went up into a mountain to 
 pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his 
 countenance was altered, and his raiment was 
 white and glistering. And behold, there talked 
 with him two men, which were Moses and 
 Elias: who appeared in glory, and spake of 
 his decease which he should accomplish at Je- 
 rusalem." Luke ix, 28-31. 
 
 "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember 
 me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And 
 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
 To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." 
 Luke xxiii, 42, 43. 
 
 "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multi- 
 
70 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 tude, which no man could number, of all na- 
 tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
 stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
 clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
 hands : and cried with a loud voice, saying, 
 Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels 
 stood round about the throne, and about the 
 elders and the four beasts, and fell before the 
 throne on their faces, and worshiped God, 
 saying, Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wis- 
 dom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
 and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. 
 Amen. And one of the elders answered, say- 
 ing unto me, What are these which are arrayed 
 in white robes ? and ^whence came they ? And 
 I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he 
 said to me, These are they which came out of 
 great tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
 and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 Therefore are they before the throne of God, 
 and serve him day and night in his temple : 
 and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell 
 among them. They shall hunger no more, 
 neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun 
 light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb 
 
TIJE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 71 
 
 which is in the midst of the throne shall feed 
 them, and shall lead them unto living fount- 
 ains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes." Rev.vii,9-i7. 
 
 "And after these things I heard a great 
 voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alle- 
 luia : Salvation, and glory, and honor, and 
 power, unto the Lord our God." Rev. xix, i. 
 "And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are 
 they which are called unto the marriage-sup- 
 per of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, 
 These are the true sayings of God. And I fell 
 at his feet to worship him. And he said unto 
 me, See thou do it not : I am thy fellow- 
 servant, and of thy brethren that have the 
 testimony of Jesus : worship God : for the tes- 
 timony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 
 Rev. xix, 9, 10. "And when he had opened 
 the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls 
 of them that were slain for the word of God, 
 and for the testimony which they held : and 
 they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 
 O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 
 and avenge our blood on them that dwell on 
 the earth ? And white robes were given unto 
 every one of them ; and it was said unto them, 
 
J2 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 that they should rest yet for a little season, 
 until their fellow-servants also and their breth- 
 ren, that should be killed as they were, should 
 be fulfilled." Rev. vi, 9-1 1. 
 
 These passages might be extended. What 
 is the conception of the personality of the 
 dead which they obviously suggest ? Thus, 
 God is the God of the living, not of the dead. 
 And who are the living dead here mentioned ? 
 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob — not the ghost or in- 
 corporeal souls of these patriarchs, but them- 
 selves. The disciples saw on the Mount two 
 men. Jesus said to the penitent thief, "Thou 
 shalt be with me!' The rich man in hades 
 saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, not the 
 ghost of Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham's 
 ghost. And of the rich man it is said "he 
 lifted up his eyes," etc. And John says of the 
 redeemed, the great multitude, they had palms 
 in their hands, white robes. He heard their 
 voices as many waters. They stood on the 
 Mount Zion before the throne. They follozv 
 the Lamb. And he fell at the feet of the 
 Glorious One to worship him. Yet he was 
 one of the redeemed, one of the prophets. 
 And even the souls under the altar cried out 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 73 
 
 with a loud voice, and robes were given unto 
 than, etc. 
 
 Now, it would be difficult for language to 
 be used in expressing the idea of personality 
 more absolutely than in these verses. How 
 like real, organized, personal beings are the 
 dead thus introduced to us ! And so mani- 
 festly is the New Testament idea of the per- 
 sonality of the dead that of real, substantial, 
 personal human beings, even in corporeal 
 form, that even when the more psychical 
 terms soul or spirit are used it is rather to 
 distinguish the spirituality of the dead from 
 the materiality of the living than to convey 
 the idea of incorporeal, psychical existence. 
 6 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy 
 victory ?" 
 
 OUR inquiry will now be concerning the 
 local scene of the resurrection, or the 
 place whence the dead rise, and in what will 
 consist the ultimate glorious and triumphant 
 victory of the final resurrection. According 
 to the literal interpretations and theological 
 teachings generally accepted, that scene is to 
 be on this earth, the dead are to rise out of 
 the literal graves, and the ultimate glorious 
 triumph is to consist in raising the very last 
 moldering body out of the earth. But is it 
 certain that such is the teaching of the Word 
 itself, or is it more the teaching of human 
 theologies ? Does it rest on the Word, or on 
 the human interpretation of the Word ? Let 
 us pursue this inquiry in the light of a few 
 representative passages of the Word. 
 74 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 75 
 
 " So when this corruptible shall have put 
 on incorruption, and this mortal shall have 
 put on immortality, then shall be brought to 
 pass the saying that is written, Death is swal- 
 lowed up in victory. O death, where is thy 
 sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" I 
 Cor. xv, 54, 55. These verses contain the 
 whole theme of present inquiry, and just what 
 they teach is determined by the meaning Paul 
 expresses by the words death and grave. Are 
 these terms to be limited to physical death 
 and to the earthly grave of the body? Was 
 this Paul's idea? Why, then, did he use the 
 term hades, and for what reason is that term 
 here translated grave and nowhere else in the 
 New Testament ? and why should it be here 
 turned aside from its uniform meaning wher- 
 ever used in the New Testament ? Is it not 
 certain that Paul had the very same idea in 
 the use of the term here that Matthew, Luke, 
 Peter, and John had as they use it, and that 
 he means the same by hades here that he 
 does by the "lower parts of the earth," and 
 " under the earth," and the abyss — Romans 
 x, 7 — that is, the place of the dead previous 
 to their resurrection, the place whither Christ 
 
?6 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 descended and whence he arose ? Now, what 
 reason can be given for changing and limiting 
 the uniform meaning of this word to grave in 
 this text ? I can think of no reason but to 
 harmonize this passage with the literal idea 
 of the resurrection of the dead from the earth. 
 By what authority is that allowable ? Then 
 let us give to hades here its own full, uniform 
 meaning. Then the meaning of this passage 
 goes far beyond mere physical death and the 
 grave in the dust ; then this prophetic shout 
 of triumph means much more than victory 
 over the sting of bodily death and the dust 
 grave of the fleshly body. It extends to the 
 dominion of death in the under world or great 
 unseen. It locates the scene of the resurrec- 
 tion there. It proclaims an ultimate triumph 
 over the last and uttermost power and of 
 death, that victory which began with Christ, 
 who first triumphed over death and hades, and 
 which is to end at his coming by the resurrec- 
 tion from hades of all the dead " in Christ." 
 And thus is made plain the teaching of the 
 context. In verse fifty is taught that " flesh 
 and blood" — or the earthly body — can not 
 inherit the kingdom of God, neither comiption 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. JJ 
 
 inherit incorruption. Verse fifty-one teaches 
 that at the consummation, the coming of 
 the Lord, the dead will be raised " incor- 
 ruptible" — that is, in spiritual, incorruptible 
 bodies — and the then living, who will " not 
 sleep" or attain to spiritual, incorruptible 
 bodies through death and resurrection, will 
 be changed, will drop their earthly, corrupti- 
 ble bodies and be clothed with their spiritual 
 in a "moment." When this corruptible shall 
 have " put on incorruption," when we who 
 are alive at his coming and will not die 
 have dropped our earthly houses — I Cor. xv — 
 or bodies and have put on our incorruptible, 
 heavenly bodies, when all the dead in Christ 
 are raised out of hades in their incorruptible, 
 spiritual bodies, then the shout of glorious tri- 
 umph will rise, " O death, where is thy sting ? 
 O hades, where is thy victory?" Now, is it 
 not plain that this means much more than 
 the calling up of dead bodies from the grave, 
 and is it not plain that the real scene of the 
 rising of the dead is located in the spiritual 
 world ? The dead are tJiere, not in the grave, 
 and from thence they rise, not from the earth. 
 The only earthly scene of the final resurrec- 
 
7$ SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 tion is to be the changing of those alive in the 
 body. And the final consummation and glori- 
 ous triumph of the resurrection will reach to 
 the absolute abolishment of death, and of the 
 dominion of death, not only in body but in 
 soul, not only on this earth but in hades ; and 
 in view of such a consummation and of such a 
 triumph, well may we say with Paul, "Thanks 
 be to God which giveth us the victory through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ; ;" especially if we con- 
 sciously realize that he is now to us the " resur- 
 rection and the life." 
 
 Another passage is identical in meaning with 
 this. It is Rev. xxi, 13, 14: "And the sea 
 gave up the dead which were in it ; and death 
 and hell delivered up the dead which were in 
 them : and they were judged every man accord- 
 ing to their works. And death and hell were 
 cast into the lake of fire. This is the second 
 death." This, too, is doubtless a prophetic 
 vision of the final consummation of the resur- 
 rection of the dead. John discloses the very 
 same scene that does Paul in the passage con- 
 sidered above. And where is the scene lo- 
 cated, and of what does it consist ? According 
 to our translation it is located in hell. Thus, 
 
'the resurrection of the dead. 79 
 
 death and hell gave up the "dead which were 
 in them." Thus, according to the literal and 
 commonly received interpretation, Paul is 
 made to locate the scene of the final glorious 
 resurrection triumph in the grave, and makes 
 it consist in the literal rising up of dead bodies 
 from the dust ; while John is made to locate 
 the same triumph in Jicll, and makes it consist 
 in the delivering up of the dead out of hell. It 
 were difficult to tell which of these is the 
 widest of the truth, and which it were best to 
 accept. But, fortunately, we need accept 
 neither. We have already seen in the pre- 
 vious consideration of this passage, that hades, 
 unfortunately translated hell, must be allowed 
 its own true and uniform meaning, the mediate 
 place and state of the dead ; then its teaching 
 in this connection is plain enough. It is that 
 at the final consummation of the resurrection 
 all the dead will be raised from the mediate 
 state ; thus death and hades will deliver up 
 the dead, and death and hades will be cast 
 into the lake of fire. That is the complete 
 and everlasting triumph over death, and 
 death's dominion will be achieved. And this 
 is precisely what Paul teaches, and precisely 
 
SO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the same victory of immortality over death 
 over which he utters the prophetic shout of tri- 
 umph — perfect harmony between them. They 
 both locate the scene of the resurrection in the 
 spiritual world, and both make it consist in the 
 rising of all the dead from hades, and the utter 
 abolishment of death and death's dominion. 
 But it may be urged that the saying in verse 
 13, "the sea gave up the dead which were in 
 it," teaches that the scene of the resurrection 
 is located on this earth and is to consist in the 
 raising of dead bodies from sea and land. But 
 if we insist on a literal interpretation of sea, 
 here, and of the term dead as meaning literally 
 dead bodies in the sea, then the dead must 
 have the same meaning elsewhere in the pas- 
 sage, thus : " Death and hell gave up the dead 
 bodies which were in them : and I saw the dead 
 bodies, small and great, stand before God : and 
 the dead bodies were judged," etc. There is 
 certainly a difficulty here, but I leave it for the 
 consideration of such as insist on a literal in- 
 terpretation of such passages in support of a 
 literal resurrection of dead bodies from the 
 earth and the sea. There is one other passage 
 from John which must be considered in this 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 8 1 
 
 connection ; it is from his Gospel, ch. v, 28, 29 : 
 " Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in 
 the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
 his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have 
 done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and 
 they that have done evil, unto the resurrec- 
 tion of damnation/' This passage is doubtless 
 linked in meaning with that of Paul and the 
 other of John just considered. It predicates 
 the same general resurrection consummation ; 
 but at first view it would seem to widely differ 
 in meaning from either. It seems to predicate 
 the resurrection of those in the graves, and thus 
 place or locate the scene of the resurrection 
 on or in this earth, and limit it to the rising of 
 the bodies of the dead. This appears from the 
 fact that the term graves is used in our trans- 
 lation, and because the term hades is not used 
 in the Greek, but pvq/ula, which properly means 
 monuments, or tombs, or sepulchers. This 
 form of statement would seem to have no ref- 
 erence whatever to hades, or to the rising of 
 the dead therefrom. But I think a careful 
 study of the text will show that its full mean- 
 ing and spirit can not be reached by a close or 
 even free literal interpretation thereof. Hence 
 
82 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 our inquiry must be, what is the///// meaning 
 of this passage taken both in its letter and 
 spirit? In thus quoting from Jesus, the Great 
 Teacher, what did John mean to express by 
 this language? It is pretty safe to assume 
 that the full meaning of this text will be found 
 in one of three interpretations : I. That it 
 predicates the resurrection literally and exclu- 
 sively of the bodies, the earthly bodies of the 
 dead from the literal tombs or graves. 2. That 
 it predicates the resurrection of the dead as 
 persons, both soul and body, from the literal 
 earthly tombs or graves. 3. That it predicates 
 the resurrection of the dead, as persons, from 
 hades, the place of the dead in general, using 
 the term graves by metonymy for hades. 
 
 The first is compassed about with very great 
 difficulties, and it seems impossible to limit the 
 full meaning of the text to such interpretation. 
 There is a philological difficulty; thus, in the 
 use of the relative pronoun they. In the Greek 
 it is 7:d>T£<; 6t } all wJw, evidently agreeing with 
 vttpoi understood ; and would read, all the dead 
 who are in the graves. But this can not be 
 limited in meaning to bodies, for then* the 
 Greek would have to be ndvra, to agree with 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 83 
 
 (Tajiiara ; then is it plain that they, *r4vrt< »f, can 
 not refer to (rwimza y or bodies, but to vsx/W, the 
 dead. And we have already seen that the 
 dead, in its general New Testament use, can 
 not be limited to mean body, or bodies, but to 
 the dead as persons ; so then, according to the 
 plain construction of the Greek text, the resur- 
 rection is not predicated of all the bodies in the 
 graves, but of all the dead as persons who arc in 
 the graves. But again, it said they, JMbrtc •/, 
 shall "hear his voice" — shall come forth — they 
 that have done good and tJicy that have done 
 evil, etc. Now how could hearing the voice of 
 God be predicated of the dust in the graves ? 
 Besides, what proportion of the bodies of the 
 dead are in graves at all ? and how could doing 
 good or doing evil be predicated of the dust of 
 dead bodies ? is such dust the subject of moral 
 accountability ? what good or evil did ever mere 
 flesh and bones do, even whei! alive ? Then is 
 it not plain that the whole teaching of these 
 verses can not be limited to the bodies of the 
 dead in the graves ? Therefore the strictly lit- 
 eral interpretation can not be true, because it 
 does not bring out the full, true meaning of 
 either the letter or spirit of the text. It really 
 
84 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 empties it of meaning and really makes it teach 
 absurdities. 
 
 Then, is the true meaning to be found in the 
 second interpretation ? which is, that it predi- 
 cates the resurrection of the dead as persons 
 from the literal earthly graves. That it does 
 predicate the Jiearing and coming forth of the 
 dead as persons, and not of dead bodies, is no 
 doubt true ; but are they literally to hear in 
 the earthly graves and come forth out of the 
 earth ? 
 
 If so, then it must follow that the literal 
 graves in the earth must be the place and state 
 of the dead, body and soul ; there must they 
 abide, body and soul, during the intermediate 
 state between death and the resurrection, and 
 not in hades, as elsewhere uniformly taught in 
 the New Testament. There, in the literal 
 earthly graves, must be the paradise where 
 went Lazarus, and Christ, and the penitent 
 thief; there the hell or place of torment 
 where went the rich man, and all who have 
 done evil ; and there now in the earthly graves 
 must be all the dead ; for it is in the graves 
 where the voice is to be heard. And how shall 
 they hear if they be not in the graves ? But 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 85 
 
 it is said by one,* " the meaning is not that 
 the souls of the dead are nozv in the graves, 
 but that just previous to the resurrection they 
 will return to re-iufuse the bodies ; and thus be 
 ready to hear the voice and come forth in en- 
 tire manhood, men and women !" Indeed ! 
 But is not this downright assumption ? Where 
 is there a word or verse in the whole New 
 Testament which even hints at this return of 
 souls from heaven or hell to re-infuse the dust 
 in the graves ? Then the idea of " men " and 
 "women" waiting there under ground to hear 
 the literal voice of Jesus ! Manifestly the true 
 meaning of these verses can not be reached in 
 this ; they do not predicate the resurrection of 
 the dead in the literal graves, because the dead 
 are not there. The plain, uniform teaching of 
 the New Testament is, that the dead are in 
 the spiritual world, not in the earth, and com- 
 mon sense teaches the same. Then let the 
 graves be understood as figurative, as used by 
 metonymy for the place in general of the dead. 
 Then the meaning is, the hour is coming in 
 which all the dead throughout the whole do- 
 minions of death and hades, shall hear the 
 
 *Cal. C. Advocate. 
 
86 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth 
 in the final resurrection, they that have done 
 good to the resurrection of life ; they that have 
 done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. 
 Thus understood, the teaching is precisely the 
 same as that of John in Rev. xxi, and the mean- 
 ing is the same with that of Paul in i Cor. xv, 
 S4» 55 ; and it perfectly harmonizes with the 
 preceding context. In verses 21 and 26, Jesus 
 announces that he is endowed with the life- 
 giving power; in verses 24, 25, he declares the 
 hour is now come when all the dead that hear 
 his voice shall live. By the dead here is meant 
 those who are alive in the body — alive intellect- 
 ually but dead spiritually — destitute of divine 
 life. By their living is meant that they shall, 
 by spiritual regeneration, be made partakers 
 of his Divine spiritual life. Then he says, 
 " Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming 
 when all the dead in the graves shall hear his 
 voice ;" that his power over death shall extend 
 throughout the dominions of death ; and even 
 they who are in the graves or utmost domin- 
 ion of death, but have done good while living, 
 shall have a resurrection unto life. And as 
 judgment is committed unto the Son, verse 22, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 8? 
 
 he will also bring forth to judgment the dead 
 who have done evil. Thus the harmony with 
 the context is complete. Moreover, thus un- 
 derstood, these texts harmonize with the gen- 
 eral teaching of the New Testament concerning 
 the resurrection of the dead. 
 
