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than the body . I presume no mate rialist would have used this l anguage . the Apostle Paul appears to be of the same opinion , when in
the 1 Cor . v . I—8 , he says , " We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved , we lave a building of God , not rnade with hands , eternal in the heavens . ' * After the tabernacle is
dissolved , which no doubt means the body , there is a something remains , which is to be clothed with a house from heaven ,
meaning most likely a new glorified body . Whilst we are at home in the body , he says , we are absent from the Lord , and when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord . The
materialist tells us , that man is nothing but body , and that there is no such thing as a soul or spirit ; now , in my opinion , no v \ ords can be more clearly in opposition to this notion than the words of
the apostle just quoted . The apostle Peter uses similar lan - guage , 2 Peter i , 13 , 14 . he calls death putting off his tabernacle , but never once hints that it would be the death of the inhabitant within .
Phil . i . 21—23 . < cTo die is gain—having a desire to depart and to be with Christ , which is far better / ' These expressions do certainl y appear to prove that St . Paul did not expect his whole ^ an to perish at death , nor yet t 0 be in a state of inactivity and insensibility , but in a state of pleasure and enjoyment . Why else should the apostle desire to j * that he might be with Christ ? ^ how co uld it be gai n to die if , whole man be dissipa-ted at deatl 1 ? Buf if to be absent from
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Against Materialism . —Letter II . 457
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the body is to be present with the Lord , there is a real sense and propriety in the apostle ' s language , and no difficulty in understanding it- He appears to maintain the same ideas in the 2 Cor . xii . &—4 «
One of the strongest passages in the New Testament , 'toot for materialism , but for the sleep of thesouLis 1 Thes . iv . ] 3 . "
Concerning them which are asleep ; ' " but though the apostle makes use of this figure ^ we ought not , I presume , to infer that he conceived the dead to be in a state of
unconsciousness and inactivity ; for in the very next verse heTepresents those very Christians who are said to be asleep as being brought with Christ at his coming , " Those which sleep in Jesus
God will bring with him ; '' and in the 5 th chapter of this Epistle , 10 th verse , one would noy ||| ijnk that by applying the term . $ 9 Psrto them that are dead he m ^ ftiVt they were unconscious , for he says , tfl Christ died for us , that whether
we wake or sleep we might live together with him . " In Rev . vk 9 , 10 , we read of the souls of them that were slain crying unto the Lord . And the apostle James seems to be equally ignorant of
materialism , when he says , James ii . 26 . "The body without the spirit is dead / ' See also Wisdom iii . 1—5 . iv . 7—15 . v . 14 * 15 O But it has been asked , how can a man be said to be dead if hits soul
be still alive ? I answer there is an important sense in which it may be understood ; his body is dead , he is dead to this world , to this state of things , and to all his connections here bolow : still he
maybe alive to God 5 may be absent from the body and present with the Lord , as our Savioujr in *
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T ^ vi , 3 N
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1811, page 457, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2419/page/9/
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