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so enveloping ^ would mutually neutralize each other , and render the mass hjert . I ain not , Sir , cavilling at mere expressions , further than as they serve to . shew that it is impossible consistently to attribute perpetuity or immortality to that which is material . Your Correspondent doth not in his communication let your readers kuovv whether he is himself a believer in the resurrection of
the body or not ; but the negative may , it is supposed , be fairly affirmed , since in one of his valuable productions he has broached the doctrine that " heaven is a state , and not a . place , " I should be sorry to appear jocose upon so grave a subject * but wheti we consider what we are , however diminutive in person , and , more especially , when we view the goodly port and stature of some of our acquaintance in this sublunary state , we caunot but feel convinced that if the same
identical bodies are to rise again , they will , at least , stand in need of a " place " to exist in ; and not that merely , but the enjoyment of some good things , similar to those . used in this life , to support such e f Xisjfcence > for without nourishment , no bpdjesconstituted as ours arecan posto
, , si ^ Jy exist . From the leviathan the mite , from man to the zoopbite , no animated material body can live without appropriate food , or without containing in itself the seeds of decay ; and that consideration forms an additional difficulty
an jhe way of reconciling the resurrection of our present frail bodies with the belief of a future existence in a more exalted , st ^ te of beiug . In fine . Sir , let iji be conceded to the disciples of Priestx-ev , tliai the body " returneth to the
{ hist * lietyer to be reanimated ; but let us alsPj ^ ave tl ^ e , Christian consolation of agrejsiij g with E * rice , that there is a soul , an immaterial , ethereal principle , which fqlipvveth not the fate of the body , fyjut returpe ^ to the God who gave it . W . HENRY .
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{ iQn the Resurrection . -To the Editor , §* R , May 11 ,, 1829 . I ^ the / iyhoJe zange of theological discuj 5 » i \> n there is no question of more ackupwledged importaute than that of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ . To this a CqiTes > po , nc | e , nt , uuder the honourable title of Knoujrjer , has solicited the attention of your readers , not to invalidate tljie fact , but to give his views of it & $ being of independent interest relative to a future state , or more circumscribed in its
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consequences than is supposed by the generality of the Christian world . " My coiivlctiou of iminojrtalityy" lie says , " would have b ^ n the ; saiye if he ( Christ ) had never appeared to his disciples , but ascended atf Wee ; to his Father . " But from whence , 1 wotilcl asi , could the couviction arise irrespective of
the evidence to be derived from such eveat ? That Jesus " spoke yrSih authority , and that the divine promise shall not pass away , " but few will havel the temerity to deny ; but whether this admission gives , abstractedly considered , the necessary assurance of a future state , is another inquiry . The writer himself has conceded " that there would have
been no future life if Jesus had not risen , " an occurrence , be it . recollected , subsequent to any declaration of our Master on the subject . If the difficulty on his mind { as he informs us ) is , ' * how the evidence of a fu ture state is dependent on the fact of the resurrection , '' he may , 1 conceive , meet its solution in an attentive re-periisal of * 1
Cor . xv ., where it forms a specific ^ rptin ^ of argument , the Apostle asserting , that those who are fallen asleep in Christ krt perished ) ( a term which , on account of its emphasis , calls for our noticej and that our faith in aud hope o /* existence hereafter is nugatory , but for the ' / certainty of it afforded by the resurreetioti of Christ , being , in point of priority , prelusive to our own .
Nothing appears , to me more obvious than this truth , as couched in the introductory language of Paul : " Yeii ^ aiiil we are found false witnesses ot Ood , because we have testified tliat he raised up Jesus from the dead , if so be that the dead rise not ; and if the dead rise not , then is Christ not raised . " Death is throughout the Scriptures ^ as 111 itself , opposed to life , aud the deprivation '' of
the latter to its restoration or lenovation , syuonymous with a resurrection * ; the materialist , therefore , cannot so easily dispense with his opinion as the Euquirer suggests . The doctrine of immortality I have long considered peculiar to the Christian schcu \ e > constituting the grand essential of our religion , and thevresm : rectipii of
Christ a § the n ) ost / prciblt ; proof of his cUyiue miksib «> it .. l )' ei ^ g , J | ii the likture of proplf t |> at fy lie } ep ) iibited . . . ThaVtJhe a ^ pDea ^ rauce of ^ leBUfl after his deliverance from the tomb fisid merely the , ^ isulated design to cp » ri-ect the inr eredu ^ y 4 p 4 prejudice ^ of Jiis immediate disciples , 1 iiui m ^ ch d | B ^ s ^ cd to dispute , and especially as they wei ; e ^ o give at ^ es-
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Mkcdlaneow Correspondence . 7 ^ 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 797, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/53/
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