 Thus it would seem that the resurrection of 
 the dead, as stated in general in the New Tes- 
 tament, implies, 1st. The real personal exist- 
 ence of the dead after the dissolution of the 
 material bodily existence in this world. 2d. 
 The rising of the dead from hades to judg- 
 ment, and a subsequent glorious existence in 
 heaven; or of misery in Gehenna. 3d. To the 
 dead in Christ, the rising from the dead in 
 hades implies a deliverance to the uttermost 
 that death by sin has reigned over them, either 
 in body or soul, and their attaining ultimately 
 to the fullness of everlasting life in Jesus. 
 Hence the general New Testament teaching 
 of the resurrection and the life is not con- 
 cerning the future rising of dead bodies from 
 the earth, though it includes both the idea 
 and the fact of a bodily resurrection. And to 
 this particular and interesting feature of the 
 general subject we next direct inquiry. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 "But some man will say, how are the dead (ol veKpoi) 
 raised up? and with what body do they come?" i Cor. 
 xv, 35- 
 
 WHAT do New Testament authors teach 
 directly concerning the resurrection 
 of the bodies of the dead, or concerning a 
 corporeal resurrection ? Do they teach that 
 the earthly bodies of the dead will at some 
 future time be raised out of the earth, and be 
 changed into the spiritual corporeality of the 
 risen saints ? For in this part of the subject 
 inquiry will have no reference to the resurrec- 
 tion of the wicked whatever. On this subject 
 New Testament authors are almost silent. I 
 find but two passages which can be under- 
 stood as teaching any thing concerning the 
 resurrection of the wicked — Acts xxiv, 15; 
 John v, 29. In these it is expressly taught 
 there will be a resurrection of the "unjust," 
 and that they that have done evil shall come 
 88 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 89 
 
 forth to the resurrection of damnation. The 
 general and almost exclusive teaching on the 
 resurrection is in connection with Jesus, the 
 "resurrection and the life," and is predicated 
 of those " in Christ" Especially is this so in 
 this fifteenth chapter of Corinthians. The 
 teaching is exclusively of the dead in Christ. 
 Hence our inquiry is specifically concerning 
 the resurrection of the earthly bodies of the 
 dead in Christ. I shall use the term earthly, 
 or earthy, exclusively in this connection. The 
 reason therefor may be found in 2 Cor. v, i, 2, 
 and 1 Cor. xv, 47-49. Earthly expresses all 
 that is included in "natural" "mortal" "cor- 
 ruptible," "weak," "dishonored," and "fleshly." 
 All these characteristics of the Adam body are 
 included in its earthiness. Moreover, it is of 
 the earth, and turns to earth again. Now is 
 it obviously taught in the New Testament 
 that these earthly bodies, which turn to dust, 
 mingle in the ten thousand combinations of 
 matter, will be at some future time " re-infused 
 by their returning souls" or by the miraculous 
 power of God raised again from the earth, and 
 transformed into the glorified spiritual bodies 
 of the risen saints of God ? I am not ignorant 
 7 
 
gO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 of the import of this inquiry, nor indifferent 
 as to its possible consequences. To most or- 
 thodox Christians it may seem nothing less 
 than "calling in question what the Christian 
 world regards as a cardinal article of faith, 
 founded on the Word of God." Not that the 
 faith of the whole Christian world rests upon 
 a fleshly resurrection ; but no doubt to the 
 faith of the great body of Christians the resur- 
 rection of the dead m.eans little or nothing 
 more than the future rising of the fleshly 
 bodies of the dead from the graves. And even 
 the glorious spiritual doctrine of the "resurrec- 
 tion and the life" in yesns seems to mean but 
 little else. Of course inquiry must now be 
 strictly confined to the Scriptures which ob- 
 viously and specifically speak of a corporeal 
 resurrection — for we have already seen that 
 the general term dead, so uniformly used in 
 connection with the resurrection, can not be 
 limited in meaning to body or bodies — so that 
 the resurrection of the dead does not mean 
 the same thing as the resurrection of bodies. 
 From the general use of this term it is not 
 obviously or specifically taught whether the 
 dead rise with bodies at all — much less that 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 91 
 
 they rise with the same earthly bodies which 
 returned to dust. The inquiry concerning the 
 bodily part of the resurrection must be an- 
 swered by specific, direct teachings of the 
 Word — especially the inquiry, Do the dead 
 rise with the same earthly bodies which have 
 mingled with the earth for centuries? — or 
 must the dogma of such a resurrection be in- 
 sisted on as an article of Christian faith, and 
 a test of theological orthodoxy, whether ob- 
 viously taught in the Word or not ? That 
 would be simply clothing the theological sense, 
 or human interpretation of the Word, with all 
 the Divine authority of the Word itself; the 
 which we are but too prone to do. But better 
 infinitely let our belief rest on the specific 
 teachings of the Word or have less belief. 
 Then let us search carefully for the Scripture 
 teachings concerning the resurrection of the 
 body. And we will commence with the fifteenth 
 of Corinthians ; for if anywhere in the New 
 Testament is taught the resurrection of the 
 earthly body, it is in this chapter. The cor- 
 poreal feature of the general question of the 
 resurrection of the dead is first specifically 
 mentioned at the thirty-fifth verse. It is in 
 
92 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the form of an anticipated or already uttered 
 objection to the general fact of the rising of 
 the dead: "But some man will say, How are. 
 the dead (vtxfiofy raised up ? and with what 
 body (<rd>/j.a) do they come ?" 
 
 This objection would very naturally arise 
 ill the minds both of the materialistic and 
 the speculatively philosophical. And to those 
 urging it this was no doubt a very plausible 
 objection, just as it is .to the same class of 
 minds now. It rests upon the apparent fact 
 that death seems to operate the entire destruc- 
 tion of the body — not only its disorganization, 
 but its very particles are utterly dissipated, 
 are lost in other combinations of matter, min- 
 eral, vegetable, and animal. But recently the 
 friends of Roger Williams went to remove his 
 remains from their humble grave, but when 
 opened it was found that his body had been 
 actually absorbed by the forked roots of an 
 apple-tree which had been planted near the 
 head of his grave, and scarcely a single par- 
 ticle of his remains could be identified. To 
 minds not rising above the merely material- 
 istic view of such facts there is force in the 
 objection, How are the dead raised up? How 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 93 
 
 can they live again after death? What body 
 will they have ? And if we limit the whole fact 
 of the resurrection of the dead to the future 
 raising up of earthly bodies thus absorbed and 
 utterly lost in the ten thousand combinations 
 of matter, there are difficulties which can be 
 met or overcome only by a faith or belief which 
 takes refuge in a future miracle. But by care- 
 fully following Paul's philosophy in answer to 
 this objection we will see not only the force 
 of it broken, but all the difficulties which it 
 suggests dispersed, and without waiting for 
 a future miracle. But before considering his 
 great argument let us pause here a moment 
 to consider his use of the terms dead and 
 body in this verse. 
 
 How manifest the distinction with which 
 he uses the terms, and how marked the dis- 
 tinction in the meaning as he uses them ! 
 Thus, " How are the dead (of vexpo!) raised up, 
 and with what body (<rd>/za) do they come ?" 
 Now, can these two terms, by any possible 
 rendering or exegesis, be made identical in 
 meaning? Is it possible to limit the dead 
 (vexpoi) to mean bodies ? Then the verse 
 would read, But how are the bodies raised 
 
94 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 up, and with what body do they (the bodies) 
 come ? which simply makes nonsense. And 
 equally impossible is it to fill the term <Tw/ia 
 with the meaning of the dead. It means sim- 
 ply the corporeal part of the dead, just as it 
 does when applied to the living. Living men 
 or persons takes in the whole idea of person- 
 ality, while the body simply means the corpo- 
 real part of the personality. Just so the dead 
 (<n vexpot) takes in the whole idea of personal 
 being, while aw/ia is limited to the corporeality 
 of the dead. Can there be any question that 
 such is Paul's meaning in the use of these 
 terms ? And in such use he is in harmony 
 with the uniform and general iisas loquendi of 
 the New Testament, and this verse is a key to 
 the whole doctrine of the resurrection so far 
 as the use of these terms is concerned. And 
 the twofold teaching of the verse is, I. That 
 the dead do rise or are raised ; 2. That they 
 come forth with bodies ; so that the resurrec- 
 tion is not simply psychical, or the rising of 
 the soul, nor is it simply corporeal, or the 
 future rising of the body from the grave. But 
 we return now to Paul's argument in answer 
 to this objection. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 95 
 
 I will give the text as translated by Lange : 
 " Fool, that which thou sovvest is not quick- 
 ened [made alive] except it die ; and that 
 which thou so west, thou sowest not that body 
 which shall be ; but bare grain, it may chance 
 of wheat or some of the other grains. But 
 God giveth it a body as he willed, and to 
 every seed his own body/' Verses 36-38. 
 Of course, we are to look at this argument 
 first in the light of the natural facts here 
 stated. Well for us when we come to realize 
 more fully that the facts written for us in 
 God's own book of nature will generally give 
 us a clearer and more rational commentary of 
 his written Word than the speculations and 
 dogmas of men, especially when put forth in 
 support of some cherished creed. What are 
 the facts here stated? 1. You sow in the 
 earth a grain body, perchance of wheat or 
 other grain. It dies, but as it dies it is 
 quickened, or comes forth alive in another 
 form. 2. The body you sow is not the body 
 that rises, but a new form is born out of 
 its disorganizing elements ; yet, retaining the 
 identity of the old, to every seed his own body. 
 3. Co-etaneous with the death of the old is the 
 
g6 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 birth of the new form ; as the one begins 
 to die the other begins to be made alive. 
 4. Death is not the destruction of the life 
 of the grain body, but the essential condition 
 of its coming forth in another form. Are not 
 these natural facts every-where manifested in 
 the multiform and wonderful transformations 
 constantly taking place in the bodily forms of 
 vegetable and insect life ? And do not all 
 these facts converge in the establishment of 
 one grand fact, that death is not the destruc- 
 tion, but the law of transition in the forms 
 of such, so that the death of the old is the 
 essential condition of its rising in a new form ? 
 What does St. Paul teach by these facts ? Did 
 he simply mean in a figurative way to tell some 
 man he was a fool for calling in question the 
 future literal resurrection of flesh and bones 
 from the earth at the end of the world ? 
 About that is all he is allowed to teach by 
 most dogmatic interpreters of his words. But 
 does he not in reality teach us that these nat- 
 ural facts have their corresponding, analogical, 
 spiritual facts in the death and quickening of 
 the human body, so that the death of the 
 body is the essential condition of its being 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 97 
 
 made alive in another form ; that the body that 
 dies is not the body that shall be, but a body ; 
 that as the body dies it is quickened or made 
 alive in another form ? But, that we may not 
 seem to overstrain the points of the analogy, 
 let us get at the one strong, clear point in this 
 answer to this objection to the resurrection of 
 the dead. Is it not this — that death is not 
 the destruction of the body, but the established 
 law and essential condition of its transition to 
 a JiigJicr, more heavenly, and spiritual form ? 
 Except it die it is not quickened. So far, 
 then, from death being an objection to the 
 rising of the dead, it is but the essential con- 
 dition of their being unclothed of their earthly 
 body, and of being clothed upon of their spir- 
 itual body, just suited to their begun life in 
 the spiritual world, and in which they rise to 
 the higher heavens as they attain to the full- 
 ness of the resurrection and the life. That 
 such is the philosophy of Paul's answer to 
 this objection may be seen still more clearly 
 at verses 42-44 : " So also is the resurrection 
 of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is 
 raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor, 
 it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, 
 
98 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 it is raised in power: it is sown a natural 
 body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is 
 a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." 
 The teaching of these verses concerning the 
 resurrection of the body is very full and ex- 
 ceedingly suggestive ; more so, perhaps, than 
 any other passage in the New Testament. 
 They indicate the time, the order or manner of 
 the quickening, and the essential difference be- 
 tween the substantial quality and glory of the 
 risen body over that of the earthly from which 
 it is born or quickened ; and if anywhere in 
 the New Testament the future rising from the 
 earth of the earthly body is taught, it is in 
 these verses. And the whole question must be 
 determined by the obvious, unforced, unwarped 
 meaning of the antithetical phrases " it is sown" 
 " it is raised!' That it, throughout these verses, 
 refers to the earthly body, and is immediately 
 linked with the a&iLa of verse 35, no one will 
 question. And that " is sown " and " is raised " 
 relate directly to the dissolution and quicken- 
 ing, or " making alive," of the earthly body is 
 equally certain and unquestionable. What 
 then is obviously meant by " it is sown" as 
 predicated of the body? Does it mean its 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 99 
 
 burial in the earth, its decomposition, its 
 mingling again with the dust until the last 
 day ? Does it take in all this process, reach- 
 ing through all this long, long lapse of time 
 between the death of the body and the last 
 day ? And is this its specific and only mean- 
 ing, so that no other meaning can be ex- 
 pressed ? "// is raised!' Does this mean that 
 in the future, at the last day, the dust particles 
 of the earthly body will be gathered again and 
 raised from the grave ? And is this its specific 
 and only meaning ? Then the inquiry is set- 
 tled ; the future rising of the earthly body from 
 the grave is taught in the New Testament, and 
 must be accepted as an article of faith. But 
 is this so ? Is such the specific, obvious, and 
 only meaning of these important phrases, or 
 do they express any such meaning at all ? 
 
 1. The verbal construction of the letter of 
 the text expresses no such meaning, nor can 
 such meaning be obtained therefrom without 
 changing the verbal construction. Thus it is 
 sown, it is raised ; but to express the meaning 
 of a future rising long after death, it needs to 
 read thus : it is sown, it will be raised ; it is 
 sown a natural body, it will be raised a spir- 
 
 OF THc > 
 
 UN\\ 
 
 SJTY 
 
IOO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 itual body ; there is a natural body, there will 
 be a spiritual body. But the text is, it is sown, 
 it is raised ; there is a natural body, there is a 
 spiritual body, present tense, which obviously 
 links the fact of the sowing and the rising of 
 the natural and the spiritual body closely to- 
 gether in point of time ; for it will not do to 
 assume that the present tense on the one 
 side is used figuratively or rhetorically for the 
 future, because the present tense is uniformly 
 used by Paul throughout this chapter; thus, 
 " How say some among you that there is no 
 resurrection ? But if there be no resurrection." 
 If this be claimed as subjunctive future, refer- 
 ring to the resu'rrection as an event of the fut- 
 ure, then it must be the same in the next verse, 
 " And if Christ be not risen." The tense is the 
 same in each. Why should one be claimed as 
 present and the other future ? Again, " Whom 
 he raised not up if so be that the dead rise 
 not." "For if the dead rise not, then is not 
 Christ raised." " What advantageth it me if 
 the dead rise not ?" " How are the dead raised 
 up; with what body do they come?" It is 
 sown, it is raised ; there is a natural body, there 
 is a spiritual body. The only exception in this 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. IOI 
 
 chapter where the present tense is not used is 
 verse 52, where he says, "And the dead shall 
 be raised incorruptible." This refers to the 
 dead in Christ who still remain in hades at the 
 coming of Christ, and will attain the resurrec- 
 tion just before those then living are changed. 
 And not only in this chapter is this order ob- 
 served in the letter of the Word. Thus, Mark 
 says, as touching the dead, that "they rise" 
 " Now that the dead are raised" Luke xx, 37; 
 " As the Father raiseth up the dead," John v, 
 21;" But in God which raiseth the dead," 2 
 Cor. i, 9. 
 
 Now it certainly can not be claimed that in 
 all these texts the present tense is used rhe- 
 torically with a future significance. And to 
 make the New Testament teach that the resur- 
 rection is to be a fact wholly of the future, it 
 would be necessary to change the grammatical 
 construction and sense of a majority of the 
 texts in which the fact is stated. The key to 
 this use of the present and future tense, this 
 referring to the resurrection as a fact of the 
 present and also of the future, this saying that 
 the dead rise y are raised, and that the dead 
 shall be raised at the end of the age or coming 
 
102 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 of Christ, is found in the twenty-third verse 
 of this fifteenth chapter: "But every man in 
 his own order!' 
 
 Manifestly then these verses do not obvi- 
 ously teach in their letter that the rising of 
 the body is to be an event long future, centuries 
 after the sowing. No such idea is even hinted 
 at. But they do obviously and explicitly teach 
 that it is raised. Moreover, such meaning does 
 violence to the essential idea of Paul's analog- 
 ical illustration, which is that as the body dies 
 it is raised or made alive in a new form of cor- 
 poreal life. Thus, " it is sotvn" is obviously 
 linked with the sowing of the grain body in 
 verses 36, 37. As the grain body is sown and 
 dies, it is quickened, made alive ; so as the 
 earthly body is sown it is raised. But where 
 are the obvious points of analogy? and what 
 are the spiritual facts connected with the resur- 
 rection of the earthly body, which correspond 
 with the sowing and quickening of the grain 
 body ? Must they be looked for in the burial 
 of the body in the grave, in its decomposition, 
 and the future gathering again of its dissipated 
 particles, and their transformation into a spir- 
 itual body ? But what correspondence can 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 103 
 
 there be between the sowing of the grain body 
 in the earth and the burying of a dead body in 
 the grave ? The grain body is a living body ; 
 it contains within its womb the germinal ele- 
 ments of a new form of corporeal organism and 
 an operative life principle, ready, of its own 
 dynamic power, to mold these germinal ele- 
 ments into a new body as the old dies. How 
 this is done, or just what that life principle is, 
 we can not tell. But the fact we do know. It 
 is taught us by every grain that dies in the 
 earth and every new form of life which springs 
 up from its womb. But the human earthly body 
 is dead ; decomposition has commenced ; not 
 even a germinal element of life remains, nor a 
 possible principle of life. Its decomposing 
 particles are at the mercy of the dynamic forces 
 of the life principles of other forms of life, and 
 are soon taken up and appropriated by these 
 into the corporeal organisms of vegetables, and 
 animals, and men, unless indeed it be true 
 that an impalpable germ, or mysterious life 
 principle, somehow inheres or remains in the 
 dissipated particles of the disorganized earthly 
 body through all their changes and transfor- 
 mations, and will eventually combine them in 
 
104 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 a resurrected body. But such a notion is true 
 neither according to the teachings of reason, 
 science, common sense, nor the Word of God. 
 Then there is no correspondence in fact what- 
 ever between the sowing in the earth of a liv- 
 ing grain body, and the burial in the grave of 
 an earthly body, dead and dissolving before it 
 is buried. The body, then, can fitly correspond 
 only with the hulls of the grain body after it 
 has been quickened. 
 
 Again : sowing in the earth pertains to the 
 grain body, because it is the essential con- 
 dition of its death and quickening; otherwise 
 it would remain alone. But can this be true 
 of the earthly body? Do its organic laws 
 of death and life require that the decomposing 
 mass should be planted in the earth, that cen- 
 turies after it may vegetate into a spiritual 
 body? Might we not rather expect stalks 
 of wheat or barley, and full-grown ears, from 
 the sowing in the earth of the old hulls of 
 grain bodies after they have died and been 
 quickened ? But it may be urged that the 
 future rising of the body from the grave does 
 not depend upon the conditions or laws of or- 
 ganic life, but will be accomplished by the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 105 
 
 miraculous power of God. Hath he not power 
 to do it ? 
 
