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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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zS ^ Krk ^ * # * an body # » some stamina vit ^ B ?* & P }~ snceval seeds of life , whicn iaay f&aia through all the stages of life , death Qpd the grave ; these imay become tiae springs and principles of a resurrection , and sufficient to denominate
it the same body . But , . if there be any such constant and vital atoms tliey are known , to _ God only . " To this pr inciple , Dr . Priestley and some of his disciples appear willing to refer for the principle of' individuation .
In consequence of these difficulties this writer asks , " If the immortality of the soul wants support from scripture , and the restoration of the same body involve in \ % a physical contradiction , how is the preservation of
individual consciousness and the resurrection of the same man to be explained , understood or believed ? To this letter T . P . replied . 1 . That the resurrection of the same body , if there be but one absolute and eternal cause , is within the bounds
of probability . For the existence of ^ yery being , being only the result of the will and peculiar operation of this cause , the restoration of any being , tad all its parts , however long its existence has been suspended , has
not in it any thing impossible or improbable : the same creative cause still possessing the same power . If the originally created being be renewed in the same manner , the same created effect must be the result of
tjhe operation ; and not any reason appears why the same exact operation cannot be renewed , as well as it was originally excited , continued and suspended by the Infinite Operator . That this reasoning is confirmed by the historic evidence of flie human
mind . By night , the perception for useful and practical purposea is suspended ) but this , instead of destroying , strengthens giul restores perception ai | dcbnsci 6 u , shess . In trances ahd suspended animation , the existence of j ( ife is only known by its preserving the body from putrefaction . Why then cannot JDeity by immediate
intervention suspend existence , disorganise the mechanism , and again with uch alteration ? as new relations and circumstances may requife to re-organise it ? & The mind is a representation qf external things , therefore a unity of ra&on must be esseritially . cormected frith conscious identify . By a mul-
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tiplication of persona exactly jrimila * confusion would ensue , and such a& idea arises from supposing matter aad mind to have such an independent existence , that certain portions of eael * may constitute the same bein g * Such a view arises from mistaken notion * o the Creator and the created . He
is one ancj independent ; all existence must be either Deity himself dt the , result of his operations ; our fiiturt existence therefore must be the essercise of his power , and noi from the ordinary operation of what is called & second cause . The scripture compares death with sleep ; he slept with his fathers is their
language for death Jesus' awakened Lazarus out of sleep after he had beea dead four days , and his body become putrid j and this he did by the intervention alone of that power whijrh first formed man from the dust , the same power which increased the Widow ' s cruse of oil . and at another time
fed fire thousand from fire loaves and a few small fishes . 3 . Tlie resurrection of Jesus 4 b if * point to prove our resurrection * Iftr though it was thft same , body raise ** , yet that body , wpa raised changed to a spiritual body , a $ was evidenced by its becoming at will invisible , and b ^ its ascending the ; heavens . Yet thtftfgh
spiritual its capability of being handled , its ability to eat and drrfck as also to converse , prove it& identity * and were to his apostles sufficient evidence that he who cou ] d protjut * e thii of
va ^ ed effect viability ^ and ^ visibility , materiality and apparent ijfimateriality with conscious identi ^ r could in like manner raise their derct bodies and can do the same also bjr all who are hi their graves *
If I have correctly stated the arguments of both these gentlemen , and I have so done to the best pf my ^ power , I , am free to confess , Mr . Editor , that f . P . has npt done justice to the objections of Cantabrigiensia ; he appears to me instead of giving a philosophical answer as expected bq as to have the subject intelligibly explained that it ; might . be believed with the
understanding , to have rather , begged tfee question , opting the whole of his answer on th $ mighty power of God . 1 * C . assents that if a man wholly dies the resurrection of that tttm to not within the bounds of probability . T . P . instead of shewing thai it ii pr # -
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^ / fypotfieies dftU fiesu rreciion : ¦ S X i ' ' ' ¦ ,: " * '
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1816, page 26, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2448/page/26/
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