 But where has he ever said he would put 
 forth such power, or that he would ever per- 
 form such a miracle as that? And what au- 
 thority have we for putting the rising of the 
 body in the category of miracles ? What au- 
 thority in reason, Revelation, or consciousness, 
 for teaching that he will thus operate, in dis- 
 regard of the organic laws of life in the human 
 body, even in its resurrection, any more than 
 he does in the resurrection of the grain body ? 
 Moreover, in the supposed fact of the future 
 resurrection of the body, centuries after it is 
 sown, there is no correspondence in fact with 
 the sowing and making alive of the grain 
 body. In it these are co-etaneous — the mo- 
 ment it begins to die the inner life principle 
 begins to quicken and take hold on the germs 
 it will use in constructing its new form of cor- 
 poreal organism. And as the death and dis- 
 solving of the old body progresses, so does the 
 making alive in the new form assume organic 
 shape. And as the old loses its identity, and 
 disappears, up rises the new, and to each grain 
 
 his own body, Now, is it not plain and ob- 
 8 
 
106 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 vious enough that the essential points of anal- 
 ogy, or correspondence, in this teaching of 
 Paul, are to be found between the death and 
 making alive of the grain body and the death 
 and rising of the earthly body? Thus it is 
 sown in death, in corruption or corrupting ; it 
 is raised or quickened, made alive, incorrupt- 
 ible ; it dies in dishonor, dishonored by the 
 dominion and pollutions of sin ; it dies in 
 weakness, from diseases and sufferings ; it dies 
 a natural, an animal body of gross matter, flesh 
 and bones ; it is raised in honor, in power ; it 
 is raised a spiritual body. Thus there is a 
 dying animal body : there is a rising, spiritual, 
 incorruptible, immortal, glorious body. Thus 
 the distinct, obvious points, brought out by 
 Paul are these : 1st. As the grain body is sown 
 and dies, so is the body sown in death. 2d. 
 As the grain body that dies is quickened or 
 made alive, so is the body raised. 3d. As 
 with the grain body, not that body is sown 
 which shall be; so the body that dies is not 
 the body that rises, but an immortal, glorious, 
 spiritual body — ^orn, so to speak, out of the 
 earthly, deriving its organic elements there- 
 from, and perfectly preserving its identity. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 107 
 
 But to this view of the text it may be ob- 
 jected that "sown," derived from the Greek 
 (Txzifju), is never used in the New Testament in 
 the sense of death or dying. True ; and neither 
 is it ever used in the sense of bury or burial. 
 Hence the question is, which of these mean- 
 ings is most in harmony with the obvious 
 sense of the text, and with the corresponding 
 facts of Paul's analogical argument? To my 
 mind at least the real analogue is between the 
 dying and quickening of the grain body and 
 the dying and raising of the earthly body. 
 And if any fault there be in this view it is in 
 limiting the sowing of the body to the hour or 
 day in which it dies ; for, in fact, the earthly 
 body is in the correspondent state of the grain 
 body in the earth, during all the time of the 
 earthly life. It may be said the body is sown 
 when it is born into its state of mortal exist- 
 ence. Like the grain body in the earth it is 
 really dying during all its earthly existence ; 
 so that the article of death is but the end 
 of the mortal state, or dissolution process, 
 which precedes the rising of the immortal 
 spiritual body. But let us not forget that our 
 main inquiry just now is not a question of 
 
108 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 words or interpretation of words. But does 
 Paul in this chapter explicitly teach the future 
 resurrection from the grave of the earthly 
 body ? Is such the teaching of these verses ? 
 Do they obviously and explicitly teach that 
 the very earthly body, or its material particles, 
 are at the last day to be gathered again, and 
 raised an immortal, glorious spiritual body, or 
 do they teach any thing whatever concerning 
 the future resurrection of the earthly body ? 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ST. PAUL'S ARGUMENT— CONTINUED. 
 
 "And so it is written, The first man, Adam, became a 
 living soul — the last Adam a quickening (life-giving) spirit. 
 Howbeit, that was not first which was spiritual, but that 
 which is natural (animal), and afterward that which is spirit- 
 ual. The first man was of the earth, earthy; the second 
 man is from heaven. As was the earthy, such are they, also, 
 that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are they, also, 
 that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the 
 earthy, we will wear (or let us wear) the image of the heav- 
 enly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood can not 
 inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit 
 incorruption." I Cor. XV, 45-50, Langis text. 
 
 TO a superficial view the bearing of this 
 passage upon the resurrection of the 
 body may not appear. J3ut a careful study of 
 it in immediate connection with the passages 
 already considered, will not fail to discover 
 that its teaching is very direct and explicit in 
 that direction. The author first introduces 
 the two Adams — the original parents of our 
 twofold humanity — the earthly, natural, and 
 
 109 
 
IIO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the heavenly, spiritual. The general relation 
 of these two Adams to our humanity is more 
 fully indicated by the author in Romans ch. v. 
 His teaching here is that the first Adam was 
 made, or became a living soul ; but was of the 
 earth, earthy, natural, animal. The last Adam 
 was from heaven, a quickening, or life-giving 
 spirit. The first Adam became a living soul 
 only through the reception of the inbreathed 
 Divine life, Gen. xi, 7. And had he continued 
 in living, receptive union with God, he and 
 his race would have attained eventually unto 
 the fullness of immortality and Divine spir- 
 itual glorification, soul and body. But this 
 union being severed, he became the head, or 
 parent, of a humanity merely natural, animal, 
 earthly, and subject to sin and death. Such 
 is our humanity without God. To lift it from 
 this low plane of earthiness and animality, of 
 sin and death, up to the actual realization of 
 spiritual, Divine life, and glorification of both 
 soul and body, comes the last Adam, the 
 second man, the Divine human Christ, as the 
 head or parent of the new humanity. Not as 
 the first, merely a life-receiving soul, but a 
 life-giving spirit, the Divine life-giver, having 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. Ill 
 
 in himself the perfect and perpetual union of 
 the Divine and human, and "power continually 
 to beget this divine, spiritual life, in others ;" 
 "so that as the second Adam he becomes the 
 representative and head of a humanity, spirit- 
 ually and divinely glorified, by virtue of hav- 
 ing glorified human nature in himself by the 
 power of the Divine Spirit, in a life of sin- 
 less purity, and his resurrection triumph over 
 death." Thus " he became henceforth, in his 
 newly quickened and glorified corporeity, the 
 Divine organ for that life renewal, that quick- 
 ening of the dead, which reaches its ultimate 
 realization in the quickening or raising of the 
 body." 
 
 Thus, according to Paul's teaching, we are 
 to accept Christ as the second Adam, as the 
 divine, life-giving power in our humanity, not 
 only as having glorified and raised to the 
 fullness of divine, spiritual life the Adam 
 humanity as assumed by himself, but as act- 
 ually imparting to us and exerting in us this 
 life-giving power. Now, the question is, does 
 this quickening, divine life-power* extend to 
 the earthly body? Does the author in this 
 teaching include the fact of the spiritual 
 
112 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 quickening and glorification of the earthly 
 body? That he certainly does directly refer 
 to the body in this connection is manifest. 
 To what else can he refer by the " image of 
 the earthly," "corruption," " flesh and blood?" 
 And by changing the image of the earthly for 
 the image of the heavenly, and inheriting or 
 entering the kingdom of God in incorruption, 
 what can be meant but the spiritual glorifica- 
 tion of the body ? And by the " image of the 
 heavenly," " incorruption," what can be meant, 
 but the glorified spiritual body? To my per- 
 ception, at least, it is very clear that Paul both 
 teaches the glorification of the body and that 
 it is to be quickened and glorified through the 
 divine, life-giving power of Christ. A most 
 vital fact is this, underlying the whole ques- 
 tion of the future life of the body. And this 
 fact is overlooked by every theory of the res- 
 urrection of the body which I have ever exam- 
 ined ; and in this is found the fatal defect in 
 the two leading theories, the psychical and 
 the literal, material. The one seems to over- 
 look entirely the fact of the glorification of 
 the body, and seems to see only the rising at 
 death of a body, a psychical or spiritual body 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. II3 
 
 which has in some way inter-existed in the 
 earthly. It allows the natural body no part 
 in the resurrection at all. But such does not 
 seem to be Paul's philosophy. His idea seems 
 to be that it is in some sense the earthly body 
 that is raised. // is sown, it is raised, so that 
 the immortal, spiritual body is no more an- 
 other body, absolutely distinct from the nat- 
 ural, than is the regenerate, sanctified soul 
 another soul, absolutely distinct from the nat- 
 ural soul. Somehow the one is born out of 
 the other. How this is we can no more tell in 
 the one than in the other. The fact is all we 
 have to do with. The other can see a bodily 
 resurrection in nothing that does not in some 
 way operate the gathering up of the dust of 
 dead bodies from the earth. It does allow, 
 indeed, that Christ may have somewhat to do 
 with the quickening of the body, but it can 
 only be by exercising his miraculous power 
 in gathering up its dust particles at the end 
 of the world. It denies that he can have 
 any thing to do with it before death, or at 
 death, or soon after death. It seems to have 
 no perception of the fact that the indwelling 
 divine life-power can or does reach even to the 
 
114 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 mortal body, imparting to it the embryo of its 
 new, immortal, spiritual form. It denies the 
 possibility of death being but the birth of a 
 higher form of corporeal life. It insists on 
 leaving the body under the absolute dominion 
 of death for ages before it can have a resur- 
 rection. But such is not St. Paul's philoso- 
 phy. His idea is that the divine, life-giving 
 power of the indwelling Christ does operate 
 the glorification of our humanity, both soul 
 and body. This was truly so of the Adam 
 humanity as personally represented in Christ. 
 In him that humanity was divinely glorified, 
 soul and body, and it was only through such 
 glorification that he became the divine life- 
 power to raise that humanity in us out of its 
 fallen state. Now, that Christ as the life-giv- 
 ing spirit does, through spiritual regeneration, 
 beget in the natural soul the new, divine life, 
 called elsewhere by Paul the "new man," the 
 "inner man," the "spiritual man," is perceived 
 and believed by the Christian mind generally. 
 But why is it not perceived that thi§ new man 
 in Christ Jesus, this new spiritual humanity, 
 must include both the idea and actuality of a 
 body? Must not the regenerate spiritual man 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 115 
 
 in Christ, the second Adam, have a spiritual 
 body as truly as that the old, natural man in 
 Adam has a material, earthly body, so that 
 spiritual regeneration as truly includes the 
 fact of a spiritual body as that natural gener- 
 ation includes the fact of a material, natural 
 body ? And must it not be true that this spir- 
 itual body does in some sense find its embryo 
 within the natural body, so that it is first that 
 which is natural, afterward that which is spir- 
 itual ? Then we may safely assume that the 
 life-giving spirit does extend in its regenerat- 
 ing power even to the mortal, natural body. 
 That this is St. Paul's idea seems to be very 
 clearly indicated at Romans viii, 10, II. 
 
 Next we may inquire as to the time and 
 order of this quickening or making alive of 
 the mortal body. Is it to be accomplished in 
 no other way than by the miraculous gather- 
 ing again of the earthly dust at the end of 
 time and fashioning of it into a spiritual body 
 suddenly, without regard to the laws of either 
 natural, psychical, or spiritual life ? Come 
 from where it may, sustained by whom it 
 may be, such a conception of the quickening 
 and future life of the body can not be found 
 
Il6 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 in the teachings of St. Paul or of the whole 
 New Testament. Paul's teaching manifestly 
 is that it is by or because of his Spirit which 
 dwelleth in you that the mortal body is made 
 alive. It is by the begetting or implanting 
 within it the germ principle or embryo of its 
 new, immortal, heavenly form, so that the 
 death of the old becomes but the full condi- 
 tion of the birth of the new. 
 
 This conception is thus finely stated by a 
 modern commentator. Speaking of the death 
 and corruption of vegetable bodies as the con- 
 ditions of new forms of life, he says : " Essen- 
 tially the same process occurs in the resur- 
 rection of the dead. Corruption is only the 
 dissolution of that which was the result of a 
 previous vital development, in order that the 
 germ of a new body which was included in the 
 inmost kernel of the old, may break forth and 
 unfold itself into a new and living organism." 
 So that the death and dissolution of the earthly 
 body are but upward steps in the regenerate 
 order of man's corporeal life. It is being 
 changed from the image of the earthly natural 
 into the image of the heavenly spiritual — from 
 corruption into incorruption. It is a giving 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. II7 
 
 back to the kingdom of matter the flesh, bones, 
 blood, and other elements which evermore be- 
 long to it, and which can not enter into the 
 kingdom of God. " Now this I say, brethren, 
 that flesh and blood can not inherit the king- 
 dom of God: neither doth corruption inherit 
 incorruption. Behold I shew you a mystery : 
 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 
 changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
 eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall 
 sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrupti- 
 ble, and we shall be changed. For this cor- 
 ruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
 mortal must put on immortality. So when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
 then shall be brought to pass the saying that 
 is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 
 O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where 
 is thy victory ?" 
 
 Once more. The teaching in these verses 
 is concerning the bodily state of those who 
 should be alive on the earth at the end of the 
 age and full revelation of the Lord, and final 
 consummation of the rising of the dead in 
 Christ from hades. They of course would not 
 
Il8 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 attain to the resurrection of the body, because 
 they would not die. The consummation will 
 come upon them finding them still in the image 
 of the earthy — still abiding in the earthly 
 house. What shall they do ? In verse 50, 
 Paul teaches very clearly Xh^t flesh and blood 
 (the earthly body) can not enter the kingdom 
 of God. That is, the spiritual, heavenly, glo- 
 rious state on which redeemed humanity is to 
 fully enter at the coming of the Lord and after 
 the general resurrection. That is a state for 
 which the earthly body is wholly unsuited. 
 Corruption can not inherit incorruption, verse 
 50 ; that is, a state of incorruptible everlasting 
 life to which mortal corporeality can not rise. 
 All who have reached that state are the chil- 
 dren of the resurrection. They have been 
 raised from the earthly into the spiritual, have 
 dropped the image of the earthy and have 
 risen in the image of the heavenly. Then 
 what shall we do who are in the earthly ? " Be- 
 hold, I shew you a mystery ; we shall not all 
 sleep (or die), but we shall all be changed!' 
 We who shall be alive will not attain to the 
 image of the heavenly by having the earthly 
 put off through death, but we shall be changed 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I 1 9 
 
 suddenly ; this corruptible, this mortal, shall 
 fitt on incorruption, and this mortal immor- 
 tality ; so we shall enter the kingdom of God, 
 the glorified heavenly state, the New Jerusa- 
 lem, with the dead who shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible in the spiritual bodies, the heavenly, 
 with which they were clothed upon at death. 
 Then, ivJicn this corruptible has put on incor- 
 ruption, this mortal immortality ; when we 
 who are alive at his coming have dropped 
 the image of the earthly and been clothed in 
 the heavenly ; when the dead are raised in the 
 same incorruptible bodies from hades, then 
 shall rise that triumphant shout from the whole 
 redeemed humanity, O death, where thy sting? 
 O hades, where thy victory ? 
 
 But not losing sight of our main inquiry, let 
 us consider what these passages last examined 
 teach concerning the future resurrection of the 
 flesh. If anywhere in these verses the future 
 resurrection of the body is taught it must be 
 in verse 52, "the dead shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible." For, manifestly the teaching else- 
 where is concerning those who should be alive 
 at the trump sounding. And just what is 
 taught in this verse must depend upon the 
 
120 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 meaning of the dead. Must we allow to ol 
 vexpot its uniform New Testament meaning, or 
 must we limit it to mean the bodies of the 
 dead, so that it would read, " and the bodies, or 
 dead bodies, shall be raised incorruptible ?" 
 Inquiry may be assisted here by a parallel 
 passage in which Paul substantially restates 
 the very same thing, i Thess. iv, 14, 15 : " For 
 if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
 even so them which sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with liim. For this we say unto you by 
 the word of the Lord, that we which are alive 
 and remain at the coming of the Lord shall not 
 prevent them which are asleep, .... and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first." Now of whom 
 or of what does Paul speak ? Who or what 
 is meant by them, the dead in Christ ? etc. 
 Does Paul mean the earthly bodies of the 
 dead ? Is it as though he should say, " Even 
 so the dead bodies which sleep in Jesus will 
 God bring with him ; we which are alive shall 
 not prevent the dead bodies which sleep in 
 Jesus ; and the dead bodies in Christ shall rise 
 first, and the dead bodies shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible." What can be meant by God bring- 
 ing dead bodies with him when he comes to 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 121 
 
 raise the dead and change the living ? From 
 whence would he bring them ? Now is it not 
 manifest that to fill the term dead in these 
 texts with the meaning of awpa, or body, de- 
 stroys their meaning? But allow it its true, 
 full New Testament meaning, and the teach- 
 ing is plain enough. At the coming of Christ 
 at the time of the great awakening to life and 
 immortality, the dead in Christ will be raised 
 from hades in persona propria, incorruptible in 
 the spiritual bodies with which they were 
 clothed at death suited to their individual state 
 or development in spiritual life as they entered 
 the place of the dead. And the living (in 
 Christ) shall be changed, clothed upon with 
 the same spiritual, incorruptible corporeity 
 through the sudden operation of the quicken- 
 ing spirit of Christ ; and together they shall 
 enter the new order, the heavenly state of the 
 redeemed humanity. 
 
 Now, however it may seem to you — to my 
 perception there is nothing in the letter or 
 spirit — in a single verse or the continued con- 
 nection of this most grand argument, which 
 teaches the future resurrection of the flesh ; 
 that is, of any portions or particles of the 
 9 
 
122 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 earthly body which, after death, enter into the 
 general circulation of matter. But concerning 
 the resurrection of the body it teaches me that 
 in this earthy state is implanted within the 
 mortal body, by the regenerative operation of 
 " the life-giving spirit," the germ of its new 
 immortal, spiritual, and heavenly life and im- 
 age, so that death is but the condition in the 
 order of developing life through which the 
 body rises to its new and higher order of im- 
 mortal, spiritual life, so that the dying person, 
 whatever his state of regenerate spiritual life, 
 is clothed upon at death with a spiritual body, 
 born out of the earthy, and just suited to the 
 state of existence on which he enters in hades, 
 and in which he will rise from the dead when 
 he attains to the resurrection and the life in 
 Jesus. And such a view of the resurrection is 
 to me a very glorious one. 
 
 It may be well to consider in this connec- 
 tion the more detached portions of the Word 
 in which the <rajf±a, or body, is mentioned — 
 whether they will harmonize with the teaching 
 of this chapter. At Romans viii, n, we read: 
 " But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus 
 from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 123 
 
 Christ from the dead shall also quicken (or 
 make alive) your mortal bodies by (or because 
 of) his Spirit, which dwelleth in you." This 
 passage is generally understood to have direct 
 reference to the resurrection of the body. But 
 what manner of bodily resurrection does it 
 teach ? When and how is the mortal body 
 to be made alive? Does it teach a long, fut- 
 ure raising of the same mortal body from 
 the grave? — that the life-giving. Spirit is to 
 quicken it by dwelling in the dust, or by com- 
 ing to the earth to make it alive again at the 
 end of time ? Surely it teaches nothing of the 
 kind. But it does teach that the mortal bodies 
 of believers shall be made alive because of the 
 life-giving Spirit which dwelleth in than. How 
 plain is this when we understand it as teach- 
 ing that the indwelling, regenerating Spirit 
 extends in its life-giving operation even to the 
 mortal body, begetting within it the germ of 
 its immortal, spiritual form! And how per- 
 fectly it harmonizes with the previous teach- 
 ings of i Cor. xv ! At verse twenty-three, 
 in this same chapter, we read : "And not only 
 tJuy, but ourselves also, which have the first 
 fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan 
 
124 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 within ourselves, waiting for the adoption (to 
 wit) the redemption of our body." By the re- 
 demption of the body does the author mean 
 its future resurrection from the earth, or does 
 he mean the same that he does at verse 1 1 ? 
 That he does mean the latter will be more 
 fully apparent as we come to consider his teach- 
 ing at 2 Cor. ch. v. Again: Phil, iii, 20, 21, 
 " For our conversation is in heaven : from 
 whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ : who shall change our vile body, 
 that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious 
 body, according to the working whereby he is 
 able even to subdue all things unto himself." 
 This teaching refers directly to those who 
 should be alive at the coming of the Lord, 
 alluded to in verse 20. And the change here 
 spoken of corresponds to that of 1 Cor. xv, 
 52, 53, and 1 Thess. iv, 14-18. But suppose 
 the change to be predicated of those who die 
 in Christ. When and how is the vile body to 
 be changed ? Can it be possible that Paul 
 means to teach that Christ at his coming will 
 gather up the material particles of their dead 
 bodies, and fashion them into the likeness of 
 his own glorious body ? Surely not. By the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 125 
 
 working whereby he is able to subdue all 
 things unto himself, what can be meant but 
 the operation of the Divine Spirit dwelling in 
 the natural man, and ultimating in the im- 
 mortal glorification of even the vile body, fash- 
 ioning it after his own glorious body ? 
 
 Once more : 2 Cor. v, 1-8, " For we know 
 that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
 were dissolved, we have a building of God, an 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly de- 
 siring to be clothed upon with our house which 
 is from heaven : if so be that being clothed we 
 shall not be found naked. For we that are in 
 this tabernacle do groan, being burdened : not 
 for that we would be unclothed, but clothed 
 upon, that mortality might be swallowed up 
 of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the 
 self-same thing is God, who also hath given 
 unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore 
 we are always confident, knowing that, whilst 
 we are at home in the body, we are absent 
 from the Lord : (for we walk by faith, not by 
 sight :) we are confident, I say, and willing 
 rather to be absent from the body, and to be 
 present with the Lord." 
 
126 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 To me it does seem that the perfect har- 
 mony of this most suggestive passage with all 
 that St. Paul elsewhere teaches must be ap- 
 parent at a glance. But we will consider it a 
 moment. The key to the meaning of the 
 whole passage is found in the specific meaning 
 of the figurative terms used in the first verse. 
 And by the earthly house of this tabernacle, 
 or tent-dwelling, what can be meant but the 
 earthly body ? By the dissolving of this house, 
 or taking down this tent, what can be meant 
 but the death or dissolution of the body ? And 
 by the building of (or from) God, not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens, what can 
 be meant but the immortal, heavenly, spiritual 
 body, set forth in the strongest possible figu- 
 rative contrast with the earthly mortal body? 
 In this strong, figurative language, the author, 
 as saith Neander, " is here speaking of a higher 
 heavenly organ, to contain the soul, instead of 
 the earthly body." And what can that organ 
 be but the new spiritual, immortal, glorious 
 body, of which the author speaks at I Cor. 
 ch. xv? Thus understood, the teaching of 
 this whole passage, otherwise obscure, is plain 
 enough. It speaks of life in this world in the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 27 
 
 body as a temporary tent-dwelling in the 
 " earthly house," " tabernacle," a u being bur- 
 dened," "groaning," "absent from the Lord." 
 The idea is that of one staying in temporary 
 discomfort in a tent, or inferior dwelling, wait- 
 ing for the completion of a more substantial 
 and splendid mansion for a permanent abode. 
 It speaks of death as a "dissolution of the 
 earthly house," as being unclothed, and clothed 
 upon, absent from the body, present with the 
 Lord. It is a passing, or rising out of the 
 earthly, mortal, corruptible body, and being 
 clothed upon of the heavenly, immortal, in- 
 corruptible, spiritual body, mortality (or the 
 mortal part) swallowed up of life! Is not this 
 the obvious, unforced meaning of this passage? 
 And I ask, in all candor, does such teaching 
 give any foundation whatever for the com- 
 monly received theological notions that death 
 is the rending in twain of soul and body — that 
 the soul must go somewhere, an unclothed, 
 formless, bodiless ghost — that it must wait for 
 ages before it can have a body, and must then 
 return again to this earth to find it? It is 
 manifestly his teaching that the soul, or 
 spirit-man, the real man, is not unclothed, 
 
128 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 but clothed upon. He changes one body for 
 another. The dissolution of his earthly house 
 is but the condition of his being clothed upon 
 with his heavenly house — mortality being swal- 
 lowed up of life. And nowhere does St. Paul, 
 or any other New Testament author, so much 
 as hint that between the dissolution of the 
 earthly, mortal body, and the being clothed 
 upon with a spiritual body, there must be a 
 hiatus of centuries and ages, during which the 
 spirit-man must exist in a state of personal dis- 
 organization — one part in the skies, or some- 
 where else, and another part in the dust of the 
 earth. Nor is there a hint that when the time 
 does at last come for him to be put together 
 again, his soul must wander back again to the 
 grave-yard to look for his heavenly body and 
 the lost ruins of his old earthly house, which 
 perished ages before. All such conceptions 
 of the resurrection are after the traditions of 
 men, and not of the Word of God. 
 
 Now, so far as I know, we have considered 
 every passage in the New Testament which 
 speaks of the body in direct or indirect con- 
 nection with the resurrection, except those 
 passages which speak of the resurrection of 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 29 
 
 the Lord. These will be a subject for another 
 chapter. I have aimed simply to ascertain just 
 what these Scriptures do teach. There are 
 many other passages in the New Testament 
 which speak of the resurrection of the dead, 
 but not of the body. I know of no one that 
 conflicts with this general teaching of St. Paul. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 
 
 IN calling your attention to this great cen- 
 tral fact in the history of our redeemed 
 humanity, I shall deal in no theory or spec- 
 ulation, attempt no display of rhetoric or 
 rhapsody. I shall take the statements of the 
 New Testament authors just as they are in 
 our English translation. I will attempt no 
 criticism, no new translation, no comment, no 
 interpretation, no exegesis. I will take the 
 great fact of the resurrection of Jesus just* as 
 stated, and press inquiry in a single direction, 
 toward a single point. What do these Script- 
 ures and this grand fact of the resurrection of 
 Jesus directly and obviously teach concerning 
 the future resurrection of the bodies of the dead 
 from the grave? 
 
 This, of course, is a very important inquiry, 
 important in itself, but doubly so to us in 
 130 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 131 
 
 the course of these suggestive inquiries ; for, 
 should it appear that these Scriptures and 
 this great fact do indeed teach that the 
 earthly bodies of the dead are to be raised 
 from their graves at some future time, then 
 must we admit that we have misapprehended 
 the general teachings of St. Paul and of the 
 New Testament on this subject. I will espe- 
 cially endeavor to avoid doing the harm to 
 these important Scriptures which is usually 
 done by the advocates of cherished dogmatic 
 theories of the resurrection. They have usu- 
 ally pressed them into the service of their 
 favorite theories, regardless of the twofold 
 phenomena which they reveal concerning the 
 resurrection of Jesus. That the statements 
 of the Gospels, when allowed to speak for 
 themselves, do reveal a twofold or double 
 phenomena is evident — namely, the literal, 
 material, and the spiritual, mysterious — or, 
 briefly, the objective and the subjective. 
 
 The following brief synopsis of the history 
 of the Lord's resurrection, culled from the dif- 
 ferent authors, sufficiently indicate the twofold 
 phenomena attending that glorious event: 
 
 " Now, upon the first day of the week, 
 
132 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 very early in the morning, they came unto 
 the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they 
 had prepared, and certain others with them. 
 And they found the stone rolled away from 
 the sepulcher. And they entered in, and 
 found not the body of the Lord Jesus." 
 Luke xxiv, 1-3. 
 
 " Mary Magdalene came and told the dis- 
 ciples that she had seen the Lord, and that 
 he had spoken these things unto her. Then 
 the same day at evening, being the first day 
 of the week, when the doors were shut where 
 the disciples were assembled for fear of the 
 Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and 
 saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And 
 when he had so said, he shewed unto them 
 his hands and his side. Then were the dis- 
 ciples glad when they saw the Lord." John 
 xx, 18-20. 
 
 "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself 
 stood in the midst of them, and saith unto 
 them, Peace be unto you. But they were 
 terrified and affrighted, and supposed that 
 they had seen a spirit. And he said unto 
 them, Why are ye troubled? and why do 
 thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 33 
 
 hands and my feet, that it is I myself: han- 
 dle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh 
 and bones, as ye see me have. And when he 
 had thus spoken, he shewed' them his hands 
 and his feet. And while they yet believed 
 not for joy, and wondered, he said unto 
 them, Have ye here any meat ? And they 
 gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an 
 honey-comb. And he took it, and did eat 
 before them. ,, Luke xxiv, 36-43. 
 
 "And after eight days again his disciples 
 were within, and Thomas with them : then 
 came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood 
 in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 
 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy 
 finger, and behold my hands ; and reach 
 hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side ; 
 and be not faithless, but believing. And 
 Thomas answered and said unto him, My 
 Lord and my God." John xx, 26-28. 
 
 " But Mary stood without at the sepulcher, 
 t weeping : and as she wept, she stooped down, 
 and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two 
 angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, 
 and the other at the feet, where the body 
 of Jesus had lain : and they say unto her, 
 
134 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto 
 them, Because they have taken away my 
 Lord, and I know not where they have laid 
 him. And when she had thus said, she 
 turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, 
 and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith 
 unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom 
 seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the 
 gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have 
 borne him hence, tell me where thou hast 
 laid him, and I will take him away.* Jesus 
 saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, 
 and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, 
 Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not : 
 for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but 
 go to my brethren, and say unto them, I 
 ascend unto my Father and your Father, and 
 to my God and your God." John xx, n-17. 
 "And behold, two of them went that same 
 day to a village called Emmaus, which was 
 from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 
 And they talked together of all these things 
 which had happened. And it came to pass, 
 that, while they communed together, and rea- 
 soned, Jesus himself drew near, and went 
 with them. But their eyes were holden, that 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 35 
 
 they should not know him. And they drew 
 nigh unto the village whither they went: and 
 he made as though he would have gone 
 further. But they constrained him, saying, 
 Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and 
 the day is far spent. And he went in to 
 tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he 
 sat at meat with them, he took bread, and 
 blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And 
 their eyes were opened, and they knew him : 
 and he vanished out of their sight." Luke 
 xxiv, 13-16, 28-31. 
 
 "After that, he appeared in another form 
 unto two of them, as they walked, and went 
 into the country. And they went and told it 
 unto the residue: neither believed they them." 
 Mark xvi, 12, 13. 
 
 Thus we see from the objective statement 
 of the great fact it does not seem to go 
 beyond the tomb, and is throughout a fact 
 purely physical and natural. Thus, we see 
 the body of the Lord laid in the tomb. We 
 know it is dead. We see it secured and 
 guarded there against the possibility of being 
 removed by human agency. We see the tomb 
 opened on the morning of the third day, and 
 
I36 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 empty. We see the risen Christ again with his 
 disciples, in the same material body that was in 
 the tomb. We hear him say to his doubting 
 and unbelieving friends, Handle me and see, 
 for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see 
 me have. Behold my hands and feet, that it 
 is / myself. We see the wounds of the nails, 
 and we even see him eat of broiled fish and 
 of an honey-comb. Thus, looking alone at 
 the objective statement of the Lord's resur- 
 rection, the whole fact would seem to be little 
 else than the revivification of the earthly body. 
 But when we look also at the subjective we 
 are led beyond the tomb to the under world. 
 We hear Jesus say to the penitent thief, To- 
 day shalt thou be with me in paradise. We 
 hear it said of him that he descended into 
 the lower parts of the earth, that he went 
 and preached to the spirits in prison, that his 
 soul was not left in hades, that he rose from 
 the dead, led a multitude of captives, and that 
 he has the keys of death and of hades, thus 
 unmistakably connecting the fact of his resur- 
 rection with the spiritual world, making it as 
 truly a fact of the spiritual world as of the 
 natural. Moreover, an hour or so after his 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 37 
 
 resurrection he was seen of Mary Magdalene, 
 one who knew him most intimately but three 
 days ago, and, though she conversed with him, 
 she knew him not. The same day he walked 
 and conversed with two of his most intimate 
 disciples for a mile or more, but they knew 
 him not. His personal appearances to his 
 disciples were sometimes very sudden, myste- 
 rious, being at once present in the midst of 
 them in the room where the doors were shut, 
 most likely locked. Sometimes his appear- 
 ance was so unearthly, so awe-inspiring, as to 
 fill his friends with terror and fright, and at 
 times he suddenly vanished out of their sight. 
 Moreover, there is no evidence that Jesus, 
 during the forty days between his resurrec- 
 tion and ascension, was a resident of this 
 world at all. The most obvious inference 
 from the record is that he was not a resident 
 of this world, that his appearances to his dis- 
 ciples were rather visits with them of longer 
 or shorter continuance, and evidently some- 
 times very sudden, unexpected, and supernat- 
 ural ; and there is no evidence that he was 
 ever seen, in the body or otherwise, by any 
 persons but those of his own disciples and 
 
I38 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 friends, who were more or less spiritual. That 
 he was ever seen by any of the world or in 
 any earthly locality, as he had been previous 
 to his death, there is no evidence at all, and 
 the obvious inference is that he was not. 
 And, finally, after a time — "forty days" — he 
 disappeared from the sight of his disciples, 
 and was seen of them no more. 
 
 Now, unfortunately, these twofold physical 
 and spiritual, natural and supernatural phenom- 
 ena, are lost sight of by theorists and dogma- 
 tists in their attempts to establish their favorite 
 doctrines of the resurrection. Thus on one 
 side, in defending the material idea of the 
 literal bodily resurrection, the spiritual facts 
 are lost sight of, or made nothing of; and 
 theorists seem to see only the material phys- 
 ical facts of the Lord's resurrection. They 
 see in the risen body and personal appearings 
 of the Lord nothing differing from the same 
 natural body that died ; thus reducing the 
 whole stupendous fact of the Lord's resurrec- 
 tion to a reanimation of the fleshly body, and 
 even allowing the necessity of its going through 
 some process of change, or spiritualization, be- 
 fore ascending to the heavenly world. On the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 39 
 
 other hand others, in maintaining the more 
 spiritual theories of the resurrection, quite 
 lose sight of the obvious physical facts, and 
 seem to see only the spiritual. Some go even 
 so far as to reduce the whole fact of the resur- 
 rection to a myth. Others, looking only at the 
 supernatural, see only the rising of a psychical 
 body, and not the earthly body at all, and have 
 to invent some chemical process by which it 
 was disposed of. Thus we see how these 
 Scriptures are warped and twisted, now this 
 way, then that way ; magnified on this side, 
 then minified on that, until the candid, unbiased 
 mind, who would see the harmony of both, 
 give to each its full meaning, and thus arrive 
 at the twofold sense and teaching of these 
 Scriptures, and the full significance of that 
 transcendent fact, the resurrection of the Lord 
 Jesus, will find it necessary to discard very 
 much from every existing theory of the resur- 
 rection. Then taking this , twofold objective 
 record, just as stated by the different New 
 Testament authors, what are the actual facts 
 they state? ist. That Jesus, who was cruci- 
 fied, whose body was laid in the tomb of Jo- 
 seph, did actually appear to, and converse with 
 
140 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 his disciples and friends after his death ; so 
 that he had an actual personal existence after 
 death. 2d. His resurrection was a fact in the 
 spiritual world as truly as in the natural world ; 
 that is, it consisted as truly in the rising of his 
 soul from hades as in the rising of his body 
 from the tomb. 3d. After his resurrection he 
 was no longer a resident of the natural world, 
 was never seen of any except his own disciples, 
 and only appeared to these ten times during 
 forty days ; after which he was seen no more. 
 4th. At times his appearance was very natural ; 
 he seemed clothed again with the very material 
 body that had been on the cross and in the 
 tomb. At other times his appearance was 
 spiritual, mysterious — sudden, and he vanished 
 suddenly out of their sight. 5th. It is mani- 
 fest from the concurrent statements of the rec- 
 ord, that his resurrection included the fact of 
 the spiritual glorification of the body. 6th. 
 That the glorification of the body was accom- 
 plished within three days after his death, or, at 
 most, within forty days ; so that he ceased to 
 be a resident of Galilee in a natural body of 
 flesh and bones, and became a resident of 
 the heavenly world, in a spiritual, immortal, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I4I 
 
 divinely glorified body. At least to my per- 
 ception such seem to be the facts established 
 by the objective and subjective statements of 
 the record. And beyond these facts can we 
 go without walking in the light of our own 
 kindling? How these facts were accomplished 
 no mortal can tell. That transcendent scene 
 in the tomb, where a mortal earthly body first 
 felt the life-giving, divinely transforming power 
 of the Spirit, was witnessed by no human eye — 
 perhaps not by angelic eye. Just how that 
 body was transformed ; just what portions of 
 its elements entered into the glorified spiritual 
 form ; just what was the nature of that body, 
 which could be now most naturally material, 
 a moment before or a moment afterward be 
 wholly unrecognizable, or vanish suddenly from 
 sight, and be wholly invisible to natural sight, 
 no mortal can tell. And why should mortal 
 attempt to speculate ? Our task is simply to 
 inquire, What do these Scriptures and these 
 facts, concerning the resurrection of Jesus, 
 positively and explicitly teach concerning the 
 future resurrection of the dead bodies of men ? 
 We may know what the advocates of different 
 theories of the resurrection say they teach ; 
 
142 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 but in these inquiries we have nothing to do 
 with what men say, but with what the Word 
 itself teaches. 
 
 That these Scriptures are full of Divine 
 teaching concerning the resurrection of the 
 dead, and concerning the fact that resurrection 
 does extend to the earthly body, is as blessedly 
 true as it is obvious. They establish the fact 
 that Jesus rose the first from the dead in 
 hades; and this establishes the fact that all 
 who die or enter there with even a spark of 
 his Divine life in their souls, will rise also, but 
 every man in his own order, i Cor. xv, 23. 
 And the fact that Jesus' resurrection included 
 the immortalizing and glorification of his body, 
 establishes the fact, the resurrection of all 
 the dead in him does extend to the immor- 
 talizing and glorification of their bodies, even 
 like unto his own glorious body. But when? 
 and how ? In all these Scriptures, which re- 
 veal the twofold fact of the resurrection of 
 Jesus, is it so much as hinted in a single text, 
 or all together, that the resurrection or glorifi- 
 cation of the body is not to take place until 
 centuries after death ? And where is it so 
 much as hinted that the resurrection of the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I43 
 
 body, when it does take place, is to consist in 
 the gathering again and glorification of the 
 dust particles of the earthly body ? so that the 
 fact of such a future resurrection may be said 
 to rest on the unmistakable "thus saith the 
 Lord," and not at all upon human interpre- 
 tation or dogmatism ? Can you find such text 
 or texts in the revealed history of the Lord's 
 resurrection ? Then, if such resurrection be 
 taught, it must be by the fact of the rising of 
 the Lord's body itself. But does the fact that 
 the body of Jesus was raised jn three days 
 after death, before corruption, explicitly estab- 
 lish the fact that the dust of disorganized 
 bodies will be gathered again, centuries or 
 ages hence? 
 
 Just take the fact itself, in all its variety of 
 statement, but divested of all that poetry, re- 
 ligious fervor and imagination, Church dog- 
 matism, and theological inference and inter- 
 pretation have thrown around it, and added to 
 it — just the fact, in all its fullness, that the 
 body of Jesus was raised from the tomb — 
 what does that obviously and directly estab- 
 lish concerning the resurrection of dead bodies 
 in general ? It certainly gives a foundation 
 
144 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 for faith in a resurrection, and glorification of 
 the bodies of all who believe in him. But 
 does it obviously settle the fact that that res- 
 urrection can not be realized until ages after 
 death, and that it must consist in the gather- 
 ing again and glorifying of the very earthly 
 body that mingled with the earth ? It is urged 
 that it does teach such resurrection because 
 the resurrection of the body of Christ is the 
 "pattern" of the resurrection of the human 
 body ; and as that consisted in the raising of 
 the very earthly body that was laid in the 
 tomb, so must the other consist in raising the 
 very body that is laid in the grave. But who 
 teaches that the resurrection of Christ is such 
 pattern? Is it taught in these Scriptures, or 
 anywhere in the New Testament, or does it 
 simply rest upon theological authority? How 
 can any thing be called a pattern of another 
 thing unless all the essential, and even the 
 lesser characteristics of the former can be re- 
 produced in the other? How can the resur- 
 rection of Jesus be a pattern of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead,- unless at least the essential 
 facts of his rising can be reproduced in the 
 other? But is this at all possible? Thus, his 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I45 
 
 body was raised in a little less than three days. 
 The bodies of the dead have been in dust for 
 centuries; may be for centuries more. His 
 body saw no corruption. Though truly dead, 
 yet there was no decomposition, no disorgan- 
 ization, so that the organism was not even 
 seriously impaired. But the bodies of the dead 
 have been utterly disorganized, their identity 
 even lost, and their very particles all com- 
 mingled into the ten thousand, thousand com- 
 binations of matter, and entered into infinite 
 variations of vegetable and animal life. Now, 
 will it be pretended that the uncorrupted body 
 of Jesus in the tomb is a pattern of these 
 bodies of the dead lost in dust? Can it be 
 said that the re-inhabiting (so to speak) of 
 that still organized body, is a pattern of the 
 gathering up out of the ten thousand forms of 
 matter and organic life of the dissipated par- 
 ticles of these bodies ? What single fact of 
 the order of the resurrection of the body of 
 Jesus can be reproduced in the future gather- 
 ing again of an earthly human body ? Not 
 one. Then it is the pattern of no such res- 
 urrection, except in assumption ? And this 
 assumption is contradicted by the direct teach- 
 
I46 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 ing of Paul : " Even so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive ; but every man in his o%vn order T 
 Thus the resurrection of Jesus, both in his 
 rising from hades, as the first from the dead, 
 and in the rising of his body from the tomb, 
 was after his own order, according to a pattern 
 which himself alone could fill. A resurrection 
 any less natural, literal, and obvious, or any 
 less spiritual, supernatural, and mysterious, 
 would not have met the circumstances of that 
 time, or filled the relations he sustained to the 
 world of the living and the world of the dead, 
 or met the conditions of his mission as the 
 Savior, the Redeemer, the resurrection and 
 the life. Doubtless he could have attained to 
 his bodily resurrection without it ever being 
 perceived in this world, or known by even his 
 most intimate disciples or friends. But how 
 would Jesus and the resurrection ever have be- 
 come the power of the Gospel in the Christian 
 Church but for the objective physical demon- 
 stration of the fact in the natural world ? But 
 to limit the whole stupendous fact to these 
 material manifestations, and insist that in this 
 is to be found the pattern of the resurrection 
 of the dead, is not only a mere dogmatic as- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I47 
 
 sumption, but also a very stupid and absurd 
 one. 
 
 What, then, does the resurrection of Jesus, 
 both as a fact and in its inspired history, 
 establish concerning the resurrection of the 
 bodies of the dead ? 1. As his resurrection 
 did ultimate in the spiritual glorification of 
 his earthly body, is it not a fact that the 
 resurrection and the life will ultimate in the 
 same in us? This fact is put beyond suppo- 
 sition by the teaching of Paul already consid- 
 ered, that he will quicken our mortal bodies, 
 and change our vile body, fashioning it like 
 unto his own glorious body. But as to the 
 time or the manner in which this is to be 
 accomplished is there a word of specific, 
 direct teaching? Certainly there is no hint 
 that it is to be done not until long after 
 death. But, on the contrary, the foundation 
 for inferential theory or dogmatism is all on 
 the other side. Did not the resurrection and 
 glorification of the Lord's body begin, at the 
 furthest, within three days after death ? Was 
 it not completed, at the furthest, within forty? 
 Then, taking his resurrection as the pattern, 
 why may not the same work be accomplished 
 
I48 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 by the same divine power within the same 
 time ? Nay, we might assume that the divine 
 life-giving power had extended to the earthly 
 body of Jesus even before the throes of death 
 reached it ; that this power ceased not its life- 
 giving operation for a moment until the body 
 reached its glorified state ; so that Jesus was 
 the first in the order of our humanity to whom 
 death was a transition from the earthly, natu- 
 ral, to the heavenly, spiritual. But we must 
 not speculate, and all I will say is that in 
 the resurrection of Jesus there is nothing to 
 contradict the view of the spiritual glorifica- 
 tion of the body we have already considered 
 in the general teaching of St. Paul and other 
 New Testament authors. To my perception 
 there is a beautiful and wonderful harmony. 
 In connection with this New Testament 
 history of the resurrection of Jesus is a 
 remarkable statement by Matthew which re- 
 quires a passing notice. The passage is 
 found at Matthew xxvii, 52, 53: "And the 
 graves were opened ; and many bodies of the 
 saints which slept arose, and came out of 
 the graves after his resurrection, and went 
 into the holy city, and appeared unto many." 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I49 
 
 Now, taking these remarkable verses just as 
 we find them, the fact just as stated, raising 
 no question as to the genuineness of the 
 text; no question as to who is meant by the 
 saints, whether those who had been a long 
 time dead or those who but recently had 
 died ; no question as to whether this is to 
 be accepted as a physical fact, a literal com- 
 ing forth of the material bodies of the dead 
 saints, appearing in the literal streets of the 
 literal Jerusalem, seen of the disciples with 
 their natural eyes, or whether it was an 
 appearing of the spiritual bodies of the saints 
 in the spiritual Jerusalem or holy city, and 
 seen of the disciples in vision or by their 
 spiritual perception: but taking the fact just 
 as stated, with the single inquiry, What do 
 the text and the fact obviously, directly teach 
 concerning the future resurrection of the 
 flesh? Do they obviously and directly teach 
 that the earthly bodies of all the dead saints 
 will in like manner come out of their graves 
 at the end of the world ? Do you and I find 
 here an express and direct "thus saith the 
 Lord" for the doctrine that our dust will be 
 gathered from the graves, so plainly that our 
 
ISO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 faith in such a resurrection will rest not at 
 all upon inference, human interpretation, and 
 dogmatism? Rather may we not truly say 
 that concerning the time, the order, or in 
 what the rising of the body consists, these 
 verses teach nothing whatever? The fact 
 of the bodily rising of saints in temporal 
 connection with the rising of the Lord is 
 very significant in its testimony to the gen- 
 eral fact of the resurrection of the dead, and 
 to the fact that that resurrection extends in 
 some way to the bodies of the dead. But to 
 press these verses into the support of any 
 doctrine or theory of the bodily resurrection 
 which we would sustain, is simply making 
 them say by our own inference what they do 
 not say at all ; and, when we look closely and 
 impartially, we are astonished to find how 
 much of our doctrine and theology do thus 
 rest on mere human interpretation of the 
 letter of the Word, and especially on this 
 glorious theme of the rising of the dead. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 COLLATERAL INQUIRIES — CONFUSION OF DOCTRINAL STATE- 
 MENT—NO DEFINITE STANDARD OF DOCTRINE. 
 
 HAVING now, to some extent, at least, 
 exhausted the inquiry concerning the 
 direct teaching of the New Testament in rela- 
 tion to the future resurrection of the earthly 
 body, we might here rest this feature of the 
 subject, and at once proceed with the more 
 general question. But there are certain col- 
 lateral arguments which must be noticed in 
 order to complete this inquiry. 
 
 And first of all is the very difficulty which 
 must environ any doctrine thus resting upon 
 human dogma and the too literal interpreta- 
 tion of the Word rather than upon the explicit 
 teaching of the Word itself. I mean the dif- 
 ficulty of determining just what is implied in 
 such resurrection, and of securing an explicit 
 and uniform statement of it which may be 
 
 151 
 
152 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 accepted as an article of faith. We can not 
 better point out this difficulty than by notic- 
 ing the teachings of some of the leading 
 minds and theologians of the Church during 
 different periods of her history. In the very 
 numerous creeds and doctrinal symbolisms of 
 the Churches during the last eighteen hun- 
 dred years there has been much of unanimity 
 in putting forth the future resurrection of the 
 body as an article of faith, and at the pres- 
 ent time the Church of Rome, the Greek 
 Church, the Church of England, the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal, and a few others still retain 
 the ancient symbolism of the resurrection of 
 the flesh, while among the many other Prot- 
 estant Churches there is considerable variety 
 of statement in creeds ; but in almost all the 
 future resurrection of the body is in some 
 degree put forth as an article of faith. But 
 zvhat is to be believed ? What is implied in 
 such resurrection of the body? It is vain 
 to say that the intelligent, thinking mind of 
 Christendom to-day, in the Church and out of 
 it, is to be satisfied with the simple formula, 
 "Credo carnis resurreetionem" The very fact 
 that the advanced theological minds of the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 153 
 
 Church have ever been laboring to doctrinally 
 state what is implied in such resurrection is 
 conclusive that they sought a reason for their 
 faith, and to lay a foundation for the same faith 
 in others, and in this earnest and sincere effort 
 to give doctrinal form and shape to this article 
 of faith they have but demonstrated the diffi- 
 culty which environs it During the earlier 
 centuries of the Church the general and uni- 
 form teaching was that the resurrection would 
 consist in the raising again of the very same 
 fleshly body that lived on earth,* that the 
 body would rise with all its members. Even 
 cripples and deformed bodies would be raised 
 as such, but would be subsequently made per- 
 fect. Jerome teaches that the identity of the 
 resurrection body with that laid in the grave 
 will be maintained even to the hairs and teeth, 
 for there is to be gnashing of teeth in the 
 world of woe. Thomas Aquinas insists that 
 hairs and nails are ornaments of man, and 
 therefore quite as necessary as blood and 
 other fluids, but at the same time teaches 
 that no other matter will rise from the grave 
 than what exists at death. How, then, with 
 
 * Shedd's Christian Doctrine, Vol. II, pages 403-406. 
 II 
 
154 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 those who happen to be baldheaded and tooth- 
 less at death, and those who have attained to 
 even a quarter of a ton and those who have 
 been reduced to mere skeletons before death? 
 Among the Jews it was taught that God has 
 a trumpet a thousand ells long ; at the first 
 blast on the last day the earth will be shaken ; 
 at the second the dust of dead bodies will be 
 separated ; at the third the bones will come 
 together; at the fourth the members will wax 
 warm ; at the fifth the heads will be covered 
 with skin ; at the sixth souls will enter their 
 bodies ; at the seventh all will come up out 
 of the earth. It was also taught that all the 
 bodies of dead Israelites must rise from the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat, and that all who were 
 buried in other lands would have to scratch 
 their way to Palestine through the earth with 
 their nails before they could rise.* And 
 among the ancient Rabbins the theory was 
 maintained that there was somewhere in the 
 body an indestructible bone called Luz, which 
 was the seed of the resurrection body. This 
 seed-bone was supposed to be so indestructible 
 that, though pounded on anvils with heaviest 
 
 *Mattison on the Resurrection, pages 18-20. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 55 
 
 hammers, though burned for ages in hottest 
 fires or furnaces, though soaked for centuries 
 in strongest solvents, yet it remained nothing 
 affected, and at the last would grow into a per- 
 fect material body. Tertullian thought that 
 the teeth were providentially made eternal, so 
 as to serve as the seeds of the resurrection, 
 while Augustine held that every man's body, 
 however dispersed here, shall be restored per- 
 fect, complete in quantity and quality. The 
 hairs which have been shaved off, the nails 
 which have been cut, shall not be restored in 
 such enormous quantities as to deform their 
 original places, neither shall they perish, but 
 shall return into the body into that substance 
 from which they grew.* 
 
 In more modern dogmatism we have about 
 the same variety and contrariety. By many 
 it is taught that death results immediately in 
 entire unconsciousness, the body returning to 
 dust, while the soul remains in the grave or 
 elsewhere in a state of unconsciousness until 
 the last day, when at the sound of the trump 
 both will rise up together, while others teach 
 that at death the soul goes immediately to hell 
 
 *De Civ. Dei, lib. xxii, chap. 19, 20. 
 
156 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 or heaven in conscious misery or happiness, 
 while the body tarries in the earth until the 
 resurrection, when the soul comes back to 
 earth, re-enters the body, and returns again 
 to hell or heaven. Dr. Gregory reasons thus : 
 Man was constituted a being by the union of 
 two substances essentially different, spirit and 
 matter, and was destined to continue a mixed 
 being forever; therefore the resurrection of 
 the same body is necessary for the existence 
 of the man beyond the grave. Moreover, he 
 urges the resurrection of the same body that 
 it may share the rewards and punishments of 
 the soul for deeds done in the body, as it is 
 the man, not a part of him, which shall be 
 rewarded or punished. Dr. Hody on the res- 
 urrection says, " To speak properly, the body 
 is not capable either of sinning or doing well. 
 It is only the instrument of the soul, and the 
 arm that stabs sins no more than the sword." 
 
 Dr. Burnett teaches it is of no, great conse- 
 quence to us whether we have the same par- 
 ticles, or others of equal dignity and value, or 
 what shall become of our cast-off carcasses, 
 when "we shall live in light with the angels." 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock teaches that " it is not neces- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 57 
 
 sary that the resurrection body should contain 
 a single particle of the body laid in the grave, 
 if it only contains particles of the same kind, 
 united in the same proportions, and the com- 
 pound be made to assume the same form and 
 structure as the natural body." 
 
 And the highly metaphysical Drew, some- 
 what after the philosophy of the ancient Rab- 
 bins concerning the seed-bone, luz, teaches 
 that the resurrection does not contemplate the 
 gathering again of the particles of the old 
 body, but that there is in connection with the 
 body a certain genn y or incorruptible particles, 
 incapable either of increase or diminution from 
 birth to death, so fine and subtile that no mi- 
 croscope can detect them, no chemistry de- 
 compose them, and which, remaining in a state 
 of incorruptibility, shall put forth a germi- 
 nating power beyond the grave, and become 
 the germ of our future bodies, and that no 
 other particles will ever be raised. 
 
 On the other hand, Bishop Hopkins says of 
 the body: "It shall be raised an entire and 
 perfect body. Not a dust, not an atom that 
 is necessary to the integrity of it, shall be lost, 
 and, though they are scattered up and down 
 
I 58 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the world, and confusedly mixed with other 
 beings, yet, by the omnipotence of God, and 
 the ministry of angels, every dust shall be 
 picked up again, and set in its own due place 
 and order." 
 
 So also Dr. Spring : "Whether buried in the 
 earth, or floating in the sea, or consumed by 
 the flames, or enriching the battle-field, or 
 evaporated in the atmosphere, all — from Adam 
 to the latest born — shall wend their way to the 
 great arena of the judgment. Every perished 
 bone, and every secret particle of dust, shall 
 obey the summons, and come forth." 
 
 Thomas Aquinas teacheth that no other 
 substance will rise from the grave except that 
 which belongs to the individual at death. 
 
 Archbishop Tillotson, in answering the com- 
 mon objection to the resurrection of the body, 
 based upon the fact of its being devoured by 
 animals and men, urges that " no one needs be 
 in want for a body of his own at the resurrec- 
 tion, as any one of those bodies which he had 
 ten or twenty years before death, was every 
 whit as good, and as much his own body as 
 that which was eaten." 
 
 Dr. Mattison supposes that the stomach and 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 59 
 
 the organs of reproduction will be destroyed, 
 and be unnecessary in the new body. 
 
 Dr. Watson also supposes it will be the 
 same body, but that great changes of a par- 
 ticular kind will take place. " In the resur- 
 rection they shall neither marry nor be given 
 in marriage, but be as the angels of God. This 
 implies a certain change of structure. And 
 we may gather from the declaration of the 
 Apostle, that though the stomach is now 
 adapted to meats, and meats to the stomach, 
 God will destroy both it and them ; that the 
 animal appetite for food will be removed, and 
 the organ adapted to that appetite have no 
 place in the resurrection body." 
 
 Now it is true these would be considerable 
 changes. And we can not resist the sugges- 
 tion that changes could hardly stop with these ; 
 for, without the stomach, what use would there 
 be for the intestines, liver, duodenum, or any 
 part of the digestive apparatus ? And without 
 these of course there could be no blood. 
 Then what need to raise up the heart, lungs, 
 veins, arteries, or any of the organs of circu- 
 lation or respiration ? And without these how 
 could there be muscles or bones ; and what use 
 
l6o SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 even for brain or nerves ? And with all these 
 left in the grave, of what, pray, would the new 
 body be composed? Yet the Doctor urges 
 that the human form will be retained in its 
 perfection, and the substance of the matter of 
 which it is composed will not be left off; that 
 " the same body which is laid in the grave 
 shall be raised out of it" 
 
 From among the most modern teachings on 
 this subject I select the following : 
 
 "The prevailing idea, as we understand it, 
 when expressed in general terms, is that the 
 same body which is laid in the grave at death 
 shall hereafter rise out of it, and live again for- 
 ever ; or, to be still more explicit, that all that 
 constitutes, and properly belongs to the body 
 at the hour of death, and is essential to its 
 corporeal identity and integrity, will be raised 
 again to life, and will go to constitute the res- 
 urrection body." (Mattison on Resurrection 
 of the Body, page 14.) 
 
 " In the resurrection it is not a body that 
 comes forth, but a man. It is not a mere body 
 that is raised, but the entire manhood. In 
 all cases where the dead are raised they are 
 men and women, and not mere bodies." (Dr. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. l6l 
 
 H. C. Benson, in California Christian Advo- 
 cate, Vol. xii, No. 38.) 
 
 These extracts might be extended into a 
 large volume, and with even increasing con- 
 trariety, not to say palpable contradictions. 
 And with such standards of authoritative teach- 
 ing on this subject, which must one choose in 
 order to be orthodox in the faith ? Where 
 Doctors so widely differ, which shall he be- 
 lieve ? Surely it would require a large bump 
 of credulity to believe all of them, and not a 
 small one to believe either of them — so, after 
 all, it may be most orthodox to believe neither 
 of them ? Thus we find, even in our standard 
 theologies concerning the future resurrection 
 of the flesh, no definite standard of belief. 
 Many — perhaps most — have given the subject 
 but little thought, have no defined views or 
 conceptions concerning it, feel but little or 
 no interest in it ; while even in the minds of 
 preachers and theological writers, who essay 
 to teach, there seem to float in strange con- 
 fusion and contrary theories, notions, doc- 
 trines and definitions, from the most crude 
 and materialistic to the most subtle and be- 
 wilderingly metaphysical and speculative. We 
 
l62 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 have already quoted some of these teachings 
 in theological prose. I will add a few in 
 poetry — mostly quoted from Dr. Mattison's 
 late standard work — in which they are used 
 of course as expressive of the orthodox faith 
 on this subject : 
 
 " Now monuments prove faithful to their trust, 
 And render back their long-committed dust ; 
 Now charnels rattle ; scattered limbs and all 
 The various bones, obsequious to the call, 
 Self-moved, advance ; the neck, perhaps, to meet 
 The distant head ; the distant legs, the feet : 
 Dreadful to view, see through the dusky sky 
 Fragments of bodies in confusion fly, 
 To distant regions journeying, there to claim 
 Deserted members, and complete the frame." 
 
 " The trumpet's sound each fragrant mote shall hear, 
 Or fixed in earth, or floating in the air, 
 Obey the signal wafted in the wind, 
 And not one sleeping atom left behind." Young. 
 
 " No spot on earth but has supplied a grave, 
 And human skulls the spacious ocean pave — 
 All 's full of man — and at this dreadful turn, , 
 The swarm shall issue, and the hive shall burn." 
 
 " Each member jogs the other, 
 And whispers /ive you^brother ? 
 
 "I know these hands shall wrestle with the turf 
 That time shall heap upon them all in vain ; 
 
 Or struggling upward from the stormy surf, 
 So I be buried in the mighty main. 
 
 Yes, 't is not long ere I shall shake the clay 
 That years have matted on my moldering brow, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 63 
 
 And tear the cerements of the grave away 
 With these same muscles that are lusty now." 
 
 A. C. Coxe. 
 
 u These bones shall startle then, 
 And feel strange life again, 
 And these decaying fibers leap to hear. 
 
 What though my body run to dust ? 
 
 Faith unto it counting every grain, 
 With an exact and most particular trust, 
 
 Reserving all for flesh again." Herbert. 
 
 11 Forgotten generations live again, 
 Assume the bodily shape they owned of old, 
 Beyond the flood" II. K. White. 
 
 " Each particle of dust was claimed ; the turf 
 For ages trod beneath the careless feet 
 Of men rose organized in human form." 
 
 "Corruption, earth, and worms 
 Shall but refine this flesh, 
 Till my triumphant spirit comes 
 To put it on afresh." Watts. 
 
 The doors of death were opened ; and in the dark 
 
 And loathsome vault and charnel-house, 
 
 Moving, were heard the moldering bones that sought 
 
 Their proper place. Instinctive, every soul 
 
 Flew to its clayey part : from grass-grown mold 
 
 The nameless spirit took its ashes up, 
 
 Reanimate ! 
 
 The time draws on 
 When not a single spot of burial earth, 
 W 7 hether on land, or in the spacious sea, 
 But must give back its long-committed dust 
 Inviolate ; and faithfully shall these 
 Make up the full amount ; not the least atom 
 Embezzled or mislaid, of the whole tale. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LAWS OF LIFE — TEACHINGS OF NATURE — ANALOGIES IN 
 LOWER ORDERS OF PHYSICAL OR MATERIAL LIFE. 
 
 THE future resurrection of the earthly 
 body from the grave would be sadly out 
 of harmony with every known law and proc- 
 ess of organized life, and finds no analogy or 
 correspondence in all God's life-creating and 
 life-developing order in nature and in man 
 himself. Indeed, it utterly ignores and sets 
 aside all laws or processes of organic life, 
 and rests on the basis of miracle. But where 
 is the evidence or the authority for teaching 
 that organic human life, either physical, intel- 
 lectual, or spiritual, ever has been or ever will 
 be either created or developed by miracle ? 
 Even the original creation of the body from 
 dust, are we to teach that this highest order 
 of organic physical life was suddenly consti- 
 tuted miraculously, without regard to process, 
 164 ■ 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 165 
 
 or is it not much more rational to suppose 
 that it was by a creative process through pre- 
 viously constituted laws of organic life? At 
 least we know that the human body as now 
 constituted owes its being to no miracle, but 
 is begotten and developed through established 
 laws and processes, many of which are dis- 
 cerned and even understood. And is it not 
 reasonable and philosophical to suppose that 
 its resurrection, its spiritualization, which is 
 but another step in the developing process of 
 its organic life, is through established laws of 
 spiritual life ? Certain it is that, put on this 
 basis, the resurrection of the body is wonder- 
 fully illustrated by most striking and beautiful 
 correspondences in the lower orders of organic 
 life in nature, but on the. other basis there 
 is not a single analogy in the whole natural 
 world. True, it is generally claimed by the 
 advocates of the miraculous resurrection of 
 the flesh that such analogies are abundant; 
 and such argument is much made of and 
 relied upon. It is even assumed and argued 
 that in the annual palingenesis, or recurrent 
 life of Spring from the grave of Winter, we 
 have a manifold analogical illustration of the 
 
1 66 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 resurrection of the flesh from the grave. Very 
 true, the recurrent resurrection, so to speak, 
 of vegetable life in Spring from the death and 
 grave of Winter does teach very much con- 
 cerning the resurrection of the body. But 
 how? By gathering up again and putting on 
 anew the identical sloughs and old, rotten 
 foliage of last year? Does the tree, in the 
 new life and beauty of Spring, clothe itself by 
 gathering again and putting on the identical 
 leaves and flower-blossoms which faded and 
 fell as Autumn and Winter approached ? Are 
 these ever resurrected in any sense whatever? 
 Does the rose-bush ever clothe itself or bloom 
 again in the foliage and roses which faded as 
 Winter approached ? And of all the ten thou- 
 sand thousand forms of vegetable life which 
 thus droop and die, what single one ever rises 
 again ? and where in all the new life of Spring, 
 in all the transformations of life in the whole 
 vegetable world, is there a single fact which 
 at all corresponds to the gathering again of 
 the dust of dead bodies from the earth ? Not 
 one ! not one ! But, allowing that the resur- 
 rection of the body may proceed according to 
 established laws of organic life, so that even 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 167 
 
 out of its old sloughs and cast-off foliage, so 
 to speak, it rises in newness of spiritual life, 
 there is in fact correspondence in every single 
 form of the recurring life of Spring ; and man 
 may see a beautiful symbol, and even read a 
 prophecy of his own resurrection in every 
 shrub, tree, and flower. But the correspond- 
 ence is still more suggestive in certain phe- 
 nomena of insect life, in which there is not 
 simply a renewal of corporeal life, as in the 
 vegetable life, but an actual rising to higher 
 and more elaborate forms of life ; for example, 
 the Libellula or dragon-fly, the silk-worm, cat- 
 erpillar, etc. The wonderful transformations 
 through which these insects pass are familiar 
 to every naturalist ; " how the former, when 
 yet an unseemly worm in the water, repairs to 
 the margin of its pond, attaches itself to a 
 plant or piece of wood ; how the skin grad- 
 ually becomes dry and brittle, at last splits 
 open opposite to the upper part of the thorax. 
 Through this aperture the insect pushes its 
 way, now winged, and, thus freed from con- 
 finement, begins to flutter, and soon launches 
 away into the air with that gracefulness and 
 ease which are characteristic of this majestic 
 
l68 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 insect." So of the caterpillar, how it passes 
 through various transformations, and finally, 
 after sleeping in its little self-wrought coffin, 
 it comes forth a beautiful winged butterfly of 
 brightest hues, and basks gayly in air and 
 sunshine, having attained a development of 
 corporeal life astonishingly beyond that of its 
 slug state. Now, to show the difficulty of 
 using these wonderfully suggestive facts, we 
 need but quote from the effort of one of the 
 most acute and able writers. Dr. Gregory, in 
 speaking of the development of the dragon-fly, 
 says : " Who that saw the little pendent coffin 
 in which the inanimate insect lay entombed 
 would ever predict that in a few weeks, per- 
 haps hours, it would become one of the most 
 elegant of winged insects ? And who that 
 contemplates with the mind of a philosopher 
 this curious transformation can deny that the 
 body of a dead man may at some future period 
 be again invested with vigor and activity, and 
 soar to regions for which some latent organi- 
 zation may peculiarly fit it?" But could the 
 unbiased mind of a philosopher see any anal- 
 ogy whatever between the little pendent coffin 
 with a living insect in it and the body of a 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 169 
 
 dead man? In the former the laws of organic 
 life are busy at work in evolving the higher 
 development of corporeal life ; in the latter 
 there is no life at all, and the body is aban- 
 doned to decay and disorganization. How can 
 a true philosopher fail to see that the analogy 
 in this case is between the body of the dead 
 man and the little pendent coffin or slug after 
 the winged insect has gone out of it? And 
 will he not inquire, Will this little pendent 
 coffin itself ever fly away? Will the winged 
 dragon-fly ever return to enter it again, or will 
 it or any of its particles ever again form any 
 part of its body? Where in all the developing 
 life of nature is there witnessed such a resur- 
 rection as that? Nor does the butterfly ever 
 return to put on again the exuvice of the cater- 
 pillar. No such fact was ever known in the 
 history of insect life, or in any form of life in 
 the natural world ; but in all these the law of 
 organic life is development, not return — ascent, 
 not descent. 
 
 There can be no analogy between a dead 
 body in its grave, and the insect in its " slug," 
 or little pendent coffin, or any of the forms of 
 
 vegetable life during their dormant state in 
 12 
 
I70 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 Winter. In all these life is not only not ex- 
 tinct, but is ever active in evolving its future 
 corporeal forms. But can this be so of the 
 dead body in its coffin ? But if we consider 
 the present life of the body as its slug state — 
 that the quickening, Divine life power is at 
 work evolving the future higher and more 
 spiritual corporeality, and that death is but 
 the rising to the realization of that form — then 
 the correspondence is suggestive enough. And 
 not an insect that rises from its slug to its 
 chrysalis state, not a tree, or shrub, or plant, 
 that rises in the new life of Spring from the 
 seeming death of Winter, but teaches that the 
 death of the body may be but the condition of 
 its rising to a new life. And of such a resur- 
 rection how beautiful and suggestive are these 
 correspondencies ! But not one that gives the 
 least hint that the fleshly exuviae of the earthly 
 body will ever be raised to life again. Not one. 
 This is even admitted by some of the most 
 able advocates of the literal resurrection of the 
 body. Dr. Hitchcock, in speaking of those 
 writers on Natural Theology who, like Dr, 
 Gregory, have used the analogy of Nature in 
 direct proof of the future resurrection of the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 171 
 
 flesh, says : " But unfortunately there is one 
 defect in the analogy that seems to have been 
 overlooked. When man is laid in the grave 
 we know that no vestige of life remains. We 
 may inflict whatever injuries we please upon 
 the dead body, but it will exhibit no signs of 
 sensibility. Not so with the chrysalis. In its 
 most torpid state you can always find marks 
 of vitality. The conclusion, therefore, is that 
 the curious facts respecting insect metamor- 
 phosis, although a beautiful emblem of man's 
 resurrection, are but a poor argument in direct 
 proof of the doctrine." 
 
 Dr. Mattison, in commenting upon this, 
 says : " Dr. Hitchcock has well observed, Nature 
 furnishes no instance of life from an actual state 
 of death, and consequently affords no really ap- 
 propriate or complete illustration of the res- 
 urrection of the body. Had we no better light 
 upon this subject than these 'emblems/ we 
 should be constrained to exclaim, in the lan- 
 guage of Beattie's Hermit : 
 
 'But when shall Spring visit the moldering urn ? 
 O when shall day dawn on the night of the grave ?' 
 
 There is nothing in Nature alone to assure us 
 of a future life for the body of man. There is 
 
172 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 no living ovum, or germ, in the dead body, that 
 retains its vitality through the long night and 
 cold Winter of the tomb. While, therefore, 
 Nature may faintly illustrate the glorious res- 
 urrection, her more legitimate lesson . . . 
 vvould be that man once dead will live no more 
 forever." 
 
 Now, from the stand-point occupied by these 
 eminent minds, this is all true. That is, limit- 
 ing the resurrection to mean only the future 
 gathering up of the dissipated dust of the 
 fleshly body, there is a "defect in the anal- 
 ogy," and a very serious one. To the body 
 in the grave no vestige of life remains, no 
 "ovum" or "germ" no lesson in the recur- 
 rent life of vegetation in Spring, or in the de- 
 veloping life of insects — no lesson in the whole 
 teeming volume of Nature which teaches that 
 man once dead will ever live again. And on 
 the part of these able and eminent advocates 
 of such a resurrection this must be a sad yield- 
 ing up of what has so generally been con- 
 sidered an important and convincing argument 
 in its support. But, in actual fact, are these 
 things which they say, true at all ? Is all Nat- 
 ure thus dumb and blank in her teaching? 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 73 
 
 In all her myriad voicings has she no lesson 
 concerning man's rising from the dead, when 
 properly understood ? When we consider that 
 the death of the body is but the condition of 
 its rising to a higher life ; that there is within 
 it, through the regenerating .operation of the 
 life-giving Spirit, a germ, or embryo of its 
 higher spiritual organism — just as in the nat- 
 ural order there is in the seed, the flower, the 
 insect, the living principle of its renewed cor- 
 poreity ; is not Nature every-where most elo- 
 quent and luminous in her teaching that, 
 though man may die, yet shall he live again ; 
 that, so far as his body is concerned, death 
 is but his rising out of his slug, or chrys- 
 alis state, into the higher and more beautiful 
 corporeal life of the full-fledged immortal ? 
 Then let the advocates of a long future fleshly 
 resurrection admit, as they must, that God in 
 Nature nowhere teaches any such resurrec- 
 tion. But let them not say that Nature is 
 dumb and voiceless, teaching nothing concern- 
 ing man's resurrection ; but rather let man 
 look out every-where in Nature and behold 
 her suggestive prophecies of his corporeal im- 
 mortality. 
 
174 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 Moreover, this idea of a bodily resurrection 
 not until the end of time, seems sadly out of 
 harmony with our most rational and cherished 
 conceptions of the future development of hu- 
 man life. In this world the development at- 
 tained between birth and death is very limited 
 at best ; and under the most favored circum- 
 stances, and with the mass of our humanity, 
 it can scarcely be called development at all. 
 With millions it is suddenly arrested, even in 
 early childhood and infancy; while millions 
 more, who live to old age, scarcely advance be- 
 yond the state of soul childhood. Hence the 
 cherished conception that development will be 
 realized in the other life. But how can this 
 be when the whole order of organic life is 
 broken up by death ? For even the most able 
 advocates of a long future bodily resurrection 
 do admit that the state of personal existence 
 after death — the soul in heaven or hell, and 
 the body in the dust of the earth — is an ab- 
 normal state. It is a state of actual disorgan- 
 ization. And with the body thus dissolved in 
 dust there surely can be no corporeal develop- 
 ment after death. And if this same body dis- 
 solved in dust is still an essential part of the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 75 
 
 personal organism or being, if it must be the 
 future organ of the soul, to which it must re- 
 turn, how can the soul develop in the unfold- 
 ing of its powers, and yet put on the same 
 material organism which was even a hinder- 
 ance to its growth ages ago ? How can a 
 child, for instance, after centuries, continually 
 develop in all its soul powers, and then come 
 down to put on the wee body it left ages be- 
 fore? or will the same miracle which gathers 
 up the. dust, suddenly elaborate it into a cor- 
 poreal organism suited to the developed soul ? 
 Or will the soul of the child remain a child- 
 soul for ages, in order that it may thus again 
 put on its infantile body, and after that com- 
 mence to expand? How irrational and base- 
 less such conceptions, and how sadly out of 
 harmony with every known law and fact in 
 God's order developing organic life ! The 
 only logical conclusion is there can be no 
 normal development of either soul or body 
 during the long, long period between death 
 and the resurrection — that the infant mind 
 must abide in its infant state, the childish 
 soul of the undeveloped man retain its dwarfed 
 faculties until the reunion of the long-sun- 
 
iy6 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 dered factors of the organic life. But what an 
 idea of everlasting life is that? And where in 
 all the written Word is there a verse or line 
 which even hints at this future reunion of soul 
 and body, this putting up again of the organic 
 being, man, or that can be made to express 
 such a reunion, even on the rack of the 
 most ingenious interpretation ? Such a dog- 
 ma rests entirely upon speculation and infer- 
 ence, as is even admitted by that most zealous 
 advocate of such a future coming together of 
 soul and body. (Dr. Mattison, Resurrection 
 of the Body, p. 337, sect, xi.) 
 
 But we need not pursue inquiry further on 
 this part of our general subject ; and may dis- 
 miss it with the following conclusions : 
 
 1. That the doctrine of the future resurrec- 
 tion of the earthly body from the literal grave, 
 as stated in the general teachings of our ortho- 
 dox creeds and theologies, does not so much 
 find its foundation in the obvious and direct 
 teachings of the written Word as in the theo- 
 logical and churchly interpretation thereof, and 
 upon inferences drawn from the too literal and 
 naturalistic apprehension of the letter of the 
 Word ; and as a doctrine it gives but an im- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I 77 
 
 perfect and partial statement of the whole 
 New Testament teaching concerning the res- 
 urrection of the dead. 
 
 2. That in the Church creeds and theologies 
 we find such a mass of confused, indefinite, 
 and even contradictory statement and teaching 
 that it is quite impossible to determine just 
 what is the standard of belief in the Churches 
 on this important subject. 
 
 3. That in the Christian Church of our day 
 the New Testament doctrine of the resurrec- 
 tion and the life in Jesus has become little 
 else than a formal, lifeless dogma, nominally 
 believed by a large majority of Christians, but 
 seemingly with dim and unsatisfying percep- 
 tions of what it is, defended and preached by 
 comparatively few, and in all manifestly lack- 
 ing that interest and quickening power which 
 strongly marked the doctrine of Jesus and the 
 resurrection in the primitive Church. 
 
 4. It is very generally rejected by the most 
 intelligent, thinking, and inquiring minds of 
 the age, both in the Church and out of it, and 
 can not be made a doctrine of power and life, 
 either in the Church or in the world. 
 
 Yet it has its uses in the Church, ever has 
 
178 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 had, and ought not hastily to be put aside or 
 rudely assailed. It is infinitely better than 
 no doctrine or faith in the resurrection of the 
 dead. As the merely objective and literal 
 statement, it presents the only view of the 
 subject which the perception of multitudes 
 has been able to reach or is able now to 
 reach. To their perception a resurrection 
 that does not in some way take hold on the 
 particles of this very earthly body long after 
 death is no resurrection. 
 
 How far the continuance of this too mate- 
 rial perception is owing to the almost exclu- 
 sively materialistic and naturalistic teaching 
 and preaching in the Churches I will not now ' 
 pause to inquire, but I suspect this has very 
 much to do with it. The fact is it exists, and 
 to such a perception the literal and even mate- 
 rial resurrection of the body is better than 
 no resurrection. The glorious spiritual reality 
 will in no wise be affected or retarded by a 
 sincere faith in even such a resurrection,, and 
 to tear down suddenly the foundations of such 
 faith is like tearing away the trellis from the 
 ivy or the vine, or knocking the crutches from 
 under the infirm, who may not be able to 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 79 
 
 stand without them. Hence, to you, Chris- 
 tian reader, who may hitherto have rested in 
 the belief that your earthly body will be raised 
 from the dust, I say my aim is not to tear 
 down the foundation of your hope in the res- 
 urrection of your body, but to lead you to 
 a higher, more spiritual and comprehensive 
 perception of the resurrection and the life in 
 Jesus; and if you can not find a more com- 
 forting, life-giving view in what you may 
 have read in these inquiries, then abide in 
 your present belief; only do n't be prejudiced. 
 Do n't refuse to look beyond the horizon of 
 your present belief from the consideration that 
 any thing beyond must be mistaken or false 
 and dangerous to you. 
 
 And "in giving public expression to the 
 above inquiries concerning the resurrection 
 of the body which may come in conflict with 
 the orthodox faith, I only insist that that faith 
 must not be forced upon Christian men and 
 ministers whose candid and prayerful study of 
 the Word of God, whose clearly defined per- 
 ceptions of the truth, have led them beyond 
 it. I only insist that they must have the 
 same liberty to think, investigate, and give 
 
ISO SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 free expression to their perceptions that they 
 accord to those who are willing and con- 
 tent to rest in the orthodox faith ; and thus, 
 instead of Christian minds in the Churches 
 being shut up to the perceptions of this all- 
 important subject which are expressed in the 
 oft-repeated teachings of a single view of it, let 
 it be opened to them from another view, and 
 let them candidly study it from different stand- 
 points, and let their faith take in such percep- 
 tions as afford most of comfort, life, and light 
 to their hearts and fill them with the high- 
 est and fullest realizations of immortality and 
 eternal life in Christ Jesus. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 " I am the resurrection, and the life : he that believeth in 
 me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever 
 liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John xi, 25, 26. 
 
 " Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every 
 man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they 
 that are Christ's at his coining." 1 Cor. xv, 22, 23. 
 
 INQUIRY may now return to the more 
 general question of the rising of the dead. 
 Already have we seen that this general ques- 
 tion is not found in our theological teachings 
 concerning the resurrection of the body from 
 the grave, but in the teaching of the New 
 Testament concerning the rising of the dead 
 from hades. The features of this general fact 
 next claiming our attention are the time and 
 order of this rising. So far as the body is 
 concerned, we have already seen that its res- 
 urrection begins with the life-giving operation 
 of the Spirit of Christ in regeneration ; that 
 the life-giving operation of the Spirit proceeds 
 
1 82 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 from the soul to the body, imparting to it the 
 germ principle of its spiritual organism ; that 
 death is but the sowing of the earthly and 
 the rising of the renewed spiritual body, or 
 death affords the conditions through which 
 the earthly body rises to its higher, immortal, 
 spiritual organism, so that the soul enters the 
 spiritual world clothed upon with a spiritual 
 body born, so to speak, out of the earthly 
 body, and just suited to its begun existence 
 there, just as it was clothed upon with the 
 earthly body suited to its begun and contin- 
 ued existence in this natural world. Thus 
 the personality is fully preserved, the soul 
 has its corporeal organ, and all the condi- 
 tions of continued development according to 
 established laws of organic life; and in these 
 incorruptible, spiritual, glorified bodies do the 
 dead rise from hades as they attain to the 
 fullness of the resurrection and the life in 
 Jesus. 
 
 This is a most interesting and important 
 feature of the resurrection. True, it may to 
 some seem somewhat novel, and out of har- 
 mony with all accepted orthodox views. But 
 I would fain hope that it is no newly fledged 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 83 
 
 conception of my imagination, but that it is 
 old as the inspired Word, and real as the 
 future world to which death leads us. Have 
 we not seen that such is the teaching of Paul in 
 his fifteenth chapter of ist Corinthians? Yet 
 we may well linger about this point, and still 
 further consider it in the light of other Script- 
 ures, especially those wonderful sayings of 
 Jesus, such as these : " He that believeth on 
 me hath everlasting life. I am that bread 
 of life. If any man eat of this bread he shall 
 live forever. I am the resurrection and the 
 life. He that believeth in me, though he 
 were dead, yet shall he live. And he that 
 liveth and bclicvct/i in me shall never die." 
 The first manifest truth revealed by these 
 glorious words is that living union with Jesus 
 by personal, appropriating faith, raises the soul 
 from spiritual death, and makes it the recipient 
 of everlasting life. Thus, he that believeth, 
 or heareth the voice of the Son, or eateth 
 the bread of life, though already spiritually 
 dead, shall live. The second truth is, he that 
 thus liveth and believeth, or continueth by 
 living faith to abide in Jesus, hath everlasting 
 life, and shall never die. Now of course all 
 
I84 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 will admit that this teaching does reveal a 
 blessed immortality for the soul ; and that this 
 living union does secure everlasting life to the 
 soul. But how many will be ready to admit 
 that it secures the same for the body ? That 
 this same immortality, everlasting life, ex- 
 tends even to the body, and that it will never 
 die? But why not? It was on the occasion 
 of the resurrection from the grave of the body 
 of Lazarus that these words were spoken. 
 They must be understood as teaching some- 
 thing concerning the future destiny of the 
 body. They were spoken to Martha, the sister 
 of Lazarus, whose Jewish faith saw nothing in 
 the resurrection of the dead but the rising 
 again of dead bodies from the tomb at the last 
 day. Are we to understand that Jesus aimed 
 merely to confirm this view by saying, " I am 
 the resurrection and the life? He that liveth 
 in me (and beHeveth, abideth in me) hath ever- 
 lasting life, shall never die."" Is it putting 
 more meaning into these wonderful words than 
 they will bear to say that this resurrection and 
 life does extend even to the mortal body, and 
 that living union with him does bring everlast- 
 ing life, even to the body ; so that to such as 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 85 
 
 truly live in him there is really no death at 
 all ? What seems to be death is but the dis- 
 solving of the earthly house — the final process 
 in the changing and making alive of the vile 
 mortal body, out of which it rises in the like- 
 ness of the Lord's spiritual, glorious body? 
 Indeed, it would seem that nothing less than 
 this will fill the words, either of these texts or 
 the parallel ones, which run all through the 
 teachings of Jesus. Thus can it be truly said 
 that we have everlasting life, and shall never 
 die, if death is to reign absolutely over these 
 bodies for long, long centuries and ages? 
 What kind of everlastiiig life is that in which 
 there is to be no corporeal life whatever for 
 these ages ? What kind of never dying is that 
 in which death is to hold the body in dust for 
 ages ? It does not relieve this matter to say, 
 Be comforted, for death's reign shall not be 
 everlasting ; the body shall not die forever. 
 Nay, but the words of Jesus do not say that 
 death shall not be everlasting, but that life 
 shall be everlasting — that is, life all the time. 
 He does not say, ye shall not die forever, but 
 shall never die — that is, shall not die at all. 
 And in thus limiting these blessed words to 
 13 
 
186 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 suit our confirmed conceptions of a future cor- 
 poreal resurrection, do we not empty them of 
 half their infinite meaning, and circumscribe 
 the infinite power of Jesus as the resurrection 
 and the life ? And in insisting that we must 
 die, and be under the dominion of death, the 
 grave, the dust, and the worms, do we not 
 choose death rather than life? Why thus limit 
 an Almighty Savior? Why thus obscure and 
 weaken our faith in him with such clouds and 
 darkness ? Why cast such a gloom and fear 
 over our hope of everlasting life in him ? Then 
 may we not say finally on this point, that in 
 Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, we are 
 lifted forever out of death's dominion, so far as 
 the grave and the dust are concerned ? What 
 we call death may occur, the earthly house 
 may dissolve, the flesh and blood, which can 
 not inherit the kingdom of God, or rise to the 
 heavenly state, may mingle again with the 
 combinations of matter, whence they were 
 taken and to which they belong, but such 
 death is only the final change in the corporeal 
 organism. It is but the necessary condition 
 of its rising to its higher order of existence, 
 that it may become the immortal, incorrupt- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 87 
 
 ible, glorious, and spiritual corporeal organ- 
 ism of the spiritual man, suited to his higher 
 life in the spiritual world. 
 
 We may next consider the revealed order 
 of the general resurrection of the dead. That 
 the word does teach a general resurrection 
 of all the dead in Christ from hades, has, I 
 think, been clearly indicated. What is to be 
 the general order of this rising, and when is it 
 to be consummated ? 
 
 The general conception expressed in our 
 theological teaching is that the resurrection 
 is to take place at the last day, at the end 
 of time ; and that it is to occur all at once, 
 " so to speak," at a given signal. But is this 
 conception truly in harmony with the teaching 
 of the Word? Does the Word teach that 
 none of the dead have yet been raised from 
 hades, or ever reached the heavenly world ? 
 Does it teach that all the dead, even from 
 Adam, must wait in the under world until the 
 end of time ? Rather is it not true that the 
 Word places the resurrection of the dead in 
 Christ, in connection with his coming and the 
 end of the age, or present dispensation ? And 
 between this event and the final consum- 
 
1 88 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 mation of all things there is a very marked 
 difference. And may it not be true that what 
 is generally termed the general resurrection 
 of the dead may be the final consummation 
 of the rising of the dead, which has been in 
 process ever since Christ, the first-fruits, arose? 
 So that the final scene of the resurrection, at 
 the coming of the Lord, will consist rather in 
 the rising of the multitudes who still remain 
 in the under world than in the rising of all the 
 dead who have ever entered there since the 
 days of Adam. In this direction we begin in- 
 quiry with the positive teaching of the Word 
 that all the dead found in hades at the coming 
 of the Lord will be raised incorruptible, and 
 the living who are regenerate, that is, who 
 have individual living union with Jesus, will 
 be changed. But is it taught that any of the 
 saints ever will attain to the resurrection, and 
 reach the higher heaven before that time ? In 
 this direction we may not be able to go very 
 far, and may venture nothing beyond sugges- 
 tion ; yet there are, here and there, portions 
 of the Word which, when taken together, do 
 seem to throw their united rays of divine 
 light in this direction. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TIME AND ORDER OF THE RESURRECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 " But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the 
 first-fruits of them that slept For since by man came death, 
 by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in 
 Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But 
 every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterward 
 they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, 
 when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even 
 the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all 
 authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put 
 all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be 
 destroyed is death." I Cor. xv, 20-26. 
 
 IN this wonderful chapter from which we 
 have quoted there seems to be nothing 
 wanting for a complete doctrine of the resur- 
 rection. The teaching of these verses seems 
 to be concerning death in Adam and life or 
 resurrection in Christ. By man — Adam — 
 came death ; by man — Christ — came also the 
 resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all 
 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, 
 
 189 
 
I9O SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 every man in his own order, or in the order 
 of his rank: Christ the first-fruits in his 
 order as the first begotten from the dead ; 
 then every man in the order of his rank ; 
 then or afterward they that are Christ's at 
 his coming — at the end of the age; then or 
 afterward the end, the final consummation, 
 when he shall have put down all rule and 
 power, even the enemy death at last de- 
 stroyed, and the kingdom of God supreme 
 in all the redeemed humanity. What is the 
 meaning of death in Adam, and of resur- 
 rection, or made alive in Christ? I can not 
 agree with those expositors who limit death to 
 physical or corporeal death and "made alive 
 in Christ" to the future resurrection of the 
 body, and who teach that in this sense the 
 whole Adam race are to be made alive. Such 
 interpretation is utterly out of harmony with 
 the letter and spirit of this whole chapter, 
 and with all of St. Paul's teaching concern- 
 ing the resurrection in Christ. It makes St. 
 Paul teach that the life-giving operation of 
 the Spirit of Christ must extend indiscrimi- 
 nately to all me7iy even to the bodies of the 
 wicked. This makes him contradict himself, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 191 
 
 for most manifestly in all his teaching the 
 life-giving operation of Christ is qualified by 
 the condition in Jiim. Doubtless death is 
 here used in its general New Testament 
 sense, spiritual death; for the death which 
 fell upon Adam, and through him upon our 
 humanity, was not physical, but spiritual 
 death. It planted its empire, not in the 
 body, but in the sou/, extending, of course^ 
 in its life-destroying influences even to the 
 body, hastening its dissolution. Even so 
 the life which has been incarnated in our 
 humanity in Christ is a divine, spiritua/ life, 
 planting its empire of life in the soul, but 
 ultimating in the immortal glorification of 
 the body. Such is the primary and general 
 New Testament sense of death in Adam and 
 life in Christ. Hence, of course, the expres- 
 sions in Adam, in Christ, imply a living, 
 personal, individual community of nature and 
 life. Hence a// die in Adam, because all are 
 actual partakers of his nature, born into his 
 state of spiritual death ; and in Christ al/ are 
 made alive who are born of the Spirit into 
 his divine nature and made actual partakers 
 of his divine spiritual life by personal union 
 
192 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 with him as the branches in the vine. Is 
 this true of every member of the race? Cer- 
 tainly not. The whole plan of redemption 
 and teachings of the Gospel suppose the fact 
 that some are not in Christ; that multitudes 
 even separated themselves, and keep them- 
 selves aloof, by unbelief and wicked works, 
 from the fountain of life. Hence this teach- 
 ing of Paul seems to be that in Adam all die, 
 because all are actually born into his state of 
 spiritual death ; and in Christ all are made 
 alive who are to any extent in actual living 
 community of nature with him, and my faith 
 is that all are thus in him who do not actu- 
 ally and persistently separate themselves from 
 him by unbelief and evil works. And this 
 being made alive in Christ Jesus, taken from 
 its incipiency to its ultimate fullness of im- 
 mortality and eternal life in both soul and 
 body, includes all that can be meant by the 
 resurrection and the life in Jesus, all that can 
 be meant by the resurrection of the dead. 
 But the resurrection as distinctively taught 
 in the New Testament does not, of course, 
 express or mean all that is comprehended in 
 this all-comprehending Gospel of the resur- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 93 
 
 rection and the life in Jesus, but is limited 
 rather to the gospel of triumph over death 
 and hades. And this is the grand central 
 fact and pov^er of the whole Gospel of eternal 
 life. Lose out of it the fact that Christ as 
 man did pass through physical death, that he 
 did descend into the lowest regions of death's 
 dominions — hades — and did triumphantly rise 
 again and ascend in glorified human form to 
 the abodes of immortality and eternal life, 
 and that all who are in him, who live and die 
 in him, shall in like manner, in the order of 
 their rank, triumph over death and hades and 
 ascend to the heavenly worlds of life, light, 
 and immortality, and we are left in the noon- 
 day of the Gospel with the sun eclipsed. 
 
 In verses twenty-three and twenty-four is 
 obviously taught somewhat concerning the 
 general order of this being made alive in 
 Christ: First Christ in his own order as the 
 first-fruits, the " first begotten from the dead ;" 
 then every man in his own order, or in the 
 order of his rank; afterward they that are 
 Christ's at his appearing ; then afterward the 
 end, the final consummation, when all power 
 and dominion shall be put down, and even 
 
194 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 the last enemy — death — destroyed, and God 
 be all in all. Now, are we to understand that 
 this general order as thus indicated is all to 
 occur at once in point of time, or that differ- 
 ent parts or scenes may transpire after even 
 long periods of time intervening? Christ's 
 resurrection was not only the first in his own 
 order, but surely the first also in the general 
 order of the rising from the dead. As the 
 risen Lord he is not only the first-fruits of 
 our humanity risen from the dead, but he is 
 the beginning of a whole line, a consecutive 
 order of those in him who are to be made 
 alive and rise in like manner from the dead, 
 each in his own order, or according to his 
 rank. With the conception of an army, the 
 idea or order is that of coming on in compa- 
 nies, divisions, or cohorts ; or with the con- 
 ception of a harvest, as intimated in the text, 
 the idea is that of different kinds of grain 
 being gathered in the order of their maturity: 
 Christ the first-fruits, then each in his own 
 order, the harvest according as the different 
 grains are ready to be gathered. Now, that 
 the underlying klea of this order is that of 
 degree or gradation in the state and develop- 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 1 95 
 
 ment of the divine life must be evident to 
 every reflecting mind. Some will reach the 
 state of maturity in the divine life before oth- 
 ers, and each will find his place in the order 
 of his rank. But it must also involve the 
 idea of time. And what is that idea? Is it 
 that this general order, beginning with the 
 first-fruits eighteen hundred years ago, is to 
 be broken by a hiatus reaching from that 
 period until the end of time? Is it true that 
 during all this long, long period no one will 
 reach his maturity of divine life in his order? 
 Can it be that all in Christ from the begin- 
 ning of the world are each to attain to the 
 resurrection from the dead at the same time, 
 and that not until the judgment at the end 
 of time ? Is there to be so vast a waiting as 
 this between the first-fruits and the maturity 
 of any part of the harvest? Rather may we 
 not suggest at least that the general resurrec- 
 tion of the dead in Christ indicated by Paul at 
 verses fifty-one and fifty-two, and at 1 Thess. 
 iv, 15-17, will rather consist in the final con- 
 summation of the rising of the dead, the grand 
 finale of the harvest, so that the dead in Christ 
 who' will be raised at the appearing of the 
 
I96 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 Lord at the end of the age are those who will 
 yet remain, who have not yet attained to the 
 resurrection, and not all the saints of God 
 from the days of Adam; so that ever since 
 Jesus rose as the first-fruits and bore off the 
 keys of death and hades the door, so to speak, 
 has been left open, and multitudes have in 
 their order attained unto the first resurrection, 
 and have risen to the higher heavens ? This 
 may seem to be venturing beyond what is 
 written, and be startling even as a suggestion, 
 but have we no light from the Word. to shine 
 on the pathway of such inquiries ? We have 
 already seen in Eph. iv, 8-12, that when Christ 
 ascended from hades he led a multitude of 
 captives, and in Matt, xxvii, 55, we have seen 
 this fact made manifest even in this natural 
 world, even as the resurrection of the Lord 
 was made manifest by the rising of his body 
 from the tomb. Now, what is the conception 
 we are to form of these Scriptures ? To my 
 perception they teach that Christ, during his 
 mission in hades, did bring to multitudes of 
 the saints of the older dispensations the full- 
 ness of the resurrection and the life, deliv- 
 ered them from the dominion of death, so 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I97 
 
 that when he ascended to the higher heav- 
 ens they did ascend with him ; and, it may be 
 but a fancy, tut I have supposed they consti- 
 tuted the cloud which hid him from the dis- 
 ciples as they surrounded their ascending and 
 triumphant Lord. Again: in the Revelation 
 John makes frequent mention of those who 
 do not seem to have been residents either of 
 this world or of hades, and who were evidently 
 men. Thus, in chapter vii, 9-17, "He beheld 
 a great multitude, which no man could num- 
 ber, . . . which stood before the throne 
 and the Lamb, clothed with white robes and 
 palms in their hands," verse 13. And when 
 he was asked, "What are these?" as if to 
 say, Are they angels or men ? he said, " Sir, 
 thou knowest." And he was told, " These are 
 they who have come out of great tribulation, 
 and have washed their robes, and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore 
 are they before the throne of God, and serve 
 him day and night. And he that sitteth on 
 the throne shall dwell among them." And in 
 chapter xv, 2, 3, he speaks of them that had 
 gotten the victory over the beast, who stood 
 on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, 
 
I98 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 and who sang the song of Moses and the 
 Lamb. And again, in chapter xix, he speaks 
 of hearing "a great voice of muck people in 
 heaven, even as the voice of a great multitude." 
 And as he conversed with one of these heav- 
 enly ones he even fell at his feet to worship 
 him. But he said, " Do it not, for I am thy 
 fellow-servant, of thy brethren the prophets." 
 And yet again, at chapter xiv, he speaks of the 
 same great multitude, and says, " These were 
 redeemed from among men, the first unto God 
 and the Lamb." 
 
 Now what other conception can we form of 
 these multitudes of glorious ones seen in the 
 heavenly state than that they are fully re- 
 deemed ones of our race, who have attained to 
 the resurrection and the life, and are with 
 their risen Lord in his heavenly kingdom? 
 Or are they simply disembodied spirits, who 
 have reached the heavenly kingdom without a 
 judgment or resurrection, who must come 
 back to this earth at the end of time to put on 
 their bodies, and return again to heaven, to re- 
 alize the fullness of immortal bliss ? 
 
 Again : There are passages of the Word 
 which seem to me to teach that when Jesus 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. I99 
 
 comes again, at the end of this dispensation, 
 or age, multitudes of the redeemed from this 
 earth will come with him. This fact seems to 
 be indicated in the teaching of St. Paul at 
 1 Thess. iv, 14-18. And again, at chapter iii, 
 13 : " To the end he may establish your hearts, 
 unblamable in holiness before God, even our 
 Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 with all his saints." And at Jude, verse 14: 
 "Behold the Lord cometh y with ten thousand 
 of his saints." Then those symbolical words 
 of St. John, describing his vision of New 
 Jerusalem, Rev. xxi, 2-10. Of this " New Je- 
 rusalem, holy city, coming down from God 
 out of heaven, adorned as a bride," etc., what 
 true conception can we form, except that it is 
 the Church triumphant, the invisible kingdom 
 of Jesus in the heavens ? And by the descent 
 of this city, and the marriage of the Lamb, 
 what can be meant but the glorious manifesta- 
 tion of this Church of the redeemed at the 
 coming of the Lord? And is not that holy 
 city — the glorious spiritual Church in the 
 heavens — made up of the redeemed ones from 
 this earth who have gotten the victory? are 
 they but disembodied, impersonal spirits, who 
 
200 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 must still wait for ages before they receive 
 their glorified bodies from the earth ? But not 
 to press this interesting inquiry further, Is 
 there not some foundation at least for the 
 soul-enrapturing conception that the risen 
 Jesus has not remained alone in the heavens 
 to enjoy his glorious victory over death and 
 hades ; but that multitudes of his redeemed 
 ones have in like manner, in their order, at- 
 tained to the same victory, and stand with him 
 on Zion's hill? and that multitudes more 
 will attain unto the resurrection and the life 
 in their order, pass on and upward from the 
 opened prison of death before the end of this 
 dispensation, and will come with their glorious 
 King, when he comes again to raise those who 
 still sleep in him, glorify his living saints, and 
 establish the tabernacle of God with men ? O 
 what a vision of immortality and eternal life is 
 thus made possible to faith in Jesus, the resur- 
 rection and the life ! And is it but a vision ; 
 an imaginative suggestion of a poor human 
 brain ? Is there nothing divinely real about it 
 in the revealed Word ? 
 
 There is one other Scripture which seems 
 to set the resurrection and the life in Jesus 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 201 
 
 before us as a realization of faith, and of con- 
 scious Christian experience. Phil, iii, 9-12. 
 It is true, as generally expounded, this pas- 
 sage has no reference to the anastasis, and 
 expresses nothing more than an advanced, or 
 high attainment in Christian experience in 
 this life — so that Paul meant by " knowing 
 him, and the power of his resurrection, and 
 the fellowship of his sufferings, being made 
 conformable unto his death ; if by any means 
 I might attain unto the resurrection of the 
 dead," nothing more than what he hoped to 
 attain in this life. But it does seem to me 
 that this exposition does not bring out the real 
 power of meaning contained in these pregnant 
 words. In them Paul seems to be laboring 
 and struggling, " so to speak," to give expres- 
 sion to the glorious realizations of the res- 
 urrection and the life in Jesus which were 
 opening to his faith and in his spiritual con- 
 sciousness. And I do not think it too much 
 to say that his faith in Jesus as the anastasis 
 and the life did already consciously realize the 
 life-giving power of that resurrection already 
 begun in soul and body, and was on the 
 stretch to realize and rest in the conscious 
 14 
 
202 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 assurance that through that power he should 
 fully attain unto the resurrection of the dead — 
 that is, should have everlasting life — should 
 never die; that as Jesus had risen from the 
 dead even so he might know him in the power 
 of his resurrection, that he too might attain 
 unto the resurrection of the dead. And does 
 not this harmonize with the glorious concep- 
 tion of his teaching at 2 Cor. v, i-io, where 
 he considers death simply as the putting off 
 the earthly house, and being clothed upon with 
 the heavenly — the mortality swallowed up of 
 life, present with the Lord? It would seem 
 that less than this will not fill the meaning 
 this whole passage so labors to express b/its 
 know him in the power of his resurrection ; 
 "fellowship of his sufferings;" "conformable 
 to his death;" "attain to the resurrection;" 
 "by any means;* 9 "those things which are be- 
 fore ;" " the mark for the prize of the high call- 
 ing," etc. And was it not such a conception 
 of the resurrection of the dead which gave 
 such power to the preaching of "Jesus and the 
 resurrection " in those days ? Not only was it 
 a power in the Apostle's own soul, as we thus 
 see by his struggling up into life, but it was 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 203 
 
 the power of his preaching ; it was the power 
 of the preaching of his fellow-apostles ; it was 
 the power of the faith and Christian conscious- 
 ness of the Christian Church. ' What made it 
 so ? Was it simply the resurrection of the flesh 
 at the end of all time to which Paul was thus 
 struggling by any means to attain, and which 
 so quickened his spiritual consciousness ? 
 What means were necessary but hopefully to 
 resign his body to the grave, and wait the 
 slowly on-rolling of the ages, trusting in the 
 miraculous power of God? And was it the 
 preaching of such a resurrection, pr the mere 
 repetitions of the old Jewish notions about the 
 resurrection of the flesh that so wonderfully 
 quickened the life, elevated the faith, and re- 
 joiced the hope of the early Christian Church ? 
 Nay, verily. It was Jesus already risen from 
 the under world, ascended above all heavens, 
 leading a multitude of captives. It was Jesus, 
 the life-giving power of an everlasting life. 
 It was to know him as this power, even as 
 wrought out in his own resurrection, and by 
 conformity to his death and sufferings, to at- 
 tain unto like resurrection with him. Thus to 
 faith and consciousness the resurrection was 
 
204 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 even a begun, present reality; so that it was 
 not as a simple dogma, addressed to their mere 
 belief, that the doctrine of the anastasis was 
 made so great a power in the early Christian 
 Church, but the resurrection and the life in 
 Jesus, as a present life-power in soul and body, 
 through personal, living union with Jesus, the 
 risen Lord, and consciously realized to faith as 
 already begun, and joyously reached forward 
 after, in hope of its sure, and even speedy at- 
 tainment. 
 
 And why has that power been lost in 
 the Christian Church? Why is that great, 
 central, soul-quickening truth of the whole 
 Gospel so little made of in the Churches 
 now? Why is it that the preaching of the 
 resurrection of the dead seems to mean so 
 little? Rather why is it that it is so little 
 preached as to be scarcely preached at all? 
 Is it not because the whole glorious doctrine 
 has been reduced to cold, lifeless, literalistic, 
 materialistic dogma, addressed merely to our 
 orthodox belief, and with the long, dark 
 night of death, and the grave, corruption, 
 earth, and worms, reaching through the ages 
 between our souls and its realization? What 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 20$ 
 
 food for faith or consciousness in such an 
 everlasting life as that, and what divine life- 
 power to the soul in such a resurrection as 
 that ? And how could such a resurrection 
 ever be made a spiritual life-power in the 
 Church, even when preached ever so much? 
 The fact is, but few can get life enough 
 out of it to preach it, and when they do 
 it is more a rattling of the sounding brass 
 and tinkling cymbal of speculative theories 
 and doctrinal formulas than an imparting of 
 life to the faith and consciousness of the 
 Church. 
 
 But let Jesus and the resurrection become 
 the realized power of an everlasting life to 
 soul and body, a present realization to faith 
 and consciousness ; let preachers and saints 
 again struggle in faith, like Paul, to know him 
 in conformity to his death and in the power 
 of his resurrection, and seek by any means to 
 attain unto the resurrection of the dead ; let 
 the under world of the dead stand open to 
 faith through the death-conquering power of 
 the risen, ascended Jesus ; let him be ever 
 seen by faith, beckoning believers upward to 
 the heavenly paradise, as he proclaims, He 
 
206 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 that liveth and believeth in me shall never 
 die, and think you, may not the resurrection 
 again become a power in the Church ? Yea, 
 verily ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PARTING WORDS. 
 
 WITH you, reader, who may thus far 
 have accompanied me in these inqui- 
 ries, I would have a parting word. Doubt- 
 less you have seen much of defect, much of 
 occasion for criticism. But have you read 
 with candor and without prejudice? If not, 
 I can in no way concern myself as to what 
 impressions you may have received, what con- 
 clusions you may have formed, or what judg- 
 ments you may mete. You must yourself look 
 after these. But if so, I would freely speak 
 with you. Have any of the views presented 
 seemed to antagonize any of your theological 
 or doctrinal opinions, or in any way wounded 
 or shocked your religious sensibilities ? Be- 
 lieve me sincere when I tell you I certainly 
 intended neither, but have aimed simply 
 to express my own perceptions of the truth 
 
 207 
 
208 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 plainly but independently and earnestly on 
 this very important subject. I have done so 
 in the form of inquiry, from my very strong 
 convictions on the subject of human fallibility. 
 Having seen so much of human teaching put 
 forth in the positive, dogmatic form, declaring 
 thus and so to be the truth and the whole 
 truth when woefully otherwise, I have grown 
 chary of all that style of teaching. Besides, 
 in coming to the Word of God to learn just 
 what it does say, is not the spirit of humble 
 and dependent inquiry most becoming to mor- 
 tals such as we, and in giving expression to 
 our perceptions is it not best to remember 
 that we see through a glass darkly, and that 
 we may be mistaken? Nor is it best to hold 
 to our doctrinal opinions with that tenacity 
 which makes us intolerant of views which 
 seem to conflict therewith, and which prompts 
 us to look upon those who express them as 
 assailants. 
 
 We will have no controversy, candid reader. 
 Let us simply prove all things, and hold fast 
 to that which is good. If these inquiries lead 
 you not into the conscious perception of the 
 truth of the Divine Word, receive them not. 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 209 
 
 If they may assail your' cherished beliefs or 
 pain your religious sensibilities, be assured no 
 one regrets it more than I. 
 
 There are just two considerations of which 
 I would speak with you in these parting 
 words : 1. Are these things which you have 
 read concerning the resurrection of the dead 
 true ? 2. What would be their probable effect 
 on your heart and your Christian life should 
 you believe them ? Of the first I have but 
 very little to say, and will spend not a word, 
 not a moment's breath, in trying to prove to 
 you that they are true. They must stand or 
 fall by their own internal evidence of their 
 truthfulness. I care not a straw to gain your 
 logical or merely intellectual and rational as- 
 sent, but would speak to your inner conscious- 
 ness ; and, if these inquiries do not in some 
 measure bring to your Christian consciousness 
 the spiritual truth and verities of the revealed 
 Word, there is an end of the matter. 
 
 What their effects upon your heart and 
 your Christian life ? What of the comfort, the 
 hope, and joyful anticipation of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead will they bring to your heart ? 
 Is there comfort and joy to your heart in the 
 
210 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 belief that your body will be raised out of the 
 earth at the end of time, and be changed into 
 a spiritual body? Is there any less comfort 
 in the belief that your mortal body has already 
 implanted within it the germ of its immortal, 
 spiritual form, through the regenerating, quick- 
 ening power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, 
 and that death will be to you but the condi- 
 tion through which your body will be raised 
 to its higher immortal and spiritual form? Is 
 it a comfort to you to believe that the bodies 
 of your friends, your loved ones, your own 
 dear children, will be raised from the dust at 
 the end of time ? Is it any less comfort to be- 
 lieve that they are already risen ? — that as their 
 mortal forms were sown in death they were 
 quickened into immortality, and raised in spir- 
 itual forms — as their earthly tabernacles were 
 dissolved, or put off, they were clothed upon 
 with their heavenly forms — mortality being 
 swallowed up of life — so that your loved ones 
 are really not in the earth at all, but living 
 and blooming evermore, and waiting to greet 
 you just beyond the veil ? Is it a comfort to 
 your heart to believe that your disembodied 
 soul will return to this natural world at the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 211 
 
 end of time, to be clothed again with your 
 body, raised out of the dust? Is it any less 
 comfort to believe that your soul will be 
 clothed upon with your spiritual body — born, 
 so to speak, from the womb of your perishing 
 earthly body — so that, instead of entering the 
 spiritual world as a naked, incorporeal ghost, 
 you enter upon your higher life there, clothed 
 upon with a spiritual body, just suited to the 
 state of your spiritual life, and to all the con- 
 ditions of your continued development ? Is it 
 a comfort to your heart to believe that God 
 has power miraculously to seek out and gather 
 up the dissipated particles of your long-lost 
 body at the last day? Is it any less comfort 
 to believe that he has the Divine, regenerating 
 life-power to quicken your mortal body, to 
 change and fashion it like unto his own glo- 
 rious body by his Spirit, which dwelleth in 
 you ? Can you conceive of any joy, of any 
 comfort, of hope, or blessed anticipation, which 
 the glorious doctrine of the resurrection is 
 designed to impart to the children of God that 
 is in any way lessened as we thus 
 
 " Feel the resurrection near, 
 And antedate that day ?" 
 
212 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 To my heart at least all is enhanced a thou- 
 sand-fold. But you say, Does that faith which 
 thus consciously feels the resurrection near 
 rest upon God's Word, or upon mere human 
 inferences and sensations? Ah! that is just 
 the question underlying this whole matter, and 
 just the question I would have you most care- 
 fully and candidly consider. And along with 
 it this other question, Does that faith which 
 puts the resurrection far away at the end of 
 time, so that it is scarcely consciously felt at 
 all, rest upon the Word of God, or upon mere 
 human theologies and doctrines? 
 
 Again. Will ih^fact of the resurrection be 
 made any the less certain to you ? That is, 
 supposing the doctrine that your body will not 
 rise until the end of time should prove true, 
 will the belief that it will rise at, or soon after 
 death, change God's order, and prevent its 
 rising at all ? I trow not. Neither, I sup- 
 pose, will your belief that it will not rise until 
 the end of time arrest the life-giving operation 
 of the indwelling Spirit. In this view of it 
 the fact of the resurrection depends upon your 
 livings abiding union with Jesus, as the branch 
 in the vine. But is it not worth while to have 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 213 
 
 a faith that fully gives you the victory over 
 death; that absolutely lifts you out of the 
 grave, and blots out that long, dark period, 
 reaching on through the coming ages, in which 
 death, corruption, earth, and worms are to hold 
 high carnival over an essential part of your 
 personal being? 
 
 Finally. What the influence upon your 
 Christian life ? Not your merely Churchly, 
 doctrinal, theological, orthodox life, but^ your 
 Christly, spiritual. May I ask you how much 
 of real food or inspiration for this life do you 
 get out of your merely nominal, orthodox be- 
 lief in the doctrine of the resurrection of your 
 earthly body at the last day ? Think of it 
 ever so earnestly, take it in in all its fullness, 
 and how much does it quicken you in the 
 Divirue life ? And think you will it be less 
 quickening to realize by faith that the spiritual 
 resurrection and future glorification, even of 
 your earthly body, does begin with the regen- 
 erating, life-giving operation of the indwelling 
 Spirit of Christ? — that it depends upon and 
 progresses with your living, personal union 
 with Christ, the life-giving Spirit — that just in 
 proportion as your life is hid with Christ — as 
 
214 SUGGESTIVE INQUIRIES. 
 
 you die unto self and live in him — as you 
 know him in the fellowship of his sufferings, 
 in conformity to his death, and in the power 
 of his resurrection, you do attain the resur- 
 rection of the dead, soul and body — so that 
 at death you may realize the full magnitude 
 of that saying, " I am the resurrection and the 
 life ; he that believeth in me, though he were 
 
 . yet shall he live; and he that livcth and 
 believeth in me shall never die f % Not only so, 
 but having the hope that even soon after pass- 
 ing from this world you may, in your order, 
 rise from the mediate world, and follow your 
 
 i Lord to the higher heavens, and join the 
 great multitude who have gotten the victory? 
 Can it be possible that such a conception of 
 the resurrection, and faith in such a resurrec- 
 tion, can be dangerous to the spiritual life of 
 any soul ? Can it be possible that such a faith 
 can be other than a quickening power of the 
 true spiritual life in the individual soul and in 
 the Church ? But, again : you say, does such 
 a faith in the resurrection and the life in Jesus 
 rest upon the Word of God, or upon mere 
 human perception? And again I say, dear 
 reader, that is just the question underlying 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 215 
 
 the most interesting theme of these inquir- 
 ies ; just the question I would press upon your 
 heart in these parting words, and beg you give 
 it your candid, careful, and prayerful consider- 
 ation. My aim is not to win your assent to 
 any views of mine, but to stir you up, and, if 
 possible, assist you in discovering just what 
 the written Word does say, and especially^ 
 what it says to you, and for you. To reach 
 this you must read, compare, pray, and think 
 for yourself. And may we ever have that 
 humble, dependent, teachable mind, which will 
 lead us to the feet of Jesus to learn of him ! 
 May the Spirit of Truth lead us into all truth, 
 that the truth may make us free! And may 
 He grant unto us that we may knoiv him, and 
 the power of his resurrection, and the fellow- 
 ship of his sufferings, being made conformable 
 unto his death, if by any means we might 
 attain unto the resurrection of the dead! Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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